Omalos Plateau, Viannos

Access to Omalos..

Access to Omalos Plateau, Viannos is relatively easy through the forest dirt road that starts from Kato Symi, but there are also other difficult or less easy dirt road routes that you can follow.

From the settlement of Amiras, where the distance is close to 9 kilometers, while there is also a dirt road that comes from Ano Viannos and joins another one from Kefalovrysi village and together continues to the plateau after passing below the peak of Pandouras (1513m ). This road is used a lot by the shepherds of the area and is generally in good condition apart from 1-2 spots that need some attention. It is the road with the highest mountain pass (at an altitude of 1500m) in the entire Lassithi massif.

Also, from the southwest side, there is the alternative route that goes up from the village of Miliaradon near Embaros and passes south and parallel to the wild gorge of Erganos. It is the most difficult of all with steep inclines and less frequent maintenance intervals.

Of course, the great value of the route culminates with the approach of visitors and hikers to the central point of the Omalos plateau (average altitude 1,340 m). The plateau develops on the East-West axis, at the base of the southern side of the alpine central part (madares) of the Lasithi mountains, occupying a respectable surface. During most of the wet season the entire wider area is covered by snow, ice or water. The plateau has its own meandering network of channels, which, through a sinkhole, channels the winter water from the seasonal lake reservoirs to the underground invisible world. The portions of the plateau surface that become dehydrated as we head into spring quickly green up to be used as pasture soon after.

However, it is worth noting that many visitors and even residents of Crete confuse Omalos Plateau by Viannos with the famous plateau of Omalos in Chania, which is why it is customary to call it Little Omalos.