Χαίρετε! There’s nothing better than a good
long hike in the mountains to end our first full week in Greece. Early in the
morning we all packed into a bus and drove up to the top of the gorge at six in
the morning and began what would become a five-and-a-half-hour ordeal hiking
(or scaling) down the mountains of Crete in the summer sun. It was the perfect
day for a hike and we could see for miles. There were sections where I felt as though
I could fall off with one bad step, but it really was a highlight of the program
so far. In the middle of the ten-mile hike lays the abandoned village of
Samaria, which was evacuated in 1962 when the region became a national park.
The gorge is home to the native kri-kri Cretan goat.
When we arrived
at the end of the hike, some of the more adventurous members of the group hiked
up “goat mountain” to the old Ottoman castle. The castle was built as the Ottoman
Empire was in decline as an attempt to maintain control of the region. Although
I could not personally make it up the mountain, which was another one hour of
hiking, it certainly looked amazing from the beach below. As we ended the day
on the beaches of Agia Roumeli we prepared to sail out to Sfakia to the bus.
However, due to the “rough” weather, the boat was cancelled, and we were “forced”
to spend another day exploring the port town’s three streets, hiking to an
amazing taverna next to the one-thousand-year-old Church of Saint Paul, and
yes, more time at the beach. This has been one of the best weekends I’ve had
and I cant wait to see what our second week has in store.
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