The Samaria gorge is in the Omalos plateau. It starts from a place called Xyloskalo, and after a 16km hike that lasts about six to seven hours, ends in the seaside village of Agia Roumeli. The gorge is open to visitors from the end of spring until the middle of autumn.
It is one of the most famous gorges of Europe, attracting tens of thousands of visitors from all around the world, every year. The big gorge, as is called by the locals, is in the centre of the National Park of Samaria and is one of the oldest protected gorges in Greece. Before the Park was established in 1962, a few families were living inside the gorge in the village of Samaria and were surviving on stock breeding and logging. The settlement of Samaria was mentioned in written sources of the 16th and 17th centuries, and it is believed that the first settlement there was established in ancient times by people that were looking for refuge.
The intensity of the relief creates a mosaic of habitats that hosts a big number of flora and fauna. Samaria gorge is a natural reserve for rare species like the Cretan wild goat, the bearded vulture, the griffon vulture, and the golden eagle. The flora of the gorge consists of 450 species, 70 of which are endemic to Crete. Clusters of East Mediterranean pines, centenarian cypress trees and the endemic zelkova abelicaea complete the forestry parts of the gorge. The most characteristic place is Portes, its narrower part, with only three to four meters width, and rocks 500m high.
The gorge of Samaria is a unique place as it combines harmoniously the natural and the cultural environment. Along the path, it is worth visiting the preserved village of Samaria, the churches of Osia Maria, Agios Nikolaos, Agios Georgios, Afentis Christos, the early Christian basilica of Panagia of Kera, the archaeological sites of Agios Nikolaos and ancient Tarra as well as the Ottoman fortress of Agia Roumeli.