Apidi Gorges
At the driest side of Crete, near the seaside village Goudouras of Sitia Province we meet fouir parallel gorges of unique beauty. All of them are technical and descent requires rope.
The easternmost of these canyons, called Ammoudoselia or Goudouras, is the longest of all four and the most impressive and is actually the extension of the very long Apidi gorge.
Apidi Gorge starts from villages Mesa Apidi and Exo Apidi and ends at the abandoned village Samakidi. The gorge of Apidi is narrow and has nice limestone and conglomerate rock. It is technical (requires canyoning equipment) and the highest rappel is 10m high.
From Samakidi the canyon continues till Goudouras and this part is called Ammoudoselia or Goudouras Gorge. Despite its small length it is very beautiful and still unknown. The characteristic of this place of Crete is the limestone conglomerate grounds that dominate that area of Goudouras (the largest spread in Crete). This resulted to the formation of unique caves and about ten dry waterfalls (rappels). Three of them require rope (highest is 12m high), while others are smaller and can be carefully overcome. The gorge is very narrow and at some point forms a beautiful rock - bridge under which we pass. The sparse vegetation consists mainly of shrubs, wild olive, carob trees, lentisk and wicker. Some water may reach the exit of the canyon after heavy rain, which is really rare in the region.
