We made it back to Irkalias and took the bus to Chania to rendevouz with George in Lakki. The plan for our return to Crete was to hike Samaria Gorge with George on Sunday. George had burned his foot before we left cooking us amazing fish on the grill so he decided to skip the hike. We decided to hike for two days and camp somewhere during the hike. We set our sights for Pavlos Beach which was about 6-7 hours from the top of Samaria Gorge. We caught the early morning bus to the top of Samaria Gorge and started our hike down (see pics). The hike was pretty impressive although a bit crowded but we rejoiced in the fact that 98% of the people hiking down were only day trippers who had to catch a boat back to the Chania at the and of the hike. We were hiking on after the end of the gorge at the sea. We managed to make it to Pavlos beach after some cussing and discussing a few hours before about where to stop with aching feet and empty stomachs.
On the beach there were umm maybe 3 other tents on this big stretch of deserted beach and one little “restaurant”. We had read about this place and had planned on having dinner there but were worried it would be closed by the time we reached it at 7:00pmish. I rushed down the trail through the sand to see if they would have pity on two tired and hungry yanks with some dinner. Turns out the owner named Sam was pretty much about as laid back as you can be without falling over and said to come back after we pitched our tent and took a swim. So we did, naked of course, swim I mean, not pitch the tent then wandered back for dinner of goat for me and Greek salad for Jess. I also had a Greek beer, damn it I earned it and it tasted pretty good.
We watched the sunset and drifted off into a deep post-hiking slumber. Little did we know the next day would be as rough.
We awoke to the waves crashing and the sun peaking behind the mountains, packed up camp and made our way to the trail to finish the hike about 4-5 hours we guessed to catch the bus back to Chania. The trail was very well marked until this section and I decided we should follow the beach until it ended then find the trail. Jess wanted to push up earlier when it was an easier climb. Guess who was right? There is a picture of how much we had to climb up, I guess a 5.7-8 rating in some spots and one pissed off girlfriend. Oops!
We made it to Marmara Bay, a beautiful little bay and stopped for a coke and water. We only had an hour left to meet the boat that took us to the final town where we would catch the bus. We made to the bus and had a plan to met George in Chania at the bus station with most of our stuff that we did not bring so we could catch the bus to Irkalias again for the ferry in the morning. We met George, transferred our stuff and caught the bus very dirty and sweaty from hiking for two days.
The only thing I would say again about Irkalias is that we camped overnight in some crappy park with stray cats and trash scattered about, and Jess and I had a huge fight about where to pitch the tent. I guess that is what you get when you are tired, dirty, and hungry and it is midnight. The next morning we awoke early to catch the ferry to Rhodes, our final Greek island.
