The Samariá gorge

A bit of geology: Crete is a popular tourist destination, but it's also a paradise for geologists. Crete is indeed located on the Hellenic or Aegean arc, where the African tectonic plate collides with the Eurasian plate. Because of this collision, there is a rapid rise of the island of Crete: there is a huge difference in altitude between the trench of Pliny, south of the island (where there are depths of 5 km), and the peaks of Mount Ida and the Lefka Ori, rising to an altitude of 2450 m. Because of this - for geology - rapid rise of the soil, there were in the course of millennia fractures that were at the origin of the gorges. There was subsequently a rapid erosion of the limestone soil, and the higher the soil arose, the greater the erosion became. This explains the presence of a large number of gorges, especially in the southeast of Crete, where these gorges run south until the Lybian Sea. There are in total some fifty gorges, of which the Samariá Gorge and the Imbros Gorge are the best known.
The Samaria Gorge lies between the Psiristra (1766 m) and Volakias (2115 m) mountains and was carved by the river Tarraios. The actual gorge has a length of 12.8 km (it is the longest in Europe, after the Gorges du Verdon), but the descent has a total length of 16 km; it starts on the plateau of Omalós at an altitude of 1250 meters, and descends to the level of the sea in Agia Rouméli. The depth of the gorge varies between 200 and 1000 meters, while the width is only 3.6 meters in the narrowest part - this passage is called the "pórtes" (gates).

Some literature:
- http://www.west-crete.com/samaria-gorge.htm
- http://www.agiaroumeli.com/samaria.htm
- http://www.explorecrete.com/hiking/samaria.html


Some practical information: It goes without saying that the hike of 16 km with a difference in altitude of 1,200 meters requires good physical condition. You also need good shoes (waterproof), water and a little food. There are, along the road, ten resting places, all with potable water.
Usually, the gorge is open from May 1 to the beginning of October, but when the weather (and the level of the water) permits, it can be opened earlier - in 2016, it was opened on 15 April.
Most walkers leave early in the morning from Chaniá (there are buses at 6h15 and 7h45); at the end, in Agia Rouméli, there is a boat (at 5pm) that takes the walkers to Chóra Sfakíoon (or Sfakiá), where there is a bus that returns to Chaniá (arrival at 8pm). In the bus station in Chaniá, you can buy a combined ticket Chaniá - Omalós and Chóra Sfakíoon - Chaniá (15.60 € in 2016); the ticket for the boat costed 12 € in 2016. The entrance to the gorge costs 5 €.
If you take the bus at 7.45am and if you start the hike in Omalós at 9am, you have 8 hours to make the crossing of the gorge.

Evaluation
: This unique and spectacular hike naturally deserves ****.
[The translation of this walk was made with the help of Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]
[April the 16th, 2016.]


Estimated time: At the entrance you will receive a brochure with practical information, including the distances between the resting places and the effective time; the total actual walking time (AWT) is 285 minutes or 4h45; this corresponds fairly well to the 4h25 we noticed. It is this time you will need to cross the gorge itself, but it still takes about half an hour to reach the coast – this means that the AWT amounts to a total of 5 hours.
Because we know that, normally, the total time (TWT) can reach the double of the AWT, and since you have, as we have said, about 8 hours to finish the entire walk, this means that you cannot waste too much time during this hike. We walked from 9am until 4.35pm...

Route description: (0h00) The place of departure is called Xylóskalo (= wooden staircase): and indeed, at first, you have to descend some 215 rocky steps, reinforced with tree trunks.



The beginning of the hike.

After 8 minutes, you continue on a more flat and stony path, between tall pines. After a total of 600 meters, there is a small resting place, where one enjoys amazing views.



The view of the gorge during the beginning of the descent.

You continue to descend slowly, while the trail is sometimes covered (against the stones that could fall).

(0h20) After 20 minutes, there is again a rocky descent. You pass the sign of 1 km, and the descent is very nice, on a wonderful trail that is mostly shaded because of the high trees - the rocks are sometimes quite slippery.

(0h36) After 1.7 km, you pass Neroútsiko, the first resting place, with a bench and a source (+ a little further a toilet) - all around, you see beautiful trees. Further on, there are a few short turns and later on,  the descent follows nice bends.

(1h00)
After just an hour and about 2.8 km, you arrive in a sharp left turn, in front of a riverbed with large boulders. The trail now descends gently, to the left of and above the bed

(1h03) You thus reach the resting place of Sykiá (with source). A few minutes later, you veer right in front of a trunk of a tree decorated with many pebbles - note that here you should continue straight on to cross the riverbed. So you continue to the right of the bed and you pass kilometer 3. After another 5 minutes you arrive again in the river bed: you cross it (red arrow), you go down on the left bank, then you cross the bed again (red arrow ). You continue now to the right of the bed, you hear the rustle of the water, you still descend into the bed and you cross it for the fourth time.

