On Saturday (7 August), we drove East to a town on the other side of Chania. Lake Kournas (Λίμνι Κουρνά) is Crete’s only freshwater lake, and isn’t very far from the border with the county of Rethymno (Νόμος Ρεθύμνου).
There are tavernas at the side of the lake, you can swim in the lake by the beach (sunbeds are available), or you can rent a pedalo for an hour; we swam from the beach for a little while. There are lots of people there, but its not crowded because people are spread out.
We rented a pedalo for a bit as well – and we went out into the centre of the lake where it is deep and dived in! A pedalo for 2 people is €7, or for 4 its €14.
We looked in the shops for a bit (I brought a Cretan T-Shirt) and then we drove to the town of Georgioupoli, a tourist town located 48km East of Chania and 22km West of Rethymno. It is the head town of the Municipality of Georgioupoli.
There are tourist shops, supermarkets, ATMs and tavernas. We ate lunch in one of the tavernas, and then went to one of the beaches. There are two. We went to the smaller one, near the bridge. The water is very cold because of the river which enters the sea nearby!
After, I went to buy some postcards and stamps in one of the supermarkets. The owner was very impressed with my Greek and was keen to know how I’d learnt the language, to which I replied: «Έχω μία δασκάλα στην Αγγλία που έμεινε στην Ελλάδα». (“I have a teacher in England who lived in Greece”).
Georgioupoli isn’t very near Kamisiana, but its all on the national road (motorway) so its not too bad. On the other hand, when we tried to get back on the motorway we found it was closed. A policeman tried to speak to Dad in Greek, not knowing that he didn’t speak Greek! After returning to England last Tuesday I found this:
Record Dance – 7 August 2010: Thousands of Cretans are to join hands this evening in a human chain that will form on the side of the road from Chania to Lasithi, which stretches for 200km, in bid to break the world record for the longest dance. The dancers, who are to convene at 7.30pm are aiming for a place in the Guinness World Records book.
The police had closed the road and stopped all the traffic already on the road!
To see where Georgioupoli and Lake Kournas are, go to Google Maps.
So that brings to an end my weeks worth of articles about Crete. Back to normal tomorrow – I still need to post the website statistics for July!
hey, I have been in that Lake, fantastic