My wife and I were vacationing on the western end of Crete in an AirBNB with private pool which allowed us the freedom to be nude around the villa. However I'm pretty active and adventurous so started looking for places i could hike nude. I started my hike on the E4 in the eastern parking lot of Elafonisi beach. There were lots of locals camping and I asked one of them if it was ok to hike the trail "naturalist". She grinned and said "go for it". I followed the trail about 40m in, stripped off my shorts and tshirt, and put them in my backpack. For the first 1km or so, the trail was well marked because it's so well used by the crowd at Elafonisi. As I continued, I did have to keep my eyes open to follow the yellow and black markers. A few times I probably veered from the trail, but as long as I kept close to the coast and headed east, I'd pick it up again soon. As the day went along, I passed maybe 100 other hikers. None of them were nude as I was, but no one seemed to care that I was only wearing shoes. Nudity is so common on the southern coast, I suspect most folks just accept seeing it anywhere along the trail. Most people would either smile and say hello or advert their eyes as we passed each other. Near Kountoura beach, I turned back and retraced my steps. It was a warm day and I had plenty of sunscreen and water. I do wish I had taken some snacks as I was a little weary by the time I reached my car. Here's a site that describes much of the course I took with lots of pictures. It's not my site but you get a sense of the terrain. https://www.cretanbeaches.com/en/what-to-do-in-crete/outdoor-activities-and-adventure/trekking-and-hiking-in-crete/the-e4-european-trail/elafonisi-paleochora
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Hiking the e4 in Crete
Published Jun 22, 2022
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