Crete

Crete:

August 18, 19, 20. Travel Time

As we have no further use for our sleeping bags and mats I eventually manage to stuff them into a mailing carton and seal them securely before heading to the Post office to mail them. The lady insists on opening the package for inspection and, in spite of my warning, is taken completely by surprise when the contents leap out to meet her. After ten minutes of effort by Elaine, the aforementioned lady and myself on the floor of the PO we eventually have the contents back in captivity, sealed and ready to post. The rest of the day is spent drying laundry, reorganising packing, cups of coffee and dining before heading to the airport for a midnight flight to Seoul. Having checked in and passed through customs we are enjoying a coffee when I was summonsed to the luggage 'dungeon' to unpack our large pack. I had to remove our little kettle, which had never been questioned before, and open it to show them the Pocket Rocket stove stored inside. They had never seen anything like it before, but we all had a bit of a laugh as I tried to explain how it all worked using mime as none of them spoke English.

The rest of the three hour journey to Seoul passed uneventfully, and after a few hour's sleep at the Sky Hotel and coffee and a donut at Dunkin' Donuts, it's back to the airport for our rather tiring  eleven-and-a-half flight to Istanbul for yet onother stopover, but didn't sleep particularly well. Maybe it was because we didn't really feel at home in a hotel with four stars above the door!

Up early for an eight-thirty departure back to the airport for a ten-thirty-five flight to Athens, which thankfully only eighty minutes duration. Athens airport was very busy and just a little disorganised. Elaine, who had both tickets and boarding passes, and I became separated. I thought that she had gone on to the departure lounge so proceeded through two security checks into the departure lounge.
Elaine, however, was still on the 'outside' looking for me only to be informed that I couldn't be in the departure lounge without a boarding pass and advised to return to information to have me paged but was not allowed to pass back to where the information booth was. Stalemate!! Eventually I talked my way back out of security and we were re-united and proceeded, via  the most intense security check we had ever experinced to catch our flight. Thank goodness for long intervals between flights! We no sooner were airborne than we were descending again into Heraklion - about forty minutes flying time.

With Crete being such a popular holiday desination, Heraklion airport is quite busy, but we passed quite quickly and smoothly through customs, collected our luggage and made our way to the Budget office to collect our car. By the time we had driven the four kilometres to the town we were feeling quite comfortable on the right hand sise of the road but were quickly becoming aware that such things as stop signs, double lines, speed limits and, at times, even traffic lights were regarded as suggestions only. We received a number of 'toots' as we tried to comply as we would at home.

Our hotel was in the old town which fronts both the old and new harbours and is surrounded by remnants of the town wall. The very narrow one-way streets are made even more difficult to negotiate by the cars parked bumper to bumper, often on both sides, necessitating external mirrors to be folded in, not only on the parked vehicles, but sometimes on your own as you drive through.

We eventually locate our hotel, the 'Kastro', on the second pass and settle in before heading out to explore the immediate surroundings. We wander along the waterfront where the old harbour is still guarded by the largely intact old fort. We are unable to get a close look at the fort as the waves, in spite of the very hot day, are crashing into the sea wall throwing spumes of spray across the walkway. From there we wander up into the town following one of the main streets which is now permanently a busy pedestrian mall lined mainly with restauants and souvenir shops. After soaking up the atmosphere for an hour or so, we settle down at one of the many street-side restauants surrounding a leafy square for a very pleasant repast before turning in for a good night's sleep in air conditioned comfort.

Old fort and seawall

View across the Old Harbour



Relaxing

Finding our way out of Iraklion proves to be something of a challenge as we are unable to locate any signs, but in our wanderings we do locate a large supermarket where we are able to stock up on water and a few other supplies. We are unable to find a gas cylinder to fit the Pocket Rocket but are able to purchase a new stove complete with gas cylinder for E18, so we can now match any type of cylinder on the market and have our ‘elevenses’ wherever we happen to be.

We eventually just head generally south out of Iraklion and find ourselves on minor roads rather than our intended route but they are taking us in the right general direction so we wander along enjoying the scenery and the lack of traffic. We soon discover that the road map, like the road rules, is suggestive only but we eventually find a few villages with names resembling those on the map (some town signs are in Greek only) and are able to plot our course towards Matala on the south coast.

 Our first impressions of the countryside are that it is very mountainous with barren rocky peaks below which are more fertile valleys with groves of olive trees and vineyards interspersed with figs, prickly pear and various vegetable crops but few domestic animals. We eventually wend our way back onto the main road for the last thirty or so kilometres into the bustling little seaside resort of  Matala.

By early afternoon we are ensconced in the hotel Zaffiria and enjoying a cuppa while looking out from our balcony across the swimming pool which is set against a spectacular backdrop of rugged limestone outcrops. The rest of the afternoon, after the laundry has been attended to, is spent lazing about the pool reading, snoozing and taking the occasional dip. In the cool of the evening we join the throngs down on the beach for a stroll and a visit to some of the Roman tombs carved into the cliff face. We enjoy a pizza in one of the open beachfront restaurants as we are entertained by a local group of musicians and enjoy a rather magnificent sunset to round out a very relaxing and enjoyable day.

Just out of Iraklion

Central Crete

Beachfront Matala

Sunset

View from the balcony