Asterousia Mountains

To get to Tris Ekklisies, I have to drive through the Asterousia Mountains. This is a barren mountain range with only small villages and chapels everywhere. The mountain range separates the Messara Plain from the Libyan Sea.

Roughly speaking, the low mountain range is located in the south of the island in the Heraklion regional district, east of the beach of Matala. The mountain range reaches a height of up to 1231 m with Mount Kofinas.

There are many gorges in the mountain range, the most important being the Agiofarango, named after the monasticism that was practiced in the past in the countless small caves along both sides of it. To the east of the mountain range is the palm forest of Agios Nikitas with Theophrastus palms (Cretan date palm); it is considered the third largest palm forest in Crete.

The area of ​​Asterousia, which covers an area of ​​27.27 square kilometres from Agiofarango to Kokkinos Pyrgos, has been included in the Natura 2000 network because the area is of ecological and archaeological importance.

I love driving from the plain through the mountains and then looking out over the sea from above and seeing Tris Ekklisies below. 😍

I will make you a short film of the serpentines soon. 🤗Read more