Aegina

We booked the sailing school back in January, and we had booked bunk beds. A few days before starting we got an email from the school with some bad news - the boat with the bunks was broken. They asked if we would mind sharing if we were put in the master suite (our own bathroom). We had been so looking forward to sailing that we agreed.

Aegina is a small island just south of Athens and is known for its pistachios. As we got off our ferry we saw how seriously they took their pistachios! (we found out later that it was the pistachio festival)

Everywhere you walked there was pistachio this and pistachio that - hand cream, shampoo, rings, bracelets, pesto, nutella, hulled, unhulled, ice cream, pistachio everything! Yes, they were delicious!


We dropped off our bags at the sailing school's office and decided to see the ancient ruins of the old city.

For once there weren't a lot of people there, probably because it was high noon and blisteringly hot. The views of the sea were spectacular, but we were both dead tired. So we left and found a shady spot near the beach to have a wee snooze.

It was just what we needed. Revitalised we slowly made our way back to the sailing school office to meet our instructor and get our gear on the boat.

Jake, our instructor led us to our boat, Challenger (a Bavaria 42 Cruiser, for those who are into that). Our Master Suite was quite nice indeed!

Dominique and I were the only two who were there for the ''Competent Crew'' course, the other three - a couple from England and a gent from Switzerland were there for the ''Day Skipper'' course. They do this on all the boats so that the more experienced folks can get practice ordering folks around (joking).

After a safety briefing, and lessons on how to use the showers and heads (the loo for you land lubbers) we went to a local restaurant for dinner with the other students and instructors. There were three other sailboats with 15 students all up.

They said there was going to be ''good wind for sailing'' on the morrow. Little did we know....

Last day in Crete

Thinking of my Mom, who loved the sea

We both woke up with very sore and stiff legs the next morning, but we had decided when we had arrived in Chania that this free morning was going to be spent exploring...and quite frankly I needed distraction.

Old Chania town is built within a fortified wall (built by those Venetians) and its tiny cobbled streets and meandering alleys is absolutely charming. You don't get this in the new world!
We took a walk along the long pier and then got lost in the alleys. I admit that there was some retail therapy involved.






I could have stayed there for weeks just exploring. There were still quite a lot of tourists about even though it was the shoulder season, but it was totally bearable. Chania in October would be bloody brilliant.

There was cuddle therapy involved as well

Sadly, we had to catch the 3:00 bus back to Heraklio to catch the overnight ferry back to Athens.


The bus journey was uneventful, and we arrived in Heraklio with plenty of time to spare, so we went for dinner...in an Italian restaurant. I think Dominique was getting tired of the chicken souvlaki and I was tired of stuffed tomatoes.


I was looking forward to our overnight ferry - the last one I was on, from France to Ireland, was most enjoyable. We made it to our room without difficulty and were pleasantly surprised with the spacious cabin with our own ensuite. Tres chic non? It was around 9pm and we were both dying to take off our shoes and relax a bit. As I took off my sock I heard a crinkling noise, like I had some sort of wrapper in my sock. I looked down to see what it was. There, on the floor, was a rather large, rather flattened cockroach.
 

Ewww. Gross.

I assured myself that it had been between my sock and my shoe and not between my sock and my foot (it was, there was a leg still stuck on the bottom of my sock). It was a little disturbing. We decided that it must have crawled in there the previous night, because we had put our shoes outside to air them out from our hike. Note to self: don't put your shoes outside at night.

We interrupt this vacation with some bad news

It was a shitty night. There was nothing to be done, she was already gone. My dad doesn't have a phone so I couldn't call him. My brother told me that she had been in rapid decline for the past three weeks (unbeknownst to either of us). We all knew it was coming sooner or later, she had been sick for years, but it always comes as a surprise when it happens.


To cut a long torturous story short, I decided to carry on with my trip. Right or wrong, I don't know. I don't think I ever will.

Samaria Gorge Hike

Today we decided that it was a good idea to go for a hike. Every one knows that the Samaria Gorge is gorgeous (see what I did there?? heh heh)

Anyway, we caught an early bus to the entrance to the gorge. Again, we weren't the only ones. Its an 18km hike through the gorge with an additional 2km to the coast where you then take a ferry to Skafia , and then a bus back to Chania.

