Palm beach at Vai

In junior 10 kilometers to the north - east of the monastery Toplou is one of the best beaches in Crete - and the most exotic. Gulf of Vai, the question is, looks like a piece of land taken from Africa. Here is the only one in Crete, this palm grove, where it grows endemic species palm (Phoenix theophrastii). It is to be related to date palm, but the nature stripped of its edible fruits. Each tree grows no higher than 10 m, and the green leafy part of the locals call the "frond" (hence the name of the bay). Do not know where these plants have appeared here, but legend has it that they have grown from seed, which spat out the Saracens, having landed on the shores of the Gulf in 824 year.