This guide is intended for your enjoyment, but beware: some of the sites are straightforward to find, whilst others take perseverance and effort — often requiring the use of GPS technology where the locations defy easy description. On these lesser-known routes you will need to follow shepherds’ tracks, prepare for unproductive dead-ends, negotiate rough ground, spiny plants, fences and the occasional Cretan guard dog raving at the end of a rope. You will also need good walking boots, map and compass, water and sun protection. As the abduction party found, the mountain section over Psiloritis (Mount Ida) can get bad weather, including snow, up to late spring. Choose a fine day and turn back if the weather comes down.
The route can be followed on Google Earth using the coordinates given. These should be accurate to within 25m.
If driving, the locations are best reached by leaving your car on the nearest metalled road and then proceeding on foot. Though some sites have shepherds’ tracks running close by, these are on private land, often gated, and may lead to terrain that is steep or impassable.
Buses are a good way to get to the start and finish of many of these routes. Information about bus times cane be found online.
Hitch-hiking in Crete is usually a successful way to get about — provided you are prepared for the occasional white-knuckle ride, sitting with the milk churns in the back of a shepherd’s pick-up truck.
Maps are of variable usefulness. Best at the time of writing (2014) is the Anavasi 1:30,000 Mount Idha (Psiloritis) map which covers the route from north of Anogia into the Amari valley. The Anavasi 1:100,000 covers nearly the entire route before and after the abduction. Anavasi also publish a road atlas at 1:50,000 which is very useful. Other 1:100,000 maps in publication should be used with caution.
Parts of the route follow the E4 path across Crete. The E4 is one of the European long-distance paths. It starts in Spain, crosses Europe and visits Crete. It is marked — in Crete sometimes not very well — by yellow and black paint marks on pathside rocks, or by a yellow lozenge-shaped sign on a pole or tree (usually reduced to a sieve by target practice).
Routes of the journeys between the hideouts have been worked out using the descriptions in the texts and from information given to us by local Cretans. Where no strong evidence exists for the actual route, we have followed the most direct routes between locations using the paths and mule tracks that were in use at the time of the abduction. Some of these are now metalled roads or bulldozed shepherds’ tracks. Interesting detours are suggested where there is some contemporary relevance.
Recommended reading
Antony Beevor, Crete: The Battle and Resistance (John Murray, 1991)
Sean Damer and Ian Fraser, On the Run (Penguin, 2006)
Xan Fielding, Hide and Seek (Secker & Warburg, 1955)
W. Stanley Moss, Ill Met By Moonlight (Harrap, 1950)
George Psychoundakis, translated by Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Cretan Runner (John Murray, 1955)
Oliver Rackham and Jennifer Moody, The Making of the Cretan Landscape (Manchester University Press, 1996)
THE HERAKLION AREA
From Heraklion it is simple to follow the route taken from Archanes through to the Chania Gate. These locations are best explored with a car or by bus to Ano Archanes. Once in Heraklion it is simpler to follow the route on foot.
Kreipe’s Headquarters in Ano Archanes is easy to find. Situated towards the N of the village on the main road between Ano Archanes and Kato Archanes, it is now a civic building and, if open, is well worth visiting for its atmosphere and wall paintings. This was the headquarters of the German Commander of the Heraklion sector of Festung Kreta — Fortress Crete. Kreipe left here at 21.30 hours on Wednesday 26 April 1944, planning to go back to his quarters at the Villa Ariadne for dinner.
The Abduction Point is 2km N of Archanes at the junction with the Heraklion road. From Heraklion take Route 99 towards Knossos; 5km past Knossos, just S of the village of Patsides, the junction appears on the right. A large modern memorial stands on the corner.
Some 500m back along the road to Archanes is a small outdoor museum, with military vehicles from the time of the Occupation including a Mercedes Benz saloon car, misleadingly labelled ‘Kraipe [sic] 26-4-1943’. At the time of the abduction Kreipe’s car was an Opel.
The party drove towards Heraklion, through Knossos and past the Villa Ariadne. The entrance to the villa is 300m from the main entrance to the Knossos excavations — situated on the left just before exiting the village on the way to Heraklion.
Built by Sir Arthur Evans in 1905 as his personal residence, the Villa Ariadne was gifted to the British School in Athens in 1926 for the use of the curator of the Knossos excavations. In the last week of April 1941 King George of Greece stayed here before his evacuation to Cairo on 30 April. The following month, during the Battle of Crete, it was used for a time as a field hospital by the British. After the Battle the villa became the headquarters of the Divisional Commander of the Heraklion Sector; Kreipe took up his post here in March 1944. On 9 May 1945 General Benthag was brought here from Chania to sign the unconditional surrender of the German forces remaining on the island.
From Knossos, to follow the route taken by the party through Heraklion, enter the Fortetza by the Gate of St George past Plateia Eleftherias, W along Dikeossinis to join Kalokerinou 50m S of the Morisini Fountain. Then head W for 800m to the Chania Gate.
THE POST-ABDUCTION ROUTE
It is possible to retrace the whole route taken by the abduction party from the village of Drosia (then Yeni Gave, where they continued their escape on foot) to Peristeres Beach on the S coast near Rodakino, where they were picked up by a British boat eighteen days later.
As a trek it will take seven to eight days, over the flank of the island’s highest mountain, well away from the tourist trail and deep into the Cretan landscape and culture — the routes, in spring, passing through some of the finest wildflower landscapes in Europe.
By allowing an extra day, the route can be started on the north coast. Peristeres Bay is the location from which Leigh Fermor hoped the Germans would think the General had been spirited away by submarine. This enjoyable walk takes you up a beautiful valley from the sea, via the Vossakos monastery, to a road leading to Campo Doxaro where Leigh Fermor and George abandoned the car. It is then an easy walk along the road to Drosia where the party started their escape. This route offers the satisfaction of walking from coast to coast — Peristeres Bay to Peristeres Beach, sea to shining sea.
‘Submarine Bay’ to Drosia (via Campo Doxaro)
Peristeres Bay (annotated ‘Submarine Bay’ by Leigh Fermor on his map of the abduction route) is 7 km W of Sisses on the main Herakleion–Rethymno road. Buses will stop here if the drop-off is negotiated with the driver in advance. Keep an eye out for the landmarks of the bay to avoid missing it: Cape Peristeri and Peresteri island, and the two small islets in the bay close to the shore.
Leigh Fermor was fond of this bay: ‘At the beginning of May [1943], I had 3 days leisure at Peristeri and spent most of the time bathing and made a recce of the promontory and Island on foot and swimming’ (Report No. 3).
Dip your hands in the waters of the Aegean in anticipation of doing the same in the Libyan sea several hot and dusty days, and many miles, later. Cross the road and follow the valley S up the left-hand side of the dry streambed, along a track and old kalderimi (mule path) through olives and arbutus. The view back to the sea improves with height before the path crosses the valley to a sheepfold, before tracking left and then right up the head of the valley. Take the new bulldozed track which leads steeply up left from the last leg of the zigzag to an agricultural building. Climb up behind this, through the pass, and descend 300m to the Vossakos monastery.
The Monastery of Vossakos is a beautiful and restful place in which to cool off in the shade and fill up with water.
Alternatively, the monastery can be reached by continuing on the zigzag track to a pass, through to a farm and cultivated area with a grove of fine ancient pines. Gain the metalled road 1km further on, turn left and walk N for 1km.
Take the road from the monastery S up to the watershed to be rewarded with your first views of Psiloritis (Mount Ida) in the distance. Consider that you will be climbing it in a few days’ time. Descend the road to Campo Doxaro (where Leigh Fermor abandoned the General’s car — minus its pennants) and walk 3.5km E along the ‘old’ Herakleion–Rethymno road to Drosia.
MAIN ROUTE
Drosia to Anogia via the ‘First Night caves’
Following the kidnap of General Kreipe late on the evening of 26 April 1944, Leigh Fermor and Moss with Manoli Paterakis, George Tyrakis and Strati Saviolakis, drive through Heraklion and out along the road to Rethymno. They stop just beyond Yeni Gave (now Drosia) and Moss, Manoli, Strati and the General head S down a track towards Anogia. Leigh Fermor and George drive on a further 3km to Campo Doxaro in order to dump the car and lay clues to indicate that the General has been taken to Peristeres beach and evacuated by submarine. They then travel through the night by a different path to Anogia.
