The different landscapes of Greece has many hikers booking into Greece hotels, wanting to explore this wonderful country, with its wealth of flora & fauna. Hiking is a refreshing & enjoyable activity & during the last few years, may hiking clubs have opened in Greece. The members maintain the trails & publish maps of the trails in the local area. Walking is best done in the early part of the year or in the autumn as daytime temperatures can be very hot in the summer months. In October, the average temperature is still a warm 15 degrees C. Many hikers have heard of the Samaria Gorge, located at Chania, in the south west of Crete. Many Crete hotels have information on this National Park containing the largest gorge in Europe.It was created in 1962 as a wildlife reserve for the dwindling number of kri-kri (Cretan goats). The inhabitants of Samaria, the deserted village just inside the park, had to leave their homes to make way for the Park. Nowadays, it is a World Biosphere Reserve, attracting visitors from around the world. The walk through the park is 16 km. long & can take 4-7 hours to complete. It is not recommended to be undertaken in the height of summer as temperatures in parts of the Gorge can be high as the heat bounces off the rocks. The most famous part of the Gorge is known as
‘The Iron Gates’, where the sides of the Gorge narrow down to a width of just 4 metres whilst rising up to an impressive 1,100 metres. Most hikers start from the Omalaos Plateau in the Gorge & hike to Agia Roumeli on the Libyan sea. Here they catch a boat to Hora Sfakion, explore this picturesque village & then catch a bus back to Chania. Another famous walking destination in Greece is the Corfu Trail. It’s a long distance footpath that runs the length of the island from Cape Agia Ekaterini in the north to Arkoudilas in the south. It generally takes about 10 days to walk but most hikers book into Corfu hotels & use these as a base to explore the trail. The trail, some 220 kilometres long takes in an area of Crete unsullied by mass tourism. There is so many different landscapes here that you never experience the same one for more than an hour. There are beaches & juniper dunes in the south which then meld into rolling olive groves in the central part, finally giving way to rugged gorges & plateaus in the north. The trail is very easy to follow with boards with CT on & a directional arrow. Kea is a small island in the Cyclades, renowned for its walking. Only a 75 minute ferry boat ride away from Lavrion, it is a mecca for walkers as there are a number of easy to follow trails across the island. The landscape here takes in ancient castles & ruins as well as watermills & springs. The beaches here are golden & take time after your walk to relax on them with a nice drink from a local taverna. Kea is the only place in the Cyclades to still retain the oak forests, containing the rare Valonia oak, which in times past was used to tan leather. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6105031
