Xerokampos

From Sitia, Xerokampos is 65 km to the southwest, and a definitely a trip to be made during the day. The tiny village is completely isolated with only one winding paved road providing access to it through the tall and rugged mountains of the east coast. The towns main attraction is its isolation from the rest of the world, and a multitude of tiny coves lined with gold sand along the cool waters of the Mediterannean. The village is tiny with few appartments for rent, a couple of taverns, and several homes, and it becomes completely deserted during the winter months.

There are two ways to get to Xerokampos from Sitia. One road branches off to the right on the way to Zakros, and another one begins around Bori village on the road from Sitia to Makrygialos. We opted for the second road since the locals said it was the most spectacular and we were not dissapointed.

One of the most exciting offerings of Xerokampos is the opportunity to travel to it. The trip itself took us through traditional villages and fertile plateaus filled with traditional windmills, but the road becomes spectacular after the town of Ziros and once it begins its steep descent from the mountains towards the the town of Xerokampos. Once we reached our destination we had our choice of several small beaches and we chose the one in front of the taverna Akrogiali which we also chose for our lunch.

There is also a small archaeological site right next to the beach but it is not very well preserved, and it is even less well documented.

While the kids enjoyed the cool sea I spent some time photogrpahing the terain since it is almost impossible to be described accurately by a visual artist so I put together some panoramas in hopes that the viewer can experience a little of the visual excitement which the landscape comands.

On our way to Xerokampos an old windmill stands idle in front of the row of modern wind harvesting machines. Wind mills were used for irrigation in this windy plateau, but now they are used for electrical power production.	Panorama of one of the sandy coves around Xerokampos	The road must have been designed by an artist, and it was a delight to drive through
Another view of Xerokampos from above	Another beach around Xerokampos	Bird's eye view of a large beach near the town.
A small cove.	The beaches near the town were more densly populated, while the coves further out were more deserted.	The soft sand caresses the body, and the gentle waves a welcome shelter from the relentless sun rays.

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