Trail Rouvas Wood - Giristi - Prinos - Asites
This part of the E4 trail connects the core of Rouvas Wood to the east outskirts of Psiloritis mount and gives its position to the next trail crossing the fertile valleys of Heraklion prefecture. It is quite tiring, as it ascends from altitude 950m to 1779m and then descends to 490m. The route offers a great experience of the oak wooded forest of Rouvas, the bare peaks of east Priloritis and, if you are lucky, a nice stay in the shelter of Prinos.
We start our course from the heart of the forest of Rouvas (altitude 950m) and the church of St John, which is anyway one of the nicest places in Crete for a daily break. Benches, spring water and a beautiful scenery with high trees compose the setting here. We follow the dirt road that heads up to meet the road coming from Nida to Gergeri. After 4.5 km course, we meet the junction next to some round stone huts (mitata) and here we have to turn left (towards Nida).
After about 2200m along the main dirt road we turn right to a small dirt road that ends soon. We continue the ascent on the west slope of the peak Gyristi, among oaks and shrubs. The path is not very clear, so we have to look for the E4 signs and red marks. After about one hour of ascent we arrive at an altitude of 1620 m., north of summit Gyristi (1774 m.). From this point we have spectacular views to Heraklion and the valley of Rouvas Wood.
From here we start descending to Prinos shelter, next to the spring of the area. Prinos is being managed by the Mountaineering club of Heraklion and is a nice place to stay overnight. From Prinos we follow the downhill path and we soon meet a dirt road, which runs to village Asites (altitude 490m). At the end of the dirt road we meet the main paved road to Asites, that comes by the monastery of Saint George Gorgolainis, one of the oldest in Crete.
