Jerusalem way - Page 13

Likos - Preveli, then back to the gorges

I had constant plans to finally go camping, since I was dragging my tent along. There was also everywhere here the possibility to camp wild. But always the shade places were occupied, in the sun it was not bearable in the tent. Therefore, I mostly rented rooms. So also in Chora Sfakion. Early in the morning the road led over a mountain, down to a picturesque place: Loutro. Behind the village the path runs along the mountain, at a height of about 50 meters. It leads through idyllic bays and over lonely pebble beaches. After a beautiful church, Ekklisia Timios Stavros, you pass Sweet Water Beach. In the taverna I got a Greek Coffee, we call it Turkish, down here you still argue 🙂. After the next lonely bay, the path leads extremely steeply up to a hiking trail, then to the road that takes me down to Chora Sfakion.

When I meant, the after work beer approaching, they asked me to move to another accommodation. The owner would have made a mistake, I suspect rather, later asked tourists who wanted to stay longer than a day. I was quite indifferent, the main thing a shady, cool place to sleep. Happened to me shortly thereafter again. The next day it went first slightly uphill, then all day pretty straight small roads along to Fragkokastello. Short distance, but very hot. After the walk, I noticed that this is not so much a town, but a collection of taverns around a Venetian castle. Thirsty I then went to a bar with a shisha lounge and got here even immediately a small room. Was apparently no longer a vacation area here. Under the chirping of the cicadas I still looked at the castle before the evening took the usual course.

Relaxed and short was the route after that to Korakas Beach, mostly passing dry fields and on quiet roads. After I moved into my accommodation, I spent a few hours on the quiet sandy beach. At dinner, the owner of the accommodation said that he had forgotten that he had already rented out my room. That sounded familiar to me, but this time I had more luck. Under 1000 apologies and a lot of Raki he asked me to move to a posh hotel, for the same price. With pool and everything, what a pitty 🙂. The next morning it went again uphill and along the cliffs. Wonderful views of the coastline and beautiful beaches accompanied the whole route. In the meantime strong wind blew, in the heat rather pleasant. At the big beach of Souda I visited first the beach bar, before it went on the coastal road to Plakias.

Here I had to think slowly how I continue to run. The E4 led inland, away from the coast. Here was the best possibility to get information about it. In Plakias met namely the backpackers and dropouts, they knew each other well in different parts of Crete. So I spent 2 days in the youth hostel there, currently supervised by Ulli, a Berliner. Already in the 70's met here hippies and dropouts, the name Pigs Bay for the beautiful beach here, came not by chance 🙂. And I got my info: If I would follow the E4 further, almost nothing worth seeing would come, the Psiloritis, the highest mountain of Crete would be pretty much the only thing. So I then also made the decision to run back along the coast and look at all the gorges.

But for now, I stayed, even if I had to defend my bed every other night 🙂. But I could also choose a hammock in the beautiful garden. The following day I ran with some Germans to the Pigs Bay, the coarse-grained sand is the reason for the crystal clear water there. Was but also accordingly full of people. The day after I went with Niklas, a student and Crete backpacker to Preveli, a beautiful palm beach between Plakias and Agia Galini. However, it was extremely crowded. On the way back we met a few old hippies from the heyday of Plakias, where tourism was still a foreign word. Some have stayed since then and have small stores.

Then I said goodbye to what, according to Rough Guide, is one of the most casual and open hostels in the world. It went over several days again to the west, the same route, to run down the gorges. From Chora Sfakion I started to the Imbros Gorge just nearby. It starts steeply uphill in Imbros and ends at a road just before the sea. It is very beautiful and easy to walk. The next day I walked again to Lykos. From here I started the rest of my tours. To get to the Aradena Gorge, the following day I first had to climb a steep mountain in scorching heat. No shade. After the village Livaniana serpentines started, the view into the bay was brilliant. At the top of the plateau, one could see the peaks of the White Mountains (Lefka Ori). Across a bridge you come to the deserted village of Aradaina. At the town sign you can see the Cretan folk sport No. 1, shooting the road signs 🙂. There one descends into the gorge. This was already a decent challenge, some boulders, partly to climb. It ends directly at the beautiful, crowded Marmara Beach by the sea.

The next day I went to the most famous of the Cretan gorges: the Samaria Gorge. First I walked over the mountain to Loutro and from there I took the ferry to Agia Roumeli, where the gorge ends in the sea. From there I walked up the gorge from below, halfway up I met many people. After it became quieter about half an hour after the village of Samaria, I turned back. Scenic beautiful and good to walk, the dimensions are much larger than at the Aradena Gorge. The rock walls on the left and on the right rise up to 600 meters. Varied vegetation and sometimes one of the rare wild goats make the way entertaining.

Finally, I wanted to see something of the white mountains and walked up the same steep mountain as the day before yesterday. Past Livaniana to the high plateau. There, however, to Anopoli and a few kilometers towards Pachnes, the second-highest mountain of Crete. However, not all the way up, that would not have been possible in one day. In addition, the heat was borderline critical. The way back led me via Kampia down the steep mountain again to Loutro and Lykos. I would have liked to cross over to the southernmost point of Europe, the island of Gavdos. Also, it was in the 70's goal of dropouts and backpackers. However, I was told that the sea was too rough at the moment. So I spent the following day on the beach of the dream bay Lykos and planned my further procedure in Israel, also booked my accommodation in Tel Aviv.

Vagelis, the owner, prepares the food here already at noon by means of a parabolic mirror. Wonderfully creative he is also in crafting small things from natural materials, which is present everywhere in the garden and on the terrace. The sweet cat does the rest for the good mood here 🙂. One evening I ordered goat for dinner, the wife of Vagelis said, but that takes a while. No problem. 10 minutes later, an older man with at least as old shepherd dog ran by. It banged shortly and both came back, but the man now had a dead goat on his back. Half an hour later I had my dinner. No idea whether this goat was my dinner, but it was so obvious and funny to associate it that way 🙂. I was happy all around here and wanted to show the place to Manu later. 4 years later we made here few days hiking vacation: Crete.

Now it was time to say goodbye to the Libyan Sea and I went by bus to Heraklion. Once there, I walked to Knossos, the ancient Minoan archaeological site and then back to the venetian port of Heraklion. I walked some more of the north coast, which I think is not as beautiful as the one in the south. Towards evening I treated myself again to typical Cretan cuisine before I spent the night at the airport. Was too excited to sleep.