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Karteros |
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Despite the proximity to the airport, the majority of the guests at the beach of Karteros are native Greeks. Because there are few good beaches in the centre of Heraklio, many of the almost 200,000 inhabitants of the capital of the island of Crete spend their leisure time on the beaches of the surrounding area. Especially at the weekend on hot days in summer, the beach of Karteros is therefore always well filled. At the beach in Karteros you can rent deckchairs and parasols. The landing planes are not too loud, as they fly by about one kilometre before the beach. The airport is only a few hundred meters away, you can see the fence around the airport from the beach in Karteros. At the beach there is a beach bar and 2 to 3 taverns. The sandy beach of Karteros has a nice yellow colour. Despite the nearby city, the water looks clean and clear. In the village of Karteros on the Old Road you will find several more cafés and restaurants as well as a good bakery and several supermarkets. There are some smaller and bigger hotels, but Karteros is not one of the big holiday resorts on Crete. Sights in Karteros are not known to us. The village is very small. How to get to Karteros: From Heraklion take the Old Road towards Agios Nikolaos. From the airport take the first road towards Heraklion, but take the first left. You will pass the only Praktiker DIY store in Crete. After the DIY store turn left again. Now you are on the old road to Agios Nikolaos, which crosses Karteros (first village after about 3 kilometers). In the other direction the Old Road continues to Kokkini Hani, Gouves (here is the big aquarium of Crete). Later you reach the big tourist resorts Hersonissos, Stalis and Malia. All listed places are directly at the north coast of Crete and are characterized by tourism. Island Dia From Karteros you can see the big island Dia, which is only 7 kilometres away from the beach. It is by far the largest island in the surroundings of Heraklion. The island is uninhabited. Dia is 6 km long and 4 km wide (about 12 km² area). There are always summer excursion boats to Dia. These do not sail from Karteros, but mainly from Heraklion.
Various protected animals and plants live on Dia. These include the wild goat Kri-Kri, a lizard (a subspecies of the Cycladic wall lizard), a rare snail, a subspecies of the rabbit and a rare thistle (Eberwurzen-Art Carlina diae, endemic to Crete and some small islands such as Dia). On Dia there is a tavern for the guests of the boat trips of Crete. As far as we know, it is not possible for tourists to stay overnight on Dia Island.
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