Hiking in Southwest Crete
It's hard to know where to look when you're in full hiking
gear, following a path, and find yourself crossing a nudist beach. The path we
were following was part of the E4 European long-distance footpath, where it
goes along the coast of southern Crete. The landscape of this part of Crete is
incredibly varied, but we'd gone from stony scrub to bare bums in just a few
seconds.
It may have been October but the temperatures on Crete were
still in the 80-90F (26-32C) range, making for hot hiking, even before our
unexpected encounter. Averting our gaze, we plodded on along the E4, following
the signs up and over another headland or two, where we found deserted beaches
and private coves, the perfect place for a picnic lunch and cooling swim. For
those who still had energy left it was only a little further to the beach at
Elafonissi, one of the biggest and most stunning on Crete.
Elafonissi Beach in Southwest Crete
This southern coast of Crete is far more rugged than the
north. In some places the mountains come so close to the Libyan Sea that
there's no room for a road inbetween, and a few villages are only accessible by
boat or footpath, or by one road in and out. From Elafonissi we could have
returned on foot but there was also a convenient boat to take us back to our
base at the Hotel Pal Beach, right on the seafront in Paleohora. Another day we
hiked the Samaria Gorge, where a boat also took us back to Paleohora, providing an
end-of-day bonus of great views of those coastal cliffs.
The Samaria Gorge on Crete
On the first day our guide, Samzie, who leads walking groups
all over the world, was on virtually home territory as she broke us in gently
with a walk from Paleohora to the village of Anidri, where her father has a
house and which she's been visiting since she was a child. We walked through
olive groves and past horse pastures, then along goat tracks that zig-zagged us
up to a little white chapel, Agios Giorgios, overlooking Anidri on one side and
the Libyan Sea on the other.
Lunch at Sto Scholeio Taverna in Anidri, Crete
There were views of the sea from the amazing Sto Scholeio
taverna, where we had lunch. We were early and had to patiently wait for food,
as every dish is prepared fresh each morning and they don't start till
everything's ready. Inside the chefs were chopping, outside our stomachs were
rumbling as we gazed longingly at the menu's treats: bacon, date and almond
rolls, fennel pie, octopus with walnut and garlic dip, baked sea bream, pork
with leek and orange... peach tart, cheesecake, orange pie and chocolate
brownies. Thankfully it was downhill all the way after lunch, as we picked our
path down through the Anidri Gorge to the local beach, then eventually back
along the coast road to Paleohora.

On our final day we got Lucky, literally, as Lucky's the
owner of a taverna in the mountain village of Azogires. After serving us a
tasty lunch of Greek salad, chips, souvlaki, tzatziki, dolmades, pork chops,
assorted pies and more wine than it's safe for a walking group to drink before
a walk, Lucky turned to another of his jobs and became a walking guide as he
took us on a ramble round Azogires, with tales of its history that were
alternately hilarious and moving, and always fascinating.
Lucky Brings the Food
As Lucky led us down to the gorge that would take us back to
Anidri, he took us into a church that had been carved out of the rock face
alongside the path. There, after regaling us with more stories, he blessed us
all with holy water. It was one of those simple gestures you can only get away
with by being absolutely sincere. We did indeed feel blessed to have met Lucky,
and lucky to have spent a week walking in this part of Crete.
Meet Lucky on our YouTube Channel
Other Crete pages
The Greece Travel Secrets guide to Zaros in Central Crete, including what to do, where to stay, and where to eat.
Greece Travel Secrets visits the Zacharioudakis Winery near Ancient Gortina in southern Crete, and does a vineyard tour arranged by our guide from Go Crete.
Greece Travel Secrets tours the Lyrarakis Winery on Crete and learns about Crete grape varieties such as plyto, dafni, vidiano, vilana, mandilari and kotsifali.
Icon painting is a centuries-old tradition in Crete and the rest of Greece, and Greece Travel Secrets meets a modern-day icon painter in Elounda on Crete.
Greece Travel Secrets visits the Cretan Botano herbs and spices shop near Matala in southern Crete in search of the herb man of Kouses.
The Stilianou Winery near Knossos on Crete uses only Cretan grape varieties, with every bottle numbered, and aims for quality rather than quantity.
The Snails House in Plouti near Phaistos in southern Crete serves the Cretan delicacy of snails, cooked in several different ways.
Greece Travel Secrets discovers Sitia, the main town in eastern Crete, with its relaxing waterfront, inexpensive hotels, good food, and nearby ancient sites.
Sir Arthur Evans is the archaeologist famous for the excavations he made at the royal palace of Knossos on Crete.
The Samaria Gorge is one the longest gorges in Europe and doing the hike is one of the best and most popular things to do on Crete.
This Rouvas Gorge walk starts and ends in Zaros in southern Crete and should take three to four hours with a distance of eight kilometres or five miles.
Rethymnon is the third-largest city in Crete and has a Venetian fortress, Archaeological Museum, Old Town area and Venetian harbour,
Greece Travel Secrets page on Phaistos or Faistos, the site of one of the finest Minoan palaces on Crete and is where the mysterious Phaistos Disc was found.
The area east from Paleohora along the south-west coast of Crete includes resorts like Agia Galini, gorges like the Imbros Gorge and quieter towns like Sfakia.
The travel tale Our Hire Car in Crete describes what it’s like when you go driving in Greece and get off the beaten track, resulting in kindnesses.
Margarites is known on Crete for its pottery, with ceramics shops and workshops lining the streets of this charming small town not far from Rethymnon.
Maleme near Chania is where the people who died during the battle of Crete are buried, in the German War Cemetery with the Commonwealth War Cemetery nearby.
Lonely Planet Crete is an excellent and thorough guide of almost 300 pages to the largest of the Greek islands.
Visiting Knossos near Iraklion is one of the best things to do on Crete, and this page has a history of the site with visitor information.
How to make Petimezi, the sweet Cretan syrup made from wine must, is explained to Greece Travel Secrets.
Ancient Gournia is a Minoan archaeological site between Agios Nikolaos and Sitia in Eastern Crete where the visitor can see evidence of a maze of back streets.
The Goules Taverna in Goulediana, south of Rethymnon, has been called one of the best tavernas on Crete and Greece Travel Secrets recently visited them.
Ancient Gortina is an archaeological site in southern Crete famous for the church of Ayios Titos and for the Law Code inscribed here, the first in Europe.
The Evros Delta National Park is one of the most important wetlands in the whole of Europe, and a magnet for birdwatchers, with nearby accommodation.
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