Have you arrived in Crete? Do not forget about Lake Kournas!

A truly fabulous island with a magnificent climate, rich history and wonderful recreational facilities is Crete. And the very first "tourist" who visited this island was Zeus. He turned into a bull and kidnapped Europe, which he brought to Crete. And here Zeus calculated everything accurately. Europe was so impressed by the beauty of this island that, despite all the circumstances, she fell in love with the formidable ruler of the Greek gods and gave him her hand and heart. But in our time, the beauty of Crete has not faded, and this island conquers modern tourists. Here you can tour the amazing places with the most beautiful natural attractions, which includes Lake Kournas.

This is the only fresh water reservoir on this island. The lake is located in the Chania area, in the interior of Crete, south of the city of Georgioupolis. And next to the pond is a village with the same name. Lake Kournas has a depth of 22.5 meters, which varies slightly depending on the season. For example, in winter the water level drops. The whole bowl of this lake is located above sea level, and only its deepest part is 3 meters below it. Lake Kournas on the map looks like a small oval. And in reality its dimensions are small. The perimeter of this lake is 3.5 kilometers, and its area is 57.9 hectares. The width of the reservoir is 880 meters, and the length is 1080 meters. And from this lake flows only one small river Delphinas, flowing into the sea.

In ancient times this pond had a different name - Korecea. A Kurnas, it began to be called, most likely, by the Arabs, because in their language this word means "lake". And with it is connected one legend, which says that earlier on the place where Kurnas lake is located, there was a village. And not far from her in the field sat a father and daughter to rest. The girl undertook to comb her hair in gold, and her father looked at her admiringly and unexpectedly coveted her daughter. The girl at the same time was frightened and frantically shouted: "Let my spirit create a lake." And at the same time, they and the village collapsed, and in that place a bottomless lake was formed. And in our time there are rumors that some people see the ghost of the golden-haired woman, who sits in the middle of a pond on a rock and combs her hair.

And now Lake Kournas is a very popular holiday destination. From the city of Georgioupolis it is located 5 kilometers away, and to the pond there is a convenient access from the New National Road. And along its eastern shore, a narrow asphalt road was built, near which several taverns and a couple of points for renting catamarans were built. Also slightly higher are souvenir shops, where they trade in Cretan pottery. And even higher there is one road, along which there are also several taverns and there is also a beautiful view of Lake Kournas. Crete as a whole, and this lake in particular, has recently been chosen by Russian tourists. And in the taverns specially for them there is a menu printed in Russian.

Also on the lake there are many animals. Here you can always see geese begging tourists for food, small ducks and turtles basking in reeds and stones. In general, in the area of this lake there are 176 species of birds. In its waters you can see different fish, including gold, as well as freshwater crabs. And the water in this lake is clear and quite clean, although it is not good for drinking.