Discovering Crete, Part 1 - Agiofárango, the Gorge of Saints I
Greetings Steemians!
It's my pleasure to welcome you to a new discovery series of mine! This time I invite you to follow me on a photographic tour across the beautiful greek island Crete were I had spent two fantastic weeks.
I set up camp in the middle south of the Island close to Moires. This location allowed me to reach many interesting sites without driving too long, like the ancient remnants of the minoic culture in Phaistos, the hidden palm groves of Preveli, the fertail plains of Méssara, Kommós Beach and many places more. I'm looking forward to showing you around all these places in the upcoming posts.
The destination of my first excursion was Agiofárango, the Gorge of Saints. It's located in unsettled area in the very south of central Crete and connects to the Libyan Sea. A stony track leads through a wildness with blooming Oleander bushes, steep rock walls and finally ends at a narrow, pictorial bay.
The remoteness of the gorge has attracted ascetics already during early Christian times, who lived as hermits in the many caves of the gorge. It is said that the hermits gathered only once per year in the chapel Agios Andonis at the lower end of the gorge. We will reach the chapel in the next post.
The area is still considered holy by many people and signs at the entry of the gorge exhort visitors to enter in a regardful manner.
The view towards the gorge
Arriving at Kuna Muta, the last outpost before Libya ;). The skull above the sign prompted me to refill my water supply.
Entering the gorge under a goat's supervision.
Passing one of the many caves. How many hermits may have dwelled in this one throughout the centuries?
A forrest of oleander bushes with some peculiar plants here and there.
This brave ant wants to fly! A truly heroic endeavor.
A goat enjoying the oleander's scent.
I hope you enjoyed the first half of the walk through Agiofárango. Next time we will reach the bay for a refreshing swim in the Libyan Sea. Thanks for watching and have a great day on Steemit!
Shaka
All photos were recorded by myself with an EOS 7D / Tamron 18-270 mm in May, 2018. All rights reserved.
Dear @shaka,
I am so happy you visited my island :)
I hope you had a fantastic time, and I am so looking forward for your new posts and images!
I am not sure if you know, but last year some slackliners visited Agiofarago and you can see here how a slack liner looks, at 180m, during sunset colors :)
I hope I would have known earlier you would visit Crete (maybe I could give some extra advise :))
In any case, I look forward for more of your Cretan Tales!
Be well & Alles Gute,
Katerina
Hi Katerina,
how awesome to get a reply from an actual Cretan :)
The two weeks on your island have been fantastic indeed. And I think that I really picked the best season for my visit. It was not too hot, the sea already warmed up a bit and a lot of plants and bushes still blooming. And the food...mmmh...:)
Thanks for the link to the slackliners. Absolutely impressive. You will see the very same place in my next post. Well, you are probably more than familiar with that spot anyway.
All the best & und auch Dir alles Gute :)
Shaka
Slacklining
Slacklining refers to the act of walking or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightwires and tightropes in the type of material used and the amount of tension applied during use. Slacklines are tensioned significantly less than tightropes or tightwires in order to create a dynamic line which will stretch and bounce like a long and narrow trampoline.
Bei dem ersten Anblick der tollen Collagen fiel mir natürlich auch sofort die karge Landschaft ins Auge. Und wenn man bedenkt, daß das Taubertal (an dessen Ende ich wohne) eine der trockensten Gegenden Deutschlands ist, so muß ich doch konstatieren, daß Creta da nochmal eine ganz andere Hausnummer ist.
Auf jeden Fall ist das ein gelungener "Opener" einer neuen Serie. Ich bin gespannt, was wir noch zu lesen und sehen bekommen...
Another series with amazing captures..!!
Good to see u posting again after a break.. The little ant is carrying a super big sized feather compared to his body..! Real brave guy..!
Anyways, stay blessed...!
~ Christina
Wow, it looks stunningly beautiful. It reminds me a little of Zion National Park in Utah.
