(Translated by Google)
Almost a year had passed since my last trip, and the changes reflected in tourism during the year have not been pleasant, except for the removal of masks. The price level has increased and the level of service has further decreased. In addition, the airlines have continued to add imaginary costs by introducing an additional fee if you want to choose your own seat at check-in. Personally, I find this to be a confusing activity to say the least - I hope the big masses don't submit to this and this unnecessary surcharge will either die out or it will be included in the ticket price and we will return to good old practice. I have heard that possibly the EU would also be addressing this obvious problem.
I started my journey from Tampere in the morning and a couple of buses, one train and one startlingly hot flight later I arrived in the center of Chania, where I walked to the hotel and after a quick check-in I joined our group for dinner, which was already in full swing in Chania old town. There were 8 people in the group and a couple of guides - the first impression of our group was quite positive. (Also a positive thing was the cheap, easy and on-time airport bus to the city center.)
On the first actual hiking day, we took a bus from Chania to the mountain landscapes of Agia Irinini and the Lefka Ori (White Mountains) National Park, where we hiked through the Agia Irinini gorge as a warm-up exercise. The best views of this trip are at the beginning of the route, while still above the bottom of the canyon. Our guide wanted to keep the group tightly together, and therefore the opportunities for photography were practically very limited, just like the other hikes on this trip.
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| Start of the hike at Agia Irini |
The hikes on our trip were for the most part mainly easy trails, except for a few individual slightly more challenging spots. In terms of safety, the biggest risk was rockfalls, which happen a lot in the area.
After the canyon walk in Agia Irini (8.5km, 3h, 500 meters of descent), we headed for a home-cooked lunch in a nearby mountain village, where we enjoyed food prepared by an authentic Greek grandmother, which was excellent - especially the goat meat was really tasty; the vegetarian dishes were also good.
We continued our journey to Omalos, so that we could be at the vicinity of the Samaria Gorge in the morning. In the afternoon, we also briefly visited a nearby cave and in the evening, after the sun went down, we felt the first signs of the beginning of autumn, even though the temperatures during the day were still completely at the level of the Finnish mid-summer heat.
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| Omalos Cave |
The third day was entirely spent hiking through the famous Samaria gorge (18km, 6h40min, 1240 meters of descent). Breakfast in Hotel Omalos was miserable from the point of view of hiking, as was unfortunately the case in these small towns. In general, eggs and e.g. bacon could be arranged, but for an additional fee of 4-5 euros - this should have been handled better on an active trip like this.
Hiking through the crown jewel of the region offers a lot of great scenery, especially at the end of the canyon closer to Agia Roumeli, but it is also worth noting that there are a lot of other tourists, so in that sense it is not a perfect nature experience. There are plenty of water stations on the way, so you don't need to be prepared with a very large amount of fluids.
The canyon ends at the beach village of Agia Roumeli, which can only be reached on foot or by boat, where most of the hikers leave immediately after the hike, so in the evening the streets and restaurants of Agia Roumeli are almost completely empty and the peace of the countryside and the sound of the sea take over the mind. The only minus of the empty dark beach is the really rocky bottom.
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| Samaria Gorge |
We stayed at Hotel Gigilos, which is right on the beach and is already a somewhat older building. It must be said about Gigilos and other Greek hotels that they are in excellent condition for their age and really well maintained. I've seen my share of hotels and guesthouses all over the world so I can say that the Greeks are pretty much at the top of the list in this regard.
On the fourth day, we continued our journey from Agia Roumeli along the coastal paths to the east (12km, 4h30min, 300 meters of ascent and descent). The route goes through Agia Pavlos (St. Paul's) to Marmara and from there to idyllic Loutro.
At St. Paul's beach, we took a swimming break and enjoyed the last softdrinks of the season on the terrace of Agia Pavlos' slightly hip restaurant. Very rarely have I seen such a positive vibe in a restaurant, as in this place - either the owner was well medicated or just simply one of the most relaxed people anywhere.
The path from Agia Pavlos towards Marmara ran on a sandy bottom under the shade of pine trees with wonderful views over the sea - I would say that it is hard to imagine a more enjoyable hiking terrain than this one, everything in that moment was just right; these are exactly the small pleasures of life that you can look back on with joy.
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| Agia Pavlos |
In Marmara, we then enjoy a hot afternoon in the cooling waves of the Mediterranean, exploring the interesting caves on the beach. The sea water already felt a little cool, but it was just right for swimming. After a late lunch, I decided not to continue my journey with the group to Loutro on foot, but jumped on the boat to take me my aching calves to the idyllic bay of Loutro a good hour before the others. This is exactly the kind of place I could come to for a week just to enjoy life and the wonderful scenery of Crete.
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| Swimming in the caves of Marmara |
The program of the fifth day included an optional hike in the Aradena canyon (8.5 km, 3 hours, 600 meters of descent), which offered perhaps the most amazing scenery and photo opportunities of the entire trip. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to break my camera's remote release cable the day before, so I had to settle for rather modest shots considering the canyon's potential. We started in the morning by taxi boat from Loutro to Sfakia and from there on a jeep up to the village of Aradena. From there, we descended along the path lined with medieval buildings down into the gorge and continued hiking in perhaps the most stunning scenery of the trip all the way to the Marmara beach, from where we again jumped on the boat back to Loutro.
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| Aradena canyon |
In the evening, I went up to the Loutro fortress at sunset to take a couple of pictures, which turned out to be quite a good move, because there were some clouds in the sky and thus also color instead of just blue skies. At dinner time, the clouds started to drop the first rains of autumn, and we speedwalked to the hotel in the fresh autumn rain.
On the last hiking day of the trip, we traveled from Loutro to Sfakia (6.6km, 2h30min, 200 meters of ascent and descent), stopping on the way at Sweetwater Beach for an hour-long swimming break. I talked with a German family there and they were in Crete for the fourth time already - camping with small children. The children were clearly excited about the adventure as a family and a great example of how you can successfully vacation with small children even on a slightly smaller budget.
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| Loutro |
The all-round brilliant sunny weather continued all day and was of course at its best at the seafood lunch at Taverna Obrosgialos with the perfect breeze from the sea.
From Sfakia, we were picked up by bus back to Chania, where we enjoyed a joint dinner in the old town's excellent Arismari restaurant, after which it was time to say goodbye to new acquaintances and continue our journey in new directions.
The next morning, right after breakfast, I headed to the bus station and on to Finnair's direct flight to Helsinki. Everything went great and unfortunately I managed to get to Tampere in good time to see the our football team take a severe beating in Slovenia.
The week's hike in Crete was all in all a great break to the darkening autumn in Finland, and if I did something differently, I probably would have gone to the Aradena canyon on my own from Marmara in the morning and returned the same route. That way I would have had a little more freedom and opportunities in terms of photography. Other than that, I think the route was good and the selected accommodations apart from the lack of quality breakfasts were also spot on. The quality of tap water was good (excluding Loutro) and there were enough water points available in the Samaria gorge. The price level in Crete was slightly cheaper than in Finland, but by no means significantly cheap. The food was high-quality basic food based on local ingredients, which also easily suits the average Finnish palate, because the level of spiciness is very mild. There is a reason to have cash with you, because card payment is not accepted everywhere, and it is not as good for local entrepreneurs as hard cash anyway. I would say that I could easily go to Crete another time - the goats kingdom has so many tourist attractions that I appreciate.
