Discreet Crete: Explore the Gorges and Ancient Villages of the Greek Island on a New Eco-Tour

"Tonight there will be you, me and the goats," explained my guide Vassia Mastrogianni as we began our road trip through the White Mountains of Crete. At the wheel was Antonis whom, worryingly, Mastrogianni had just presented as "a very good pilot". I soon realized why, as the road became a tangle of ascending switchbacks and plunging valleys. It was the kind of road that would have caused a cave-in if I had been the one driving.

We were heading to a remote mountain guesthouse in the western Crete, where the deep folds of Samaria National Park rise to limestone ridges over 2,000 meters high before crashing into the southern coast. For half the year the White Mountains are blanketed in snow, but in the summer the rocky peaks are famous for their milky, shiny hues, continuing to give the appearance of snow long after it has all but melted away.

The White Mountains of Crete, Lefka Ori in Greek, are about as far away from your typical Greek island holiday as you can get. , sea and sand. Our drive through the foothills was blanketed with olive trees, clumps of wild thyme and bushy blocks of vines surrounded by the shimmering ocean. Bearded vultures streaked overhead. Nonchalant goats slowed our progress in the mountains by grazing on the side of the road. type=" model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class=" dcr-eiqqge">