GREECE

GREECE / ЕΛΛΑΣ.

Landscapes.
The Samaria Gorge, Crete.
Ninth stamp in a set of 15, issued on 15.12.1979.
Face value: 10 Greek drachma.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 26,000,000 copies.
Size: 26 x 37 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 1413.
- Karamitsos No. 1511.
- Michel No. 1395.
- Scott No. 1336.
- StampWorld No. 1377.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1498.
- Unificato No. 1373.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1373.

The Samaria Gorge (Greek: Φαράγγι Σαμαριάς) is a National Park of Greece since 1962 on the island of Crete and a World's Biosphere Reserve. The gorge is in southwest Crete in the regional unit of Chania (Χανιά). It was created by a small river running between the White Mountains (Λευκά Όρη) and Mount Volakias (Βολακιας). The gorge is 16 km (9.94 mi) long, begins at an altitude of 1,250 m (4,101 ft) at the northern entrance and ends on the shores of the Libyan Sea at Agia Roumeli (Αγιά Ρουμέλη). The most famous part of the gorge (represented on the stamp) is the stretch known as the Gates (Πόρτες), where the sides of the gorge close to a width of only four meters and rise to a height of almost 300 m (980 ft).