Matala is a small and quiet town on the south coast of Crete (Greece). Long ago it was a harbour and until recently a fishers town.
The past decades it became a touristic attraction, some tourists staying for weeks, but many visiting for a day, enjoying the beautiful beach and sunset, bars and restaurants.

In the sixties and seventies hippies, dropouts and hitchhikers from Europe and the USA following the hippie trail settled in Matala and formed a community on the beach and in the caves in the cliff, perpendicular to the beach.
Since 2005 I am collecting their stories and pictures on this site.

In the 80’s and 90’s Matala developed into a modern beach village aimed at tourists. But in the last years (due to the changes in the world, the changes in Greece, this website, the book?) Matala rediscovered her unique past and became aware of the added value it derives from this past. To celebrate this, there is the Matala Beach Festival, each year in the second half of june.

The Greek commercial tv-station Antenna1 spent two episodes of the program ‘Ze Proto Plano’ (In the Spotlight) with host Katerina Antonopoulou on Matala, the hippie history and the festival.