Crete is full of karst and geological formations, with caves being the most interesting, but also most fragile. This category hosts some places which have high geological interest and are worth getting known better.
Near Skinaria, on the road leading to the beach, you will see a weird cave on your left with a cylindrical shape, which penetrates a boulder. The cave is called Tripiti and is a nesting point for pigeons.
Chrissi can be considered a paradise for geology enthusiasts. One of the most spectacular geological sights of the island can be seen east of Belerinina beach, where you will meet thousands of fossils, mainly bivalves. The fossils form a so-called thanatocoenosis, that is, dead shells that have been gathered there by the streams and have fossilized over time.
Near Agia Varvara, at position Plakota Harakia, we meet some very special rock formations, reminiscent of huge round pies or hamburgers. Indeed, the locals call them Gria’ (Old Woman’s) Pies or Cheeses. Next to it there is a very large vertical rock, Votiros.
If you climb the cliffs on the east side of Agiofarago beach and walk for a while to the southeast, you will meet a hidden saltish lake - cave, called Vourvoulitis, surrounded by vertical cliffs.
The desert region bears the place name Elia by a centuries-old olive tree, the only tree in the area and is one of the 4 total olive trees (!) that we meet throughout the island. The existence of this secret desert does not seem in any beach of the island shows how close the island is located to the African climate and continent.
The spring of Gineka is a source of life for all the goats in the region and is an important point for the reproduction of frogs. Next to the spring there are ruins of an old building and some ancient terraces which served to hold the ground the area for cultivation of grain.
At the eastern end of Chora Sfakia harbor we meet the rock of Tsagaris (shoemaker). Tsagaris is a towering and sharp rock that stands out from the rest rocks in the area. From afar the rock looks like merging with the opposite side, however from below one notes that it hangs separate from others and is nowhere joined. Its top reminds of a head.
At the end of the long beach or a Pahia Ammos, at the west side of Paleochora, there is the Horse of Paleochora. This is not an animal but a very large and impressive rock of conglomerate limestone that reminds of a horse head. With a little imagination one can see the face and the eyes of the horse watching the long sandy beach that stretches in front of it.