The Samaria Gorge

Yesterday we woke up around 5AM to catch the 6:15AM bus to trailhead for the Samaria Gorge.  It is purported by some as the longest gorge in Europe, but I think it is surpassed by the Verdon Gorge.  Either way, Darren and I were excited to take a break from museums and bask in beautiful nature.  Although the trail can be famously crowded, we were able let to hoards from the bus pass us and find tranquility spotting the Cretan mountain goats, butterflies, birds mostly by ourselves.  We began the hike with a number of switchbacks starting the 4000 foot descent of the gorge.  Along the way were innumerable fire houses and hoses.  I guess they are very concerned that their pine and cypress trees could burst into flames at any moment.  They are also prepared for rock fall and had occasional fencing over the top of the trail for particularly dangerous spots.  Near the end of the switchbacks we began seeing beautiful wild pink oleander buses and the start of a small creek.  The trail became somewhat less rocky as we passed old ruins and in between massive limestone cliffs.

We paused for occasional water and snack breaks with plenty of spots to refill our bottles and use the restroom.  Eventually we came to an area that seemed more typical of gorge hikes I have done in the past:  sandy ground and narrower trails through limestone canyon.  We never had to do anything technical, but Darren did find a small offshoot canyon to explore until it became to difficult without a rope to ascend.

One our our last stops was at the Samaria village that had a feisty Cretan goat trying to forage people's lunches.  One young girl was screaming as it almost pushed her with its horns.

Eventually we emerged past a ticket checkpoint into a village where we took a van two more kilometers to the beach.  There we found a table by the beach to reward ourselves with Greek yogurt, Greek salad, a cappuccino and frappe, and, of course, free wifi.  We then bought our bus and ferry tickets and strolled over to the black sand to enjoy the ocean.  We decided to get some deck chairs (free with the purchase of a drink) after I realized my feet could not handle the burning sand.  We ran across it enough to get in the Libyan Sea for the first time.  Then we relaxed until it was time to take our ferry to Sfaklion and then our bus back to Hania.

Back in town, the streets were booming with people, some of the teens covered in what looked like colored powder.  Apparently there was a "color party" going on somewhere.  We bought the cheapest meal of the trip so far, two euro pita sandwiches, and then wound our way through the pedestrian streets of the town and along the Venetian harbor.