The Golden Step: A Walk Through the Heart of Crete

by Christopher Somerville

Overview

For Somerville this was a kind of pilgrimage, a journey unlike any he had undertaken in 20 years of travel-writing. It was an expedition where he traded the usual comforts and certainties for a real physical and mental challenge, with no mobile phone or other technological aids. The only plan for his journey was to begin in the East at Easter and finish at Whitsun in the extreme West, at the Monastery of the Golden Step, whose gold step, legend says, can only be seen by those who have purged themselves into purity. During his 300-mile walk, he tackled four mountain ranges, high slopes and the numerous gorges of the West. Speaking only basic Greek and trying to follow a poorly way-marked path, he had to rely on his own instincts when climbing mountain passes and crossing high plateaux, farming and shepherding country, where villages are scarce and each night's accommodation was uncertain. He saw a Crete few ever encounter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781907973345
Publisher:	Haus Publishing
Publication date:	05/22/2012
Series:	Armchair Traveller
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Christopher Somerville is the walking correspondent of the Times. He is one of Britain’s most respected and prolific travel writers, with forty-two books, hundreds of newspaper articles, and many TV and radio appearances to his name. He lives in Bristol, and his website is www.christophersomerville.co.uk.
 

Table of Contents

Talking to myself 1

Out East (Kato Zakros to Kritsa) 18

Upcountry Village: Kritsa Interlude 46

The Plains of Plenty (Kritsa to Asites) 65

Across the Roof of Crete (Asites to Thronos) 88

Lotus Land: Amari Interlude 111

To Sfakia: A Rock and a Hard Place (Thronos to Chora Sfakion) 138

The Gorges of the West (Chora Sfakion to Paleochora) 161

Of Earth and Dreams (Paleochora to Hrissoskalitissas) 185

Authors Note 190

Acknowledgements 192