A completely different walk.It's summertime so I can't help looking forward to a day by the sea. On a nice morning and while I was looking for a certain book I came across a completely different one. Unexplored Crete? in big letters, a challenging title to browse in the book.I started turning over the pages realizing that I had been to nearly all the places described in them. All except?
Balos Beach! A waterless fruitless landscape; thats the only way a hiker can describe the peninsula of Gramvoussa, at the end of which there is this wonderful beach protected by Mt Geraskinos (765 m) offering an excellent rock quality for climbing. Opposite the beach the two small islands of Agria Gramvoussa and Imeri Gramvoussa fill the eye with an incredibly beautiful view as the hiker goes down the path leading to the turquoise waters and the white sand of the beach.
If you walk along the dirt road too, you take 2-3 hours to reach the beach, which can be the starting point of other interesting long walks.
Gramvoussa - History On August 2nd, 1824 15 men from Sfakia took hold of Gramvoussa and turned it into a revolutionary center for the next years. The spark of revolution against the Turks was alive again despite what the Cretan people had suffered. Many battles took place and many efforts were made to fan the flame of revolution all over the island. Guerilla war, night ambushes and barricading in the mountains were the main Cretan strategic.
The lack of a revolution leader was the problem. On January 5th Chatzimichalis Dalianis stranded on Gramvoussa as the new Commissioner. During his trip to Crete he met Ioannis Kapodistrias, whose attitude towards the Cretan revolution was stiff. The battles that took place and reached a climax with the siege of Frangocastello were tough and uneven against the numerous Turkish army and Dalianis was heroically killed. The German Baron Reinek,who was appointed new Comissioner, stayed until March 1829 and he was succeeded by bellicose Hein. In the years 1828 and 1829 the struggle was intensified and more and more villages got liberated.
But what determined the future of Crete was not the victory of the Cretan fighters but the European Diplomacy. In the final Protocol of London signed on February 30th, 1830, in which the final frontiers of the Greek state were decided, Crete was not included. Disappointment for the Cretan people came as a result, as their long-lasting struggle had not been justified. The intervention of the Great Powers brought truce never kept by the Turks.
Enjoy the beautifulness of this Greek white sand beach!