Sougia to Chania, Crete, Greece, 18 October 2018.

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(Click on any image to see it in a larger size, if you are on a PC or tablet at least.)

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This post covers our journey from Sougia to Chania in Western Crete.

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The first images are from the road from Sougia to Palaiochora.

There are many layers here, terraces, occupied and unoccupied rural buildings.

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A residence in a rocky landscape that recedes into the fog.

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Perhaps a monastery and a bell tower.

I suspect it is too substantial for just a church.  There is also some terracing visible, probably for crops.

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A distant church on a remote peak.

This image and the next are close to Palaiochora.  The previous three were close to Sougia.

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Side road and tree.

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This is the point of the peninsula at Palaiochora.

It is taken from the beach at the road from Sougia.  There is a harbour round the other side of that point.

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Extension of the previous shot, panning to the right.

Not sure why I didn’t make them join up to a panorama.

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Zooming in, the Venetian fort atop the town.

It was built in 1278, destroyed in 1332, rebuilt in 1334, destroyed in 1539, rebuilt in 1595 and destroyed some time before 1834.

During the Second World War, there was a battle between German motorcycle reconnaisance troops and a Greek regiment with some Cretan Gendarmes.  The Germans built gun emplacements in the fort that are still visible today.

We intended to visit the fort but couldn’t find any parking nearby.  So, being concerned not to turn up too late to our accommodation in Chania, we kept driving.

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A small village on a strategic ridge with a church, a graveyard and a number of buildings.

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A house and a small church.

This is also visible in mid right of the previous image.  There is a man, a utility and a small flock of sheep.  there is also a very small village in the background, some of which appears relatively new.

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Back at the village on the ridge, here is a duplex half occupied and half ruined.

The occupied half includes a spiral staircase up to a small roof balcony.

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A church overlooking an ancient coastline.

However, the buildings on the point are not ancient.  They are perhaps holiday homes for wealthy residents of Chania, with several swimming pools visible.

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Not everyone is affluent.

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This is a rocky and impoverished part of Crete where most of the young people have left to find employment and there are many derelict houses.  in real estate parlance, renovators’ dreams.

Western Crete has probably been remote for a long time.  I don’t know how close they were to these villages, but somewhere in the mountains of Western Crete was a group of Communists who held out twenty years after the civil war had finished in mainland Greece.

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Lots of interesting detail.  People live in some buildings while other buildings erode away.

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At first sight, someone is using this decaying building for their daily garage.

However, the van is not going anywhere fast.  Its wheels are covered in sacks and the rear window is covered in dust.

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It’s almost like a modern archaeological site.

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An olive farm on the skyline.

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The last two images are somewhere near the north-west corner of the island.

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