Catalogue information
Samaria (Samaria Gorge) The walk through the Samaria Gorge is a great, intense experience. It is the narrowest gorge in the world. First one has to descend 1200 meters to start the beautiful 16 kilometer walk. In some places the gorge is only four meters wide with rock walls 500 meters high. In the spring you do not get through the gorge without wet feet, but in the summer the river that runs through the gorge has dried up completely. Nowadays, small wooden bridges and gangways have been laid in the spring, so that one gets through the gorge somewhat dry. It is a varied and exciting tour, also for children from about 7 years old. If you are going to walk through the Samaria Gorge, think especially of good, sturdy shoes and a cap or hat against the sun. And if you really can't keep it up, then there are the donkeys that help people through the gap. The narrowest point is called the Iron Gate. The end of the gorge ends at the Libyan sea, but it is still 3 kilometers from the south coast, so you have to hike the three kilometers as well, once out of the gorge, to Agia Roumeli, where the boat awaits. takes you further to Paleochora or Chora Sfakion. The Samaria Gorge was created about 14 million years ago. Erosion made the gap deeper. In 1962, the Samaria Gorge was designated a national park, because of its special plants and rare animals. (such as the endangered Kri-Kri goat) In the gorge is the village of Samaria, which has not been inhabited since 1965 and there are a number of small Byzantine chapels often located near a water source. Rest areas have been built near the water sources. It is advisable to bring a water bottle of drinking water, but you do not have to carry gallons of water as you can refill your bottle at the wells. Depending on the amount of rain that has fallen, the Samaria Gorge is open from mid-April to the end of September. If you hike through the narrow gorge, you walk where the river flows in the winter months. In winter the gorge is impassable and therefore closed. It is also possible to take the “lazy route”. You then take the boat from Chora Sfakion to the end of the gorge, the village of Agia Roumeli. Here you will then hike about five kilometers to the gorge and back again.
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