Chania Trails - APO 10 - The Unexpected Forest

Three villages, located next to one another, are in competition for the title of most beautiful but the real showstopper is on another part of this trail entirely. Our route starts in Kournas, a very old settlement that retains many of its traditional characteristics. The first part leads gently uphill along rough farming roads, offering a view that becomes increasingly impressive as you carry on.

Reaching its summit, the dirt road gives way to an old, long-forgotten footpath that leads to Patima, the smaller of the three villages. The alleys snake among hermetically closed houses, contributing to the eerie atmosphere.

Our route then heads past small chapels to reach Kastellos, which used to be part of a fortress, hence the allusion in its name to the Italian word for ‘castle.’ As you leave the village, the path appears on the map to simply loop back to Kournas. What it actually does, though, is plunge into a forest where the play of light from the towering tree trunks and leafy canopy creates an atmosphere that is at once fairytale-like, mysterious and somewhat awe-inspiring. The trees are oaks, which are known as azilakes in the local dialect, and this is one of the most impressive forests of their kind on the entire island.

The trail descends the forest’s always cool slopes to then traverse a series of healthy olive groves and vineyards before heading back to Kournas. We enter the village from an old road that runs past the Byzantine Church of Saint George, which has stood here for some 1,000 years.