WEATHER
Anogeia
Light Showers
11°C
Wind: 15 Southwest
Rethymno
16°C
Wind: 27 West
Spili
14°C
Wind: 06 West
Fragma Potamon
17°C
Wind: 13 West
courtesy of: www.meteo.gr
Agouseliana - Spili
Length: 13.3 km
Estimated time: 4 hours
Suggested period: January - December
Difficulty: None
Koxare
The village of Koxare is 23 km far from Rethymno. It has 401 residents according to the 2001 census. The village lies in one of the most fertile regions of the hinterland. The lush green landscape of the Koxare plain (of olive trees) alternates with the wild and imposing landscape among the Atsipadiana Mountains or the mountains of Kouroupa, on the foot of which the village is built. The olive plantation of Koxare is the biggest one in the former county of Agios Vasileios. Residents are occupied almost exclusively with farming and stockbreeding.
At Koxare, there is the cave of Beligkre on a 470 m altitude and the cave of Honos on a 1100 m altitude.
After the village of Koxare, Kourtaliotiko Gorge begins (which is included in the NATURA 2000 network). It is 2100 m long and Kourtaliotis River flows along it, with dense vegetation (many palm trees) and steep high masses of rock on both sides.
The village played a vital role in the fights of Cretan people, due to its position at the entrance of Kourtaliotiko Gorge. In the southeast, a peak sanctuary of the middle Minoan era has been found, as well as statuettes picturing humans or animals, while tombs of the late Minoan era have been excavated. The little church of Ai Giorgis with its Byzantine wall paintings is very interesting.