Island Life

I'm sitting in the hotel lobby in the tiny town of Loutro, watching the topaz water and listening to the resident parrot meow and whistle. This picturesque little village is inhabited in the summer only and basically serves as accommodations for tourists in on the ferry or by foot along the coastal trail. There's no better place to sit back and ponder great things. 

To get here we started on the south central coast in Matala.  I'm one of two guides for a week long inn-to-inn kayaking trip on the Greek island of Crete. Our seven guests are from both coasts of the U.S. and Canada, and include a doctor, a lawyer, and two psychiatrists (sounds like a bad joke).  It's definitely a working vacation - the food is amazing, the scenery is beautiful, and the days are long. In addition to hiking or kayaking all day, I get to do massage as well. Tonight the table is set up on the roof of the hotel overlooking Loutro. We'll be here tomorrow was well, the continue our way down the coast. 

The first day of the trip we visited the ruins at Knossos. It's a Minoan palace built by King Minos of legend. It would have been nice to see the Minotaur because that would have meant fewer tourists. The site was excavated and then reconstructed according to one man's vision in the late 1800s, with garishly painted frescoes and concrete columns. It gives a hint at its previous splendor. 

The next day, after paddling to two neighboring beaches, we hike the bluff above Matala to watch the sun fall into the sea. The island you can see is Paxamadia, and according to legend it's the place where Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned by King Minos. It's fascinating how chock-full of mythology Crete is. It's home to the cave where Zeus was born, the Minotaur's labyrinth, and numerous other legendary spots. I still haven't figured out exactly how such spots are determined. 

After leaving Matala we drive to the north coast, then climb up the rocky spine of the island to the head of the Samaria Gorge, the longest in Europe. The 10 mile hike turns into something of an ordeal when people aren't prepared to lose 4,000 ft of elevation over rough, rocky terrain. For the second time I ended up guiding people out in the dark. The look on their faces when we reach the seaside village of Agia Roumeli is the definition of relief. 

Now here we are in Loutro, taking a breath and putting our feet up. It's as beautiful as I remember, although there are lots more people wearing hiking boots and carrying packs. There's a national trail that runs along Crete's south coast that seems to be garnering more attention, particularly among Europeans. It has the feeling of a place that's just being discovered and is soon doomed for a ranking in the Lonely Plantet guide book.