Crete E4 Trail:
Paleochora to Sougia to Tripti

The walk from Paleochora to Cape Tripiti is a mostly easy two days, and except for the trail
right outside of Paleochora (which hits a small stretch of half-finished road) is a lot of lovely hiking.

At quite literally the end of the road is a surprisingly nice sandy beach, so nice that I
forced myself to stop early for lunch and a quiet rest.

After this Sandy Beach, the E4 heads uphill for a higher view out over the Libyan Sea to the south.

In particular, the stretch leading just to the ancient city of Lissos is an amazing combination of far-reaching views and dense colorful foliage.

I’ll write more about Lissos next week, so suffice to say for now that it makes
for an excellent campsite and is well worth the trip.

The village of Soughia isn’t lovely per se, but the waterfront tavernas aren’t
bad and I met a couple of travelers in the area that seemed to be enjoying themselves.

From Sougia, the way becomes a bit steeper and more difficult but  even more enjoyable as well. I only saw one other walker on this bit, a crazy man who (for some reason?) had been hiking back and forth between Sougia and Agia Roumeli.

I wasn’t feeling quite so ambitious, and decided to aim for the
Cape Tripiti area to find a campsite for the night.

The only properly flat spot between the bottom of the Fantasma Gorge and beach at the far site of Cape Tripiti is, wonderfully for me, smack in the middle of an old Ottoman Fortress. I’d have better campsites in Crete, but this one was quite a find as far as these things go.