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Amari
In Crete, the biggest island of Greece, in the prefecture of Rethymnon, is located the area of Amari, which spreads around the southwestern side of Psiloritis. It is comprised of two municipalities, the Municipality of Sivritos with Agia Fotini as its capital and the Municipality of Kourites with the village of Fourfouras as its capital. In Amari, the area of Gods and people, the human – nature harmony is exhibited in all its majesty. It is one of the few areas in Crete that resists giving into the phenomenon of mass tourism. The image of the landscape always competes with the pure beauty of the dorps. Hundreds of villages of the Amari area comprise small cells that still preserve the pure traditional way of living. The rock build, Venetian houses and the humble farm houses coexist harmonically in the colorful landscape. The priest of the village strikes rhythmically the bell in the old bell rock tower and calls his believers around the villages to join the mystic mass in the Byzantine murals under the candle light. There is always a coffee house-convenience store in the heart of the village in order to offer some raki and a cup of coffee to the visitor, but most of all to minister the locals which are the living centre of every village. In Amari the visitor can get to know the other side of Crete, the Crete of pureness and tradition that emits the aroma from the genista and the fennel that murmurs in the crock made of clay. Amari is the greenest area of Psiloritis. It is not only the clumb of cypresses and Kermes oaks that cover the mountain glacis, but also the numerous valleys that cover the coombs of the valley itself. The mountain area of Psiloritis that ends up to the area of Arkadi prevails at the northeastern side, while at south, Kedros and Samitos villages demarcate the valley that is fertile and unchangeable to time. There are bountiful reserves of water in the area due to the rains and the waterproof rocks. There are small streams that effuse from the mountain glacis to end up north of Prassianos River at the Dum of Rivers or south at Ligiotis River that flows almost all year long. Platis River at Vizari village supplies a reservoir that is useful for irrigative activities. The dorps of the area, which are spread around the coombs and the glacis of the mountains, are well known for their traditional architecture. Dorps such as Fourfouras, Platania, Kalogeros, Thronos, Kouroutes, Apodoulou, Platanos, Lochria, Patsos, Vistigi, Nithavri, are built peripherally of the Psiloritis glacis. The villages of Meronas, Gerakari, Ano Meros, Elenes and Vrises lie at the banks of Kedros Mountain, while the villages of Amari, Opsigia, Monastiraki, Lampiotes and Petrochori prevail at the side of Samitos village. Dorps such as Monastiraki, Vizari, Asomatos, Genna that flourished in earlier years, are built in between the valleys and the coombs of the area. The area of Ampadia takes up most of the southern part of Amari. Ampadia is an area that according to history was the center of the atrocious Turkish Cretans. The road network of the area is intricate in order for the dorps to communicate with each other. The main entrance is through Rethymnon city due to the provincial road of Amari that crosses one of the few arced bridges of the island (Sima Kamara) and by the southern part of the Messara plain through Tympaki village. There are secondary high roads that connect the area through Arkadi and Spili villages with Rethymnon city, while the provincial road that surrounds all the southern banks of Psiloritis leads to Gergeri and Zaros. In addition to these routes, the area offers a plethora of alternative tours through the villages of Gergeri and Zaros. The routes through Arkadi and Spili villages are impressive. In fact the one through Spili crosses the mountain area of Kedros and the plateau of Ious Kampos with its endemic tulips. There are many rural and forestal roads the lead to the highest mountain tops reaching just a few tens of meters below the top of Psiloritis in the area of Lochria.
