Whenever I visit Avlemonas (Cavallini House, Vardiola, port and Kastello) with a group, we take a walk on the beautiful elongated beach to Paleopoli. Like last Friday: we saw seagulls flying above us, the salty seaweed along the beach, the intense blue sky and the impressive yellow limestone cliffs. What beauty, what an emptiness and what a silence. Apart from us, nobody was there.

Traditionally we looked for a heart shaped stone as a memento of our visit to the birthplace of Aphrodite. The ascent to the Minoan burial chambers and then to the top of the cliff, with the throne of Aphrodite, was literally and figuratively the highlight of the walk. Fantastic place!