Of course we didn’t went to Crete for 7 days just to see three cities…there is much more to any country then human-made wonders. I’ll let the spoiler out for my own next entry and say in pre-view that apart from Crete we’ve ventured for two days to yet another Greek island nearby and that was one of the most amazing experiences and that’s why I left it for the last. But still in Crete and still in Chania and there was something outside of Chania that we set up to see.
Crete is not only Technicolor of the Mediterranean, labyrinths of ancient civilisations…On the West of the island there are beautifully rugged Lefka Ori (White Mountains). There are about over 50 of the peaks over 2000 meters and they stand close to each other, dissected by narrow gorges. And Samaria Gorge is one of them.
It is one of the longest gorges in Europe – 16 km all the way from around 1250 m altitude and down to the shores of the Libyan sea. It is a National Park and therefore tour buses go there. We figured out that there is not much difference in how we will get there – with the tour or by public transport. At least with the tour we didn’t have to worry about transportation to and from the gorge itself. So we booked on a tour. It proved itself to be a sensible choice. Firstly, the bus brought us there very early, just before all the other tourists started to arrive. Because the gorge of Samaria is one of the main attractions on Crete, the tourists flow could be rather dense. And of course, there is no joy walking alleged Natural Park in single file with the thousands of others. And yes, I haven’t made a mistake saying “thousands” – it is known that in a high peak season Samaria gorge could withstand invasion of up to 3 thousand tourists.
We were lucky. We haven’t been there in high season and our bus was one of the first to arrive to the entrance, so we had a head start as well. I must admit, I didn’t feel the place was overcrowded. We didn’t breath into the nap of a neck of anyone, we did see fellow tourists every now and then overtaking us or letting us to overtake them. In fact, I would say if we to walk the gorge alone, I would feel uncomfortable, for the place do look wild and somewhat challenging.
Since this is a national park, you’ve got to pay for the entrance. You also have to keep your tickets and return them on the exit on the other side (you can only go one way in the gorge). They do take great care to make sure no one got stuck inside for overnight. So what do you get for 5 euro: maintained to certain level paths. Well, at least the first 2-3 km, until you reached the riverbed. Then it is all stones, stones and more stones – you actually walk on the riverbed, as there is no water there at this time of year. There were also supposed to be guards along the way (though we didn’t see them) and springs to fill up your water supply. One might think that walking between rocks would give you a luxury of a walk in a shade, but in fact, the stones accumulate the sun heat and you appear to be walking inside a giant stone oven. You also have to cross a tiny river at least a dozen times, sometimes on small wooden bridges but more often by stepping on rocks.
Our Great Walk started at 7:30am. And we had to board a bus in Chania at 6am to get there in time. At first we thought we are in for a rain, as the bus climbed the narrow winding road up to the altitude of 1250m and it looked pretty damn out there. Later we realised that it wasn’t a rain – we were driving through the cloud! And we started our walk in the cloud too, descending down to the river. The views were amazing! The Kid, since he has never been to mountains such altitude before was impressed a lot. I wouldn’t even try to describe the views though – I’ve dropped few pictures – they will tell it better.
Apart from the resting areas on the way, the gorge has something else to offer. Once we descended almost to the bottom, we found an ancient stone chapel on a little terrace of cypress trees - Saint Nikolaos - they say it is from around 14 century.
About midway through the walk is the abandoned village of Samaria. The villagers have been relocated in 1962. They claim to be descendants from the old Byzantine family. The gorge becomes rather hostile by the middle of it and the wilderness around appears good place to go if you wish not to be found. Many Cretan resistance rebels used to hide in the gorge. I can see why they liked this place.
Now it is a rest area and a place where you can see and feed if you wish, that is, the special kind of a cretan mountain goat – krikri. These species thought to be imported to Crete during Minoan civilisation, but it’s now only found here and therefore considered to be indigenous to Crete. Samaria gorge is one of three places on Crete where you can still see krikri.
Near the end of a gorge there is a passage, which called “The Gates”. It is the most photogenic part of the gorge with its steep cliffs rising dramatically to a height of over 300m with a very narrow passage.
Once we’ve got to the end of the National Park and surrendered our tickets, there was still further 3 km of walking to the small village of Agia Roumeli, where we finally could take our shoes off (literally) and enjoyed refreshing swim in the waters of Libyan sea before boarding the ferry. Ferry was the only way one can get from Agia Romumeli to another seaside village, reachable by the cars.
So...it appeared that we made it. it wasn’t difficult walk as such, but it was a long a laborious one. And many times on our way we were pleased with our luck to get there so early. We managed to avoid the crowds and avoid to be boiled by the sun. With all the short breaks, photographing and keeping enjoyable slow pace we conquered the Samaria gorge in 5 hours 20 min. The Kid was hyperactive to the very end and someone whom we overtook on our way enviably compared him to a “mountain goat”. Me in contrast am not a kid, so by the last 3-4 km I was on the edge of my endurance. Given that my longest walk when I‘m at home would be few miles around supermarket aisles and considering it happened to be a hot day in the gorge, I feel very proud of myself, actually. I didn’t loose my breath walking the gorge. What I did loose were my feet, but that didn’t kick in until next morning anyway. And of course after 5 hour of hiking through the wilderness the warm emerald waters of the Libyan sea took the tension away in no time…
More to come...
