Toplou Monastery

Palm Forest and beach Vai is at the eastern end of Crete, near the monastery Toplou, one of the most important monasteries in Crete with vast areas of organic farming. In Toplou is established an organic producers group and also there is an olive oil mill who produce Biological olive oil, and units for organic-biological wine and raki.

In Toplou Monastery there is a ecclesiastical and historical museum with many rare relics. Despite its turbulent history, Toplou has many works of art to its possession.

Toplou Monastery, 5km from Vai Restaurant

Today, it hosts an interesting exhibition of Byzantine icons, books and documents, a display of ancient engravings and a collection of artefacts which reflect its role in the historical events that influenced Crete during the last centuries. Several of its walls are also adorned with remarkable fresco paintings.

It was founded around the mid 15th century, probably on the ruins of an earlier convent. The monastery was plundered by the knights of Malta in 1530 and shattered in 1612 by a strong earthquake.

Due to its strategic position, the senate o the Republic of Venice, then ruler of Crete, decided to financially aid in rebuilding it.

The monastery flourished until the surrender of eastern Crete to the Turks in 1646, after which it was abandoned for a long time. In 1704, it acquired special protection privileges from the Patriarch (i.e., stauropegic) and was re-inhabited.

Vai Restaurant: Toplou Monastery, 5km from Vai Restaurant

Water sports at Palm Beach Vai

There isn’t much to do on the beach, apart from what most people visit for which is sunbathing, but there is a small selection of watersports available from pedaloes and water skiing.

Natura Water Sports , on the Palm beach, rents jet skis and other water sport equipmentedaling around the crystal clear waters.

The price of watersports is minimal and allows you an hour or so pedaling around the crystal clear waters.

If you have been to Vai beach in Crete then please feel free to comment on your experiences and rate the beach so other visitors can gauge if its worth visiting.

Psilli ammos beach, 10 min far from Restaurant Vai

Crete, is a walker’s paradise. It has the unique combination of beautiful seas and high mountains. The geographical diversity and wild beauty of the island, the friendliness of its inhabitants as well as the climate are gradually making it into a choice destination for walking and hiking.

Palm Beach Vai area is a great place to come and walk to and the friendliness of the inhabitants in Palekastro region, absence of criminality as well as the easy availability of accommodation just about anywhere make it a good choice if you want to set off walking independently with friends or even all alone.

There are so many beautiful locations to explore throughout East Crete and Palekastro that you can spend 2 weeks visiting them all and walking is definitely the best way to get the most from Crete, its fantastic scenery, traditional villages and friendly, welcoming people. The truly dedicated hikers can go to areas that are practically unknown and totally uninhabited , with undisturbed flora and fauna, be it in gorges or high up on the mountains.

Mountains and gorges, beaches, small valleys and villages, all offer a unique experience and insight into the life and history of this island’s corner paradise.

Walking on Crete is not just an activity which can be enjoyed in the summer. Weather and temperatures during winter, spring and autumn also provide ideal walking conditions on most days. Winter and spring days often have clearer, less hazy light than hot summer days which is perfect if you want to take photographs of the spectacular scenery you will encounter along your route.

Sitia City, 24 km far from Vai Restaurant!

Sitia, 24 km far from Palm Beach Vai restaurant,  is a picturesque town, built in an amphitheatre shape beside the sea in the Gulf of Sitia. Our town is situated on the north-eastern edge of Crete. It has a population of 9000 inhabitants and it is economically and administratively the centre of its own Province. Sitia includes an airport, and a shipping port with connections to Piraeus and the islands of the South-East Agean. Sitia is well known for its clean beaches with rich sand, many awarded the distinction of Blue Flag status. The people of our town are welcoming to visitors and are always ready to celebrate in true Cretan style. Sitia is famous also for its excellent wine.

The Economy

The economy of the area has traditionally been based on agriculture although produce is often sparse due to the stony and mountainous terrain. Nowadays, thanks to government subsidies, the economy is growing in many directions. Collective farming promises new economic development and the improved packaging and marketing of Sitia produce has led to a steady increase in exports.

The local authorities actively encourage all types of development especially in the fields of industry, commerce and construction. Tourism has expanded rapidly in the last few years with a range of hotels from economy to luxury. Important future sources of wealth for the area could be the archaelogical sites which are constantly being unearthed, the well-organized and environmentally-friendly use of the many sites of natural beauty and the maintenance of the traditional character of Sitian life.

