Day #11
After an extremely sound sleep (other than the distracting "untz-untz" mentioned in the last post), we woke up very early to catch the bus up to a small town called Omalos to hike the largest gorge in all of Europe, Samaria Gorge. The bus left at 6:15am, so we walked over to the station, bought our tickets, and then grabbed some breakfast snacks for the ride...and then were told by the bus driver "NO FOOD!", so we had to store our yogurt under the bus with our bags for the hour-long bus ride. Bummer.
The first thing any hiker (experienced or not) notices is that this hike is all downhill. And although it sounds like a cakewalk, let me tell you this was one intense hike. A 13km hike, the gorge begins at the very top, and the first 4-5km are incredible steep and jaggedly sloped. The ground did not have level steps, and often times the dirt was swept away, exposing slippery tree roots that only made the rocky pass more difficult to traverse. The bus unloaded all of us, and within 5-6km, the group had been fairly spaced out, with the fit travelers making their way to the front, as the less athletic people slowed down as they eased their way down the gorge.
Starting the downward descent
Despite the terrain, the views were breathtaking. Standing at the top, we could not believe how far down we were about to travel, and the greenery and landscape was stunning, from the hillside trees to the white-washed gorge basin. We stopped a few times down the first part of the hike, but we looked forward to when the hike would flatten out, so we let our momentum carry us toward the bottom of the gorge. We soon heard running water, and we came across a small stream passing over rocks that we were required to hop across. One of the little things in life that never ceases to excite me, crossing a small river or stream on rock steps is always a highlight.
Bridge crossing
In the gorge basin
We continued on, and at one point came across an entire valley full of rock-pile statues. You know, when people balance rocks of different shapes and sizes on top of one another? I'm not talking about 10-15 cool towers, I mean literally thousands of them surrounding us in this flat valley along our path down to the base of the gorge. Julie was especially amazed with this little patch of fun.
Ever-changing landscape
The gorge begins to narrow
As we stayed along the water's edge, the slope began to ease, and before we knew it, we were seeing a lot of white rock, a sign that we were close to the basin where water normally runs through (but obviously not in August). And then, suddenly, there we were, standing at the base of the gorge, having traversed about 1200m of altitude quite quickly. Looking up, the gorge was even more impressive than we had imagined. The trees lined the dark mountainside, and the white basin ran on forever. But what was most incredible was the part of the gorge known as the "Iron Gates." The most famous part of the hike, the Gates refer to a place in the middle of the gorge basin where the sides of the gorge narrow down to a mere four meters! This cavernous, gigantic gorge all of a sudden became incredibly narrow and tight, providing us with incredible vertical views and perspective looking back as it widened.
Great shot of the hillside (and my wife)
Looking back through the Iron Gates
After about five hours of hiking, we reached the end of the gorge, only to find that we had not finished the hike. To get to the only nearby town, Agia Roumeli, we had to go another 3km. Let's just say that by this point, our feet and knees were a little sore from the downhill trek, and the thought of 3km made me somewhat delirious and I ranted and raved as we continued down to find the 'real' end of the hike.
The end of Samaria Gorge
Julie's research proved to be helpful, as we learned in Agia Roumeli that there are no roads, and the only way out of the town is to wait for one of two ferries of the day to take you back to the main port. In Agia Roumeli, there is a morning ferry (11:00am) and an evening ferry (5:30pm)...that's it. So for all those hikers who set foot on the trail around 7:30am, they would all miss the morning ferry, and have to wait many hours for the last one. In our case, we arrived in the town at 12:45, so we had quite a chunk of time to kill.
Agia Roumeli is nothing more than a beach with a few tavernas. Catering almost exclusively to tourists, the food was very mainstream and commercial, with most menus featuring the stereotypical "gyro plate" as their main dish. Gyro in Greece is considered fast food to the locals. Up to this point I had successfully avoided the dish, but given the scarce options, I caved and ordered the gyro plate, and experienced my one and only below average meal of the trip. But we just needed fuel more than anything else, just to charge our batteries, so the food would suffice.
From the taverna, we moseyed down to the beach where we bought an umbrella and chairs to lay down and stay off our swelled, stinky feet. We immediately went across the scalding hot sand and into the water to rinse off and relax, and we agreed that it was actually kind of nice to be forced into relaxing, since we had chosen to go nonstop since landing in Athens 11 days prior.
After about three hours of laying out, we packed up and made our way to another small taverna and splurged on some ice cream sundaes. Never too full for ice cream, we absolutely housed our desserts, leaving no drops left, and were very happy to have found this little treat on such a hot day. From there we made our way to the ferry dock so we could jump on and find a seat in the shade. At this point it was about 98 degrees, and we had more than our fair share of sun that day with the 5-hour hike and 3-hour beach stint.
And then we realized something horrific we hadn't even considered. Of the people waiting for the final ferry in Agia Roumeli, at least 85% of them were there because they had hiked down the gorge and spent the last few hours in the sun. There was a small contingent of locals just making their daily trek to or from the small town, but for the most part, it was hikers. And when you get on a two-story ferry with long bench-style seats for an hour, with people who all spent the last 8+ hours sweating, there is bound to be a major stench. Oh lord, this was by far the most overwhelming B.O.-fest I'd ever encountered. I spent the first 15 minutes of the trip with my shirt over my nose and mouth, preferring to breathe my own scent than brave the likes of my odorific neighbors.
Finally off the stinky-mobile, we rushed to the front of the pack of people to get on the bus to take us back to Chania. We realized later how smart of a move this was, as many people were left waiting for the next wave of buses as we took off up a windy road back to Chania. By the time we got back to Chania, we could not wait to take a shower and cleanse ourselves of the day's activities. Our brains fried and not in the mood to make more decisions, we made life easy on ourselves and decided to save new restaurants for the days to come, and spend this evening back at our new favorite place from the day before, Tamam.
Super excited for another round of food at Tamam, we quickly ordered off the dinner menu as I got the goat fillet and Julie got the lamb covered in eggplant puree. The goat was incredibly tender and had a great braised sauce on it, and Julie said the lamb was one of her favorite dishes of the trip, raving about the puree served with it.
Happy, full, and exhausted, we spent some more times perusing the local shops and looking at all of the different products made from olive wood. We didn't last long in the shops, as the long hike and full day of sun finally caught up to us, so we retired back to Casa Leone and passed out...again. Man, this trip is awesome!
*Up Next* - We visit the open market, have two incredible meals, and take a snorkeling tour with an old man who wanted to get us drunk.
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