The morning started with breakfast at one of the cafés in Chora Sfakion. Similar to our hotel experience, this was a much simpler breakfast of bread, jam, yogurt and a grilled cheese - not the life of luxury I've grown accustomed to on this trip. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and we enjoyed our breakfast at a table on the water. As we observed the other tourists in town, it was clear that this is very much a backpacker town. We made our way to the local taxi office as we planned to hike the Imbros Gorge. To do so, we'd need a taxi ride to the start of the trail and hike the gorge back to our car. We made the arrangements, packed up our car and we were off.

We dropped the car off at a taverna at the end of the hike and hopped into the taxi. Being a passenger this time, I was able to enjoy the views the many switchbacks had to offer instead of needing to focus on not falling off the side! We once again passed many goats and sheep eating along the mountainside and had great views of the ocean and we climbed higher and higher. About 15 minutes later, we reached the start of the trail.

The first part was quite steep as we made our way down from the road into the belly of the gorge. Our tour guide earlier in the week explained that the gorge was created by earthquakes splitting the mountains apart. Surprisingly, there was no river or water running through. The trail was easy to follow and was primarily small rock and gravel. We could hear the bells of goats above us but had a hard time finding them as they bounced around the rocks. Both the bottom of the gorge and the hillsides were lush with brush and trees. We had a nice breeze to keep us cool as we made our way down.

The scenery was constantly changing as the hillsides went from brush to sheer rock cliffs to rock slides. At several points, the gorge narrowed considerably and it felt like you could touch both sides and then it would widen up again. While not crowded, we passed several groups of hikers, some even hiking up the gorge. We were certainly glad that this downhill route was actually downhill unlike the hike in Santorini!

Finally, the gorge opened up and we could see the sea and we knew we were almost done. We had to buy a ticket upon entering the gorge trail and there was a ticket booth as we exited to collect and stamp the ticket. In total, it took about 2.5 hours and we covered approximately 6.5 miles - that's the kind of downhill hike I like! We made our way to the taverna where we parked our car and had a quick lunch of pork skewers, local sausages and some local cheese. Back in the car, it was time to make our way to Heraklion where we'd sleep tonight before flying out first thing in the morning.

Back and forth we went up the switchbacks one last time and then down the other side while avoiding both oncoming traffic and goats laying in the middle of the road. The two-hour drive to Heraklion gave us great views of the snowcapped mountains, olive trees (of course) and finally along the coast until we arrived in Heraklion. Heraklion is a large city and we once again navigated the way too small streets to find our hotel overlooking the port.

This evening we played cards on the rooftop dining area (no need to get into who won or lost) and watched two massive ferries load up with cars, trucks and people as the sun set behind us. The boys would have loved watching all the action! We leave the hotel very early in the morning and if all goes well, we'll be home by 7:00 pm Wisconsin time. Can't wait to give the boys lots of hugs and kisses!

Kevin