Hiking in Greece: The many gorges of Samothraki

Last summer, I had the most amazing summer vacation experience: no electricity, no water, no cash, no internet, no mobile phone and wildfires. But who needs all these when you are free camping at the lush green Samothraki?

Samothraki (or Samothrace) is floating in the north-eastern part of the Aegean sea. It lies directly under the Thraki (or Thrace) region. If you are an avid game of thrones fan, the Dothraki tribe might suddenly come to mind. Well, the people of ancient Thraki were similar to the Dothraki, since they were fierce warriors and mercenaries with a fondness for horses, who self-sabotaged themselves with their tribal feuds. Samothraki lies between Thraki and Samos and was colonized by the latter. It has been theorized that this is also the name origin, though modern research claims that Samothraki actually means “High Thraki” due to its prominent peak. Mt Saos and its summit Feggari (the Moon) got its name because “it is so tall that it manages to hide the moon”.

In order to reach Samothraki, we opted for a plane ride to Alexandroupolis and then a short boat trip to the island. The much cheaper alternative would have been the 15-hour boat trip via Lemnos from Lavrio port near Athens, but we weren’t so well informed. It turned out that a delay in the flight due to the wildfires around Alexandroupolis in late August 2023 made it so that it took us almost the same time as the boat to reach the island. Anyway, since we had a day to spare between our arrival at Thraki and the short boat ride to the island, we decided to go to Chili. Yes, you read that right, there’s a town called New Chili in Thraki with a wonderful beach with red cliffs. There was a beach bar with parasols and chaise-longues (necessary wet leg input) and Balkan tourists, though the whole coastline looked severely underdeveloped touristically. That was excellent! Our expectations for a slow paced vacation at an untouched and pure place were likely to be met.

The air quality was awful due to the smoke from the burning wildfires. Fires were already burning for three days. They would eventually continue burning 10 days later when we were leaving. And, oh boy, it was a whole mess in-between. We left the smoke-filled port of Alexandroupolis in the afternoon to reach a more pleasant and humid Samothraki. We set up camp at the free and public campground inside the forest close to the village of Therma. The free campground is divided in four sectors with a set of toilet stalls and sinks at each, and that’s about it for the facilities. There’s also a small canteen at the entrance. Most people who come here stay for one or two months, living a slow life at their hammocks and the canteen chairs, moving only when in search of food or to cool down at the nearby beach.

But the highlight of the island is not its beaches. The highlights are the gorges and the enchanting vathres, natural rock pools formed over centuries by flowing streams and cascading waterfalls. At the northern part of the island, there are four main gorges, Fonias (=murderer), Gria (=old hag), Tsivdogiannis (=lisping John), also known as Paradisos (=Paradise), and Grigorakis (=fast-paced). The easiest and most accessible one just by walking is Paradise. It is just above Therma, and perfect for a quick afternoon soak.

The goal (if you’d like to have one) is to pick a gorge and follow it upwards walking or climbing on the rocks, for as high as you can. Pools keep appearing one after the other. The higher you go, the higher the probability is that you get a pool all for yourself. This is especially important around midday since everyone is awake and decides to go for a quick swim. This makes some of the lower pools overcrowded, not to mention that the water becomes mudded instead of transparent from all the movement. You need to remember two basic rules when enjoying the pools: a) don’t wear sunscreen or any cream (since this stays in the water and affects the local habitat) and b) refrain from wearing a swimsuit, since the island is nudity-friendly, and/or be comfortable with having naked bodies around you (i.e. don’t stare).

On our first day, we explored Paradise. On our second, we went to Gria. On the third and fourth days, it was time for Grigorakis and a cross-section to the upper part of Gria. We saved the most magnificent one, Fonias, for last. I believe this is the perfect order to gradually increase the number of “awwwwws” you murmur when climbing uphill. We were wearing either trekking shoes or hiking sandals because the rocks tend to get slippery (there’s an option to wear double-decker buffalo sneakers like my fashionista friend who somehow never lost her balance). We would walk a bit, have a soak, climb higher, have another soak, and keep moving like this from the morning until the sunset. Obviously, we had food and flashlights with us just in case it got too late to return. Some people had set up camp close to some of the more hidden pools, so you wouldn’t feel alone even at night. However, I am against that, since it is damaging to the natural environment and the forest.

This brings me to an interesting turn of events. As I said, wildfires were burning surrounding Alexandroupolis. In the meantime, another fire started in nearby Kavala. The only boat connecting the island to the mainland (Zante Ferries’ Korais) was used as an evacuation floating hospital for the patients from Alexandroupolis to move them to Kavala away from the smoke to another facility. This left Samothraki without any connection to the mainland. Then, the power factory that transported electricity to the island was damaged by the fires. This meant no electricity, and also no running water due to disconnected drilling wells and pumps, no internet and mobile due to insufficient power, and no POS and cashless payments. The one ATM at the port was soon out of cash, the restaurants out of the ability to prepare food and the few mini-markets out of stock. And then, a fire started in the middle of the night at the top part of the Gria gorge. People took it extremely seriously, since most firefighting forces were taking care of the other two large wildfires, nobody would come to help. Locals and repeating travelers are used to the drawbacks of being so far away from the rest of the country, so a team of volunteers from the campsite was assembled to go on foot and help put out the fire. Luckily, the fire was controlled quickly, though the electricity, water, and signal issues would need another four days to be repaired. But who needs all these when free-camping? Everyone who was here came to live a disconnected summer vacation either way.

