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| *Notice bullet holes in the sign, so much seen in here! |
Aradena (Aradaina) is as beautiful place as its history is definetely not the usual one! It was a settlement in the Roman and Venetian period, but it got totally destroyed by the Ottoman Turks. Later on it was getting reinhabited, but in the 40s it got abandoned due the vendetta. The two large families who lived there, exterminated eachother member by member, until it got a village with destroyed ruins. Aradena is in a region that they say that people still live by unwritten moral and ethical laws. Most of the impressive houses are now destroyed and evidence of the battle between the two families are the two seperate cemeteries, one cemetery to each family...
Today the village is not just ruins, three families have come to live there and the place has come famous from its bridge. Some say it is world´s highest bailey bridge and it is there for permanent, when they are usually used non-permanent use. It was financed by two brothers who live in the next village of Aradena, Agios Ioannis in 1986. In summer they do bungy jumping
click here to see video from the bridge and people are doing hikings in this beautiful gorge. I saw much hawks there, but unfortunaly didnt get any nice photos from them, just memories for me now! Camped next to the bridge in a little parking for three nights was all worth it! Nights were little chilly, since its 570 m above the sea level, but the sun was heating softly by the day, great balance ;),
To get to Aradena you need to pass by Chora Sfakion, which I visited already earlier (see update in here
Chora Sfakion ) and you take this serpentine road up up up (see the road behind the harbour). Its a dead end road, so you need to get the same way back down. On sunday there were motorbikers enjoying the sunday drive and as I am a motorbiker too, I couldnt stop thinkig about all the stones which have fallen down to the road, how dangerous for bikers if you dont keep attention! This video will show pretty good the road to get to Aradena with some pictures
click here to the video :P
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| Village down Chora Sfakion |
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| Amazed by the road! |
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| The Bridge of Aradena |
When I was passing the bridge with my van, it makes scary noize, sounds almost like a train would pass. I saw no weight limits but later on even some trucks were passing it, so I guess its pretty safe even with the noize under your tires...
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| little panoramic view |
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| Goat in rocks |
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| Curious goat ! |
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| Doggy felt no fear, good gal <3! |
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| parking is right side of the bridge |
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| bungy add poster |
Hiking map through the gorge down to Marmara beach, aprox 5 km long (well, I walked this completely later and a roundtrip was 16 km!)
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| I wonder who lived here..... |
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| hiking path up from the gorge |
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| THE STUNNING BRIDGE (!!!) |
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| hiking down the gorge |
I was wondering if the goats slips down to the gorge, since I was looking earlier how dangerous walks they do and when I got down, yes, indeed they do slip time to time. I saw some bodies down there..:(
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| Doggy running the path up from the gorge |
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| goats waiting us |
This "gang" started to follow me when I got back to the road, they thought I was the shepherd??
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| Sunset of Aradena |
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| Gorge by sunset |
No olipa video.Olisi tosi pelottavaa ajaa toi sama reitti.Ne vierivät kivet ovat tosiaan iso uhka motoristeille.Hui!! Ihmettelen,että sinun päätä ei huimaa noi korkeudet.Olit ottanut hyviä kuvia rotkoista,mutta ihan huimasi katsella niitä.Vuohet oli tosi suloisia.Varmaan Reiska ihmetteli mitä ne on.
ReplyDeleteMotoristit ovat tottuneet katsomaan tienpintaa varmasti hiukan enemmän kuin keskivertoautoilijat, hyvä niin, mutta olisi kiva tie "päästellä" vapaasti jos tietäisi etukäteen että tienpinta on puhdas...Tie oli mutkikas, mutta leveä, helposti ajelis kuormautollakin tuonne ;)
ReplyDeleteNo ompa Aradena:lla historia.Mielenkiintoinen paikka.Miten joku uskaltaa hypätä sieltä sillalta. ( Bungee jump )
ReplyDeleteComme d'habitude Olka de très belles photos ! John et moi avons prévus d'y passer bien que cela nous fiche un peu la trouille, j'espere qu'on finira pas comme les chèvres :-) bises. Nad
ReplyDeleteHuhhuh, mitä mielettömän upeita kuvia! Enpä tiedä, uskaltaisinko edes kävellen ylittää tuota siltaa :D. Harva koira taitaa päästä lenkille tällaisissa maisemissa. Onko hänellä paimentamisviettiä ja miten vuohet suhtautuvat kun näkevät teidän tulevan? Kyllä blogisi todella houkuttelee Kreetalle. Ollaan hieman suunniteltu vuoden 2015 syksyllä ystäväpariskunnan voimin sille suunnalle reissua, mutta valitettavan lyhyt on aika samanlaisille seikkailuille. Täytyy kylmästi valita, missä ajella. Turvallista jatkoa!
ReplyDeleteKiitos Eija! Reiska pyyhki menemään rotkossa kovaa kyytiä, mutta sillan ylitys oli hänellekin kova paikka, hitaasti, kaikki tassut "auki" edetessään ja kroppa mahdollisimman lähellä maata (eli sillan lankkuja). Monta kertaa ylitettiin silta, joka kerta sama varovaisuus! Reiska lähinnä katseli vuohia, puuttuu paimennus, onneksi näin, helpompaa meikäläiselle! Viikossa tai kahdessa kerkeää näkemään myös ihan kivasti, meikäläisen tahti on täällä nyt hidasta, yhdessä paikassa voi viipyä parikin viikkoa ;). Tuuliset terveiset sinne Suomeen!
DeleteMerci encore Nadine, on peu faire des belles photos quand a une belle endroit ;)
ReplyDeleteCoucou, il est vrai que tes photos sont superbes.
ReplyDeleteNadine et John, nous avons fait la randonnée jusqu'à la mer avec les enfants donc pas de problème je pense pour vous.
Bises à vous tous
La meute
Et merci famille leloup, wish to see you later on before you leave the island towards new adventures!
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