We woke up early this morning to eat breakfast at the hotel and then head to the bus station to catch a bus from Hania to Omalos so we could get to the Samaria Gorge. The bus took us winding through narrow roads up the mountains. The views were so beautiful! The Samaria Gorge is supposedly the longest gorge in Europe and was carved out by the river that flows between the peaks of Avlimanakou and Vikakias. The widest part of the gorge is 150 meters and the narrowest point is only 3 meters wide. The walls reach 500 meters to the sky at their highest point! The gorge was made a National park in 1962 because of the endangered species the Kri-Kri, a Cretan wild goat. We didn’t see any Kri-Kri, but we did see mountain goats. Those animals look so funny, and their ankles look so thin and delicate that it looks like they would break trying to walk on the steep, rocky slopes of the mountains.
We began our hike at about 10:00 am. The area was stunning! It felt incredible to be outside and in the wilderness, away from the traffic, and buildings and smog of the city. The pine trees and the smell reminded us of Minnesota, so that was comforting. The mountain scene looked drastically different from Minnesota though. The pathway was very rocky and rather steep too. We were lucky that almost all of the hike was downhill, but it was still quite the workout. I thought it was incredible that every time I turned the corner or looked in another direction, the scenery changed. There were pine trees, and deciduous trees, a rocky path, white rocks and boulders, a stream, a mini waterfall, layered and bended rock walls, rounded pebbles, jagged rocks, red rocks, makeshift wooden bridges to cross streams, an abandoned city, a church, and more. It kept the hike interesting and I felt like such an adventurer. This was one of my favorite experiences so far. There were W.C.s every so often along the path and we took a couple quick breaks to refuel or take a pit stop. We all took tons of pictures because we couldn’t get over how magnificent it all looked. There really are no words. The pictures can’t capture the splendor either, but they give you a glimpse. We finished the hike at about 4:00 pm and were so excited to see the sparkling Mediterranean greeting us at the end. We spent an hour and a half soaking us the sun’s rays and bobbing in the Mediterranean waves. This was the most beautiful beach I’ve seen in Greece. Jagged black rocks stood firmly on either side of the beach area and the powerful waves crashed against them spraying the air with salt water. The beach was spread with rounded black pebbles and the water was deep, blue. I borrowed Sara Kingston’s goggles to look under the water and I could clearly see all the way to the deep bottom of the sea and a bunch of little fish swimming around. Looking inland from the sea, I had a view of the water, the beach and the mountains against a blue sky dusted with pure white clouds. What a perfect day!
At 5:30, we caught a boat to take us from the end of the gorge in Agia Roumeli to Hora Skafion where we would catch the bus back to Hania. The bus took us on more narrow winding roads through the mountains with some more excellent scenery. The busses don’t look like they belong on these tiny roads, and they give a warning honk when going around corners to hopefully warn other vehicles that they are plowing forward and to watch out! I was a little nervous until I saw a couple vehicles that had crashed down the side of mountain….then I was really nervous! We all made it back safely.
Back in Hania, Sara and I showered and then went to check out a choir concert at a church that we had seen a poster for the day before. It was a little catholic church near the harbor and a group of six vocalists sang Renaissance music. We only saw a little bit, but it was good. We went out later that night in attempt to find some dancing. We had fun, but didn’t end up finding much dancing.
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