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| Hania, Crete with mountains with gorges in the background. |
We traveled 3 hours west from Iraklion in a comfortable bus to reach the seaside town of
Hania. We roamed around this quaint Mediterranean town taking in the narrow
pedestrian streets, the ruins of the fort above it and the waterside quay under
overcast skies with spits of rain. We ended the evening drinking Alpha beer at a
seaside table, reading, and watching the wind swept waves crash on the breakwater
6 feet below us.
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| Walking along the sea in Hania. |
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| Pre-hike dinner. |
Our main reason for going to Hania, was to hike 16km down
the Samaria Gorge. The
area was recognized as a Greek National Park in 1962. The Kri-Kri goat, and 450
species of flora and fauna inhabit this area. Seventy species are found only
here so the area is also recognized as a World Biosphere Reserve. The gorge was created by a water cutting
through the marble, limestone and dolomite rocks between the White Mountains,
the largest mountain range in Crete. The altitude at the north end of the gorge at
Omalos is 4,100 ft. We hiked the gorge from north to south with most of our
steps losing elevation as we headed towards the Libyan Sea and Agia (beach)
Roumeli.
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| The Yosemite of Crete. |
To reach the trailhead
at Omalos, we left the hotel a little after 6:00am and walked the half mile to the
bus station via a bakery, bought bus tickets and caught the full 7:45am bus to
Samaria Gorge National Park. Most of the
drive, the bus climbed steep switchbacks straddling the road on the curves. We paid our 5 Euros trekking fee and asked for a map. We were
told there is only one trail so no map. So, we headed down. At times,
we were walking in a queue, at other times there was no one in sight. At times we were walking down steps, at other
times over the river bedrock.
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| Andrew on the trail. |
There were a few springs to refill water bottles
and a few water closets along the trail. We passed 3 park rangers and 2 donkeys
that act as ambulances with hiker injuries. What we passed in
abundance were small fire station huts and about every 50 feet large red boxes
that contained fire extinguishers. We
saw no evidence of past fires but as in peak season over 3000 hikers could be
on the trail, a fire could be catastrophic in the narrow gorge.
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| The oddest flower--Uncle Albert has one growing at his cottage in Michigan. |
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| Twisted trees along the trail. |
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| Refreshing fall of water. |
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| Taking in the grand view. |
The temperatures were crisp at the start of the walk. Andrew
did not bring a jacket on our 3 week Greek escapade, so he wore two of his
short sleeve shirts. I had my scarf and windbreaker on for the first third of
the hike. We carried 2 wine bottle size waters, cheese and bread, fruit and our
large two inch high raspberry almond muffins from the bakery. The hike began
with tall Cretan pines that allowed only peeking views of Mt. Volakias, the
highest peak at 6,942 ft. We were delighted to be among trees as they are a
rarity in Malta. We trodded down from
the pine forest to the river gorge. Initially the river ran dry, not unlike our
San Diego stream beds, then we heard water running and were
walking along its banks. The water disappeared underground, only to
reappear again at the ghost town of Samaria Village. The people of the town were relocated when
the gorge became a national park. The park is not open in the winter with the snow melt and
rains, the river flows high making it impassable. This year the
gorge opened a few weeks early in late April, usually it opens the beginning of
May.
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| The trail turns to river bed rock and the gorge begins to narrow. |
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| Narrows a bit more. |
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| About at the narrowest spot. |
We were on the trail for 5 hours, stopping to snack and take
pictures along the way. We crossed the
river often on crudely made log ladders.
We passed through the narrow (10 feet wide) portion of the gorge looking
straight up the dolomite cliffs that are stained with dark color of iron bands.
The dark bands were created billions of years ago by stromatoliths, small
organisms who utilize dissolved iron oxide and release oxygen. The accumulation of this oxygen byproduct
played a key role in creating oxygen in our current atmosphere.
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| A quiet spot along the trail. |
We continued down to
the black sand beach (another 3 km-downhill), buying our ferry ticket back to Hora Scolia as we passed
through the small town. The belly
whomping black sand beach was a welcoming site as we were sticky and sweaty as the lower trail consisted of rocky river bed without tree
cover, exposing us to the midday sun. We changed into bathing suits on the
beach as did all of our fellow hikers and went into the Jacuzzi like surf of
turquoise waters.
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| Agia
Roumeli. |
Hundreds of us
trudged on to the ferry at 5:15pm. It took an hour to reach Hora Scolia, where
we paid to return on the public bus. It was then that we saw over 10 tour
company buses and realized how the majority of the folks had found the
trailhead. We returned to Hania after 8:30pm.
We sorely walked to our hotel and collapsed into bed after a much needed
warm shower. We ate whatever we had left in our hotel frig (not much) and fell
fast asleep with the satisfaction of physical exertion and exhaustion. In the one
day, we had traveled from the north to the south coast of Crete and back again. It led to a night of sound slumber. Ahh.
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| Ferry boat approaching. |
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| Southern shore of Crete. |
