Dave, a neighbour of Linda and Becky’s dropped Linda and I off on the plateau at the start of the National Park. For the 5 Euros entry fee you get a well maintained zig zaggy path down the side of the ravine, surrounded by Calibrian Pines and Cypresses, and a set of rules some of which had more emphasis than others.
While it may not be the longest gorge walk in Europe as sometimes claimed, it certainly is an awesome experience to walk down through the gorge. And about a ¼ of a million people do just that every year.
There were a fair number of people in places but I just zoned out and still enjoyed communing with nature.
En route are two wee chapels and the abandoned village of Samaria – now the main post for the wardens and their mules, ready to rescue any trekker in difficulty.
The closer we got to the base of the gorge the bigger the Dragon Arum flowers with their zebra skin stalks became. And, and its narrowest the gorge is only 3 metres wide. The river was a mere trickle but it was easy to imagine the size and force of the winter waters forcing their way through the area.
When one leaves the gorge there is still a few kilometres to walk to Agia Roumeli where we had a welcome swim in the Libyan Sea and Linda drank the Hughest Beer in the world in an incredibly short space of time before we caught the ferry to Paleohora. This is where we stayed the night enjoying some incredibly delicious food in the only vegetarian (and vegan) restaurant in Crete called The Third Eye. This was washed down with a glass or two of equally enjoyable local white wine:a civil partnership made in heaven!
In all I walked 17338 steps from the plateau at the top to the ferry.
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