A walk down the "Canyon of the Dead" to Kato Zakros, the sea and the end of the E4 in Crete and Greece.
There was no hurry to get up this morning as just a 7.5 kilometre walk to the sea was needed to complete my walk on the E4 in Greece. The E4 sign pointed down the road, which I followed for a while, but I really wanted to get to Zakros gorge, also called Deads gorge because of ancient Minoan burials somewhere in it. So I turned off the road and followed a track to the entrance to the gorge where the E4 signs promptly reappeared. I later realised that the first E4 sign I saw marked "Kato Zakros" was misleading, the E4 actually starts in the middle of the village.
The walk down the gorge was more adventurous than I expected with a number of stream crossings on stepping stones and some walking over rocks and on a concrete aqueduct among pink flowering shrubs. Cliffs rose each side of this fairly narrow gorge, with various caves in their walls, some of these were I assumed the burial sites. The walk was popular with people, some of whom stopped to enjoy sitting by the stream. At the bottom there are the remains of a Minoan palace, which had a number of helpful signs about the low walls you are looking at. Without them the site is just a collection of low stone walls.
Having walked down to the sea and so completed my walk on the E4 across Greece I settled down to lunch, watching the people, of various nationalities, ages and sizes enjoying the beach, the sun and in some cases, multiple bottles of beer. I returned up the old Zakros road which has excellent views of the gorge below.
I am now on a rare second beer at the Xyloporta cafe to celebrate finishing the E4 in Greece.
To Kato Zakros and back was a walk of 14 kilometres with a total ascent of 360 metres.
There was no hurry to get up this morning as just a 7.5 kilometre walk to the sea was needed to complete my walk on the E4 in Greece. The E4 sign pointed down the road, which I followed for a while, but I really wanted to get to Zakros gorge, also called Deads gorge because of ancient Minoan burials somewhere in it. So I turned off the road and followed a track to the entrance to the gorge where the E4 signs promptly reappeared. I later realised that the first E4 sign I saw marked "Kato Zakros" was misleading, the E4 actually starts in the middle of the village.
The walk down the gorge was more adventurous than I expected with a number of stream crossings on stepping stones and some walking over rocks and on a concrete aqueduct among pink flowering shrubs. Cliffs rose each side of this fairly narrow gorge, with various caves in their walls, some of these were I assumed the burial sites. The walk was popular with people, some of whom stopped to enjoy sitting by the stream. At the bottom there are the remains of a Minoan palace, which had a number of helpful signs about the low walls you are looking at. Without them the site is just a collection of low stone walls.
Having walked down to the sea and so completed my walk on the E4 across Greece I settled down to lunch, watching the people, of various nationalities, ages and sizes enjoying the beach, the sun and in some cases, multiple bottles of beer. I returned up the old Zakros road which has excellent views of the gorge below.
I am now on a rare second beer at the Xyloporta cafe to celebrate finishing the E4 in Greece.
To Kato Zakros and back was a walk of 14 kilometres with a total ascent of 360 metres.
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| The beach at Kato Zakros, and the end of the E4 in Crete and in Greece |
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| Zakros or Deads gorge |
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