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The Golden Step: A Walk through the Heart of Crete
300 miles, across four mountain ranges, with only a walking stick, compass and basic Greek
- GenresTravelGreeceNonfiction
314 pages, Hardcover
First published July 27, 2007
6 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Somerville
85 books14 followersChristopher Somerville is a travel writer & 'Walking Correspondent' of The Times. His long-running ‘A Good Walk’ series appears every Saturday in the Times Weekend section. He has written some 40 books, many about his travels on foot in various parts of the world
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 4, 2018
There are at least three reasons why I recommend 'The Golden Step' to anyone planning a visit to Crete or to the larger country of Greece. First of all, as a student of history and of the ancient Minoans in particular, the ways in which author Somerville skillfully wove so many historical nuggets into his narrative...from US airstrikes on Kosovo in 2006 to the fall of the Minoan civilization...was good storytelling. Second, were the telling and realistic descriptions of his interactions with the Cretan natives during his journey across the length of the island. He did not waste time or ink with rose colored pablum about Cretan hospitality, but described real people living hard lives. And third, I may never walk across Crete, but I will revisit it. Author Somerville's book has provided many off-the-well-beaten-track destinations for future trips. His book will become a fine resource.
June 25, 2019
(From Michael's shelf)
I began reading this in anticipation of our trip to Greece May 2019, stopped while we were on the trip itself, then resumed reading once we were home again. It was just the immersion I needed to relive the sensory experiences we'd had while there. Granted, we didn't walk across Crete, my brother drove us, but we've said all along everything is different there: the light, the air, the produce that grows, the culture of filotimo...
I found the author's style to be very engaging: just the right combination of his walking narration and small village exposure, history of the region, and his own poetry thrown in for good measure.
"Most big villages of the Cretan lowlands have a 'mountain garden' high in the hills where they grow their vegetables, cultivate their nut trees and graze the sheep and goats on the spring and summer grass while they make cheese from the rich mountain milk."
"...it's like entering a green corner of heaven full of birdsong and the trickle of well water."
"When I eat Katharo tomatoes, Katharo beans, it's something beautiful. There I can leave all my problems- breathe the air- be free! If I can live in Katharo all year, I would be happy."
"The dirt roads, kalderimi, dusty paths and village lanes west, quite passable and even reliable if one simply gave oneself up to it in faith and hope."
(Bink, I plan to get this book for your Dad's birthday.)
I began reading this in anticipation of our trip to Greece May 2019, stopped while we were on the trip itself, then resumed reading once we were home again. It was just the immersion I needed to relive the sensory experiences we'd had while there. Granted, we didn't walk across Crete, my brother drove us, but we've said all along everything is different there: the light, the air, the produce that grows, the culture of filotimo...
I found the author's style to be very engaging: just the right combination of his walking narration and small village exposure, history of the region, and his own poetry thrown in for good measure.
"Most big villages of the Cretan lowlands have a 'mountain garden' high in the hills where they grow their vegetables, cultivate their nut trees and graze the sheep and goats on the spring and summer grass while they make cheese from the rich mountain milk."
"...it's like entering a green corner of heaven full of birdsong and the trickle of well water."
"When I eat Katharo tomatoes, Katharo beans, it's something beautiful. There I can leave all my problems- breathe the air- be free! If I can live in Katharo all year, I would be happy."
"The dirt roads, kalderimi, dusty paths and village lanes west, quite passable and even reliable if one simply gave oneself up to it in faith and hope."
(Bink, I plan to get this book for your Dad's birthday.)
April 12, 2015
Somerville is a man to envy. Given a two-month sabbatical and a ban on doing any writing work by his wife, he picked up his native Cretan figwood walking stick and simply hiked the length of the island of Crete, inland, across terrain more fitted to the Lammergeier and the Cretan wildcat. As a man who knew the island already - his stick is a gift from a Cretan - his voice is the ideal one to narrate this bruising voyage. I know, it is said that all Cretans are liars, but the man who said it was himself a Cretan, so why would we take his word for it?
The book is a salmagundi of travelogue, history book, poetry compendium, religious tract and Kosovo-intervention Greek politics, as Somerville crossed the cradle of Western civilisation just as Greek TV was showing graphic images of bombed civilians during the reign of President Beel. Between his heart-opening native stick, his face-hardening NATO nationality and his patchy Greek the reception he received varies, but clearly village Cretans are the very soul of hospitality and have a local-food culture more familiar from rural Italy than from urban New York or London. The island sounds like a form of paradise once you get away from the tourist tracks, harsh and intractable in a physical sense and yet the very epitome of warmth and fragrance.
Yet Somerville picnics on top of Timios Stavros at the very peak of Psiloritis, 2,454m above the Mediterranean, without recognising that the cairn of stones poking from the snow is the peak of the church roof! The church is buried, close to the First of May, in metres of snow! This is a side of the Middle Sea that casual tourists will not often have encountered.
