The opening ceremony for Crete’s first nature trail took place in Kavousi, Ierapetra. This is a «Frankish» trail dating from the Venetian period that has been restored and upgraded thanks to the Greek-French twinning of the Kavousi community, and which builds «bridges,» new opportunities for organized tourism by Greeks and foreigners in the region. It is a botanical trail along the impressive «Mesona» gorge, created by the Alsace Association-Crete in collaboration with the mayor of the Alsatian village of Stutzheim-Offenheim, which is twinned with Kavousi.
The opening ceremony was co-organized by the Kavousi Community, the Alsace-Crete Association, the Region of Crete, the Municipality of Ierapetra, the local cultural association, and others.
The inspiration and driving force behind the renovation of Crete’s first natural botanical trail is the French philhellene and lover of Crete, Professor of Ancient Greek Jean-Claude Swendeman. The French professor, who owns a home in Crete and has been visiting the island continuously for 40 years, is president of the Alsace-Crete Association, and he has collaborated with local organizations, local government, botanists from the Natural History Museum of Crete, as well as organizations from Alsace.
As noted by the participants, this rare natural botanical trail—the first of its kind in Crete— along its 3-kilometer route through the gorge, the more than 80 species of plants in the area—most of which are endemic and medicinal—have been documented, marked, and cataloged on 48 signs. Visitors and hikers—both Greek and foreign—have the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful natural surroundings and learn from the signs about the plants and herbs, and flowers, as the information is provided in Greek, French, and English. As mentioned, this was a collaborative effort with botanists from the Natural History Museum of the University of Crete, and subsequently, a French botanist and translator, as well as high school students from Strasbourg, were asked to produce a brochure presenting the trail and 48 of its most distinctive flowers, a website (https://sentierbotaniquekavousi.com) with the history of the trail and the canal, along with a description of the project and each herb and flower. «I am very happy that my dream has come true thanks to all of our help,» said Jean-Claude Schwedeman, a French enthusiast of Crete, with emotion, as he thanked the regional governor, all the local authorities, scientists, the members of the Alsace association, and the local residents who helped. He highlighted the importance of the region’s natural environment and the partnership with the sister village of Kavousi, which has been in place since 1998, and called on the residents of Crete, as well as Greek tourists and foreign visitors, to explore the unique natural botanical trail.
In his remarks, Stavros Arnaoutakis, Regional Governor of Crete, emphasized the importance of promoting the botanical trail, which resulted from the close cooperation between the two sister regions and which marks a new chapter for our region.
Mr. Arnaoutakis said that the Region is collaborating with various organizations and participating in projects and initiatives that protect and highlight the natural environment, which benefit local communities and contribute to development. He congratulated the sister communities on the project’s completion, everyone who helped, and especially the project’s visionary and driving force, Jean-Claude Schwedeman, Yiannis, as he prefers to be called in Crete. The regional governor, in fact, noted in particular that he was delighted for Yannis, whom he met in Strasbourg during the time Yannis was a Member of the European Parliament, and that he had visited him in Alsace and had known ever since of his love andinterest in the island.
