We drove from Kissamos to the town of Polyrinia and the ancient site above the town. The village was built at the foot of the Acropolis. It was built up in layers and the houses were original. We saw no one apart from a few old women hidden in the darkness of the doorways.

An aqueduct ran through the village which was another great original feature.

On the way up the small pavements we saw The old olive mill which was great too. Once we made it to the top of the village we some how found a way up to the Ancient Site to find views of Kissamos and the church of the Holy Fathers.

Polyrinia was one of the most important city states of Western Crete. It was the most fortified city on ancient Crete and commanded all the western coast of the island. There were ancient rock cut houses and tombs scattered about. On the acropolis of Polyrinia was a temple dedicated to Artemis. Stones from the temple have been used for the building of the church of the Holy Fathers which was built in 1894 and it is located where the temple used to be.

We walked to the top of the Acropolis, went past a few more churches, till an even better view arrived.

It was really wild and windy and we struggled to find a path back down but it was a lovely trek.

We also went to the village of Rokka, at the foot of ancient Rokka and near the Rokka gorge. The hill looks almost man made as the shape doesn’t look natural.-

Instead of walking around the town we went up the hill and sat in acres of daisies,

on the walls of the ancient site, looking over the stunning gorge.

After a while me and TUT (The Ultimate Traveller) walked up the hill ,there was no distinctive path but we managed to scramble our way to the top. This view is one of the best so far, a full 360 view.

The ancient olive tree of Vouves.

We drove through the hills of Crete to the village of Ano Vouves.

The olive tree of Vouves is one of the oldest olive trees in the world, dating back about 3000 years. It is a protected natural monument. It has a diameter of 4.6 m and a perimeter of 12.5m.

The best thing was that you could actually go inside the tree and stand up inside it.

There was a small museum near the tree which had interesting traditional tools and information about olive cultivation and pressing. Branches from the tree were used to weave victors’ wreaths for the winners of the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the olive branch is usually a symbol of peace or victory.

Komolithi.

Komolithi is in the town of Potamida. Komolithi is a soft clay geological structure set in a field of flowers, near the mountains.

We walked to the top and we started to do a clay fight. It was perfect clay for any sort of ceramics.