Located 65 km from Heraklion, on the south coast of Crete lies a secret: the small village of Tsoutsouros. The village can be reached from the capital following the route Heraklion - Peza - Arkalochori - Skinias - Kato Kastelliana - Tsoutsouros. Mainly a fishing / farming community of about 100 permanent residents, Tsoutsouros can be reached after a long and winding, but mostly spectacularly beautiful road through the mountains. Tsoutsouros is on of our favourite destinations because of its peace and quiet and because of its beautiful sandy beaches. The beach of Maridaki is situated just east of this village and can be reached in different ways: on foot, by car or by boat.

The distance between Tsoutsouros and Maridaki beach is about three kilometers. From the eastern beach (the beach with the Edelweiss Hotel and Apollon) there is a path between the two villages. The beginning is indicated by a sign and the route is indicated by red-white painted stones. During the walk you have beautiful views first over Tsoutsouros and then on the sea and the village of Maridaki. You walk along beautiful mountains and caves. We made this walk and it took us 45 minutes. Don't forget to bring plenty of water if you are going to make the journey. It's not a walk for people with fear of heights (like me). Occasionally I had to stop and sit down to breathe in and exhale. Also my travelling companion, who usually does not have so much trouble walking along cliffs, thought some parts were scary. There are fences at the most dangerous places to keep you safe, but still. The last piece is the hardest, but by that time it's no use to go back again. On the "scary" pieces with the fences I could not take pictures because it made me dizzy just to look around.

A second option is to go to Maradaki via a 15 kilometer unpaved, and not such a good road from Ahedria. You will need a good car. The third option is to find a taxi boat in Tsoutsouros. By boat the trip to Maradaki takes about 5 minutes. Maradaki has a large and quite wide pebble beach and there are rocks and there is a cave where you can find shelter and shade. The river flows into the village, but in summer it is really a tiny stream. I didn't think that the water of the sea was really cold (September). Over this river is a bridge leading to the St. Panteleimon church (Maridaki is also called Agios Panteleimon, after the church). Maridaki is situated at the end of a gorge. At the back of the village are all old plane trees and there is another small tavern. A five minutes walk away the waterfalls of Lichnistis can be seen until the beginning of spring.

From Maradaki beach you can walk to the next beach, where there is also a monastery, the Agios Nikitas Monastery. The beach there is named after the monastery. A litte bit further there is a small palm forest. On the beach of Maridaki itself, where it is quite quiet, there is a large tavern that was open in September. You can have a drink or dinner here. We were able to arrange a taxi boat back to Tsoutsouros. There is a telephone number that you can call on one of the windows (Blue Courier 030 6972272452). For those who want to stay overnight in Maridaki it will be a little bit more difficult. There are no official accommodations for rent, but I understand that there are some individuals who rent out a room. You could ask around in the village.