When we speak of history as part of the mix, we can hardly have tapped a richer vein. Since the dazzling and enigmatic Minoan culture left us its tales of Minotaurs and Gods born in caves, the island has endured Romans, Byzantines, Sarakenoi, Genovese, Venetians, Turks, Germans and on one memorable occasion Saint Paul and his acolyte Titus. Proud of their heritage, the islanders seem to be, and at the same time a terrifyingly hard nut for an invader to crack. The wildness of the terrain Somerville treads and the sheer bloody-mindedness of a mountain AND and an island folk - imagine crossing the British with the Swiss and then adding 4,000 yeas of continuous culture - have meant that they have resisted outside dominance to the last drop of blood on occasion. The Nazis erased entire villages after their top general was kidnapped in a joint Cretan-British operation, yet today the same villages thrive, if in new, concrete housing. The islanders seem almost to be daring anyone to try and keep them down.
I ate this book up in a day and a bit. Light and easily read, at first the inclusion of passages from the Psalms troubled my atheist soul, but by the end they were a harmonious part of the mix. I am going to Crete this Summer - sadly just as a packaged tourist - and now I am champing at the bit.
The book is a salmagundi of travelogue, history book, poetry compendium, religious tract and Kosovo-intervention Greek politics, as Somerville crossed the cradle of Western civilisation just as Greek TV was showing graphic images of bombed civilians during the reign of President Beel. Between his heart-opening native stick, his face-hardening NATO nationality and his patchy Greek the reception he received varies, but clearly village Cretans are the very soul of hospitality and have a local-food culture more familiar from rural Italy than from urban New York or London. The island sounds like a form of paradise once you get away from the tourist tracks, harsh and intractable in a physical sense and yet the very epitome of warmth and fragrance.
Yet Somerville picnics on top of Timios Stavros at the very peak of Psiloritis, 2,454m above the Mediterranean, without recognising that the cairn of stones poking from the snow is the peak of the church roof! The church is buried, close to the First of May, in metres of snow! This is a side of the Middle Sea that casual tourists will not often have encountered.
When we speak of history as part of the mix, we can hardly have tapped a richer vein. Since the dazzling and enigmatic Minoan culture left us its tales of Minotaurs and Gods born in caves, the island has endured Romans, Byzantines, Sarakenoi, Genovese, Venetians, Turks, Germans and on one memorable occasion Saint Paul and his acolyte Titus. Proud of their heritage, the islanders seem to be, and at the same time a terrifyingly hard nut for an invader to crack. The wildness of the terrain Somerville treads and the sheer bloody-mindedness of a mountain AND and an island folk - imagine crossing the British with the Swiss and then adding 4,000 yeas of continuous culture - have meant that they have resisted outside dominance to the last drop of blood on occasion. The Nazis erased entire villages after their top general was kidnapped in a joint Cretan-British operation, yet today the same villages thrive, if in new, concrete housing. The islanders seem almost to be daring anyone to try and keep them down.
I ate this book up in a day and a bit. Light and easily read, at first the inclusion of passages from the Psalms troubled my atheist soul, but by the end they were a harmonious part of the mix. I am going to Crete this Summer - sadly just as a packaged tourist - and now I am champing at the bit.
January 29, 2019
A delightful and very satisfying read. With gems of poetry tucked within like special chocolates to be found and enjoyed. To keep and reread and enjoy all over again which is a rare delight among books.
July 9, 2012
A very involving description about the coast to coast E4 path in Crete. In 1999, the author, Christopher Somerville, walked from Kato Zakros to Monì Hriasolitissa and explored all the interior of Crete in about two months. Difficulties and beauties, Cretan folklore and more...
October 12, 2020
I could say a lot of things about the storytelling, the poems, the humor, the beautiful descriptions...
... but all I will say is that this book smells, tastes and reads like home.
... but all I will say is that this book smells, tastes and reads like home.
January 15, 2021
I found this a tricky one to review. I love Christopher Somerville's writing and I love Crete even more. During 6 years of living there we had many an adventure walking all over the island and a lots on the E4 so I was really looking forward to reading about his walking experience. What I got was a lot of history and a lot about the people but hardly anything about the actual walking, with the exception of Psiloritis, other than getting blisters and not being able to work out which dirt road to follow. The history and people are very interesting but it was the walking I wanted.
May 15, 2023
I enjoyed this one and started it on holiday in Crete. Interestingly his walk was undertaken at the same time as my first ever visit to Crete in 1999. Good insight into the island even if, as someone else pointed out, it is a bit light on some of the details of the walk.
July 15, 2024
A mix of history and travelogue, this didn't really capture me.
March 31, 2025
‘Crete is a place of earth, but it is also a place of dreams’.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews