DEATH VALLEY

Nothing particularly difficult to find the beginning of the walk: follow the arrows from the village, go down the indicated road for 15 minutes passing by houses surrounded by their vegetable garden, before the olive trees take over. A track in pink rock then starts on the left, it is the path E4 which goes down into the olive trees. The first half-hour walk is through this hilly landscape of olive groves, oleanders and even a few palm trees. Then we gradually leave the plain to go down into a wide valley overhung by huge eroded cliffs where black and circular shadows appear: the caves. These caves are tombs dug into the rocks that have been used to bury the dead at different times since the Minoans. It is the presence of the tombs that earned this valley its name of "to faraggi ton nekron" (the canyon of the dead)!

In the last section of the gorge, a small sign on a rock face indicates aMinoan castle. Beware, this walk is very difficult (it is almost climbing) and above all it is hot as hell. We have to climb in full sun on sharp rocks for a good hour (round trip), to arrive on a big pile of rocks overlooking the sea: the ruins of the Minoan castle. Nothing to see but the view of the sea. You should bring plenty of water. Once past the gorge, the space widens and you emerge upstream from Kato Zakros, near the Minoan site.

An alternative to this walk , which lasts only one hour: continue the road after Ano Zakros for 2 km. You will see on your left a parking lot and a sign indicating "Dead's Valley". You can also ask the bus to stop there, if you don't have the ease of a rental car. The walk is particularly attractive in spring when everything is in bloom: thyme, oleanders and other petrol trees. The bees buzzing around all this nectar, the goats and sheep clinging to the cliffs and, in the evening, coming down from their perches to sleep in the river bed. You can feel in these gorges all the nature of Crete. In the spring, you will have chances to walk alone. If you don't want to get in line, leave early and watch nature rise.

At the entrance to the Kato ZakrosGorge , climbing equipment for young and old can be rented. This service is offered by the municipality of Itanos