Samaria Gorge
From Introduction to Greece and Italy in Samaria National Park (Gorge), Greece on Jun 06 '06
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Early, early on Wednesday morning and the alarm awakes us at 5.15am (holiday, what holiday?!) so that we have time to wander down to the bus stop and catch the 6.15am bus to Omalos, and the starting point of the Samaria Gorge.
There are a couple of ways of getting to the start of the Gorge. You can either go on an organized tour which can be booked by the hotel (and which costs around 30 Euro per person) or you can take the public bus which runs regular services to Omalos each morning and meets the ferry in Hora Sfakion and returns to Hania each evening. We figured the public bus would be fine (11 Euros return each) but were pleasantly surprised at the modern coaches in the Hania (or is it Crete) public bus fleet. Toni had expected some old rinky-dink bus that would shake and rattle its way to our destination. But no, these were reasonably new coaches, the ones you would expect to see on long distance tours. Air-conditioned, and with enough leg-room to keep D happy – bonus!
Every time we turned a corner there would be something new and amazing to look at, and another new angle for a photo.
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We settled in for the hour-long journey to Omalos, which basically entailed a climb up a narrow and snaking road to the top of the gorge, at around 1200m above sea level. Despite the comfort of the bus, it was twisty enough for Toni to be feeling a little green around the gills, and very pleased to get to the end of it….. The scenery during the journey consisted of rocks and goats, but there was also a good view, as we climbed, of Hania in the distance.
After paying our 5 Euro admission fee each (at times like this you realize that New Zealand is either a) very generous to be offering free access to our walking tracks and abundant natural treasures, or b) underselling itself severely), we started the downward trek into the gorge. The scenery to begin with was stunning, and it got better as we continued.
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The first few kilometers (and first hour) were basically just zig-zagging straight down what seemed like a cliff face. The track was well formed and with wooden railings all the way down, but it was very rocky and tough on the feet. We had read that you needed good shoes to do this track and this was no exaggeration.
The track itself is about 13km from the top to the bottom of the gorge, and then about another 5km walk out to the seaside village of Agia Roumeli. Maybe 500m of that entire route would be flat, even, earth to walk on – the other 17.5km was uneven rocky or stony terrain. While we were very pleased to have dragged our tramping boots (and walking poles) to the other side of the world for this, our feet have never ached as much as they did by the end of the day.
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The scenery throughout the gorge was just stunning. Every time we turned a corner there would be something new and amazing to look at, and another new angle for a photo. Because of the terrain, though, you couldn’t walk and look at the same time and so there were plenty of stops and starts while Toni took yet more photos of stunning scenery. The photos will speak for themselves and fully justify the extra time we took to complete the trek.
Almost at the end of the gorge were the famous “Iron Gates”. Not gates at all (nor iron), but the point of the gorge where the sides virtually meet. There is a separation of only 3 metres and it is this point that is most frequently photographed for promotion of the gorge. The stream running through at this point was just that, a stream. However in winter this apparently becomes a dangerously high torrent and, as such, the gorge is closed to walkers from November through to the beginning of May.
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We reached the Iron Gates after about 4 hours and the “traffic” hadn’t been too bad up until that point. There were around a dozen people who came on the bus with us and we all spread out on the track reasonably quickly, so it didn’t feel too crowded. Once we got through the Iron Gates, however, we started facing a steady stream of walkers coming the other way. These were people who were walking in just to the Gates from Agia Roumeli, a relatively easy jaunt compared to ours. As with the Cinque Terre, we were pleased to be doing the walk at this time of the year – one can only imagine how crowded it must get in the middle of summer (and hot!).
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By the time we got to Agia Roumeli we could hardly bear to put any weight on our feet. Our legs and overall fitness had coped just fine but our feet were tender like we have never experienced! We headed down to the sea and had a couple of hours spare so decided we had earned a session of relaxation on one of the sun loungers and umbrellas available for hire on the beach (3 Euro each for the day or any part of the day). It felt sooo good to sit down for a while! Dwayne then thought it might be a good idea to have a soak in the sea and proceeded to burn the soles of his feet getting to the water and back. The beach consisted of black sand and was really, really, really hot underfoot….. As a result we flagged the paddling bit and decided that our sun loungers would be our islands until it was time to go.
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The ferry headed off at 3.45pm and took just over an hour to get to Hora Skafion where we all offloaded and waited for the 5.30pm bus to take us back to Hania. The wait was a little tense – a reasonably large crowd of people were waiting, and everyone was scoping out the situation - we could all tell that there were far too many for one bus. The last thing anyone wanted was to have to stand up for the journey home and so, getting used to the European way of “every man for himself”, D gave Toni her ticket with instructions to beaver her way to the front of the crowd when the bus arrives, get on and save him a seat. Toni was all set, and succeeded in her mission, being second on board. It turned out however that the bus company was well prepared for these situations as a second bus arrived soon after. As a result there was no panic and two (full) buses completed the two hour journey back to Hania.
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We were filthy, sweaty, and smelly, but it didn’t stop us plonking ourselves down waterside in Hania for a well-deserved and fully enjoyed meal. Bliss!
Since completing the Gorge we’ve thought of many of our friends who would have enjoyed the experience as we did – Brent and Claire, Lisa and Pete, Jacqui and Trev: you must all put this down on your list of “must-do’s”; it truly is an incredible experience and well worth every aching bone, muscle, tendon, nerve, joint, and blister….
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