Crete has over 100 gorges, we want to hike as many as we can!

Richtis Gorge

Yes, Crete has over 100 gorges, some are more famous than other, like the Samaria Gorge. Unfortunately Samaria Gorge is closed during winter, so we had to find other interesting ones. Richtis gorge is about one hour drive from Elounda, on the north side. We parked along the main road.

The first part was along a small road. We saw one car driving there, but I guess that was a local farmer, we didn`t see him later on the road.

It was downhill from the car, so I was thinking about returning… that would be uphill…

Here is the beginning of the trail. It looked like we could have parked here, but it also says “Rescue”, so I will recommend you to park at parking along the main road.

An old idyllic bridge.

This is another type of gorge compare to the one we hiked the day before. This is more open, lush and green.

Were it was too much water they have made bridges.

Some places we had to jump a little bit but no problem to get through!

And some places it was stairs.

Magic world!

At the waterfall it was many steps to go down, and some places it was old and bad constructions, but I came down, and up again. The trail/gorge continues down to the beach but we decided to turn here.

Not a very big waterfall, but a nice place to have a rest.

Or a shower…. Luckily he had clothes on when a group of people arrived!

Selfie!

An admiral was following us on the way back to the car. Nice trail and not too long!

Here you can see the trail:

Here is a video from this hike:

Sarakina Gorge

The next day we went to Sarakina Gorge. This is so far my favourite. In the description it says it is climbing and it is difficult. So we had to try!

We drove up in the mountains, through many small villages, like here, Kalamafka village. We had a plan to go back here to walk up to the church in the hill. (but we didn`t)

The view along the roads are stunning!

We needed a photostop.

We found easily where to park and started the hike. From the start it was amazing, but this is not for everyone!

It was a river inside the gorge and no bridge so we had to cross it. I had extra sandals with me so I could cross the river easily. I couldn`t use my sandals when I was climbing so I had to change my shoes underway.

Some places it was a lot of water.

Well… I think you are strong Astor, but…. Here it was not easy to see where to go, but we walked through the small hole to the left of Astor (not the biggest hole) So we had to watch out all the time to see where to go!

It is not easy to see where to climb here…

Not much space between the walls in the gorge.

I have never liked climbing. NEVER!! And I am afraid of heigts… I had to climb this ladder and in the next part we had to use a rope. It was fun challenging myself!

Looks like it is cut by a razor blade.

And a new rope, we hade to climb. Maybe I need to start climbing when I am back in Norway… not…

This gorge is not a easy trail, if you are used to walk in the city and not doing real hikes, this is not for you. But I loved every second of it!

I am not sure if we could drink this water. We brought enough water anyway.

Steep walls in the gorge.

More steep walls.

Some places it was a lot of water we had to cross, but then we had dry land for a long time.

He is waiting while I am changing my shoes!

It was not easy to see where to go, but it is actually made steps into the big rock in the middle.

You had to climb up here!

It was so amazing hiking here, we should have used more time in this one!

It starts to open up.

Right after this we came to a road, and then we followed that road steep uphill. You can see on our tracks we took a shortcut instead of walking along the road.

Spring is coming, a lot of beautiful flowers around!

Here is a map for this trail:

Here is a video from Sarakina Gorge, check it out!

We had a stop in Ierapetra on the way back and had a pizza on a restaurant there.

I think Ierapetra is a nice place to stay in summer. Nice beaches, and a lot of shops and restaurants.

We had pizza on this square.

We had a couple of days in the boat, waiting for the weather to calm down. But the third day we decided to have a walk up in the valley above Elounda. It was a gravel road almost the whole way.