I woke up Tuesday morning with a choice.   Safe choice:   Drive 30 KMS from my hotel in Kissamos,  to Chania, where i would check into my hotel, then check out the the archeological museum and learn about the rich history of Chania for my last day in Crete.  Risky choice:  drive 30kms north on a dirt “road” on the Rodopos Peninsula to the sanctuary of Diktynna  My rental car company told me there was no way I could make this drive without a 4wD  vehicle – which I elected to pass on because the price was 2x vs. an economy car.     In Kissamos, I asked my hotel manager about the drive and she informed me an Italian couple made the drive the previous week in their Fiat Panda, which was basically not much different than my little Dacia 5 speed.     This bolstered my confidence, and in the spirit YOLO I decided to go for it!  My plan was to drive out to the point where the pavement ended and then assess the dirt road conditions, taking it nice and slow.

Most of the road conditions were similar to this photo, however there were sketchier sections – typically on hills and hairpin corners – where worn over rocks rose out of the road surface and extreme caution was required!  My average speed was between  5-20 miles per hour and total driving time on dirt section was over an hour and a half.

Fortunately I met a Greek family on the drive  with a 4wD Jeep and they offered to drive me the last 5 kms , as  this was the worst section of the road and the Dacia definitely would not have made it.  At 12:30 we passed an abandoned farm house situated above the beach and arrived at our destination.

As you can see the beach below the sanctuary was gorgeous, and completely isolated.   The remains of the temple were located on the summit of the rock promontory directly south of the beach.  Knowing I was on a tight schedule with a long return journey, I said goodby to my Greek friends and climbed up to the temple..

Summitting the hilltop,  I surveyed the scene and could see that nothing remained standing of the original temple. 20 centuries of weather, earthquakes, plunder and decay took its toll on  Diktynna.  That said, the entire hilltop was strewn with ancient marble and granite detritus,  much of it carved with ancient embellishments.   Surely all this material would have been plundered over the centuries, but I suspect the pure isolation of the Diktynna site protected the remaining artifacts from theft. The Roman Cisterns were situated above the temple, and as you can see would have held several thousand gallons of water to sustain human activity at the temple.

After an hour of wandering amongst the enigmatic remains of Diktynna, I climbed the hill above the temple for some final photos and then commenced my return journey to Chania.  On my 5 km hike back  to the car I took a shortcut out of the valley and found the remains of the original Roman road that Emperor Hadrian commissioned to access Diktynna from the hills above the temple.  Amazing Engineers those Romans!

Back at the car, I did a quick survey of the tires to make sure of no flats or damage,and snapped one final photo of me and my trusty Dacia, as she performed admirably through some brutal driving conditions and delivered me safely back to Chania in time for dinner and Sunset.

Time to say goodbye to Crete.  My week on this island was truly memorable, punctuated with several grueling yet drop dead gorgeous hikes and stunning profusions of spring wild flowers.   Temps were 60s – 70s during the day and dropped down to the 40s – 50s at night, and not a single drop of rain the entire week.  Fresh, flavorful fruits and vegetables every day  – gastronomic paradise for a vegetarian!

Now on to Spain and the Camino!