Anyway, the photo of the goat intrigued me, because oleander is poisonous to dogs. So out of curiosity I checked to see if goats can eat it. Here's what I found:
I'm guessing the goats don't eat it, in any case, great photography looking forward to the next installment.
Very well observed! In fact, it only appears on the phota as if the goat would nose the oleander. The truth is, the goat stood several meters behind the oleander. It was simply checking the ground as it jumped off from that ledge an instance later :)
I was fairly sure they wouldn't eat the oleander, otherwise there wouldn't be any of them left, but I was amazed the goat would be sniffing them. Thanks for giving me the backstory!
Lovely shots. I have to say that Crete looks very much like the Croatian Islands.
That Mediterranean feel. Love to go there one day.
Thanks! The landscape around the coasts is similar, indeed.
Sehr schön :) Ameisen sind echt coole Tiere - Ich erinnere mich da noch an nen coolen Beitrag bei der zweiten Neulingschallenge!
Absolut, faszinierende Wundertierchen. Richtig, bei der Neulingschallenge gabs mal was, und da ist doch noch jemand, der gerade über die Aufzucht einer Ameisenkolonie postet. Muss mal eben schauen, moment...
Hier, der @grimmling wars :)
I am so glad that you spent your vacation in my country @shaka And in fact you chose one of the most beautiful islands to do so. I spent 3.5 years in Crete as I was studying for the university and to be honest I regret leaving this place to live in the capital. Great photos...bring back all those memories!
It was really a wonderful two weeks and it won't be the last time that I have visited your country and Crete specifically, that's for sure. Glad to hear that you enjoyed the photos.
Of course I enjoyed the photos. I love photography. It is said that one photo equals a thousand words...and they are totally right...
Looking forward for your next post!
Great.
sir
Hallo shaka, da bist du also untergetaucht ;) Schaut wieder nach einem interessanten Erlebnis aus. Bin gespannt, ob die karge Landschaft im nächsten Beitrag aufblüht. Gruß
Also in diesem Abschnitt blüht es doch schon ganz ordentlich :). Ansonsten bleibt es vergleichbar karg, dafür mit mehr Meer. Grüsse!
Thanks for the reportage! Looks like a good place to be, but it also looks very hot; countryside fit for goats. No melting of cameras?
I was well prepared and had my cam wrapped in several layers of tinfoil :D
Well, no, in May the heat has not yet fully kicked in. But I wouldn't recommed going there in summer.
It will be 30oC here in The Netherlands today; too hot for me also.
BTW You're on Steemit; the tinfoil goes on your head 8-).
Do you seriously believe that I set foot into this gorge without my tinfoil hat? It's just that I had wrapped my cam in addition :D
Ganz wunderbare Bilder aus Griechenland hast Du uns da mitgebracht. Mir gefallen diese bergige noch fast archaisch anmutenden Gegenden mit ihrer ganz eigenen Wildnis.
Die haben ihren ganz eigenen Scherz da unten, haha.
Ein ganz tooler Reisebericht.
Notiz am Rande:
Ich habe Dich hier in meinem 666-er-Artikel in spezieller Weise erwähnt um mal danke zu sagen. Ich bin mir nicht sicher ob du ihn mal gesehen hast.
Mit lieben Grüssen aus der sonnigen Karibik!
Abenteuer und Reiseberichte aus der Dominikanischen Republik.
Besuch meine neuesten Artikel @followmikecee
Danke Dir! Den 666er Post hatte ich verpasst, daher danke für den link. Hast ja gemerkt, dass ich immer wieder mal bei Dir vorbeischaue. Am spannendsten finde ich immer die reports aus Deiner zweiten Heimat.
Der Dank gebührt Dir.
Und ja meine zweite Heimat würde ich heute schon als meine erste bezeichnen. Geht das überhaupt? ich fühl mich hier auch sauwohl und wenn dies in meinen Artikeln zu spühren ist, dann freuts mich riesig.
Abenteuer und Reiseberichte aus der Dominikanischen Republik.
Besuch meine neusten Artikel @followmikecee