My personal top 7 in West Crete OR "Good road, asphalt"

First, let me explain the title of this story. On our first day in Viglia we asked our hostess Irini about different places to go. The two I wanted to see for sure were Balos and Elafonisi. Irini said that although Balos is actually very close to the hotel itself, the road there is not too good – it is unpaved, so the driving will be quite slow. After hearing this, we decided to leave Balos for later, when we have gotten used to local driving realities. 

“And what about Elafonisi?” – I asked Irini.

“Oh, it’s a good road, asphalt” – she replied.

And so we decided to go to Elafonisi on our first day in Crete. Now, please keep in mind that my driving license was only half a year old during that time. I bravely started driving, got green the face after reaching the first mountain, then almost fainted when some goats jumped out on the road, and at last got out of the car sweaty and trembling after some 30 minutes (which felt like 30 hours to me) and let Zsolt drive the rest of the way. Since then “good road, asphalt” is a saying in our family, describing the road, which is really far from being easy.

So, enough of the introductions. Let’s see where we actually went.

1. Falassarna

Falassarna is a beach on the Western side of Crete, and is famous for “amazing sunsets”. It was also a short drive from us, so we went there on the evening of our arrival to be amazed by the sunset. It was nice, but we were not amazed.

In fact it was there we realised that Lithuanian sea coast actually does have pretty good sunset. It doesn’t excel in many things, like sea temperature, water transparency, aquatic life or others. But it does have great sunsets: Lithuania is facing directly West and is placed high up North enough to have nice slow sun-setting speed, which allow you enough time to sit in the cozy dunes, open a bottle of wine and actually finish it with a serving of smoked fish.

Here we had in fact have just enough time to jump out of the car, unbuckle Mark from his seat, appreciate the view, realise that the batteries of both our phones are dead and no pictures of this historical moment will be taken. And that was it. Good we didn’t bring our fish dinner with us.

2. Elafonisi

Crystal clear water

As you know, reaching it was not easy, but after I took the passenger seat, I really enjoyed. We were staying in Crete in April, so it did have advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantage – really cold sea. Advantage – not too many tourists. 

Pink sand of Elafonisi

Via Valeriana

...the Roman army used it to move quickly up and down to and from Germany...

(to quote our host)

We discovered Via Valeriana quite randomly, to be honest with you. I'm happy we did though, because it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. While hiking I actually had an idea (again again) to start this travel blog, and that's why I decided to write the first post about it.

I feel that this hike (together with Lago d'Iseo in general) is not getting enough publicity. At least while planning our trip I didn't see Via Valeriana mentioned much, and even if mentioned, most of the information was in Italian. I found this brochure to be the most informative (although not very user-friendly, especially on the mobile), and now I also used it for some distances and names. But I don't feel it markets it the right way, so I'll do this route a favour by documenting it here.

So, facts first.

Length: 24.3 km (that doesn't seem scary - yet)

Start: Pilzone d'Iseo
Finish: Pisogne

Drop (what you will have to climb up and down): +1135 and -1145. For not experienced hikers this is quite a handful, but still doable, and does not require any specific equipment, except for good shoes, clothing in layers and determination.

Time: This is the tricky one. See, it tells you 9 hours in all the official sources, but I would strongly disagree, unless you are a cyborg or a camel. You might try walking it in 9 hours straight, but this would mean no eating, no peeing and no pizza nor cappuccino on the way. And let's agree, this is not what you came to Italy for. Another issue is the length of the day: in November it gets dark at 5pm.

As the trail goes along the Eastern side of the lake Iseo, so does the train, covering the distance between Pilzone and Pisogne and stopping in between in the towns of Sulzano, Sale Marasino, Marone and Pisogne. The trail will go away from the train and up to the mountains rather far (or rather vertically up) around Zone (name of a small town), but you also have a bus from Marone up to Zone, bringing you to the Via Valeriana.

So the good news is that you can actually go at your own pace, and when you feel that it was enough for the day, you come down to the closest station, take a train back to where you are staying and enjoy your well deserved apero. And the next morning take the train back to the point where you have finished and just continue from there. This way you can combine challenging hiking with a relaxing cappuccino in the morning and a nice dinner in the evening. Because that's Italy, and let's admit it, you came here to eat.

More about the hike with pictures below