Greece 2022 - Day 6: Hiking the Samaria Gorge

Today was a long day with an early start, a late finish and a lot of miles in between.  We were up at 4:45 am to meet the early morning bus that would take us to the White Mountains where we would hike the Samaria Gorge. 

 

Waiting for the bus at sunrise!

We left Chania around 6:30am.  The ride out to the trail head was prearranged with a tour company, and there were about 50 other early risers on the bus with us.  The road into the mountains was long and winding with many switch backs, often only wide enough for one car (or bus) to pass.  After about 2 hours, we arrived at the trail head located at an elevation of 1200 meters.  The wind was howling and the temperature was a frosty 8 degrees Celsius.  I had stupidly worn shorts thinking it would be in the mid-twenties, but thankfully I came prepared with leggings and extra layers, which I quickly changed into.  After purchasing our park passes, we set off in the freezing cold easily passing all the slow-poke hikers with their official hiking boots and poles!  

 

The Samaria Gorge is the longest gorge in Europe with a total length of 16 km, starting at Xyloskalo at an altitude of 1230 meters and ending at the town of Agia Roumeli at sea level.  The width of the gorge is 150 meters at its widest point and 3 meters at this narrowest.  The river Tarraios runs the entire length of the gorge.  The views along the way are spectacular!

As we descended, the temperatures became progressively warmer forcing me to shed some of the extra layers I had put on when we started.

 

We were told it would take approximately 6 hours to hike the gorge, but in true "Ian and Lisa Style", we managed to finish in just under 4 hours at around 12:30 pm.  We were some of the first hikers to emerge in the pretty little white-washed sea side town of Agia Roumeli.  There are no roads in or out of the town; it is only accessible by ferry, which is how we would leave later in the day.  Weary from the hike, and since we had time to kill before the next ferry left at 5:30pm, we headed straight for the beach.  There were a few oceanside tavernas renting out beach chairs and umbrellas, and for a total cost 9 Euros, we scored two chairs and umbrella and two ice cold pints of beer! 

The water was far to cold for me to venture in, especially with the chilly off shore wind, but Ian gave it a go.  Let’s just say, he didn’t swim for long.

 

When the wind picked up and we started getting sand-blasted, we decided it was time to head deeper into Agia Roumeli to find somewhere to have an early dinner.  We decided on a little Taverna called “Faragi” on a pretty tree-lined street with some of the friendliest service we’ve had yet.  Of course, we ordered a Greek salad to share, followed by the pork souvlaki, which the waiter recommended.  Both were extremely delicious.  The flavor of the exceptionally juicy pork was out of this world!

We sat for some time enjoying our sunny table at “Faragi” before moving on the browse some of the tourist shops.  The only thing we purchased was some freshly made yogurt that the shop owner added a large glug of local honey from a massive keg.  We sat outside on a stone wall by the sea savoring every mouthful.

It was finally time to board the ferry that would take us to Sougia where our bus from the morning would be waiting.  The ferry was packed, but we managed to snag a seat where we settled in for the hour-long ride.  The ferry makes several stops along the way.  Ours was the first stop.  As we were nearing the port, people started rushing to the lower deck.  We weren’t entirely sure what was going on.  Then, an announcement came on saying that we would be arriving shortly and that any passengers looking to disembark needed to be ready to do so as the ferry would be leaving again immediately.  So, we joined the hoards of rushing people.  Ian described the disembarking to feel like what it must have been like landing at Normandy on D-Day.  The ferry whipped into the port doing the equivalent of a hand-brake turn into the jetty.  The ramp was lowered and everyone stormed off.  The last person was barely off the boat before the ramp started to raise again and the ferry backed out and sped off.

 

We found our bus amongst the many waiting and boarded with the rest of our group.  We settled in for the 2-hour winding drive up and over the mountains back to Chania.  Our bus driver deserves some serious props for his amazing driving skills.  I can only imagine what it would be like to drive a giant tour bus along narrow switch-backing roads with sheer drop offs and no guard rails.  The man must have nerves of steel!

We arrived in Chania around 8:30pm.  We trudged the 1km back to our Airbnb, showered and called it a night!