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| VENETIAN HARBOUR IN CHANIA |
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| VENETIAN LIGHTHOUSE AT SUNSET |
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| NEOS OMALOS HOTEL |
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| ANCIENT CYPRESS TREE NEAR KOUKOULE |
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| SUMMIT OF KOUKOULE |
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| VIEWPOINT AT KALERGI REFUGE |
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| SOME INDICATION OF A PATH TO KAIMENI SUMMIT |
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| HARD WALKING - OMALOS PLATEAU IN BACKGROUND |
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| KAIMENI KEFALA SUMMIT |
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| BACK DOWN TO THE PLATEAU |
Tuesday 28th May. Other than the fact that the EasyJet aircraft's air conditioning wasn't working, our flight from Gatwick to Chania Airport was uneventful. For €2.50 each, the coach from the Airport took us directly to Chania bus station, which happened to be just 50 yards from Alena Apartments, where we would stay for the night.
It was late afternoon, so we quickly settled in so that we could take a walk down to the Venetian Harbour to enjoy the views, look around the tourist shops, and find a restaurant. We settled on the Mixalis, which served us a mixed grill to share, preceded by a salad and followed by a chocolate sweet and Raki, the latter provided in a small bottle along with two shot glasses. We soon learned that this was the traditional way to end a meal in Greece.
We slept well that night, but needed to be up early to catch the 07:45 bus to Omalos in the White Mountains to the south of Chania. Not long after 9:00 we arrived at the Neos Omalos Hotel where we would stay. It was too early to book in, so we loaded what we needed for a day-walk into our rucksacks, left our suitcase, and headed up a mountain path which would take us to Kalergi Refuge.
This was a 4 hour walk which involved climbing difficult, rocky mountain terrain. Route-finding was assisted by the blue and red splashes painted onto the rocks.
The highest point of the walk was Koukoule at an altitude of 1631m. Shortly after we reached Kalergi Refuge, from where the views were spectacular. In particular, we could we could see down the Samaria Gorge which we would be walking along later in the week.
Climbing down from the Refuge was at least as difficult as climbing up although it was fascinating watching the Lammergeiers (Bearded Vultures) encircling us on our descent. Perhaps they were hoping that one or both of us would expire.
Finally, a 4km walk across the Omalos Plateau brought us back to the Neos Omalos Hotel. Once there we were able to enjoy a welcome shower and sample their cuisine.
We had a bit of a lie-in next morning, not getting down to breakfast until 9:00. We didn't leave the Hotel for a walk until gone 11:00. Although the day's walk was shorter, it was much tougher with rocks and trees to contend with on largely pathless terrain. Our route took us to the summit of Kaimeni Kefala at 1401m, where we ate our picnic lunch at nearly 3:00pm.
We returned to the Plateau by following a stream bed all the way down to the road, which we then followed back to the hotel. We were out for about 6 hours in total, but the day was most satisfying - for me because it involved tricky navigation and for Rubi because she was able to cope with such challenging terrain.
After supper at the hotel, we enjoyed a hot chocolate in our room using our newly acquired travel kettle. We needed to sleep well, for tomorrow we would be walking the length of Samaria Gorge.
