Crete White Mountains. October 17: Agia Roumeli–Loutro
We both woke up tired, and Chris had the beginning of a cold. Ah well, there was nothing for it but to strap on our backpacks and start walking east! The route promised glorious views of the ocean.
Oh, but it was hard!
After Agios Pavlos beach and taverna, the trail climbed. And climbed.
It was beautiful, to be sure, but the sun was strong, and the rocks were unrelenting. Chris nearly ran out of water twice. Maybe we were just tired; some days are like that.
We got to the small town of Marmara around 3:00, prime lunchtime in Greece. Eleni had highly recommended the restaurant above Marmara beach, but neither of us felt very hungry. It was just so hot.
Back in Chania, Eleni had warned us against walking the last section of this trail, from Marmara Beach to Loutro. She said “It’s very exposed!” The E4 website actually mentions this, and only this, section in its list of E4 sections by country: “Crete from Lykos beach to Marmara beach: the first section (the steep ascent) is very poorly marked and hardly secured; the path hasn’t been checked and renovated for a long time!” This couple hiked it and didn’t love it.
We were more than happy to take Eleni’s recommendation to take the boat instead. As it turned out, there was a boat leaving in about 15 minutes. A ten-minute boat ride that deposited us right at a waterside taverna was a great improvement over two more hours of filthy, sunbaked, terrifying clambering over rocks.
But we weren’t done climbing! Getting between the taverna and Marmara beach requires descending a marble “staircase” that honestly would make a nice bouldering exercise in a climbing gym.
Marmara gets its name from the marble that makes up its substrate; the water has worn little caves in the marble blocks at the seaside, which are charming to look at.
The ferry was easy enough to negotiate; you just pay €5 per person and get on. Many tourists in the area use these boats all the time for transport from town to town; most folks aren’t into hard hiking just to get to a beach.
Loutro is another car-free town. It exists mainly to serve the tourism industry; most residents leave in November.
It was lovely to clean up and enjoy a quiet evening.
