Walking Holidays for Singles
Crete, Greece
Village of Loutro
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Available for the weeks of May 6th, and October 21st, 2008
Cost is $205 additional for week (transportation, meals, overnight stay, guide)
Crete is a beautiful island, and there is no better way to see some out of the more out of the way places than on foot, in the company of like-minded people. These walks are of medium duration, and anyone who is reasonably fit should be able to tackle them without any problems, though it is advisable to have appropriate and tough footwear, and to take a bottle of water with you. You're sure to want to take pictures of the marvellous scenery, so a camera is also worth including in your backpack.
Only a few walks are mentioned here, but there are many others, all far away from the tourist area and just as nice.
The walks
The walks are easy to medium. They vary from 2 to 4 hours per day. Some, involve some degree of dificulty and walking boots are essential. walks vary from 5 to 15 miles per day and are followed by lunches at local rural Tavernas.
We will take 4 to 5 days walking per week depending on weather and circumstances and there will be time to relax or do your own thing.
The walking holiday weeks also involve a lot of culture and history. We will be talking about the history myths and legents of each place or region we visit and expect to be introduced to local people. We will try to sample the culture and food of each place and eat in local restaurants and Tavernas.
We will see and smell the aromatic herbs and plants of the Cretan mountains like Thyme, Oregano, Chamomile, Cretan Dittany, Marjoram, wild Artichoke and there will be a chance to buy the local famous Thyme honey but also taste the scarse pharmaceutic dark Heather honey.
The walk up to the village of Milia takes about an hour and a half. After a lovely drive through the foothills, you will stop in the village of Topolia, which provides an opportunity to visit the church there and take some photographs, before the walk begins. Milia is a lovely little village up in the hills, where all the local produce is organic, and you can sample the wonderful food and local wine provided by the restaurant there. You may stop and look at a tiny whitewashed Byzantine church before the walk downhill through the flower-filled chestnut and olive groves.
Deliana gorge provides another very scenic walk, and is not too strenuous. The drive to the head of the gorge, where you will be dropped off, takes you through olive groves and foothills on the western side of the island. You walk downhill into the gorge, surrounded by towering cliffs on either side; hawks and vultures wheel overhead, and the tinkling sound of goat bells echoes down from the high crags above you. In the winter, a river runs beside the path and crosses it in places, but by the end of May it has usually dried up. A tiny church in a clearing provides a resting place at the bottom, before the track levels out, and continues to the end of the gorge, and up into the village of Deliana. Here the local restaurant provides a splendid lunch.
A walk down the Aradaina gorge means an early start and a spectacular drive over the mountains. This gorge is very remote, and is in the south of Crete. It is not as long as the Samaria gorge, but is very rocky, so you must have tough footwear, and it is sensible to carry a bottle of water too. A forty foot ladder descent is not for the faint hearted, but luckily there is an alternative narrow path that meanders up the side of the gorge.
The scenery is truly amazing, and there are all sorts of things to photograph, including the eagles, vultures, and hawks, which hover overhead. After three and a half hours, you will reach the end of the gorge and get a first glimpse of the blue Libyan Sea. Have a refreshing paddle and stop to eat home-made yogurt and honey at a small taverna, before walking on to the little village of Loutro. Here you will collect your bags and later spend the night, no doubt sleeping soundly after all the exercise!
Loutro is a charming little whitewashed town, only accessible by boat, where tourists seldom go. In his local waterside restaurant, Pavlos cooks lamb on a spit, and will make you a meal fit for a king. Later you can stroll along the front and enjoy coffee and cakes coffee at one of the other tavernas. In the morning there is a chance to walk up the hill at the back of Loutro for about an hour, before the ferry leaves to take you back to the little port of Chora Sfakion. Here you will join the mini bus, which has been parked there overnight.
The wonderful cliffside walk from Nopigia, in the north of the island, gives you magnificent panoramic views of the coastline below, and takes you through groves of oleander and wild thyme, where there are little gulleys that are full of extraordinary dragon lilies. Bring your swimming things and some plastic sandals, as there is a chance to swim when you reach a little pebbly beach, before continuing on to the tiny village of Ravdouha, where there is an restaurant for lunch. You will certainly feel fitter at the end of just one week walking, despite all the good food. You will also have seen part of the Real Crete, and experienced the genuine hospitality or filoxenia of the local people, for which this island is justly famous.
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