Paleochora, Crete - A Good Base

From Elafonissi I drove to Paleochora on the southwest coast of Crete. It’s built on a spit of land that extends from the mountains. Both sides of the village have a beach. On side is big boulders and the other side is more pebbly. The tip hosts a basic harbor with a very tired looking marina. Paleochora doesn’t appear to be on the list for boaties. Actually, you hardly see any boats around here. Just a few fishermen and a couple of morning and evening ferries.

Paleochora is not a party town, no nightclubs, and is void of international commercialism. Everything is low key and local. However, the town has embraced tourism and is full of family run accommodation and restaurants. It’s authentic and purely Greek. My kind of place.

As usual on these kind of trips I arrived with nowhere to stay. I parked the car on the edge of town and went for a walk. For me the far end east facing area is where I wanted to be. I inquired at a couple of hotels and they were full but I knew there were places available. I was being a little picky

I settled on a ground level sea view apartment for 2 nights at 40 euro a night. The room was just a few steps from a good spot to swim. The woman running the place is from Scotland. She moved to Paleochora after marrying a Greek man. They eventually got divorced but she’s stayed with the family and is managing the two family run hotels. I would have stayed there longer but it was booked out so I had to move.

I found a better place. Just the way I like it. Top floor, on the end, with a balcony sea view. I booked in for 4 nights but feel like I could easily stay 4 weeks. 35 Euro a night. However, I almost wound up somewhere else but left when the woman wanted extra for air conditioning. She had already hoodwinked me into more or less agreeing to pay more than I wanted. Ultimately, I followed my gut and left. For the most part I find Greeks to be pretty straight up and honest but like any tourist based area they can have a hustle.

Paleochora is a good base. A car is nice but with the morning and evening boat ferries along with local buses and special tourist shuttles you can easily do without. I’ve kind of got this area of Crete figured out as far as getting around goes but a car came in really handy for yesterdays hike up Mt Gigilos.

So far I’ve gotten in a couple of good hikes. One morning I took a shuttle to the start of a point to point hike down the famous Samaria Gorge to the village of Agios Nikoloas on the sea. At the end I caught a ferry back home. The walk is very popular and most people start within a 2 hour time frame. I hung back for an hour and did a little side hike before starting in order to avoid a couple of large groups. It’s the kind of outing that attracts a lot of people who don’t really hike much. My later start was a good call for the most part. I took my time and didn’t really catch up to people until halfway down the 16 km way.

The path starts at a pleasantly cool and high mountain valley and immediately drops down into the forest to run along a mountain stream. At about the halfway point you arrive at the small abandoned village of Samaria. Down to that point it’s nice but nothing too special in my opinion. A little ways below the village you enter the actual gorge which is really quite interesting. The rocky walls display many unusual patterns with differing colors in the lay of the rock. The walls appear to overhang somewhat in sections and there are spots where trees have taken root with curved trunks to grow vertically. Signs warn of possible rockfall.

Near the end of the gorge the walls narrow to within a few feet and an elevated wood planked walk keeps walkers above the water as it flows past bathing the walls of the gorge. The last couple of kilometers is a road walk to the village of Agios for food and drink before catching a 5 or 5:30 boat ferry. It was a very nice walk but I caught up to quite a few people in the gorge. I don’t mind meeting a few people on a hike and often times I like seeing a few other hikers but I like to put the accent on “few”. Crowds detract from just about any experience unless your looking for the thrill of a rock concert or something of the sort.

The second hike I did was up and down Mt Gigilos. It followed a section of trail know as the E4 which is a route that traverses Europe. Mt Gigilos was just my style with good honest rugged uphill hiking to a pass and side scramble up to a mountaintop. At 2000 meters the air temp was perfect with a light breeze and clear blue skies. It was nice to see a few hikers but not many. Three Italians, a couple of young Americans, and of course, Germans. Germans really seem to like Crete. As with a lot of other locations in the world.

One added bonus to renting the car is that the drive back from hiking Mt Gigilos was really beautiful. I somehow took a different way home. The winding road, although narrow in spots, was good and offered broad views with no traffic. In the hour and a half return I don’t think I saw more than 10 other vehicles. Well, at least that’s how it seemed.

As with everyday I finish the day with a swim in the Sea. The water here is really nice, clean, and very clean. Also, there are garbage cans and people know how to use them.