Time has left its marks on the landscape of Sitia – marks which the visitor sees everywhere around him. Marks of ancient civilisations such as the remarkable Minoan Palace at Zakros, the ruins of the powerful city of Presos and the remains of the pre-Minoan settlement in the fishing village of Mochlos – marks of every day life and labour immortalized in the creations of artifacts which are lovingly cared for in the local museums.

Sitia; Kazarma fortress

When wandering around the region of Sitia, don’t be surprised by the huge number of archaeological sites you will stumble upon. This region is the cradle of European civilization, a civilization which it fed and nurtured 6000 years ago. Indeed, the signs of a Minoan presence at over 80 sites in the region of Sitia are living proof of the huge development in this area at the time of the dawning of the first great European civilizations.

Here the visitor can find ancient Minoan peak sancuaries, in which many sacred artifacts have been discovered. Here he can find evidence of the ancient rites involved in the worship of Zeus. Here also were built the first Christian churches, their long and bloody history immortalized in the three remaining monasteries.

Take time to explore the natural beauty of the region of Sitia in all its glory. Rarely has such a landscape of contrasts existed in such harmony – majestic mountains, fertile plains, lush secluded valleys and rugged windswept ridges, streams and gorges, cliffs and caves, rocky coast line and white sandy beaches, fertile and barren, African, Mediterranean and European terrain, scorching south winds and cooling north winds – a country of opposites.

Local traditions run deep in the veins of the people. Festivals mark the passage of each year, concerts are organized, people gather to while away the evenings dancing and singing songs that have been handed down through the generations harking back to the Minoans. Sitians like nothing better than to enjoy themselves and to warmly welcome others into their gatherings..

The region of Sitia is all of Crete in one but still retains its unique identity.

Palekastro, 6 km from Vai Restaurant

Palekastro is a small village at the east end of the mediterranean island Crete. It stands on historical soil. Already at Minoan times the region was a centre of trade. The port of Itanos which is today several meters under the water line shows an impressive certification.

The very extensive Minoan commercial settlement, Roussolakkos, close to the Chiona beach, excavated by English archaeologists, proves that the region was obviously one of the most important commercial centres of the Minoan culture in the extreme east of the island of Crete. Palm Beach Vai,  and Palm Beach Vai Restaurant is only 7 Km far from the village!

The village remains exempted from the mass tourism. Still the main business of the approximately 1100 inhabitants is agriculture. They cultivate olives and wine and there a few fisherman remain. Commercial fishing however is hard these days due to the substantial over fishing of the Mediterranean Sea. Tourism is supplementary income and it probably will remain so.

Palekastro

At the east edge of the village visible from far away there’s the flat hill called Kastri(s). This mountain gave Palekastro its name in the middle ages when the region was dominated by the sovereign power of Venice. On the flat summit they had established a fortress. In the course of the centuries the stones were cleared away and used by the people of the region to build houses.

Take a walk up there (app. 30 minutes from Chiona or Kouremenos) and enjoy a unique view over the village, the beaches and the mountains. Best time: early morning or late afternoon.

Itanos area, 2km from Vai Restaurant

A short drive north of  Palm Beach Vai (2 km) you find the relatively isolated bays and beaches of Itanos . In fact, there are 3 beaches here: the first is the one at the end of the road, the second is reached walking to the north (the beach on the photo) and the third is also reached walking south behind the small fortress. The third one is also suitable to spend time under the shade of the palm-trees.

As an extra bonus there is a Minoan city at the entrance of the main beach. Itanos was one of the most influential places in the east of Crete. It florished from early Minoan to early Byzantian times.

There are traces of a basilic and of Greek walls, and a lot of fallen apart traces on the hill.  Itanos was particularly powerful during the Greek era and it was flourishing by the seventh century B.C. Itanos was continuously at war with its neighbours, originally with Praisos, and when Ierapytna / Ierapetra destroyed Praisos, Itanos was at war with Ierapytna Ierapetra.