On the W edge of Drosia, across the road from a chapel, an old path leads S to join the metalled road to the village of Aimonas. Walk S through the village and 2.5km along the road towards Livada, where a bridge crosses a small river. On the N side of the bridge — and 200m or so before it — a track runs E parallel to the river and heading into the river valley. Follow this track through the olive groves, negotiating fences, to follow the bank and eventually the bed of the river. After 1km the valley narrows into a gorge (35°18′42.46″N / 24°52′02.93″E).
The party spend the remains of the night and the following day — Thursday 27 April — in this valley and gorge. They are reunited with Leigh Fermor and George that evening on the outskirts of Anogia and depart heading S towards the Nidha plateau and Psiloritis.
The gorge is easily passable unless the river is in flood. You may get your feet wet in winter or early spring. There are many caves and potential hideouts along its sides. You eventually emerge into fields and on to a road/track that winds up S past a large shed to a junction with another track at some more sheds on the crest of the hill. Take the track E and then S towards Anogia.
There are several tavernas in Drosia, rooms in Theodora (the hamlet 500m W of Drosia) and a kafeineon in Aimonas. Note the water fountain in the centre of Drosia. There are many tavernas and places to stay in Anogia.
At Damasta, 3 miles E of Drosia and just to the W of the village, is a large memorial on a sharp bend in the road, commemorating a battle here on 8 August 1944. Moss, on his second mission to Crete, with a group of eight Andartes and six escaped Russian POWs, attacked and destroyed a detachment of over forty German and Italian troops and an armoured car on its way to attack Anogia.
Anogia to Nidha and the second hideout at Agios Fanourios/Petrodolakia
On the evening of 27 April 1944, the party reunites and begins the ascent of Psiloritis. They walk through the night, stopping for a brief rest at a cheese hut (mitado). They arrive eventually at the hideout of a band of Andartes led by Mihali Xylouris from Anogia. At the hideout three British SOE agents are waiting for them — John Lewis, John Houseman and W/T operator Reg Everson. They take several photos — published later in Ill Met By Moonlight. (5°12′45.98″N / 24°52′11.01″E)
One of the old droving paths from Anogia up to the Nidha plateau leaves from the bottom of the village, up past the chapel of Agios Nektarios and heads S, first on an old kalderimi through clumps of cistus and Jerusalem sage before joining a modern shepherds’ track. The track winds SSW, through a striking floral landscape, Psiloritis looming closer at every turn. There are occasional shortcuts (on the old droving path) marked by E4 signs. Continue S at a junction in a wooded area passing a group of cheese huts and then the chapel of Agia Yakinthos (35°14′55.16″N / 24°51′43.45″E). About 300m past the chapel going E, strike off the path due S along the edge of a grazed area, to pick up another shepherds’ track after 600m. Head S/SW on the track for just over 1km to a T-junction at a large prickly-oak tree. Walk S down the hillside behind the tree to the bottom of the valley and continue S up a slabby path to a lovely area, Tria Yortho, with a spring and water troughs.
Behind the spring is a shallow ravine that leads steeply up the hillside. Climb the slope on sheeptracks and remnants of an old kalderimi on the right-hand side of the ravine, past a craggy outcrop to a rocky plateau. Head S for 200m to pick up a shepherds’ track and take this E for 2.5km until you approach the metalled road up to Nidha. To avoid some of the road walking, take a track that leads SW across the flank of the hill, 250m before the road, to pick it up again 750m further towards the plateau. After another 400m of tarmac, take the next metalled road which leads off left towards the University of Crete Observatory at Skinakas. After 600m you will see the church of Agios Fanourias. Opposite the church a shepherds’ track leads off the road S towards the plateau. Walk 400m until you reach a small enclosed valley on the left with a shallow cave high up on the right. The features around and above the cave are still clearly recognisable from photographs taken at the time.
By car: take the road from Anogia up to the Nidha plateau. As you come to the plateau a metalled road leads off left towards the University of Crete Observatory at Skinakas. Take this road and after 600m you will see Agios Fanourios on your left. Park here and take the track that leads across the road from the church towards the Nidha plateau. You will find the small valley with the cave in it on the left after 400m.
