Itisallgreek2me

Yiorgo (my hero) and I, Samaria village

Yesterday, 7 June 2010, some 500 people walked the Samaria Gorge, however, only one person had the amazing experience of staying overnight, together with the two on duty park wardens, at the village of Samaria – that was me!  

Left Antonia’s house just after 0700 hours to walk to the bus station some 10 minutes away.  I did think it was strange that my knees felt a little sore, however, gave them no attention.  Arrived at the Omalos plateau around 0900 hours, purchased my 5 Euro entrance ticket to the Park and began my descent into the Gorge via the stairs.  As I slowly went down, my knees became more and more painful.  It never entered my head that maybe I should turn back, rather I thought that once I was down into the Gorge, everything would be okay.  Alas, not so, whatever problem I was experiencing, it only worsened.  I struggled on for the best part of 5 hours when help finally came in the form of Yiorgo, one of two on duty park wardens at the village of Samaria.  A Guide up ahead had informed them of my distressed state and he had come with cream to massage in and bandages.  Yiorgo took care of me there, then supported and helped me to make my way on to the village – he was My Hero!  Then Emai Yiatros (I am not Doctor) he said, never mind Yiorgo, you are still my hero. 

I had taken lunch with me – 2 hard boiled eggs, 4 rusks, 2 apricots and an apple.  I had to eat lunch before taking the painkiller Panteson then came the news from the other warden Antonio – I was in no state to walk the remainder of the Gorge and I should stay overnight with them and take my rest in the village (within the Park it is strictly prohibited to stay overnight).  In any case, I would not make it to Agia Roumeli in time to catch the boat to Chora Sfakion, the last trekkers of the day had already left the village.  I spent the next 3 hours on a bed resting before getting up to walk around the village, still in pain, however, feeling much better.  

The village of Samaria lies inside the Gorge.  It was finally abandoned by the last remaining inhabitants in 1962 to make way for the Park.  The village and the Park take their names from the village’s ancient church Ossia Maria (Saint Mary).  An amazing place to be, in the company of two very caring people, we drank coffee and talked as the Kri-Kri, sometimes called the Cretan goat or Agrimi, endemic only to Crete and 3 small islands just offshore, mingled around and about, eating leaves from the mulberry trees.  

Sometime before darkness fell (they have only limited battery powered lighting) we sat down to our evening meal of Macaroni with fresh tomato and onion sauce, topped with cheese, fried fish, salad, bread and of course, red wine from a seemingly bottomless barrel.  No way would I have swapped my place with any one of the other 499 walkers yesterday – I was in paradise, far from civilisation, a peaceful place for recuperation and with two wonderful people.  We talked and laughed until late when all 3 quietly made our way to our beds. 

This morning we were all up early for coffee.  Reapplied the cream and bandages before having a breakfast of bread and cheese so that I could take another Panteson before setting off around 0800 hours.  Still in pain, however, no worse than yesterday evening.  Yiorgo left first to return to Hania, Antonio was to stay on.  When he noticed I was struggling to get down the first few steps he said Perimeni (wait) then came out with a walking stick as a gift to me.  Wow – it was such a great help today and I made it to the end of the Gorge in 3 1/4 hours, with a further hour on to the seaside village of Agia Roumeli which is where I am now.  Starting out today from the village of Samaria meant that I had a head start on today’s trekkers – I made it through the Gorge without seeing anyone walking my way.  I was passed only by one man walking up the Gorge around 0915 hours and a half a dozen people starting out just as I neared the southern entrance.  Had lunch at Paralia Taverna then realised they have Wireless Internet which they have allowed me to connect to – could not be better.  

So far as my knees are concerned, I will visit the Doc when I return home and/or see a Doctor here in Greece, to carry out tests and hopefully diagnose the problem.  My feeling is that maybe my calcium levels are low and so I will buy a calcium supplement if I can and see if that helps the problem.  Thinking I will now spend only 2 nights in Chora Sfakion since I am going to be a day later getting there but not 100% sure, I just want to take a day at a time which I can do as I am free and I have time on my side.  

This blog aptly named I am sure you will all agree, Samaria Experience – Extraordinaire!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.