Location: Loutro, Anopolis
I saw dawn today, as I was up early to do another hike; this time, I would be exploring Aradena Gorge with Ryan. The most strenuous part of the trip came first, scaling the hills that ring the coast of Crete, which required a good deal of steep switch-backing. At the top of the path there was an old monastery with a terrific 360-degree view; this allowed me my first true view of the interior of Crete (we have been travelling around the coast for the most part), which is a vast valley of farmland and little towns. We headed into Anopolis, where we got some breakfast. Anopolis felt the most genuine of all the places we’d been so far, and as such, I remember it fondly and clearly. I have no pictures of Anopolis; it was the first place I’d been to where I felt that taking photographs would be an invasion of privacy.
Aradena Gorge was, in truth, a lot more fun than Samaria. The trails are a bit less worn-in and there are a lot fewer people; Ryan and I did not spot a single soul until the very end of the hike, where some visitors from Marmara Beach were exploring the mouth of the canyon (we started at the top of the canyon and walked down). Once again, the hike reminded me forcibly of Colorado.
We ran into Leslie and Seth at Marmara, and we all had lunch together (cheese pie with honey for me), after which Ryan fell asleep with his head in his arms on the table. We collected beer bottles from the other restaurant patrons, arranged them around Ryan, and took a couple of pictures for posterity (and blackmail material) before he woke up, after which we left for the beach. Ryan fell asleep again on a beach chair, Seth and Leslie did some cliff-diving (I didn’t participate because I did not want to get wet), and then the three of us left Ryan to kayak back to Loutro; this was a great way to end the day, as I thought I was going to have to hike back to Loutro and not get any kayaking in at all.
I saw dawn today, as I was up early to do another hike; this time, I would be exploring Aradena Gorge with Ryan. The most strenuous part of the trip came first, scaling the hills that ring the coast of Crete, which required a good deal of steep switch-backing. At the top of the path there was an old monastery with a terrific 360-degree view; this allowed me my first true view of the interior of Crete (we have been travelling around the coast for the most part), which is a vast valley of farmland and little towns. We headed into Anopolis, where we got some breakfast. Anopolis felt the most genuine of all the places we’d been so far, and as such, I remember it fondly and clearly. I have no pictures of Anopolis; it was the first place I’d been to where I felt that taking photographs would be an invasion of privacy.We ran into Leslie and Seth at Marmara, and we all had lunch together (cheese pie with honey for me), after which Ryan fell asleep with his head in his arms on the table. We collected beer bottles from the other restaurant patrons, arranged them around Ryan, and took a couple of pictures for posterity (and blackmail material) before he woke up, after which we left for the beach. Ryan fell asleep again on a beach chair, Seth and Leslie did some cliff-diving (I didn’t participate because I did not want to get wet), and then the three of us left Ryan to kayak back to Loutro; this was a great way to end the day, as I thought I was going to have to hike back to Loutro and not get any kayaking in at all.
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