Today I walked down the famous Samaria gorge, with many others.
I was down for breakfast at 7:15 am with one other guest. Shortly after two coaches arrived and suddenly the restaurant was full of people queuing at the counter to collect their breakfast or sitting down to eat it. The staff had it all organised for a fast turnaround. While I went upstairs to pack, everyone left (for the Samaria gorge) and the restaurant was again empty when I returned to pay.
I battled a strong headwind as I hiked the 4 kilometres from the hotel to the gorge's northern entrance, following a straight farm track across the plateau most of the way to avoid the road.
I began my walk down the Samaria gorge at around 9:30 am with I think the last of the coach parties. On the initial steep descent it was pretty crowded, but people became more strung out as the kilometres progressed so that at one point I could see no-one and began to wonder if I was in the right path! Some of the people had clearly not been hiking for a while and were moving very hesitantly down rocky bits, I hoped they would make the bottom as there was no other option. As you might expect for such a popular walk, a lot of effort had been made to create the path, with wooden railings next to drops and some crude wooden bridges. However, there were still places with boulders, and several crossings of the clear, fast running water in the gorge on carefully placed stepping stones.
The first part was through pine trees and pleasant enough, the most spectacular sections came later with huge cliffs each side of the narrow gorge making people look really small and insignificant. These areas were more crowded as the people coming down slowed to admire the beauty and were joined by others now coming up from the bottom entrance. People's brightly coloured clothing contrasted with grey or brown rocks.
I celebrated reaching the end of the gorge with an ice cream and then walked down the road into the tourist village of Agia Roumeli to my hotel, the Agia Roumeli Hotel. Once the coach parties had left on the ferry the town was quiet, more restaurants than people it seemed. A lugubrious looking fish for my dinner tonight.
I was down for breakfast at 7:15 am with one other guest. Shortly after two coaches arrived and suddenly the restaurant was full of people queuing at the counter to collect their breakfast or sitting down to eat it. The staff had it all organised for a fast turnaround. While I went upstairs to pack, everyone left (for the Samaria gorge) and the restaurant was again empty when I returned to pay.
I battled a strong headwind as I hiked the 4 kilometres from the hotel to the gorge's northern entrance, following a straight farm track across the plateau most of the way to avoid the road.
I began my walk down the Samaria gorge at around 9:30 am with I think the last of the coach parties. On the initial steep descent it was pretty crowded, but people became more strung out as the kilometres progressed so that at one point I could see no-one and began to wonder if I was in the right path! Some of the people had clearly not been hiking for a while and were moving very hesitantly down rocky bits, I hoped they would make the bottom as there was no other option. As you might expect for such a popular walk, a lot of effort had been made to create the path, with wooden railings next to drops and some crude wooden bridges. However, there were still places with boulders, and several crossings of the clear, fast running water in the gorge on carefully placed stepping stones.
The first part was through pine trees and pleasant enough, the most spectacular sections came later with huge cliffs each side of the narrow gorge making people look really small and insignificant. These areas were more crowded as the people coming down slowed to admire the beauty and were joined by others now coming up from the bottom entrance. People's brightly coloured clothing contrasted with grey or brown rocks.
I celebrated reaching the end of the gorge with an ice cream and then walked down the road into the tourist village of Agia Roumeli to my hotel, the Agia Roumeli Hotel. Once the coach parties had left on the ferry the town was quiet, more restaurants than people it seemed. A lugubrious looking fish for my dinner tonight.
20.4 kilometres walked today, mostly downhill.
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