I will be travelling from Rethymno to Chania on May 9th. I would like to include the Botanical Park & Gardens of Crete (if it's worthwhile) and some kind of short hike in the Samaria Gorge and/or the Agia Irini Gorge. I have read that it is possible to go as far down as the viewing platform in the Samaria Gorge and then back to the start of the gorge in about one hour and 30 minutes. Someone else said that you can only walk one way down the gorge because they give you a pass to enter the gorge, with one part taken at the beginning and another part at the end so that they know that you made it to the end. Is it possible and worthwhile to go just as far as the viewing platform?
Alternatively, I have read that you can drive to the end of the Agia Irini Gorge in Sougia, park your car, and walk part of the gorge before returning to Sougia.
Which hiking experience would be better?
If I were to leave Rethymno by 8 am would I be able to do one or both of these things and wind up in Sougia in time for lunch? After lunch I'm hoping to make a brief stop at the Olive Tree Museum of Vouves and the Gonia Monastery before continuing to my lodgings in Chania.
Thanks..