I arrived by high speed ferry in the late afternoon in Iraklion, the capital and largest city on Crete on the north side of the huge, long and mountainous island. A short taxi ride brought me to my modern, lovely hotel just uphill from the impressive old Venetian walls encircling the city core or what was the original ancient city. Iraklion is a clean, modern, charming city with several important historical sites and well visited museums. The most famous is the huge, historic Knossos Palace, former heart of the Minoan civilization that preceded the Greeks in the Mediterranean. Knossos is located in the hills just a few minutes bus ride above the city and truly warrants much of a days visit. The Crete Archaeological Museum is arguably the second most important museum in Greece, behind the Greek Archaeological Museum in Athens. I spent a half day there. I also visited the Crete Historical Museum and the new Crete Natural History Museum right on the ocean. The city has wonderful, bustling pedestrian only shopping streets to wander and many fine side walk restaurants and taverna's .
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| The ancient Venetian walls around the old city core, near my hotel |
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| One of the bustling pedestrian only streets in the center of Iraklion |
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| The Morosini fountain on Venizelos Square at city center, a lovely park was just to left |
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| Ancient ruins at the harbor edge at the foot of the main pedestrian street |
City map, the previous ruins pic was at the point of the "you are here" blue flag on map
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| Reconstructed Church of St Paul and Peter at harbor side. |
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| the lovely harbor edge restaurant/coffee shop that I visited |
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| large, colorful hibiscus blooming in the city center park |
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| city center park just off the main pedestrian street. |
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| one of the several delightful side walk cafes at the end of the park |
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| one of the "fish" spas for your feet along the main pedestrian street |
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| View looking down main pedestrian street to its end at the harbor |
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| My Greek salad with its incredible tomatoes and a nice cold Greek beer for lunch |
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| Some of the many impressive displays in the famous Crete Archeological Museum |
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| more of the many wonderful displays in the Archeological Museum |
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| One of the beautiful displays of ancient vases |
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| A view of the end of the Crete Archeological Museum, a "must" stop in Heraklion |
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| View out from harbor front towards its ancient fortification |
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| The imposing ancient fort on the harbor breakwater |
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| The modern, new Natural History Museum on the waters edge |
The primary reason for my trip to Crete was to hike the world famous Great Canyon of Samaria. This, at 16 km in length, is the longest continuous canyon hike in Europe. It starts high (about 5000 feet ) on the continental divide of the White Mountains near the island center at the western end of Crete. This meant a 6 am bus departure from my hotel in Iraklion in order to reach the lodge at the start of the hike by 10 am. It is a wilderness National Park and no one is allowed in the park overnight. You must start the hike prior to 11 am and exit the lower end of the canyon by 5:30 pm. Rangers patrol the park on donkeys. Then it is another 3 km hike on down to the sea and the village of Ayia Roumeli. I vividly remember how wonderful it was relaxing in the late afternoon sun while enjoying a cold Greek beer and sitting at seaside soaking my tired bare feet in the warm Libyan Sea. The village has small hotels, shops and taverna's, but is not on the road system, so one has to catch the last ferry at 6 pm for the hour long ferry trip along the coast to buses at the village of Sfakia, which is on the road system. From Sfakia, there was then another 3 hour bus ride back to my hotel at Iraklion, near the midpoint of Crete's north shore. The 10 pm return marked the end of an exceptionally long , but unforgettable day. The hike in the park takes one down from high alpine terrain and vegetation into a magnificent canyon and stream bed that runs for miles. At points in the lower canyon there are canyon sides that are thousands of feet straight up. The canyon becomes very narrow and is only 10 meters wide in places. There are many of the endangered Cretian wild goats or agrimi in the park, and I took several photos of some close up. The park is a UNESCO biosphere reserve and was an unforgettable experience of a lifetime. You really have a great feeling of accomplishment upon completion of the trek.
