June 3rd - ...The short, direct, one marked with E4 signs ends in an olive grove with no way out ! You keep climbing on the basis that you will meet up with the Anavasi version of the route and then all of a sudden you find the dreaded stock fencing. I was lucky to find a way through (over) it, scramble up and over a ridge and see the easier, but longer, dirt road alternative on the other side of a full-flowing river. However, my choice of route seemed to be what the EOS expects you to do, as suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, there was another rare E4 sign on my side of the road on the way down to the river...
Distance:24.7 km
Time: 9 hrs.
Mov av 4.3 km/hr
Height overnight: 605m.(max 775 m.)

The area is touristic developed with many shops, restaurants on the shore, bars and several excellent hotels famous for their comforts and the variety of amenities offered. The lagoon of Elounda is shaped between the coast and a small peninsula of 7-8 km length ... Spinalonga, since antiquity, has protected the harbor of ancient Olous.

Etiá (or Ethiá GR: Ετιά) is a small settlement situated 2 klm away from the village of Papagianades driving to the village of Armeni.
In a Venetian census was recorded with a population of 564. The village of Etia was at peak of its power around the Venetian occupation and from the presence of the St. John and St. Aikaterini churches one assumes that the village also existed through the Byzantine period as well.
The village used to be private property of the De Mezzo family, a venetian family, where they built their three-storeyed house, the Seragio Serai House, which used to host Turkish officers as well during the Turkish occupation and can be seen nowadays. This House is considered to be one of the most important samples of the Venetian architecture in Crete.
The church of St. Aikaterini used to be occupied by the Turks as a mosque until the Cretan revolution in 1897.
At the south of village of Etia there is the hill of Etiani Kefala at an altitude of 715 m. where it used to be a sacred place but unfortunately nowadays looted.

The village of Papagianades (GR: Παπαγιαννάδες) with ~160 inhabitants, is situated in the area of Lefki at an altitude of 480 m above sea level, approximately 90 km from Agios Nikolaos and 19 from the town of Sitia.
It was first recorded in an Egyptian census in 1834 with 8 Christian families. It was also recorded by Chourmouzi Byzantios in 1842. In the 1881 census the village is recorded with a population of 77 pertaining to the Community of Handras.
The Ai Lias hill just before entering the village is of local interest as well as the Monastirakia, a ruined Minoan settlement.
There is also the church of Panagia Eleousa with frescoes dated back to the 14th century. The sightseer can sit and relax at the marvelous Panteli, a place in a gorge with lot of trees, joining the villages of Papagianades and Maronia. The chapel of Virgin Mary is worth visiting as well.