Location
"Studios Stella & Stella's Traditional Studios" is a small, eight studios-apartment complex, built exactly right on the top of the amphitheatrical, fertile valley of Kato Zakros. It is situated at a conspicuous location, overlooking the sea high above the tops of the olive trees, which grow lower at the valley.
The sea-shore is 500metres away, quite close for someone to enjoy its scents and glare under the sunlight and far enough to make every “civilized” sound coming from the visitor's cars, fade away. The area's peace and quite is disturbed only by nature’s sounds: birds, cicadas, the wind or the rustling of leaves. One can reach the apartments via a dirty road passing by the Archaeological Site first, and then by the exit of the “Dead's Gorge” (Faragi ton Nekron.
The Apartments are only 150 meters away from the Dead's Gorge exit. This road used to connect Ano zakros with Kato zakros and a visitor “must” either drive or walk along it because the view to the Gorge from it, as she/he moves along its edge, is truly grandiose.
The path to the beach goes past small gardens, which the Zacrites (the inhabitants of zakros) have in order to produce their own vegetables, potatoes, fruit and citrus fruits. The beach is about a 7 or 8 minutes walk ( of course it is less by car) and it is a very pleasant route.
The beaches of Kato zakros - famous for the clarity of the water- are covered either by pebbles or by fine sand. They are rich in fish and are suitable for either an amateur fisherman or a spear fisherman and a professional fisherman as well.
Three taverns, a fast food with Greek delicacies (e.g. gyros, souvlaki, e.t.c.) and a cafe-bar are the beach's popular and only attractions. At the local tavern one can taste the wide range of the traditional Cretan cuisine, dishes which are cooked by natives only with locally-produced ingredients (oil, vegetables, fish).
One must note here that the tavern-owners have their own gardens and grow the products they serve, themselves. Dinner at the beach, accompanied by a local wine, combined with the scent of the sea, is a unique pleasure one can enjoy.