Koustogerako pictures

Crete does not just have beautiful beaches; it also offers lovely walks high up in the mountains. Here you can see the village of Livadas, a few kilometres from Sougia on the south coast of Chania Prefecture.

Another view of Livadas, a small mountain village whose inhabitants were executed by the German Army in WWII.

Animal husbandry is prevalent in the mountains of Crete. On the steep mountainsides graze thousands of sheep and goats.

The village of Koustogerako, 10 km from Sougia.

A lovely old house in Koustogerako.

An accessible dirt track continues up the mountain, or Madara as the locals call it. The White Mountains are known as Madares because they are bare above 2,000 metres ("madaros" = bald, bare of vegetation, treeless).

A goat, the natural inhabitant of the Madara.

A fallen tree trunk in the forest that adorns the mountains around Koustogerako.

The E4 European Walking Path passes through Koustogerako and continues towards the Omalos Plateau. This particular route is difficult and it's easy to get lost if you don't know the area well. In other parts of Crete, on the contrary, the E4 path runs along easy routes, ideal for walks in the countryside, like the route from Sougia to Lissos.

Thyme, the sweet-smelling herb with its tiny purple flowers. Thyme decorates every Cretan hillside in Crete, spreading its scent throughout the island. It is thanks to this that Crete produces excellent thyme honey.

The wooded slopes around Koustogerako. Many centuries ago the whole of Crete was covered in forest, but now only a few woods are left, mainly in the White Mountains in the west, Mt Psiloritis in the centre and the Dicte range in the east of Crete.

Two pine trees growing side by side, like Siamese twins.

The mountainsides are wild, with steep cliffs and crags and deep gorges.

A bird of prey flies high in the azure sky. In Crete the vulture is called a "skara" in the east and a "kanavos" in the west. The griffon vulture should not be confused with the lammergeier or bearded vulture, a larger and much rarer bird.