Imbros Gorge & Frangokastelo Beach

Wear comfortable shoes, put on your hat and get ready for the 3 hours descend of the imbros gorge.

After completing the beautiful hike, we move on the next stop: Frangokastelo (2 hours free time).
Explore the castle, cool off at the beach or enjoy a meal in one of the local taverns..

Warnings: Always take a lot of water. Imbros Gorge is one of the hottest places on Crete, and the river that flows through it in winter dries up completely in summer – there is nowhere to fill up your water bottle, whatever your books may tell you.

Use good shoes. Imbros Gorge has many big stones – some as big as footballs – I slipped and fell twice in my trainers.

TRIP

The route starts from the small village of Imbros, 700 meters above sea level. We follow the sign to the gorge entrance and soon arrive at a ticket counter (2€).

The initial part of the gorge, which is quite wide, is called Porofarago or Porolagos. Initially the course is descending and the sidewalls are relatively low. But while descending, the canyon narrows continuously, the sidewalls raise higher and the scenery is impressive. Soon the sides of the canyon start approaching and getting higher, we see various caves, while the vegetation consists of old cypresses, oaks and maples popping up through the rocks.

Therefore, the canyon was a theatre of several battles between the Ottomans and the Christians during the Turkish Occupation of Crete, especially in 1821 and 1867.

Moving on, we cross the position called Airplane, where a German plane crashed during the Second World War (debris is housed in the war museum at Askyfou).

After this we reach the most impressive part of the Gorge, Stenada. Here the gorge walls approach at 1.6m, while their height reaches 300m! The rocks are carved with very beautiful formations.