The castle of Gramvousa was built from Venetians between 1579 and 1583 on the highest spot of the island on the rock height 137 m. The castle....

The Program

Departure from Chania towards the port of Kastelli and embarkation in the boat. Crossing the bay of Kissamos, the ancient shipyard of Tarsanas. Visit the fabled pirate island of Gramvousa and optional climbing to the Venetian castle. Visit the fabulous lagoon of Balos, with its pristine sand and golden seashells. Return about 17:30.

Balos-Gramvousa

At the north-west corner of Crete there is the chersonese of Gramvousa. On the west side of the chersonese there is an amazing coast that is called Balos. The sand on this beach is very thin and has a beautiful white-red color. From the coast one can see two small islands: Imeri Gramvousa and Agria Gramvousa. Agria Gramvoussa is a very small and rocky island. Imeri Gramvousa is bigger and has on it a Venetian castle. If you want to visit Imeri Gramvousa as well as the beach of Balos, then you can do it only by boat. You can also reach the beach of Balos by car or motorcycle, although the dirt road is not recommended for the cars.

HISTORY

The castle of Gramvousa was built between 1579 and 1584 by Venetians. It has a vaguely triangular shape and each side is 1000metres long. The island of Imeri Gramvousa is associated with the struggle to liberate Crete from the Ottoman occupation. three thousand revolutionaries used the island as their shelter for three years to solve the problem of food scarcity, they took to piracy.