Western Crete - A Walker's Guide

Kissamos, situated in western Crete, offers a rich variety of landscape for the walker to explore. A wide selection of mountain treks, ridge and hill walks, gorge explorations, cliff and coastal walks, and rambles from village to village and through the many archaeological wonders Crete has to offer. Walks are around the Kissamos and Selinos areas.

View Sample Route Map

Walk 8: To the Bay of Pirates

Kaliviani, Balos Beach Hotel, Balos Col, Bay of Tigani

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Distance: 22km (13½ miles) there & back
Height Gain: 250m (820ft)
Start/Finish: Kaliviani – Saint Nicholoas church
Grade: 4 ‘there & back’, 3 travelling one way by Ferry
Walking Time: 7 hours
Maps: EFSTATHIADIS 1:79.000 CHANIA (some footpaths), ISBN 960 226 531 0; harms IC verlag 1: 100,000 Western Crete (includes E4) ISBN 3-927468-16-9
Accommodation: Kastelli & Kaliviani – Hotels, Apartments, Rooms    

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A long walk; underfoot - dirt road and stone pathway, ascending and descending steps to Balos Bay, sandy beach, the lagoon and Tigani. For here are gourmet helpings of Cretan sights and sound as the dirt road north reveals sightings of flora and fauna, of seashore, and the flanks of Geroskinos - Gramvousa’s highest mountain. If Tigani lagoon is your destination, as opposed to viewing it from the col above, be prepared for a zigzag stepped descent to the fine sands and turquoise waters.

The Route: Leave flower-laden Kaliviani at the northern end of its main ‘street’, between the ouzoeri and the two-tiered Church of Saint Nicholoas. The undulating road north is our guide, initially tarmac then concrete then dirt, it rises and falls above the eastern shoreline of this mountainous, narrowing finger known as Gramvousa. Pass Balos Beach Hotel (the real Balos Beach is 10km distant!).

Ahead on our left, the rock and scrub clad flanks of Geroskinos, and over the blue waters of the Gulf the great mass of Rodopou peninsula. Peninsulas that attract a variety of, 63 in all, seabirds, songbirds and birds of prey and a further 29 species of nesting and migratory birds. Many colourful species of common and rare plants such as sea chicory (stamnagathi) thyme, sage, prickly broom and the rare daisy anthemis are found on Gramvousa. Of the resident animals and reptiles the most common is the ubiquitous goat; dozens line our track, particularly in the shaded vicinity of solitary, seated Saint Irini (1), 1½ hours from Kaliviani.

When the end of the dirt track, now high above the shoreline, is in sight and Balos col lies ahead, the track swings left past an incongruous Cantina and small cruiser (boat) some 100m above sea level, alongside a spacious car park. With the central spine left and the rocky spearhead of Gramvousa right, the dirt pathway between rock and low scrub splits. Our route continues W, the narrow path to Vouxa (initially with red paint waymarks on the rocks) veers right i.e.north to Vouxa (Walk 9).

The relatively wide dirt track winds and drops W through a picturesque gully, to join a zigzag stone stairway of 501 steps, of varying height and length, overlooking a site of extraordinary and unique beauty. Azure sea, golden sand in bays and beaches, islands of varying shapes that appear to float on the sea, Tigani (pan & handle), Pirates Bay, Pontikos (little mouse) and surrounding islands (2) are beyond compare.

The return, if indeed you wish to, is via the outward route providing extensive views of the hinterland and mountains of Kissamos, equally pleasing but totally different from those seen on the outward trek.

Do not attempt the route west of Gramvousa’s central spine, marked on both maps, it is highly exposed in places having claimed lives and caused serious injury, due to an unstable ‘moving’ path of slippery, rounded stones underfoot.

Items of Interest
(1) SMALL CHAPELS. A feature throughout Greece, frequently seen close to the coastline, built by those who diced with death around these rocky shores and escaped, or those who lost a loved one at sea. Other Chapels commemorate a family member who rose to an important position in life, or did great good for the community.

(2) BALOS, LAGOON & SURROUNDING ISLANDS. West and north of the peninsula’s narrowing northern tip, small rocky relics of earthly upheavals were created in the mists of geological time, perhaps similar to the cataclysm at Phalasarna (Walks 13A &13B). These small islands, together with the curved tip of the peninsula, form an ovoid similar to the rim around the caldera of Thira (Santorini). Could this have been the rim of an ancient and extinct volcano and the ‘Ormos’ Gramvousa the sunken caldera? ‘Tigani’, by the lagoon, translated is ‘the Pan’, very apt for the connecting strip of land is its handle. Imeri Gramvousa carries the ruins of an imposing Venetian castle. The castle can be inspected, as can St Georges Church on the islet, when the boat from Kastelli calls.