Adventures in Crete – Part 2

Another early morning. Traveling is fun, but after awhile you start to get a little tired of waking up before dawn and packing your bag. However, we were planning on hiking a few miles (~10) through the Samaria Gorge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaria_Gorge) and wanted to get an early start before the day got too hot.

The bus ride from Hania up into the mountains was just a precursor of the adventures that lay in store for us. You see, the roads on Crete are pretty much carved into the hills and switch back all the way up. Now, imagine you are in a big charter bus taking hair pin corners with a steep cliffs, oncoming traffic and goats running in the road. It a little exhilarating!

We arrived at the trailhead before 8 am and got hiking. We weren’t sure what to expect and frankly were a little surprised that the first 6 kilometers were down hill. And we’re not talking just a little down… It was like someone slapped a mountain goat (or in our case, a wild Kri Kri - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kri_kri) on the butt and followed it down the mountain. Our legs were shaking after the first couple kilometers, especially since we decided to carry our backpacks with us.

All in all it was a great hike through the gorge filled with pine trees, an old village (like BC old), a small river and some pretty dramatic scenery. We were both glad for the opportunity to be out and active in God’s creation.

After about 5 hours of trekking we made it to the coast and the village of Agia Roumeli. The beach was a little crowded from all the people trekking the gorge, but after 5:30 when the last ferry leaves we had the place to ourselves. The village was very peaceful and we couldn’t get over how clear and blue the sea was. We definitely enjoyed our stay there.

The next morning we were able to take it a little slower before catching our ferry out. Along the way we were impressed by some of the villages along the rocky shore. We would have been happy staying at any of them a little longer.