Farangi Samaria, Crete 20140827

The most famous hiking path in Crete (couldn't miss it myself :-D). More than 1000 hikers pass this gorge everyday during summer months, so it's better to be there pretty early! Luckily, tourist office we chose, was the early bird office with just 3rd bus arriving that day. With some fair effort in first kilometers, we managed to avoid the crowds.

0,0k at 1200m - Omalos, starting point. This is exactly where the bus drops You off, not more than 20m from entrance to National Park of Samaria Gorge (the only national park in Crete). You need to pay 5E entrance fee, which is fairly expensive but no other choice anyway. We skipped initial souvenir shopping and started quite fast march down stone stairs to get ahead of approaching crowds. First part (until first aid/rest station) is the most downhill one, with about 650m altitude drop in less than 4km. This means quite heavy pounding on the quads and knees (to be 100% honest I think I would prefer to hike the gorge in opposite direction). All section in the forest offering shadow + it's fairly early in the morning, far ahead of later heat.

3,5k at 600m - Ag Nikolaos, first aid station. Some nice rest area with water springs and toilets. It was still early into the hike so we didnt spent much time hear and continued our march. Not much later, we were pretty much alone and could fully enjoy the hike and surrounding nature. Still in the forest, still lots of shadow.

7,0k at 320m - Samaria village, second aid station. This is actually abandoned village with the same name as the gorge. It was depopulated in 1960s or 70s by decision of greek goverment together with creation of national park. Most of the buildings are still in fair shape. There is medical point organized for fatigued or injured hikers. This was good time and place for a snack so we sat down for a while. Village has some kri kri goats running around and asking tourists for food :-D Not far from this point, the real gorge starts with awesome views, high walls and very narrow passages!

11,4k at 240m - Kefalovrysi, third and last rest area in the park. Still some gorge to pass through. The hike tends to get better and better towards the end.

14,7k at 65m - Exit from national park. It is obligatory to present the ticket at the exit as this way they check that everybody who entered the park, also got through. We enjoyed super cold beer in the kantina.
Still 2km left until village of Ag Roumneli and this is the worst part of the trip. No views, no shadow, about 13-14k already done, large beer already drank! Not cool :-P

17,0k at 0m - Ag Roumneli. Village and port from where later on we took our boat to Sougia. Nice, crystal clear water to swim in :-D

I mark it moderate, although could be easy as well for experienced hikers. Route and whole trip is organized in a way that it's accessible for even one time hikers. Awesome day! Obviously a must see in Crete.
The signal from GPS is crap when in gorge (see zig zag and later straight line). Real distance until exit of the park is closer to 13km. The altitude is correct though due to being recorded with barometric altimeter.