Island thyme5/17/2023 ![]() ![]() This is Laskarina Bouboulina, a naval commander and heroine of the Greek War of Independence. ![]() The main square is carpeted in pebble mosaics and overlooked by a statue of a woman, dressed in traditional costume, with a pistol. Piney and beachy, it greets arrivals with a jigsaw waterfront of tile-roofed sea captains’ houses, palms and cypresses. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour cruise away, meaning it tends to avoid the bulk of the day-tripping crowds. READ MORE: Hiking in Crete: myths, monasteries, mountainsįor the perfect getaway from busy Athens, head to Spetses. The air is heavy with the aroma of mountain herbs: wild thyme, oregano, Jerusalem sage. Trees of cypress and maple shade the path as rock formations rear up on either side, the latter’s faces twisted and deeply ridged like carved flames. The 10-mile hike through the gorge isn’t particularly dangerous or difficult, but nothing motorised can reach down here and the nearest helipad is several miles down the track - break a leg, and you’re carried out the old-fashioned way: on the back of a mule. The hardy souls who once made Samaria Gorge their home are gone now, moved out to make way for Samaria National Park in 1962. And the fridge of every taverna is well-stocked with Mythos, Greece’s best-selling beer. According to Greek mythology, it was on this island that Zeus was born in a mountain cave and that Theseus braved the Labyrinth to slay the Minotaur. Crete’s gorges and mountains echo not just with tumbling rocks, but with myth, infusing every realm of Cretan life just as olive oil infuses every Cretan recipe. ![]()
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