0Thrypti Mountainside

Thrypti is a moun­tain north east of Iera­petra that forms the east­ern side of the break in the moun­tains where Crete is at its nar­row­est. It is an easy drive that offers impress­ive views of north and south coast.

The drive up the side of the val­ley reaches around 500m before turn­ing into the moun­tains. From this vant­age point there are pan­or­amic views from north to south with both coasts in full view — Iera­petra on the left, and Agios Nikolaos in the dis­tance on the right. Fol­low­ing the road bey­ond towards the vil­lage of Thripti offers views back towards the coast through Ha Gorge, and a dirt road can be taken to see more of Ha gorge.

After Thrypti it is pos­sible to con­tin­ue on a cir­cu­lar route by head­ing towards Oreion which is an attract­ive vil­lage in its own right. The road to Oreino is a dirt-track but is not too rough. It reaches a height of 990m which offers great views, and often provides oppor­tun­it­ies to see vul­tures. If you want to really get the best views there is a right turn which leads up to the top of the peak which has a small build­ing on top. This view­ing point is at 1470m. After Oreino the best road back to the coast goes via Kaliv­it­is and reaches the coast at Agios Pan­telei­mo­nas not far from Makrys Gia­los. The coast road west then takes you back to Iera­petra. Altern­at­ively after Oreino you can fol­low the same road towards Kavil­it­is but go via Shinokapsala back to the coast at Galini.

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