At the Nidha plateau is a tavern with facilities for an overnight stay if negotiated in advance with the current owner (2014): good for an early morning start over the mountain. The owner also runs a taverna opposite the church on the plateia in Anogia’s lower village. There are many tavernas and rooms in Anogia.
Agios Fanourios/Petrodolakia to the Amari Cave of ‘Vorini Trypa’ (35°10′38.12″N / 24°45′32.05″E)
The party arrive in the Amari valley in the early hours of Sunday 30 April, exhausted and cold after a difficult climb and descent over Psiloritis. They stay in the cave of Vorini Trypa for the day and light fires in order to dry their clothes. This marvellous cave, with its small entrance, gloomy interior with tunnels and chasms leading off, is well described in Ill Met By Moonlight. (The cave also features as ‘North Hole’ in The Cretan Runner when used by Tom Dunbabin and George Psychoundakis in August 1944.) They leave the following night, heading towards Agia Paraskevi.
The walk from the Nidha plateau over the flank of Psiloritis and down to the Amari is a major trek and the most arduous that the party took in their seventeen-day journey through Crete. Though not technically complicated, it requires an early start with a fine day forecast and plenty of water. Be prepared to cross some snowfields until early summer. Map and compass are essential in case of bad visibility.
From the cave at Agios Fanourios head W and pick up a shallow valley heading down towards the plateau. Pass some shepherds’ huts to come out on to the grassy floor of the plateau. Continue W across the plateau, enjoying the novelty of walking on soft, level ground, towards the taverna visible on the other side. Fill up with water at the taverna or at the Analipsis spring by the church up the hill behind. (There is none on the route.)
A photograph, not in general publication, shows the party climbing up the shallow gully a few metres W and below the start of the present E4 path, after visiting the mitado (cheese hut) of ‘Roti’. The photograph ‘Starting up the foothills of Ida’ in Ill Met By Moonlight shows the party walking over some small walled fields — now mostly covered by the taverna car park.
From the taverna the track zigzags up to the Ideon Andron cave, legendary birthplace of Zeus. At the last bend of the zigzag, where the track returns N towards the cave, a clearly marked (yellow and black) E4 path climbs across and up the flank of the mountain to a valley which leads up W to the pass of Akolyta. Expect snowfields until late May.
From the ridge at the top of the valley, head down S to the flat bottom of this high level grazing area to pick up a shepherds’ track. Follow this S to a junction and take the track W along a stony valley, under the looming grey cliffs of Mount Chabatha. Pass several old cheese huts and modern cisterns to the ‘Gate of Ekdhora’, where the path opens out on to the southern flank of the mountain. The views across the Amari valley to Mount Kedros, with the Libyan sea glistening to the S, are breathtaking. In the distant W the snowy peaks of the White Mountains massif float in the sky.
The path continues steeply down endless tiresome zigzags to the church of Agia Marina at the top of the Lochria roadhead. There is a spring and water troughs where the tarmac road ends — fill up here.
From here, as the crow flies, Vorini Trypa is only 1.7k due W, but navigation is not straightforward (GPS may be helpful). 100m W of the spring is a farm building. Walk in front of this and down into the sinkhole. From here cross this sinkhole heading W, up and over into another sinkhole. Cross this and head up its southern edge to pick up a track heading W and then S. After 600m this leads to the rim of a large fenced and cultivated sinkhole. Descend to the fence and follow it around anticlockwise. The small entrance to the cave of Vorini Trypa can be found below an old walled area up behind some oak trees on the N side of the sinkhole. Explore with care (torches required). The back of the cave is all void and abyss.
The path down to Nithavris starts from the opposite side of the sinkhole and leads to a junction after 250m. Take the downward track which winds W into the Amari valley past another circular sinkhole, walled around and across to divide it into two. (If you don’t pass this distinctive sinkhole within 500m, you are on the wrong path.)
By car from the Amari valley, either approach from Agia Marina (via Lochria) following the directions for the walk (above) or park in Nithavris and ascend the mountainside on shepherds’ tracks in a general E direction.
