From the Apokoronas plain the Lefka Ori, the White Mountains, stretch out from Chania facing north east, to beyond Georgioupoli towards Rethymno. The foothills, up to 1600m high are split with gorges, sharp peaks rear up and vegetation is scattered thinly in patches down their steeply sloping sides. Its a great place for a mountain walk.
It may look as if the terrain is pretty tough for walking, but there are paths up into these hills, exposed to cool mountain breezes and with the most spectacular views. Read on so we can show you a few of them.
We’ve plotted those we can see from our gardens at the villa, linked them to the excellent walking guides created by Geoff Needle which you can buy thru Amazon. Its lovely to sit with breakfast on the kitchen terrace, and choose which of the vistas you’d like to experience!
The routes are mostly on gravel tracks used by 4 wheel drives, sometimes over solid rock and the slopes are generally moderate. In the height of summer you’ll be best to set off early, preferably shortly after sunrise, take plenty of water and wear hats because of the sun, and wear good walking shoes/boots. It can get quite a bit cooler higher up, so take a thin jacket in your backpack.
Madaro-Volikas Refuge
Starting from Madaro village, at 560m one of the highest in the White Mountains, this mountain walk climbs back and forth along the face of the mountain, until it disappears from view up the cleft to the mountain refuge. From this height the views across the Apokoronas to Souda Bay and the Akrotiri are magnificent (Geoff’s Walk 43).
Kares-Gerani Gorge
This walk starts in green fertile lands but climbs into the wild landscape of the White Mountains. The views are first across the Apokoronas, then the gorge and finally of the steep White mountains towering above you. It ends with a small church Agios Pavlos. (Geoff’s Walk 41).
Melidoni-Profitis Ilias
The village of Melidoni has a big church with an atmospheric kafenio set in the square. It’s the starting point for a couple of walks.
One of which climbs up around the edge of Tria Korfalia to a well known church, Profitis Ilias, well known because the Cretans celebrate the religious festival of Holy Spirit Sunday amongst others.
Due to the position of the villa, after these events you can watch the line of car headlights nosing slowly down the slopes as the congregation make their way home again!
Melidoni-Agios Pnevma Spring
This route splits off from the Profitis Ilias route to zig zag up a foothill (in shade until about 0830 in the summer!). It then crosses rocky ground via a stepped path to a tiny spring set in the hillside.
It makes a fine mountain walk with splendid views, lots of beehives and shepherds huts and enclosures.
Fres into the Foothills
Described in Walk 36 in Geoff’s second book, this climbs from the Fres-Tzitzifes road, on quiet country tracks. This leads to ever better views of the plain to Kalyves bay. After that the final goat track section takes us over a brow, and the landscape of the mountains unfolds. It’s a remarkable place, calm and timeless, because there is no evidence of man’s presence.
Most of these walks are described in the excellent books by Geoff Needle which you can buy from Amazon.
And finally, after your mountain walk, how nice it is to come back to relax, maybe with a glass of Cretan wine!
More about living in Crete
There is much more in our blogs. These show things to do in Crete, whether it be walking a gorge, climbing to the top of Pachnes in the White Mountains, or taking a drive to see the sites. Chania is a great town to visit, particularly to go to the street markets, and of course you’ll want to get the benefits of the Cretan diet – be it the yoghurt and cheese, or the olive oil.
This Dream Villa
And if you would like to live in a place where you can see these, here is just the place. This is a dream villa which we designed and built 10 years ago and now reluctantly are ready to sell and move on. Its in the Apokoronas, in the west of the island, 35min drive from Chania, 50min from the international airport.