Crete is not only Technicolor of the Mediterranean, labyrinths of ancient civilisations…On the West of the island there are beautifully rugged Lefka Ori (White Mountains). There are about over 50 of the peaks over 2000 meters and they stand close to each other, dissected by narrow gorges. And Samaria Gorge is one of them.
It is one of the longest gorges in Europe – 16 km all the way from around 1250 m altitude and down to the shores of the Libyan sea. It is a National Park and therefore tour buses go there. We figured out that there is not much difference in how we will get there – with the tour or by public transport. At least with the tour we didn’t have to worry about transportation to and from the gorge itself. So we booked on a tour. It proved itself to be a sensible choice. Firstly, the bus brought us there very early, just before all the other tourists started to arrive. Because the gorge of Samaria is one of the main attractions on Crete, the tourists flow could be rather dense. And of course, there is no joy walking alleged Natural Park in single file with the thousands of others. And yes, I haven’t made a mistake saying “thousands” – it is known that in a high peak season Samaria gorge could withstand invasion of up to 3 thousand tourists.
We were lucky. We haven’t been there in high season and our bus was one of the first to arrive to the entrance, so we had a head start as well. I must admit, I didn’t feel the place was overcrowded. We didn’t breath into the nap of a neck of anyone, we did see fellow tourists every now and then overtaking us or letting us to overtake them. In fact, I would say if we to walk the gorge alone, I would feel uncomfortable, for the place do look wild and somewhat challenging.
Since this is a national park, you’ve got to pay for the entrance. You also have to keep your tickets and return them on the exit on the other side (you can only go one way in the gorge). They do take great care to make sure no one got stuck inside for overnight. So what do you get for 5 euro: maintained to certain level paths. Well, at least the first 2-3 km, until you reached the riverbed. Then it is all stones, stones and more stones – you actually walk on the riverbed, as there is no water there at this time of year. There were also supposed to be guards along the way (though we didn’t see them) and springs to fill up your water supply. One might think that walking between rocks would give you a luxury of a walk in a shade, but in fact, the stones accumulate the sun heat and you appear to be walking inside a giant stone oven. You also have to cross a tiny river at least a dozen times, sometimes on small wooden bridges but more often by stepping on rocks.
Our Great Walk started at 7:30am. And we had to board a bus in Chania at 6am to get there in time. At first we thought we are in for a rain, as the bus climbed the narrow winding road up to the altitude of 1250m and it looked pretty damn out there. Later we realised that it wasn’t a rain – we were driving through the cloud! And we started our walk in the cloud too, descending down to the river. The views were amazing! The Kid, since he has never been to mountains such altitude before was impressed a lot. I wouldn’t even try to describe the views though – I’ve dropped few pictures – they will tell it better.
Apart from the resting areas on the way, the gorge has something else to offer. Once we descended almost to the bottom, we found an ancient stone chapel on a little terrace of cypress trees - Saint Nikolaos - they say it is from around 14 century.
About midway through the walk is the abandoned village of Samaria. The villagers have been relocated in 1962. They claim to be descendants from the old Byzantine family. The gorge becomes rather hostile by the middle of it and the wilderness around appears good place to go if you wish not to be found. Many Cretan resistance rebels used to hide in the gorge. I can see why they liked this place.
Now it is a rest area and a place where you can see and feed if you wish, that is, the special kind of a cretan mountain goat – krikri. These species thought to be imported to Crete during Minoan civilisation, but it’s now only found here and therefore considered to be indigenous to Crete. Samaria gorge is one of three places on Crete where you can still see krikri.
Near the end of a gorge there is a passage, which called “The Gates”. It is the most photogenic part of the gorge with its steep cliffs rising dramatically to a height of over 300m with a very narrow passage.
Once we’ve got to the end of the National Park and surrendered our tickets, there was still further 3 km of walking to the small village of Agia Roumeli, where we finally could take our shoes off (literally) and enjoyed refreshing swim in the waters of Libyan sea before boarding the ferry. Ferry was the only way one can get from Agia Romumeli to another seaside village, reachable by the cars.
So...it appeared that we made it. it wasn’t difficult walk as such, but it was a long a laborious one. And many times on our way we were pleased with our luck to get there so early. We managed to avoid the crowds and avoid to be boiled by the sun. With all the short breaks, photographing and keeping enjoyable slow pace we conquered the Samaria gorge in 5 hours 20 min. The Kid was hyperactive to the very end and someone whom we overtook on our way enviably compared him to a “mountain goat”. Me in contrast am not a kid, so by the last 3-4 km I was on the edge of my endurance. Given that my longest walk when I‘m at home would be few miles around supermarket aisles and considering it happened to be a hot day in the gorge, I feel very proud of myself, actually. I didn’t loose my breath walking the gorge. What I did loose were my feet, but that didn’t kick in until next morning anyway. And of course after 5 hour of hiking through the wilderness the warm emerald waters of the Libyan sea took the tension away in no time…
More to come...