Want some comparatively easy MedTrekking amid the usually savage landscape and rocky Mediterranean seaside in southwestern Crete?

Then hike down the Samaria Gorge, the local equivalent of the Grand Canyon and one of the most-visited tourist sites on Greece’s largest island, and then follow the blazed E4 hiking trail that runs north and south along the coast.

Inside the Samaria Gorge.

The blazed E4 hiking trail.

The 1,250-meter (4,100-foot) descent through the Samaria Gorge is thirteen kilometers long but it’s a downhill walk in the (national) park and an exceptional deal for the five-euro entrance fee. There’s a constant supply of spring water, toilets, trashcans, picnic tables, shaded rest areas and park rangers.

Naturally there’s a bit of nature involved.

There are some signs warning walkers to “Walk Quickly” to avoid falling rocks, steel netting to protect hikers from the aforesaid falling rocks and a chapel en route if all else fails.

This may speed you up a bit.

Helmets not mandatory. Rock on!

A chapel on the path.

In addition, a few people I met on May 2, the park’s opening day of the season, were a little queasy about some of the bridges. But I hit bottom and enjoyed the thrill without any spills.

We'll cross that bridge….

The Idiot hits bottom.

Most gorge-goers take a ferry back to civilization once they reach the sea. But The Idiot has been so smitten by the well-marked E4 yellow-and-black marked hiking path that he’s spent a few days on it and loves arriving villages like Loutro (http://bit.ly/mgmqDN), which is accessible by only foot or ferry (there are no roads or cars).

After all, it’s rare to find any path along the Mediterranean seaside and a good one like this should be savored in nifty places like Elafonissos (http://bit.ly/mjHPHi), Paleochora and/or Sougia north of the gorge and Loutro and Sfakia to the south.

Check out that hillside path south of the Samaria Gorge.

My beach du jour.

No roads, cars or wi-fi in Loutro.

Although I’ve only met a few German and French hikers on the E4, there’s no shortage of goats (I still get a kick out of every goat I talk to) and when I arrived in Sfakia I was pleased to encounter Despina, a Greek cafe owner who made me a hair-straightening coffee and insisted on taking my picture because, she said, “you look so sexy and gorge-ous for someone who’s walked ten hours.”

Goat du jour.

The Idiot enjoys a seaside morning coffee after a 45-kilometer MedTrek.

Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure and Despina Fountulaki (1).

Follow

About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."