Vasilikos, the green peninsula

The Vasilikos peninsula closes Laganas Bay on its eastern side, a long finger of olive groves, pines and scattered houses with beaches on both coasts. On its tip, Gerakas is a curve of fine sand under pale clay cliffs, and one of the marine park's nesting beaches, so it has no bars on the sand and closes at dusk. The east coast has the beach bars of Porto Roma, Banana and Agios Nikolaos, and the whole peninsula feels a world away from the strip on the other side of the bay.