Agia Irini Gorge

The gorge of Samaria is closed until May, even though this year there is insufficient water to justify its closure. But nearer to us is the Agia Irini gorge. A bus leaves Soughia for Chania each day at 7 am and passes by the entrance to the gorge, but 7am seems a bit early to set out when on holiday. As luck would,have it, the timetable,is different on Sundays, when the bus leaves at 12.30. So Sunday it is.

We are dropped off at 700 metres and after a brief stop at a cafe head into the gorge which is about 7.5 km long, and in places over 500m high and only 10 m wide.

At the beginning we walk alongside a running stream, but this soon disappears into the limestone and from then on the path follows the dry river bed. At times it is forced to climb up the banks of the gorge because of rock falls. The steepness of the faces of the gorge is amazing, and we enjoy the flowers and the trees. A walk which we were told would take about 2 hours takes us nearly three times as long.

Besides the pines there are many old plane trees in and around the river bed. There must be occasions when water rushes down, because high water marks can be seen and several trees have their roots exposed.

Eventually the gorge widens out and we emerge into an old olive grove,,and, to our delight a cafe. The final few miles back to Soughia take us past two young shepherds and their large flocks of sheep, the remains of a Roman aqueduct, and then a war memorial on the outskirts of the village. Eleni later tells us that the memorial is to those local Cretans who were sent off to concentration camps in Germany and Austria and did not return.