Fonias Waterfall Park on Samothraki Island

One of the most exciting reasons to visit Samothraki Island with CHARLIE is to swim in the freezing waters of Fonias Waterfalls. There are seven falls in all, but I have only been to the lowest, number seven. These are considered "killers" because the Spring floods(when the snow melts) are fierce. The park is lovely and the hike from the parking lot to this fall is about 90 minutes through a forest of ancient trees, along a meandering stream, across broken trees, over tumbled rocks and under overhanging branches. You can't see the fall until you are right up to it, and then you have to take a chance and jump into the pool and swim around a large boulder before you can swim up to and underneath the fall. Fonias means "killer" in Greek, by the way, and Mount Saos where it comes from is where mythology says that Poseidon sat to wach the Trojan War, because you can see Troy from the island on a clear day. We usually rent an open jeep to drive to the park and then buzz around the island to see the rest of the nature scenes. Tourists have not discovered Samothraki yet and there are about 30,000 goats that roam around freely between your legs.