Hi All,
Just a quick one to show off the awesome lump of quartz rock crystal I found on Crete. This beauty comes straight from the water’s edge at Gerani. I was pretty surprised to tell you the truth. There was lot of opaque, rubbishy quartz lying around, but only this one nice clear piece, frosted by wave action. Just goes to show it’s best to keep your eyes on the ground and away from the beautiful scenery…right???
We also found a few fossils at Balos Lagoon, but it’s the sand that really makes this place special. Balos Lagoon is one of the few beaches in the world that has pink sand. As to the cause, we remain unsure (leave us a comment if you know!). We noticed a reddish-pink layer in the cliffs above the beach that might be the source, but didn’t get a chance to climb up and check.
Some online articles claim the colour is from forams in the sand, but the only forams we saw were the white, disc-shaped variety. That being said, we’re not exactly carbonate experts and didn’t have a hand lens on us at the time (geology fail!).
All in all, Crete is a pretty amazing place to visit; with cool geology, amazing history and spectacular views! We highly recommend visiting the mountains as well as the beaches, and making a special trip to the Heraklion Archaeology Museum– it has one of the best collection of Minoan art and artefacts in the world! Make sure you also pick up some olive oil and goat’s cheese through your travels, and wash it all down with shot of the local raki.
Anonymous
Beautiful.. thank you for your post