Ε Ξ Ω ΦΥΛ Λ Ο
the United States. A special gift
arrives in late July from Gianna
and Theodore Angelopoulos, who
make a generous donation to the
Samaria Foundation in support of the Walk. The final breakdown of the
more than $25,500 raised by “Walk the Gorge” shows the following random
statistics:
90.2% of the funds come via solicitations by Greek-American walkers
9.8% of the funds come via solicitations by non-Greek walkers
23.6% of the total is from donors with a Cretan and/or PAA connection
11.9% of the total is from Greek-American donors (non-Cretans)
35.5% of the total raised comes from the Greek-American community
64.5% of the total raised comes from the non-Greek-American
community
22.1% of the total received via checks/cash donations
77.9% of the total received via online donations
7.7% of the total raised comes from PAA chapter donations
A salute must go to the men,
women and children who walked
the Samaria Gorge as participants
in the Walk the Gorge Fundraiser and whose dedication to the
cause raised so much money for
charities on Crete. Here is a list
of those who registered: Elizabeth Billis; Shawn Custer; Kim
Humphreys; Patria Kunde; Peter
and Alexandra Manos and their
daughter Christiana; Demetri
Former PAA President Manousakis Mazacoufa; Rose Miller; Gloria
entertains Gorge walkers with
Moschona; Katina Nicolacakis, her
stories about his family and the
husband Jim Myers, and their chilwinery.
dren Angelique and Victor; MaryAnn Somers; Ellen Sturgis; Tina Tzanakis; Mike Vlass; and Lynda Weaver. A well-deserved Άξιος! to each of them.
It would be a wonderful testament to the volunteers within the PAA,
the PYA and other pan-Cretan organizations if “Walk the Gorge” is embraced as a way to extend the philanthropic reach of the membership.
The structure is there and the precedent has been set. All it takes is
a commitment similar to what the original walkers—more than half of
whom have no Cretan legacy—made in the summer of 2014. K
The Samaria
Gorge
C
arved out of the limestone, dolomite and
marble rock of Crete’s White Mountains,
the Samaria Gorge starts on the Omalos Plateau at Xyloskalo 4,025 feet (1,227 meters)
above sea level and continues for approximately 9 miles (13.5 km) to its end. There is another 2 miles (3.2 km) of flat, open plain from
the end of the national park before reaching
the village of Agia Roumeli on the Lybian Sea,
which runs along the southern coast of the island. The total distance from Xyloskalo to the
village is approximately 11 miles (18 km).
According to Greek mythology, one of the
Titans living on Crete slashed the land with
his knife to create the Gorge. According to
another story from the ancients, Cretan-born
Zeus placed his throne atop Mt. Gygilos, which
guards the entrance of the Gorge and the
huge boulders at the foot of the mountain are
the result of his thunderbolts . . . and, if these
stories are to be believed, they are the same
rocks that lie along the river bed, which hikers
make their way through the Gorge today.
This part of Crete is marked with the imprint of the hands of time: natural processes,
often violent and extreme such as catastrophic
earthquakes, have molded the mountains and
the seas, shaping the land of the Aegean and
of Crete. The White Mountains of Crete, just
like all the Greek mountain ranges, are just
one link in a great chain of mountains created
millions of years ago along with the alpine
orogenesis, the process that built mountains
from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas.
Today, the Gorge is a protected area within
the Samaria National Park, which was created
in 1962. Since then, people across the globe
have visited the Gorge for a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to hike it, marvel at its magnificence and explore its ancient geologic formations, rare forests and endangered plants and
wild animals found nowhere else but in this
part of Crete. K
COVER STORY
The t-shirt worn by all Walk the
Gorge walkers and coveted
by those who wish they had
walked says it all.
The full-length version of Demetrius Mazacoufa’s article can be found at
www.pancretan.org.
KPHTH | WWW.PANCRETAN.ORG
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