Chania Trails - APO 03 - Stone Shepherds Huts in the White Mountains

The road connecting the highland villages of Apokoronas, as we head to the area from Ramni and Kares, leads to the village of Melidoni, which is where we will find the start of the trail to the barren Apokoronas peak of the Lefka Ori (an area known locally as Madara).

Setting off from the Frama location, at an altitude of nearly 700 meters, we head to the Platsidakis mitato, the first of many such rudimentary stone shepherds’ huts we will come across along this cyclical route, which introduces us to the sheer wealth of the Lefka Ori landscape. The living human presence accompanies us constantly all the way up to 1,200 meters and reflects the most authentic manifestation of Crete’s pastoral life.

Stone shepherds huts serve as reminders of the Cretans’ enduring relationship with the mountains and with sheepherding. And the shepherds, their flocks and also the panigyri festivals celebrating the saints of the churches, are the irrefutable witnesses we encounter along the way.

Trail 3 is the most alpine and climbing-intensive of the Apokoronas network, and it puts us in close proximity to the area’s unique cultural and architectural heritage. Accessible only when it is not covered by snow, it chiefly comprises the paths used by the regulars in this incredible landscape. Hikers will come across shepherds and their flocks, but also Greek and foreign speleologists, as the caves of Gourgouthakas and Liontari – the deepest in Greece – lie just beyond the trail.