Nature

Its exit is located in the village Nomikiana, Sfakia province. In Chionistra there are two different streams in calcareous soils which after one hour walking each merge to form the gorge of Kapni. The canyon is quite long and walking in it takes about 4 hours. It is one of the difficult and dangerous gorges of Crete with craggy riverbed which in some places creates dry waterfalls and requires climbing.

The gorge of Valahas is formed south of Heraklion and the beach Elygia is formed at its exit. The highest rapel is 50m high and 4 hours are required for its crossing (only with canyoning equipment). The lower part of the gorge is covered by pine trees.

The cave Kamilari is an easily accessible and impressive cave of Psiloritis Mount. It is located just 200m from the 13th km of the old road connecting Heraklion with Rethymnon, near Tylisos, at an altitude of 267m. It has 200m long paths, while its entrance has a width of 10m and a height of 4m.

On the trail leading from Agios Ioannis to Koudoumas monastery we meet an impressive cave, shaped Δ, in which there is the small church of Saint Anthony. The cave hosts stalagmites and stalactites. One stalactite, has the shape of Saint Anthony, and a pit where there is an icon of St. Anthony. The cave was used as a residence of hermits.

The European Tree Frog (scient. Hyla arborea) is the only species of tree frogs in Europe, which is also found in the humid areas of Crete. Indeed, the tree frog populations in Crete belong to two distinct endemic subspecies (Hyla arborea veluchiensis and Hyla arborea cretensis).

The Great Olive tree of Aerinos has been declared monumental by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities. It is located at an altitude of 700 meters near the settlement Felesina. The olive tree is impressive because apart from its age it has a special morphology with many stones embedded in the trunk.

Koufonissi was an economic and cultural center from the Minoan until the Greco-Roman Times and was claimed by all major cities of the region. As recorded on the inscription of the Magnites currently embeded on the facade of the Toplou monastery church, there was a great dispute between Itanos and Ierapytna about Lefki island. In 132BAD the island was owned by Itanos.

Tafkoura cave is located at Located at Petradolakia at an altitude 1480 meters, approximately 13 km south of Anogia. It is classified as pothole and its explored depth is 860m and the total length is 6570 meters. It is considered as the largest and deepest cavern of Psiloritis Mount and the 3rd in Greece.