From Nithavris: As the crow flies, Vorini Trypa is 2.4km slightly N of E with an ascent of 500m from the plateia in Nithavris. After a few hundred yards you will pass a small church on your left — Panagia — located on a lower shepherds’ track.
After the initial ascent a flatter area emerges, characterised by several cultivated sinkholes. Following the track that serves these sinkholes you will eventually come across a large, cultivated and fenced sinkhole. Follow the track down to this fence, then follow it around anticlockwise to the right. Vorini Trypa is tucked behind some rocks below a ruined sheepfold.
There is a small kafeineon in the centre of Nithavris and a larger taverna 200m further on towards the outskirts of the village, on the Apodoulou road. Rooms, shops, garage, kafeineon and a taverna can be found in Fourfouras.
Streambed/Agia Paraskevi (35°08′53.64″N / 24°43′12.25″E)
After leaving Vorini Trypa the party — at night and in miserable weather — slip through the German cordon and end up in an overgrown streambed near Agia Paraskevi where they spend a wretched and damp two days (1–2 May 1944).
From Nithavris walk down towards Agia Paraskevi on minor roads and shepherds’ tracks through the olive groves. A streambed/ditch is found 1km SE outside Agia Paraskevi. The texts describe a streambed overgrown with cistus, thyme and myrtle — still growing there today.
Follow the field track on the left just after the small bridge 500m outside the village on the Agia Galini road. After 500m a shady streambed will be found on the left with a rocky outcrop below. A steep slope has recently (2014) been bulldozed below the outcrop.
Valley of Gomara/Agia Paraskevi (35°9′12.83″N / 24°41′32.31″E)
On the night of 2 May the party moves W of Agia Paraskevi to another location and stays there for seventy-two hours. The sun comes out and they are able to dry off. Both Moss and Leigh Fermor are vague about the location of this hideout. George Pharangoulitakis in Eagles of Mount Ida is much more specific — siting it in the valley of Gomara, under a large pear tree and then in a grotto against a cliff.
From the church in Agia Paraskevi walk W towards Agios Ioannis. After 1.6km a track bears off left into meadows and the Platis river valley. The area where the party hid appears on the left under a low cliff. Having explored the entrance to the gorge — you can swim — walk along the valley upstream until you come to the road.
At this point Leigh Fermor and George Tyrakis leave the General and the rest of the party in order to try and find a wireless set and establish contact with Cairo. They travel along the E edge of the Amari valley, heading initially to Fourfouras to stay with George’s family there. The old mill and Turkish bridge — Manoura’s Arch — under which George Psychoundakis hides in January 1943 (see The Cretan Runner, ‘The Germans are after me’) can still be explored.
By car: drive to the modern bridge between Agios Ioannis and Hordaki at the bottom of the valley. To reach the Gomara valley and gorge downstream, either follow the banks of the river or take an old overgrown path on the Agios Ioannis side of the river, accessed at the first bend in the road before the bridge. You come to meadows by the riverside with a low cliff on your left before the entrance to the gorge.
There is a kafeineon in Agia Paraskevi but nowhere to stay; a taverna and rooms may be found in Fourfouras. Agia Galini on the coast a few miles to the S has many tavernas and rooms, as does Agia Pavlos, further W, on the coast below Saktouria. Several arms landings took place here and Leigh Fermor was hoping to use this attractive beach for embarkation.
The Kedros villages and Gerakari
From Gomara continue W along the river bank and overgrown path to the road and modern and old bridges across the river. Climb the steep hillside towards Hordaki by road or on field tracks and follow the flowery lane through Ano Meros (tavernas) and the other Amari villages with their memorials. At the village of Vrises there is an old kalderimi leading up to Gourgouthi. Village rooms may be available in Ano Meros: ask in the kafeineon.
Gourgouthi (35°12′9.46″N / 24°37′31.63″E)
On the night of Friday 5 May the party — minus Leigh Fermor and George Tyrakis — walk through the tiny village of Gourgouthi on their way from the valley of Gomara to their next hideout above Gerakari. Walking through the village they peer in at a window and see the old men of the village distilling raki (described in Ill Met By Moonlight; confirmed as Gourgouthi by Leigh Fermor). Gourgouthi sheltered several Allied soldiers in the springs and woods just behind the village after the Battle of Crete and also features in Xan Fielding’s Hide and Seek.