(1h19) You now have to cross the water of a tributary, you climb for a few moments, and then you follow a  nice flat end - and you arrive next to a panel that provides information on a former temple of the 6th century BC. You reach the resting place of Agios Nikolaos, with to the right a huge Cretan cypress and the chapel of Agios Nikolaos. Just past a small building, you veer to the right and you pass in this way to the left of the chapel. You wind down the wide path to the water while proceeding between splendid trees.

 

The huge Cretan cypress next to the chapel of Agios Nikólaos.

(1h32) You finally cross that bed, you stay on  the right side of it, but then you still descend into the same bed and you cross the water (cairn). The gorge seems to become narrower, you cross the water again, and then you get to a beautiful stretch on the right bank.

(1h40) You cross the bed to the left (blue arrows) and you arrive after another 4 minutes at the resting place of Vrýsi on the left bank (with source). You then descend to the right to cross the water once again (red arrow) and you begin an easy end. You reach km 5, with on your left a beautiful rock face.
After a very nice stretch, high above the river bed, you descend to the left - and you arrive again to the right of the bed that now is dry. You cross (cairns) and ascend meandering on an uneven path, until you get to the resting place Prinári, with source.

(2h06) You continue quite a long time high above the valley on a beautiful trail, you pass the kilometer 6, you descend to a source and you continue to go down quickly until you arrive once more in the bed. You pass the bed, while you veer left onto a gravel path. You veer right again and you reach the bed - but you remain on the right side of it. Further, you arrive anyway in the bed, but you leave it to the right - cairns guide you. After a few minutes you reach an information panel "Samariá and people," and so you reach the old village of Samariá.

The bridge that leads to the village of Samariá.

You pass the bridge in order to take a glance: the village was inhabited until 1962, when the whole area became a national park and the residents were forced to relocate.

(2h33) You are now halfway ... You pass the bridge and you continue on the right bank. The valley is still wide: on the other side, you see the church of Agia Maria - the name of Samariá is a corruption of Santa Maria... You also see small walled gardens, and farther to your right a walled olive grove.


The terraces not so far from the village of Samariá.

(2h50) After an easy stretch on a nice wide path, you see in front of you that all of a sudden the gorge gets narrower, but first of all you reach the resting place of Perdíka (source). You wind right and left to get in the bed and then you follow the cairns.

(3h00) After just 3 hours of AWT, you thus arrive in the narrow part of the gorge.

 

The first narrow passage of the gorge, after 3 hours.

You continue for 25 beautiful minutes, then you go up and the gorge becomes wider for a while - there is again water in the bed After a few minutes, you go down into the bed and you arrive just next to the water – here, the width of the gorge is only 8-10 meters, sometimes you have to jump over the water or you continue in water.

(3h40) You climb a bit to the left, but after 3 minutes you arrive again in the bed and you wind between the rocks. You jump from stone to stone to cross the water to the right, then you cross the bed on a small bridge and ascend again. You pass kilometer 11, and then also an avalanche of stones where the gorge becomes wider - and so you reach the important resting place Christós.

(3h57) About 5 minutes later, suddenly the gorge becomes narrower again: you veer right and you definitely arrive in the narrowest part where the width is only 3.6 meter - you jump over the water, from stone to stone. These are the “Pórtes” (= gates).

 

The narrowest part of the gorge.

Looking back to the narrowest passage of the gorge.

The gorge becomes a little wider, you pass the water to the right, then to the left again.

(4h11) The gorge becomes narrower again, for the last time: you cross the water to the right – further on, you have to cross the bed again 4 times, while the valley becomes wider, twice on bridges, once on a small bridge and once by jumping on stones.

From stone to stone...

(4h23) You thus reach the exit of the actual gorge, where the ticket checking is done.
You pass a (closed) café and you now should follow a monotonous gravel road for 13 minutes.
You then pass a small bridge and you get to a concrete road - sometimes there is here a small bus that could spare you the last 20 minutes of concrete...
You can follow the concrete road to the right (road sign Agia Rouméli) and you continue in a not so nice landscape. Towards the end, you first keep to the left, then you veer right to follow the seafront until you get to the tavern Paralía, where the boat is waiting. (4h56)

[You should get the tickets for the boat in the little street, a little higher on the right. The boat leaves at 5pm – it takes an hour and a half to reach Sfakiá (second stop).
In Sfakiá, you have to walk some 50 meters to the inside, then you climb the stairs to the right, where the bus for Chaniá is waiting on the parking lot.]

 

 

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