An other wish I had, was to get up to beautiful Omalos again. I saw the snow capped mountains from town, all the wonderful pictures of all the snow in the newspaper and on Internet, and dreamt about a trip.
Sunday was a perfect day for a car trip. Me and my husband Georgos went there last Sunday. The day was fabulous, with sparkling sun up there and the temperature was between 3-2 degrees celsius. The plain is on 1200 meters.
We drove all the way up, were the Samaria Gorge starts at Xiloskalo. Here the majestic Gingilos at 1980 meters and Volakias at 2116 meters lays after each other high up above the Samaria Gorge. I was up on these tops 10 years ago, and the feeling up there is fantastic. You see both the North and the South coast and down in the gorge from the tops, but it is hard work to get there and down again!! Gingilos is very popular, because you are already at the foot of the mountain when you start out at Xiloskala.
If you want to visit the restaurant Xiloskala, it is situated were the path to Gigilos starts. A little bit expensive, but it is excellent local food from fresh local meat, cheeses and vegetables. The view is fabulous and the restaurant very charming. Very authentic atmosphere and food!
I walk all the way back towards the plain and the taverns at the end. The sun was out, snow everywhere, such beautiful nature and a wonderful winter day! Very quiet also. The mountain shelter Kallergi belonging to the mountain club EOS, lays at 1600 meter over Xiloskalo and have a stunning view. From Kallergi one can walk on through the Lefka Ori, and do some tops. The road goes all the way to the Askifou plain, or Anopolis on top of Loutro.
This winter the road to the shelter has been closed but there is a path you can follow! Some people visited on Sunday, we saw some of them gliding down the hillside coming down again.
This is Crete in the winter, one day at the beaches swimming and picking flowers, the next day up in the mountains and the snow! We love it both ways.
