Kamares Cave and Vorizia Gorge

Kamares Cave

Kamares is a village at the southern flank of Psiloritis. Here starts the path leading to Kamares’ Cave, a very big cave located at 1780 m, under the summit of Mavri (1950 m).

It’s a steep ascent taking 3-4 hrs to complete. A great part of it is through a wooded area with 3-4 springs of water and rewarding views to Messara plains and Libyan Sea; if the weather is good then you may see the island of Gavdos far into the sea.

The cave of Kamares became important when a great number of fine pottery were discovered here during an excavation. The pieces of pottery found here are very thin and delicate (“egg-shelled“), decorated with bright colours on a black background. They are dated back at 1700 BC and you can see them in Heraklion Archaeological Museum.

The Gorge of Vorizia (Vorizano)

There is a beautiful gorge descending from Nida Plateau down to Vorizia village in 4 hrs. It is a wooded gorge and the main part of the path is on its eastern flank.

From the tavern at Nida Plateau you head south to the only opening between the mountains that you can see; this is called Poros Milias (apple-tree passage) and is located east of Mavri (black) summit. The path begins right after this passage, southwest of the dirt road which leads nowhere.

It is not a difficult walk but it’s very likely that you’ll have some difficulty in finding the path, which is not always obvious. In January 1998 I walked the Nida-Vorizia route with the aid of a guide but 2 months later when I attempted to do it from Vorizia to Nida by myself, I got completely lost.

If there is a trekking guide with you then a good idea is a circular route from the village of Kamares to Kamares’ cave, Mavri summit and Nida Plateau, camp there for the night and then go to Poros Milias, Vorizano gorge and end to Vorizia village.

There is no drinkable water inside the gorge.