Mochlos Bay & Vai Beach

The alarm went off at 7am and just after 8.30am we were collecting our friends from Elounda to do a long coastal drive around East Crete via Sitia to Via Beach.

The blipfoto was taken not too long after we set off. It was humid and the clouds low with the sun trying to burn through. The distant hills of the coast were shades of grey with a glow on the sea. I just had to stop and take a photo (Mochlos Bay) and it's the one I like best of the day.

The palm beach of Vai is one of the largest attractions in Crete. It features the largest natural palm forest in Europe, made up of Cretan Date Palm. Vai was unknown until the early 1970s, when the popular ad of Bounty chocolate with coconut was filmed there, with the magical background of palm trees. In the advertisement, coconuts from palm trees were falling down. However, it was trick, as the trees of Theophrastus produce only dates. The ad made this unknown place famous throughout the world. As hippies started to frequent and mess up the beach it was made a protected area. (Aerial photo taken of the beach and it's palm trees in the extra)