Ammoudara Beach

This guide to Ammoudara Beach in Heraklion follows a rare white flower, the sea daffodil, that pushes up through the bare sand each August, and the local belief tying it to Minoan wall paintings near Knossos three thousand years ago. It traces the coastline itself, once set further inland along a rock ridge, before centuries of river silt built the seven kilometers of sand stretching out today. Venetian nobles and Ottoman officials once came out to this shore to escape Heraklion's summer heat.