By car: take the signposted road just before Gerakari on the road from Ano Meros. On the Ano Meros–Gerakari road, close by the Gourgouthi turn-off, is the monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos.
Hainospilia/Gerakari (35°12′15.22″N / 24°36′36.87″E)
The main party reach this sheepfold above Gerakari on the night of Friday 5 May 1944 and spend two nights here. Food is brought up to them from the village.
From Gourgouthi you can make your way up across the hillside to the sheepfold and cave of Hainospilia (1.3km, rough going). In spring, note the many different species of orchid which grow among the rocks. An easier path may be found by walking down to the main road and continuing to just outside Gerakari, where a shepherds’ track, restored path and steps lead up the side of Mount Kedros to the cave and sheepfold. Commemorative signs are placed at the beginning of the track and beside the cave.
Taverna, hotel, rooms and a supermarket may be found in Gerakari.
The Eastern Amari detour
George Tyrakis’ House, Fourfouras (35°12′38.71″N / 24°42′43.35″E)
At the valley of Gomara Leigh Fermor and George Tyrakis leave the main party and head along the E side of the Amari in search of a working wireless set. They go first to Fourfouras and stay here on the night of 3 May 1944.
The house, currently in ruins, is on the road heading SW out of the village, 60m from the plateia. Note the remains of the mill on the inside. Taverna, kafeineons, minimarket, bakery, garage and rooms are all available in the village.
Pantanasa (35°15′21.40″N / 24°35′37.21″E)
Leigh Fermor and George Tyrakis leave Fourfouras and head to Pantanasa. They try to get information from local resistance leaders but initially meet with no success. Eventually credentials are confirmed and they are able to continue with their attempts to contact Cairo.
Genna (35°15′4.72″N / 24°38′5.72″E)
George and Leigh Fermor stay here — on the aloni (threshing floor) of the goatherd Yourbovasili — for several days and nights while organising messages to and from the wireless station at Dryade, 26km to the WNW. George Psychoundakis is one of their messengers. They then travel on to rejoin the party at Patsos on 8 May.
The circular floor of the aloni, clearly visible on Google Earth, can be found 100m below the Agia Fotini–Meronas road, 250m outside Agia Fotini.
Harakas sheepfold, Patsos (35°14′36.07″N / 24°34′57.04″E)
7 May 1944. Moss records that they had an easy night’s march to Patsos and spent two nights here. Leigh Fermor and George rejoin them after their journey along the eastern side of the Amari in their search for a working wireless set. They rest and bathe in the stream below the hideout. A lamb is roasted and children help build the fire for it. George Pattakos from Patsos joins the party and leads the mule that the General uses for the next part of the journey. Kreipe watches as Leigh Fermor offers Evthymios Harocopos gold sovereigns for his efforts and support for the group, but the offer is refused.
From Gerakari take the road towards Spili. After 5km and at the brow of the hill, past a modern development on the left, take a shepherds’ track on the N side of the road that runs back E then N through a gap between the hills. After the gap, take the tracks on the E side of the valley, through newly planted orchards and meadows down towards Patsos.
To find the hideout, take the track leading down towards a chapel, Agios Konstantinos, about 250m before the first farm of the village. After 250m on this track, go right on a path through a meadow and scrub. Harakas sheepfold is found in a wooded area on the right above the streambed and against an overhanging rockface. There is a commemorative sign in Greek. (GPS may be helpful.)
It is possible to clamber down into the streambed where Moss, in Ill Met By Moonlight, describes washing and falling.
By car: drive to Patsos and park by the taverna. Take the path that runs from between the taverna and the fountain up behind the village. Follow the track round to the E and 250m past a farm take the track that heads down left; then follow directions as above.
Photeinou/Olive Grove of Scholari (35°16′12.22″N / 24°28′1.01″E)
On 10 May the whole party — now reunited — walk from Patsos to Photeinou. They are now walking through less mountainous and more cultivated terrain. As they near Photeinou, Stavros Peros and his sons arrive to greet and escort them. Whilst at the olive grove Andoni and Despina Peros feed them — the newly-weds described in Ill Met By Moonlight.
