Agia Pelagia in Crete

Agia Pelagia in Crete

About 18 km West of Heraklion you find the little tourist resort Agia Pelagia. Around 30 years ago a certain Mrs. Capsis came to the place and immediately saw the potential of the area. Now the Capsis Hotel is the largest and most luxurious hotel in Agia Pelagia, but many other, smaller hotels and studios have also been build over the last 30 years.

Along the narrow beach around the bay are situated one taverna after another. It is not expensive to eat there, most of the tavernas have offers of menus with a starter and some Greek dish for only 5€. In the little street "Odo Agia Pelagia" you can find all manner of shops to meet your needs: gold- and silver shops, souvenir shops, internet cafes, an ATM, supermarkets and car hiring companies. What you won't find in Agia Pelagia are big clubs but there are a few bars and cafes.

The beach in Agia Pelagia

The beach is narrow, but good and sandy. It is possible to hire sun beds and umbrellas and there are plenty of opportunities to hire water bikes and partake in other kinds of water sport. As the town beach is so small, if you want less crowded and more remote beaches, they can still be found nearby without too much difficulty.

Most of the rentable rooms in Agia Pelagia will have a great view over Agia Pelagia Bay and beyond to the horizon. In clear weather Dia Island will be visible.

The landscape in Agia Pelagia

The whole place has it's own beauty and as it lies there hidden in the small bay where it seldom gets very windy. Most days you just feel a pleasant cooling breeze.

If you get a room more than 50-100 meters from the beach you will quickly discover that Agia Pelagia is a hilly place, but that is why almost everybody has a fantastic view. Also, take a little time to walk around - preferable in the evening when the air is a bit cooler - and you will experience all the scents of Crete from it's herbs and flowers. The small church in Agia Pelagia which can be reached on foot but requiring a bit of effort, is well worth a visit.

I stayed in a studio around 300 meters from the beach and I had a view over Agia Pelagia, of the mountains that surrounds the place, and over the sea. There were no noisy bars or tavernas to be heard, or for that matter, any noise disturbing the marvelous peace an tranquility. There are many of these small studios in Agia Pelagia where you can rent an apartment and find complete peace and total relaxation. It was right here in Agia Pelagia I one evening was inspired to write the article "The Feel of Crete".

The cliffs around Agia Pelagia Bay consist, as so many other places in Crete, of different layers of stone. Between these stone layers you can find a layer that was originally wood. Many thousand years ago, when the climate in Crete was cooler, this place was covered with trees, but as it got warmer and warmer the trees could not survive and their remains became absorbed into the ground and eventually formed this special geological layer in the cliffs.

At least twice in past times Agia Pelagia has been destroyed and washed into the sea. Once was probably due to a seismic sea wave from the earthquake that created Santorini.

In the winter Agia Pelagia has only a few hundred inhabitants and only one or two tavernas and a supermarket will remain open. The situation changes drastically during the tourist season.

A lot of the land in and around Agia Pelagia is still owned by the state. This gives hope that the area will, for many years to come, stay unspoiled and not covered with hotels so that in the future visitors will still be able to to find small, remote beaches, and the tourist and the very hospital Cretan inhabitants still will be able to be near each other.

Moving around in Agia Pelagia

If you want to see more of Crete having Agia Pelagia as base allows many possibilities. By bus, car, scooter, taxi - any of these will bring you to the most famous places of interest:

- Knossos only 25 km away,

- Fodele, the birthplace of El Greco just a short drive away, or

- the famous cave Gerontospilios not far from Melidoni. Drive past Bali (west, 20 km) and then turn left to Melidoni.

If you like to dive, Agia Pelagia is a good choice both for snorkeling and "real" diving.

The taxis can be expensive from Agia Pelagia. Once I went to Heraklion by taxi and it costed me 25€ as a "fixed price" - but the return journey in a taxi with a meter was only 14€! Quite a difference! However we cannot blame the taxi drivers in Agia Pelagia, who need to operate on the basis of "fixed prices" rather than meters.

Be aware also of the bus schedule. The bus from Agia Pelagia really goes on "GMT-time" (Greek Maybe Time"). It might leave 1/2-1 hour before the scheduled time - or 1/2-1 hour later!

AUTHOR: Birgit Smidt

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