The highlight of a short summer family holiday in Crete is a 16km hike down the Samaria Gorge from the mountain plateau at 1,200m to Agia Roumeli, a small fishing village on the Mediterranean Sea.
Despite the scorching weather and our early arrival, there’s a long queue at the National Park entrance and bottlenecks on the zigzag descent to the valley floor.
We are down to five as Nathan passed on the early rise and Cal could not join this trip due to work.
Precision engineering work keeps the trail clear.
Samaria village, abandoned by the last remaining inhabitants in 1962, marks the halfway point. Donkeys rest in the shade, forming the emergency vehicles. Several freshwater springs cross the trail, and we are grateful to cool off in the heat.
The walk comes alive after leaving the village. The hikers are more spread out, and the scenery is breathtaking as the gorge narrows between towering cliffs.
During the WWII occupation of Crete by the Germans, the gorge hid partisans and allied undercover units. The “Gate” represents the narrowest section of the gorge, being only 4m wide and 300m tall.
Arriving at the fishing village, we decamp to the nearest taverna.
“Two large beers please.”
“Very large?”
“Yes!”
Rhys and I receive two-pint glasses of ice-cold beer. It doesn’t take long before I doze off, much to the amusement of the family, who take a rather unkind photo, suitably censored.
We take the ferry to Sougia and catch the coach back to our villa. Our guide entertains us with Monty Python songs on his ukulele. He is also a philosopher, explaining the difference between a tourist who ticks off items like choosing from a menu and a traveller who asks questions, hungry to know like a lover.
We are travellers. The last to be dropped off, far beyond the bright city lights and sparkling hotels, where we illuminate our way home using our phones, walking past the taverna where we ate last night under the stars with the local families. Time slows.
Note: To simplify the website, this is one of three old hikes from the Day Hikes page, now merged into the main blog.
Date of walk: August 2022.
Walk distance: 10 miles.
I was wondering where Samaria Gorge was on the coast of Britain for a moment!
Hah! Worth a visit if you are ever out that way.
We did this in, hmm, 1987 I think! I remember the narrow bit and getting the boat back, but not much else.
You probably ran down at that age!
I do remember the heat being a problem and being very glad to see the sea!