Aegean Odyssey Day 5

RETHYMNO, CRETE -- Got up very early so that we could be out in front of the hotel by 5:15 a.m. and on time to catch our excursion bus to the Samaria Gorge. Stopped for breakfast but were there and beginning our descent by about 8:15, from an elevation of about 4,150 feet. 

Started down along the xaloskalos, a series of switchbacks at the head of the gorge. Very rough going, with loose rocks and very smooth ones compounding the steepness and frequent lack of railings, conditions that had not been mentioned in any of the descriptions of the hike that we had read; main provisos we had heard was that it was important to carry plenty of water and to go as quickly as possible early in the day when it was still cool. Things were all pretty much what I would have expected but Diane was unhappy with the conditions and having trouble early on, especially with keeping her balance, and, about 5 kilometers in, she threw out her knee. Everything became pretty much an ordeal after that, as she was in a great deal of pain and periodically falling over because she could not effectively bend her knee, and for me because I was putting a lot of energy and effort into assisting her. 

Water was not actually much of an issue initially, as fresh spring water was available at four or five places in the first half of the gorge, so a couple liters each beyond that, or half what we had brought, would have been fine (although Diane opted not to avail herself of the spring water and to stick with what we had in our bottles). It did heat up after noon, but was not nearly as oppressive as people had let on, especially as much of the route was shaded by the surrounding forest of Calabrian pine and Calabrian cypress. Overall, the environment was much more Alpine than I ever would have expected for a Mediterranean island. 

There were also a number of fascinating things in the gorge, to include a number of small churches; the remains of the village of Samaria, which it residents had abandoned in the 1960s; and the ruins of an ancient pagan worship site. An especial high point for me was encountering a small herd of rare Cretan ibex, which were identical in appearance to those I had seen depicted on artifacts in the antiquities museum in Rethymno! This reinforced to me a sense of continuity between the ancient past and the present in this special place. 

As we continued the gorge narrowed progressively in general. We start off in a very broad area without any sort of an obvious course for water, then after a couple of hours began to walk above and beside an increasingly profound riverbed, and then eventually descended into the channel itself and walked right beside the stream, crossing it frequently on small bridges. 

After about 13 kilometers we came to the end of the national park and then, after another 1,000 meters or so, we reached the point where a shuttle bus was available to carry anyone who wanted it the last two kilometers into the village and the coast. We reached it around 3:15 p.m., about seven hours after we had begun to hike. Diane was in profound pain at this point and we went straight to the Taverna Farangi, where we were instructed to meet our group, and ordered the biggest beers they had and some food. 

At 5 p.m. we boarded a ferry, this village being accessible only be sea, and rode it for an hour to the village of Sfakia, where we once again boarded our bus. From there we rode about two hours back to our hotel and were finally done with with our expedition to the Samaria Gorge.