An important reason for the conflict was dispute over the control of the Temple of Zeus in Palaikastro / Palekastro. Only after Praises was defeated and some sort of cooperation with Ierapatra was established Itanos started to florish. This was a few centuries BC. The port of Itanos was situated in a very strategic place and the town started to trade with Egypt and the surrounding towns.

In the 8th century AD Itanos was destroyed in an earthquake but the inhabitants stayed and rebuilt the town. Only in the 15th century after attacks by pirates the town was finally destroyed and deserted. Because the west of Crete slowly elevates upwards and the east odf the island is slowly sinking (6 to 9 meters in the last 2000 years, mainly caused by earthquakes, see also: Gramvousa) parts of the harbour of Itanos have now sunk into the sea.

The site of Itanos covers an area of more than 16,000 square meters, and most of it is still not escavated.  In the area there are more quiet places to be found.

Vai Restaurant: Windsurfing in East Crete

The large one! More than two kilometres of fine sandy beaches looking to the east – that’s Kouremenos, app. three kilometres east of Palekastro. Take the road to Vai, move right at the crossroads 2km from Palekastro village.

Even during the high season in August one feels almost alone every now and then. Nude bathers meet below the red rocks of “The Kastri” mountain at the southeast end. Locals remain completely in front nearby the road which leads also to the port.

Wind surfers romp around the beach centre, where the off-coast blowing Meltemi kick the board artists proper into the sea. Since 2003 there is a new surf school at this legendary spot. A team from Austria started “freak surf Palekastro”.

Windsurfing in East Crete

The bay offers perfect flat-water conditions near the shore. The advanced and intermediates can practise their surf moves in the clear blue water of Kouremenos Beach. You can find perfect conditions for planning moves as well as professional freestyle. There are small waves further out, where the absolute freaks can let them-selves go. This is the ideal place for surfers who want to brake-in their first ‘chop hop’.
The wind blows side shore from the left and achieves a wind force between 4 and 7 Beaufort. During the summer season, the average wind force is approximately 6 Beaufort. Most used sail size: 4.5 – 5.3. [Source: freaksurf-Palekastro]

Palm Beach Vai

The exotic sandy beach of Vai with the unique palm trees wood in Europe is situated at a distance of 94 kilometers far from Aghios Nikolaos at the Northeast and 24 kilometers eastern to Sitia.

It has been named after the word “vagia”, meaning “palm tree” or “rims of palm tree” in Greek. According to the local legend the wood had been grown from the stones of dates thrown away by Arab pirates or Phoenician merchants set ashore at the place.

Within a space of 60 acres there are some 5.000 perennial trees, a real oasis at the desert-like landscape of Eastern Crete.

The beach is somehow affected by the winds blowing in the area, but who cares about winds when being in such a breathtaking environment!

It is quite impossible to describe in words this landscape of unique beauty! Only whoever has visited it can perceive what is it like. Due to the palm trees wood it looks rather like an African beach with sand and fine pebbles, placed on the territory of Europe.

The core of the wood, where plantation is thicker, is fenced; access to this part is allowed every day from sunrise to sunset, all year round; staying overnight it the wood is strictly forbidden. The beach is well organized and has been awarded a blue flag. This beach is one of the few samples of good combination of facilities with preservation and respect to the natural environment. Sea sport facilities, cafes and restaurants are available, in a scale that doesn’t damage this amazing landscape.

The wood is situated at the exit of a quite narrow valley, ending up at the famous beach of Vai; a spring of good sweet water and a small brook with numerous oleanders within the riverbed are found in the inner wood. The wood is unique not only for its beauty but also for the species of palm trees it is comprised of. A wood of the “phoenix theophrasti” as it is called in Botanology is found in European territory, only here and on the Canary Islands. Not only the wood, but the whole landscape contribute to this inconceivable beauty: the thick sand forms dunes around, while at the nearby low hills you will find rare plants with extraordinary flowers.

However, walking northwards along the beach you will find some smaller beaches equally beautiful. And a piece of advice: if you don’t want to rent an umbrella near the sea, don’t worry! You may relax under the natural shade of the palm trees, within the wood. What is better in a hot summer noon!

Wherever you are in Crete, don’t miss to visit Palm Beach Vai! If you leave the island without going there, you will have the feeling that you have seen nothing! It is not an exaggeration; it’s just the truth!!

See the Palm Beach Vai photo gallery