There was one issue though. On the night of the fire, we were waiting to meet a friend who never arrived at our tent. We were extremely worried about him. Turns out that when trying to get out of the forest when the fire started, he fell and broke his leg at a rock. People helped him get to the local clinic, but since there’s no hospital on the island, he somehow got on the boat to Alexandroupolis as soon as the boat returned to its route. But all his things, ID, keys, wallet, etc were on the island. So he came back in crutches and hitch-hiked to our tent with two days delay. Then there was another issue. His valuables were safely guarded in a blue shopping bag on top of a flat rock, next to a “kitchenette” made of rocks at a makeshift campsite near the gorge of Paradise. Confused much? Yes, so were we. He obviously couldn’t walk, so it was a quest for us to complete.

Our friend explained the directions, bid us farewell, and off we went. We looked hard and long, and asked everyone we met in case they had seen our precious blue plastic bag. Of course, people were confused and asked if we wanted a cup of coffee instead (which was even more confusing for us). After an hour of searching, we accepted the fact that we failed miserably and went to the pools to cool down. The same night, our friend drew a map for us and the next morning, as if it was a miracle, we found the blue bag just a few meters further from where we were searching the previous day. It was such a relief.

This time all ended up alright for our friend. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. A handful of people have lost their lives when climbing the rocks in the gorges, so the upper gorges are not recommended for the faint of heart or for reckless individuals. However, the beauty of each and every vathra-pool makes it worth it. Our favorites are definitely the second one in Fonias and the ones with a sea view at Grigoraki. Nonetheless, there are 15 gorges, over 100 vathres and dozens of waterfalls for you to explore and decide on your own.

If you like history, learn that Samothraki, together with nearby Lemnos island, was a sacred location for the Kaveiria rituals, devoted to a group of gods associated with the blacksmith god Hephaestus. The parents of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king Philip II and his wife Olympias, supposedly met at one instance of these rituals, at the sanctuary of the Great Gods. The Winged Victory of Samothrace statue, now displayed in the Louvre in Paris at the top of the main staircase, was discovered at the temple grounds in 1863. It is a remarkable Greek sculpture dating back to the Hellenistic era, specifically around 190 BC. The statue represents the goddess Niké (Victory), although its head and arms are missing. The base of the sculpture is shaped like a ship’s bow. A life-size replica of the original statue is exhibited outside the modest museum within the sanctuary of the gods.

The closest town to the camping ground is the small village of Therma. It is hidden among plane trees and it has a spring with clear water, our single ray of hope when we were left without water pumps. Two minimarkets, an all-day coffee shop (offering Greek coffee, beers, and local tsipouro), an excellent Falekas bakery with local sweets like Chaslamas and bougatsa pies, and a few shops are the furthest outpost of civilization. Our nightlife was basically enjoying the sea view with a glass of rum at the coffee shop, with the occasional – and unfortunate- illumination of the night sky by the burning wildfires on the opposite coast. The name Therma means ‘hot’ (as in hot springs) since hot sulphuric springs flow underneath. A public bathhouse used to operate here, but was closed when I visited. However, if you follow the dirt road on the right, you are going to find two open-air pools, that are accessible all day long. Furthermore, the main hiking path to the summit of Mt. Saos starts from Therma. With a height reaching 1614m, Mt Saos is the tallest mountain of the Aegean islands (with the exception of Crete and Evia). The path from Therma reaches the top in 4 hours, with the hardest part being a rocky ridgeline just before the summit.

Apart from Therma, the two main towns of the island are the port of Kamariotissa and the elevated Chora. Most Greek islands have a capital named Chora with a castle that is hidden away from view, to be protected from pirate raids. The same holds for Samothraki, which was established in the 15th century by the Genovese family of Gattilusi. Most houses have maintained the traditional architectural style, while some have a special kind of local roof made of seaweed and clay layers, called Aetsa. An example of the local architecture is the old Antoniou bakery. You can take a stroll on the paved alleys under the large plane trees. I tried my best to look for a fountain with a marble decoration depicting an ancient Kaveirian symbol with two intertwined snakes, but I failed. Let me know if you find it.

Despite its long history, there are only a few myths about the island. God Poseidon sat on top of Mt Saos to observe the trojan war. Moreover, it is said that the locals have a peculiar accent. They cut off the “r” sounds because this island is ravished by strong winds, and the wind god Aeolus took their “r” to the nearby Imbros island. Thus, the “r” stayed in Imbros protected by a girl who lived there.

Samothraki is not your average barren Aegean island. Its abundant green forests and flowing waters set it apart from the rest. It is known as standard holiday destination both for Italian hippies from the 80s as well as for Balkan teenagers. Apart from the gorges near Therma, it is worth making a boat trip to the beach of Kipos, the beach of Vatos and the hanging waterfalls of Kremasto nero.

I have recorded three of the paths that we followed during our stay on Samothraki, for Fonias, for Grigorakis and Gria gorges, which you can find in AllTrails. You can read more hiking posts under the tag hiking. If you liked this article, share it with your friends. You can also follow this blog, follow me on Instagram or Facebook, to never miss a post. Until next time!

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