KTEL (the public bus service) or local taxis.
Describing walks and treks in the main mountain ranges of west, central and eastern Crete, including the south coast of Sfakia in the west, this guidebook aims to provide you with the information you need to follow the routes of your choice.
Hillwalking and trekking regions
The walks and mountain treks suggested in this guide are grouped under three main headings. In the west, the Lefka Ori (White Mountains) (Part 1) cover 960km2, and include over 20 peaks rising above 2000m (6560ft); Pachnes (2453m/8047ft) is the highest. There are five good walking areas – the Omalos Plain, the Northern Foothills, the Askifou Plain, Anopolis and the south coast of Sfakia – all with trailheads served by bus from Chania. Since many of the best walking routes are linear, a hired car can be limiting especially as much of the rugged south coast, having no roads, is only served by boat. Fortunately, villages on many of the walking routes offer plentiful accommodation, not all of which is pre-booked, enabling a flexible itinerary. Town bus stations have Left Luggage facilities, useful for those who wish to travel without a particular base.
Making graviera cheese in Askifou
In the region of Sfakia, the southern flank of the Lefka Ori rises very abruptly above the coast to over 1000m (3280ft). Thirteen gorges split this steep escarpment, the largest of which – 16km long and over 1000m deep – is the Gorge of Samaria. The huge and inaccessible forested crags of this gorge and its neighbour, the Tripiti Gorge, form a refuge for a treasure that is unique to Crete: a little wild goat, the ‘kri-kri’, which can climb the crags and leap like an ibex (and yet isn’t one), which has survived here since ancient times.
All the mountain ranges of Crete feature high plains, gorges and ravines, but in the heart of the Lefka Ori there is something else. High above the treeline snow thaws by July to reveal a great circle of massive barren peaks, interspersed with ‘moonscape’ outcrops, or depressions, of sinkholes in black, grey or red rock. This high desert wilderness is seldom visited, even by Cretans. Old trails across this interior never fail to impress those who venture to walk them.
In central Crete, where the island is at its widest, the huge mass of Psiloritis (Mount Ida) (Part 2) dominates the whole region. Covering about 560km2, this massif is different in that a single huge, partly scree-surfaced summit ridge rises above massive cliffs on one side and a large area of lower peaks and forested foothills on the other. The summit of Mount Ida has always attracted peak-baggers because, at 2454m (8051ft), it is, by just one metre, the highest point in Crete. At lower levels the forests, freshwater springs, and accessible foothills sustain a strong shepherding tradition and large flocks of sheep, together with goats, are still a regular sight.
Psiloritis offers several challenging linear walking routes with the high-level Nida Plain as a fulcrum. In the foothills, trailhead villages, all of which have tourist facilities, are served by bus from either Rethymnon or Heraklion. However, for walks starting from the Nida Plain, such as the day-walk to the summit, there is no public bus service and alternative plans must be made (see individual route descriptions).
The Dikti or Lassithi Mountains (Part 3) cover about 780km2 and virtually divide central Crete from the eastern end of the island. The dominant feature here is the Lassithi Plain (formerly famous for its hundreds of windmill water pumps), which is surrounded by a series of peaks including Mount Dikti, at 2148m (7047ft) the highest summit of eastern Crete.
Although the European long-distance walking route the E4 Trail crosses Lassithi as an interesting and, in some places, challenging linear route – and is readily accessible by public bus – a few day-walks from the plain (which is very large) are best reached by car. Lassithi has several important Neolithic and Bronze Age sites that attract visitors; villages on the plain offer facilities during the tourist season.
Plants, trees and flowers
Privation due to less high-yield agricultural methods, especially after World War II, is remembered throughout Greece, and ‘food for free’ is still popular with many people in Crete. In the countryside various edible wild greens are gathered in the spring. Snails are also collected in spring (and during Lent), especially after rain.
Crete’s geological history and location in the eastern Mediterranean, equidistant from Europe, Asia and Africa, renders the island of great interest to botanists. Below 1000m (3280ft), varying between the south (earlier) and the north coasts, late April and early May are usually the best time for a profusion of spring flowers. In the high mountains carpets of crocii, chionodoxa, Cretan tulip and others bloom with the retreating snow. Autumn flowers appear in October, with the first rains of the seasonal change. The most commonly seen plants and trees are largely those that taste bad to goats. Cretan plants have adapted in various ways to survive the long dry summers. They may be geophytes (earth plants) with sustaining bulbs, corms, or tubers unsuited to well-watered ground, or sclerophylls (hard-leaved) shrubs or trees with long roots and drought-resistant leaves, or thorns. Deep gorges orientated north–south get shade for part of the day, and their sheer walls are a safe haven for many species of chasmophyte (gorge plants).
The limit of the treeline varies: northern slopes about 1450m (4760ft), and southern slopes about 1600m (5250ft). Common mountain trees are Cretan cypress, often contorted by winter winds, but living to a very great age, juniper, evergreen maple, prickly oak and Holm oak, and Cretan pine (similar to Calabrian pine). Mid-level trees include (apart from olive trees) carob, with its big black pods, wild pear, deciduous oaks, oriental plane (watercourses, village squares), walnut and the fast-growing pollarded mulberry. At the seashore, juniper and tamarisk are common. Tamarisk is usefully fast-growing but despised for the windblown dust (that can land on the dinner table) retained in its foliage. Chestnut groves flourish in places where the type of rock allows a constant water supply.
On the hillsides there are three main types of vegetation. In the mountain ranges they grow side-by-side, depending on water supply, orientation and altitude.
Maquis
Tall, long-lived, woody shrubs classed as trees. This includes prickly oak when it is chronically stunted by browsing goats. Maquis is kept down where mature trees monopolise the available water supply.
Phrygana
Phrygana (‘friggan-na’) includes heathland plants such as oregano, thyme and spiny spurge (the ‘wire-netting’ plant), and woody shrubs such as spiny broom, spiny burnet and Jerusalem sage. In late summer shepherds burn areas of phrygana to promote regeneration of plants palatable to sheep and goats. If this operation is unlucky, or misjudged, high winds spread the fire. On reaching a ridgetop this type of fire should go out, or at worst ‘jump’ to elsewhere rather than descend the other side of the ridge. Phrygana in flower causes hay fever in the spring. Pharmacies stock remedies for this allergy (called the ‘aller-yee-a’). Use your cotton scarf as a mask, particularly when passing Jerusalem sage. (If you take up the work of clearing footpaths, use a builder’s mask.) Fortunately, goats can at least nibble the pods of this tough plant, which chokes so many old trails.
Steppe
This is comprised of plants that grow, for example, on the exposed dry rocky terrain of the south coast escarpment, including white asphodel (spring), maritime squill (autumn) and the weird-looking dragon arum or stink lily. Steppe also includes the long-rooted, nutritious (for sheep) low-profile endemics of the Madares. Several species adapted to the shadeless, barren terrain, date from geo-historical times, indicating that the high mountains were never tree-covered.
Wildlife and hunting
The agrimi wild goat – the ‘kri-kri’ – of the Samaria Gorge is a valuable rare breed of