Fill up with water at the fountain in Patsos. Leave the village heading W on the Karines road. At Karines, 5.5km, head N through the village to the metalled lane which winds on the S side of an open valley for 7km, to come out on the main Rethymno—Agia Galini road. Cross the road and walk N along the road for 500m and take the track leading off left into low hills. Pass between the hills, below the solar panel development and continue 1.5km N through an ancient cultivated valley. Before the village ahead and above, bear round W into a valley heading S to gain a track on the other side. The party stayed in the grove of old olive trees where a derelict stone hut is built against a large rock. (GPS is helpful.)
If approaching from Photeinou, find the entrance to a track 750m along the road heading S out of the village. Walk along the track back around the low hill for 500m until the olive grove appears on the right.
The closest tavernas are in Armeni or Spili (which also has rooms).
Photeinou contains the Venetian Fountain where Leigh Fermor met Kanaki Tsangarakis to explain the circumstances of his brother Yanni’s death. Outside the village is ‘Pavlo’s cave’ (see The Cretan Runner, ‘At Photeinou’) (35°16′12.68″N / 24°27′34.69″E).
Kato Poros Gorge/Vilandredo (35°16′12.63″N / 24°20′23.81″E; 35°16′8.56″N / 24°20′33.17″E; 35°4′48.00″N / 24°19′55.50″E)
After staying in Photeinou the party move through the night of Wednesday 10 May to Vilandredo, where they stay in three locations: they start in a built-up cave, where they meet with Dennis Ciclitira, high above the side of the gorge. They then move to a cave deeper into the gorge below them, then finally to a ‘rocky and wooded fissure, an hour to the South’. The General falls again while climbing to this last hideout.
From Photeinou walk W out of the village below the low cliffs on to an old walled track leading over the rocky hill and down across the valley to Koumi. Walk through Koumi village and out the other side on to the metalled road that leads S towards Angouseliana. After 2.5km, after passing between two low hills, take a track leading W along the N side of a wide cultivated valley. Continue W, crossing into the head of another, wider valley and walk down to the road. Go S along the road for 300m, and take a track that leads along the S side of this wide valley. Crossing several shallow wooded watercourses the tracks lead W through an area known as Nifis Potamia for 5km, with higher ground on each side. Gain the metalled road and follow this 6.5km W through Velonado and on towards Vilandredo.
About 500m N after the Vilandredo village turn-off, on the road to Myriokefala, is a track on the right leading to a large sheep hut after 400m. Walk behind this and on to another smaller sheep hut 200m beyond. Walk E beyond the hut for 300m following the line of an old aqueduct into a wooded area, then ascend through trees 100m to a walled cave high on the hillside above (35°16′13.37″N / 24°20′33.77″E). From here the party moved to another location further into the gorge. Unless the river is in spate, walk into the gorge along the streambed and after 1km the second cave appears up on the left side of the gorge.
The party then moved to a third hideout in the Vilandredo area (35°14′47.59″N / 24°19′53.70″E). This was the steep, rocky gorge that leads E up the side of Mount Krioneritis, 2km S of Vilandredo on the Vilandredo–Alones road. This point can be reached by old paths leading S out of Vilandredo or by road. The gorge entrance is just off the road on a sharp bend 100m before a sheep hut. The gorge itself is well worth exploring.
Moundros and Kato Poros gorges
A worthwhile detour can be made through the Moundros and Kolita/Kato Poros gorges via the abandoned village of Nisi. The gorges are cool and wooded, with dramatic narrowing cliffs and water-worn boulders, but are accessible and passable except when in winter flood (as George Psychoundakis and Xan Fielding discovered at Moundros in December 1942). Walking through the ruined houses of Nisi is a uniquely affecting experience — moving one to wonder how this once thriving community, with its fine houses and evidence of domestic and agricultural activity, should now be forsaken and derelict.
To reach the start of the walk take the track off the main road 700m N of Velonado, just past the bridge, which leads into the gorge. After 2.5km exit the gorge and bear E to come into Moundros village after 300m. There is a kafeineon on the main road. Continue N out of the village and 100m past the village springs take the track on the left leading down into the valley. Follow this across the river bed on to the other side of the valley. Continue W along the track for 1.5km to bear uphill into the ruins of Nisi.
