Sfakia report, May 5th – Asfendou and Kalikratis flowers Everything you want to ask, read or write about Sfakia, southwest Crete, or Crete island in general.

[jean h]

We drove up for an easy afternoon looking at the progress of flowers in Kalikratis and Asfendou. We paused on the road above Asfendou for clear views back to the Lefka Ori ,and over to Pshiloritis floating above the clouds, with a stone mitato in the foreground. Kalikratis looks so green as you approach it.

In Kalikratis we stopped at Janina’s cafe for her wonderful cheese and olive plate and fresh lemonade. There was a cool breeze up there, but it was very sunny. The field across from her (as elsewhere in KK) is full of golden Smyrnium rotundifolium and tassel hyacinths, as well as purple scabiosa and other colourful flowers.

In Asfendou, the fields where we find the most orchids are full of white asphodel, but the butterfly orchids (Orchis papilionacea alibertis) are coming into bloom beneath them. There was no evidence of most of the earlier orchids except a few sitaica. We also spotted a peony in bloom in a field behind a locked gate.

Back in Sfakia, the temperature was a lot warmer and the beach was quite full.

[Joan]

So many good ideas for us for next Spring. Thank you!

Joan