The Gorgeous Samaria

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I hiked the Samaria Gorge yesterday. The day was very long and tiring: we left at 6:15 pm to drive to the entrance. We started the trek at 7:50 am. At 1000m elevation and at that time in the morning you can imagine it was the coolest I've felt in more than two weeks. But still in short sleeves, so not freezing, remember, this is Crete. The Samaria Gorge is reported to be Europe's longest.

It was a beautiful hike. The beginning was a series of steps for a couple of kilometers until we got to the stream. Then the walk along near the stram level. The entire hike is 16 km, and descends 1000 m down to sea level at the town on the Libyan Sea on the south side of the island. The hike took me 6 hours, and there was lot's of shade along the way. I took food and water, although you can drink the water from the springs. At the narrowest part of the gorge, the cliffs are several hundred meters high and the sides are only 3 m apart. The scene was simply gorgeous from start to finish.

These are the white mountains and are quite high, the tallest peak is 2400 m. There is a lot of snow in the winter and this trek is impossible in the winter. But in the summer, it's looks impossible to imagine this. All we could see were olive trees, and other trees from hot climates. And Jiminy Cricket, it was loud in the gorge at times. All this is limestone, and the walls shows great folds extending hundreds of meters.

At the end of the hike is the gate to the national park, and immediately after is a restaurant / bar. I ordered a large glass of orange juice. Of course, others sat down for a beer and a smoke. There are two harvests of orange trees each year here on Crete, so everywhere you go, every restaurant has freshly squeezed orange juice. Then we had to take the boat from the town to another town to get our bus. The south side of the island of Crete is only connected by ferries. The Libyan Sea was incredibly still, blue and clear. As we started to sail away, I could see the rocks on the bottom of the sea floor. Sardine sized fish were seen. I threw a couple of cookies overboard and these fish went into in feeding frenzy fighting over the cookie crumbs.

Only a couple of roads connect the south side of the island to the north. We had to take a very narrow and winding road over the mountain passes to get back to the north side. Getting to the Samaria Gorge, walking it, waiting for the ferry, and driving back made for a 14 hour day. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, I was sweaty, hot, tired and hungry when I returned. But the Samaria Gorge was gorgeous and well worth the effort.

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Photos

The Samaria Gorge, Crete
The Iron Gates, the narrowest part of the gorge, 13 km from the start

The White Mountains, Crete
This view is from the start of the hike

Comments

[Liesa]

"gorge"ous
Wow it sounds like you saw some spectacular sights today, Chris. I bet you got some great shots of the area. What a day!

[LesD]

Samaria gorge
Looks like you're still having a great time there, Chris. Keep writing.

[Don]

Sumaria gorge
Chris, Just heard about the Sumaria gorge and found your interesting blog about it! We are heading to Greece on Thursday and will be in Crete about the same time you were there a year ago. Any suggestions about getting there, etc. Any other recommendations, beaches? We will be in Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes...any comments about those areas? Look forward to your comments! Thanks a bunch! Don