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| The breathtaking view from entry lodge parking lot of the Great Gorge of Samaria |
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| View of small lodge at nearly 5000 feet and start of hiking trek |
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| Park entrance sign. |
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| The beautiful view a few switchbacks down from start of trek |
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| view of the high alpine White Mountains from trail |
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| Another view of rugged mountains near start |
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| Stone markers left further down as trail enters valley floor below steepest portion |
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| typical view of this section of trail along dry stream bed |
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| Trail crossing the stream bed which now has water flowing |
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| One of the stone rest stops scattered at regular intervals along the trail |
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| My 1st up close view of one of the bearded wild goats or agrimi |
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| Another of the stone rest stations along trail |
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| A scenic pool in the now larger stream that the trail follows |
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| A pretty wooded stretch of trail, now somewhat above the stream |
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| A view approaching the mid section of the trail and turn off to the deserted village of Samaria |
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| Park sign near deserted Samaria in a valley bench off to the side of the trail |
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| The turn off to left to the nearby remains of old Samaria |
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| Sign and bridge across stream bed to Samaria village |
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| One of a family of the endangered bearded wild goats or agrimi wandering the village of Samaria |
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| hikers crossing bride after a stop to visit ancient Samaria |
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| view just below Samaria where the trail enters the steep sided , narrow canyon |
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| Hikers entering first of the canyon narrows |
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| Hikers on canyon trail |
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| A typical scenic section of trail |
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| A somewhat wider section of the canyon trail |
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| view along trail as it narrows again |
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| Sheer walls along long winding trail in the canyon |
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| Looking back along narrow section of trail with its sheer canyon walls |
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| one of the trails narrowest and scenic sections |
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| The 10 km marker |
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| Trail sharing canyon with stream and entering a very narrow stretch |
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| Canyon less than 10 meters across |
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| breath taking vertical walled section |
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| More of the narrowest portion of the trail |
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| Hikers looking like ants along the narrow floor of the canyon with its incredible vertical walls |
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| A very narrow stretch less than 10 meters wide with the stream making a raised wooden walkway necessary |
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| The park exit sign for the hike down the canyon |
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| The picturesque little cafe or taverna at exit where I enjoyed a cold Greek beer |
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| hiking the added 3 km from park exit to sea with 1st glimpse of the ocean |
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| entering the small seaside village of Ayia Roumeli |
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| The small Greek ferry that would take us along the coast to Sfakia , a village on the road system |
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| The warm, extremely clear waters of the Libyan Sea |
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| My tired feet soaking as I enjoyed a 2nd cold Greek beer waiting for the ferry |
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| Looking back from the departing ferry towards the lower mouth of the great Samaria Canyon I just hiked |
Wanting another interesting days outing , I went down to the harbor of Iraklion, where I then took a 2 hour boat trip out into the Aegean for a days hiking and snorkeling on the island of Zeus. There I hiked to the island summit and enjoyed some wonderful snorkeling in the crystal clear, warm waters. The Greek crew on the boat were so much fun, with the captain reminding me of a Greek Groucho Marx. He also fixed us all a delicious lunch of typical Crete food on the beach. It was a wonderful days outing. All in all I hated to see my Athens/Santorini/Crete trip end and have to start the long airplane ride back to Athens, Duesseldorf, Chicago and finally back home to Alaska.
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| Looking out across Iraklion harbor along breakwater to ancient fort |
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| Iraklion fading into distance as we crossed towards island of Zeus |
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| Zeus as we neared the barren island for our days outing |
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| Our boat now anchored in the small cove on Zeus, with its crystal clear waters |
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| looking across cove towards start of trail up to high points on Zeuss |
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| two Italian women who were along on our days outing, enjoying the trail on Zeus |
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| One of a few deserted old buildings on Zeus |
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| The captain and one of the crew relaxing while the guests enjoyed Zeus |
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| Yours truly with the fun Greek captain to my left and his lst mate to my right |
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| Me again with two friendly Greeks from Iraklion |
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| Enjoying our captains Greek lunch fixed on the beach and enjoyed in the weathered picnic shelter |
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| Departing View of the little, but famous Greek Orthodox church on the point of island of Zeus |