Take time to explore this remarkable abandoned village, with its examples of Kamara house architecture — the traditional Cretan house, divided lengthways by a great arch (kamara) — laid bare to see. The external stairs, arches, sleeping ledges, kitchens, threshing floors, donkey mill and underground cisterns (look out for holes in the ground!) give a rare insight into life in rural Crete in earlier times. There are fine views N up the Kato Poros valley.
In October 1943, after the battle of Tsilivdika in the hills above Alones, George Psychoundakis brought the wife and children of Yanni Katsias from Kali Sykia to Nisi to stay with his aunt for safety. German and Italian units had received many casualties in the battle and general reprisals were feared in the area. A few days later the Germans went through Kali Sykia, Alones, Kallikratis and Rodakino burning and looting. Many villagers were massacred.
Continue S up the track out on to the stony ridge until you can zigzag W down to the valley floor and the entrance to the Kolita/ Kato Poros gorge. The cave the party used as their second location in the Vilandredo area will be found up on the W side of the gorge, with rough steps and a handrail leading to it. A feature of this gorge is the fine old plane trees that grow here, clinging to the boulders on the river bed. At the exit to the gorge, bear E and take the signposted path which leads to the road. The start point at Velonado is 1.5km E.
Nearest villages with tavernas are Argiroupoli (rooms) and Myriokefala. These last two villages are well worth exploring in their own right.
Peristeres Beach (35°10′58.36″N / 24°18′1.33″E)
On the night of 13 May the party hear that a boat is coming next evening. The party split again to cross the mountains. Leigh Fermor, Manoli Paterakis and the General take a more westerly route on which, owing to its isolation, they can travel by day, climbing the steep, difficult and trackless face of the mountain to the pass W of Krioneritis summit and then SSW down the spur towards Ano Rodakino. Moss and the others take a direct route walking through the night. They meet again the next afternoon on an outcrop above Ano Rodakino. During the afternoon of Sunday 14 May, the reunited party — now reinforced by many Andartes from Rodakino — make their way down to Peristeres beach.
There are few ways up the northern slopes of Krioneritis — the range that dominates the SW aspect of the valley. All are rough, steep and isolated and should only be taken by fit and prepared parties. Just one path is waymarked. This is the route taken by Moss and the main party.
From Vilandredo walk 5km along the road to Alones and take the marked E4 path up the hillside from behind the village hall. The black and yellow paint marks on the rocks are sparse and easy to miss. Make sure you have identified the next mark before leaving the last. Climb S up the steep, rocky hillside (rough going, with no clear path). When the gradient flattens off follow the ridge and signs W for 500m to a break in the ridge and a view down to the Rodakino villages and Libyan sea. The views from the top of the ridge are extensive and dramatic. In spring, the crest is covered with hundreds of yellow asphodels. A shepherds’ track should lie directly below you. Scramble steeply to the track which zigzags down the mountain. Trend W after the first shepherds’ hut to come into Kato Rodakino.
Tracks lead down SSW, across the road and down to Peristeres beach. Note the stream that runs down to the sea — referred to in Ill Met By Moonlight, where they find an old man tending his garden.
By car: Walk to the beach along a coastal track that follows the shore from Polirizos beach — reached from Rodakino by taking the road down to Korakas and then driving 1km W to the end of the coast road.
There are a number of tavernas and rooms along the coast road from Korakas beach to Polirizos beach. At the time of writing, the owner of the Korakas Beach taverna and apartments is Vardis Hobitis, grandson of the Rodakiniot Andarte leader, Vardis Hobitis, who had his house burnt down twice by the Germans. Vardis is very knowledgeable about the history of the local Andarte group and speaks good English.
At 10 p.m. on 14 May 1944, ML 842, captained by Brian Coleman and with a unit of commandos, arrives and evacuates Leigh Fermor and his party from the island. They leave their boots on the beach and sail for Egypt and safety.
NOTE
This guide could never have been made without the generosity, advice and encouragement given to the authors by the Cretan people living in the villages along the route. Their interest and pride in sharing their history with us has been a wonderful experience for which we both remain enormously grateful.