The White Mountains

This morning the sun shone on The White Mountains or Lefka Ori (Greek) which are a main geographical feature of western Crete. Made of limestone these spectacular mountains consist of many peaks. The highest Pachnes which means fog or morning dew reaches 2453m. Such high peaks are without vegetation. Here in the rocky heights golden eagles live and breed.
One way to reach the the mountains is to take the road northward to Omalos. This is a small village at the north east corner of the Omalos Plateau in the centre of the mountains. It is roughly 38km south of Chania. On a trip to Omalos one Spring we were privileged to see two golden eagles sweep from their eerie, wheel, dive and return to their habitat. It was an amazing and spectacular sight. The wing span of these birds of prey is so immense that as they swept over the car we were momentarily left in darkness.


Alfred Tennyson wrote a poem called The Eagle (1809-1892) which I had to learn by heart in school.


He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,                         

,

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.                                 
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.