Asprougas beach at Koufonissi
In the central part of the southern coast of Koufonisi, you come across the beach Asprougas, completely secluded and untouched. The word Asprougas in the Cretan dialect means white and describes exactly the soft whitish clay rocks of the area, which also gave the ancient name of the island Lefki (= white). This type of clay that abounds throughout the region is ideal for mud spas and has healing properties.
The area of Asprougas could easily be described as an open-air geological museum, full of fossils (one slope of the area is fully covered with fossils from an extinct species of snail). Besides the rich fossils, the morphology of the whole area with the white and stripped rocks scattered everywhere is amazing. The waters are shallow and the sand has a pale reddish color.
On several rocks in the area, there are marks dating from the Roman era by the visitors who wanted to leave their “print” in this magical place of the earth. After these inscriptions, the beach is also known as Istories (i.e. stories).
