George & Marina

I snuck out of my room this morning at 6:30 am (hostel, teenagers sleep in 😅) and went to have breakfast. I made myself a delicious yogurt with banana, apple, and orange, topped with honey. After yesterday's walk, I noticed that my new shoes were rubbing on certain spots, so I considered going to the shoe store today, but then decided against it and headed to the bus station. I didn't want to go all the way to Sfakion, so I planned to get off somewhere along the way and had to somehow communicate to the bus driver where I wanted to get off. He grumpily acknowledged it and told me to let him know when I wanted to get off. It worked and saved me a few kilometers of walking on the road. It was completely cloudy all day and up in the mountains, where we passed through, the bus thermometer only showed 12 degrees Celsius. Down by the coast, it was 18 degrees when I started hiking. On the way to the entrance of the gorge, I encountered a woman walking along the road looking pretty exhausted. She told me that she had hiked through the Samaria Gorge and hurt her big toes in her barefoot shoes. That's why she's been walking around in Birkenstocks now. She already sent some of her luggage back because it was getting too heavy for her. Now she's quitting hiking and resting for the remaining 6 days of her vacation. I hiked up the Imbros Gorge. I encountered groups of people coming down in buses. I even recognized a couple that I had met at the beach, and they recognized me too. The path from Imbros to Amoudari was quite rocky, but not very steep, so I didn't have to exert myself too much. The hosts George and Marina welcomed me very warmly. I had to sit down and have a drink first, then they brought me a bowl of nuts, and since they were just finishing their lunch, they even gave me a piece of their moussaka. After taking a shower, I fell asleep right away. The new shoes and my feet still need to get used to each other. At least the problems I had with the old shoes are gone, but now there are new ones. Dinner was absolutely delicious and plentiful. Just what I need for the mammoth tour ahead of me.