THE GREEK ISLANDS

GREECE'S NUMEROUS ISLES ARE BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR IDYLLIC BEACHES, TOES-IN-THE-SAND TAVERNAS AND LAIDBACK PACE OF LIFE. BUT FOR THOSE WILLING TO EXPLORE A LITTLE FURTHER, CLOUD-CIRCLED CLIFFTOP VILLAGES, LOCAL MARKETS STOCKED WITH MOUNTAIN HERBS AND SECRET STRETCHES OF SAND AWAIT. THERE'S A GREEK ISLAND TO SUIT EVERY TRAVELLER IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK

01 CRETE

Walk this way

Threaded through steep mountains and ancient gorges, Crete’s network of hiking trails offers insights into the soul of Greece’s largest island. Words: Daniel Stables

“It’s like Buddhist philosophy: bringing nature into order,” says Yianna Kouridaki, motioning to the cairns of carefully stacked rocks all around us. “People want enlightenment from these stones; they’re so ancient.” Yianna is guiding me through Samaria Gorge, one of a series of dramatic clefts that concertina the southwestern coastline of Crete, from the White Mountains down to the Libyan Sea.

In the classical age, the city of Tarrha flourished here, becoming significant enough to mint its own coins. They bore the image of the kri-kri, the Cretan goat, which continues to roam Samaria today. “It’s long been a symbol of the unenslaved Cretan spirit,” says Yianna. Later, that spirit, coupled with the gorge’s unique topography, saw Samaria become a centre of resistance against successive invaders. First came the Venetians, then the Turks. In the 1770s, 1820s and 1860s, Cretans used Samaria as a base for uprisings against the Ottomans, who couldn’t penetrate beyond the so-called Iron Gates — the narrowest point of the gorge, where 1,000ft-tall rocks close to a gap just four metres wide. The Nazis faced similarly staunch local resistance; in retaliation, they burned neighbouring villages to the ground.