What we didn't realise was that you had to first descend into the gorge. Seems logical now in hindsight. So down and down we went. As much as folks complain that going up is hard cardio-wise, going down is brutal on the knees and quads...and feet...and calves. Especially since its all an uneven stone surface. It took us about three hours to go down, but we were going through a forested area so we were protected from the sun for the most part. Most of the journey down was spent looking down of course, but every once in a while you'd look around and it was indeed magnificent.
The trek across the floor of the gorge is a dry river bed which fills in the spring with the melting snow from the surrounding mountains. It is full of rocks and again, not an easy place to go for a walk. But oh, the views!!! Breathtaking.

By this point it was early afternoon and there was no place to hide from the sun. It was HOT and everyone was marinating in their sweat. I was dreaming of the sea at the end of the hike, where I could take off my sweaty shoes and socks...and sweaty everything else. We took a multitude of photos, which I'm sure will do the place no justice at all.


When we finally arrived at the small village by the sea five and a half hours after the start of our journey, we went for a well deserved swim. AHHHHH so refreshing! We were warned by the gent at the bus station in Heraklio NOT to go for a swim, but when you're that hot and that weary, you can't help it. We were going to pay for it tomorrow.

 

We got back to Chania at around 9:00 - the time where most Greeks eat dinner - and after a couple of hours on the bus and seized legs, we thought it best to stay very close to the hotel.


After our dinner, when I got back within reach of the hotel's WiFi, I got a message from my sister-in-law to call my brother - Urgent. Shit. That can't be good.
My mom had died.

Chania - Crete

We were off to Chania in the afternoon so we spent the morning at the museum. One day we will learn that it is more advantageous to visit the museums BEFORE going to the sites. At the museum there was a wooden model of the temple of Knossos. Wow. Had I seen it first I may have been a little more suitably impressed by the ruin I had seen the day before. Live and learn right? The complexity of the Palace is mind-boggling.


Legend has it that King Minos hired famous architect/mathematician/ inventor, Daelelus, to design his palace. It was built so that anyone entering without an official guide would get lost. King Minos didn't want his secrets to get out so he imprisoned Daelelus and his son Icarus in a high tower so they couldn't betray him. Daelelus built wings of wax so Icarus could escape...but then you know the end of that story.


In the afternoon we caught a bus to Chania, it's a five hour ride so the afternoon was pretty much gone by the time we arrived. After checking in to our hotel we had a quick wander around and were instantly smitten by the charm of the place. We were staying within the walls of the old Venetian city (remember those serene Venetians who liked to get others to invade for them?).
There are no cars within the old town, mainly due to the fact that the roads are so tiny. It would be an easy thing to get lost in there too as the alleys are arrayed in a seemingly random manner.

We were suckered into eating in a fairly expensive restaurant overlooking the old port, with the old, ''Have you tried ouzo yet? I will offer you a glass free. Then if you want to go, you go.''

Note: Ouzo is very strong stuff, and I'm pretty sure that the stuff he gave us, was stuff he made out back.

Heraklio - Crete

We arrived in Heraklio in the evening and made our way to our airbnb. It was very swanky place, decorated to the nines...and it had a washing machine! We stayed up well into the night doing laundry, with a small pause to have a delicious dinner in a place with no english on the menu.


The next morning, not so bright and early, we made our way into town to catch a bus to the palace of Knossos.

This is a scale model from the museum so you get an idea

Built around 1900 BC, the palace of Knossos was a marvel of architecture. Built on several levels it covers an area of 22,000 sqm. Its labyrinthine layout gave weight to the legend of the Minotaur.

It was excavated by a British archeologist named Arthur Evans and it was his idea to ''restore'' it based on his findings and estimations. So today there are parts that have been reconstructed with concrete and painted. 

Although impressive in size and complexity, I wasn't too taken with it because the ''restauration'' gave it an air of fakeness. Maybe it was just because it was noon and really really hot. Perhaps we should have visited the museum first to get a greater knowledge of the place (we did that the next day). As it was, I was underwhelmed.

We then went to visit the old Venetian port.
Crete was, at one point, part of the Republic of Venice (aka The Most Serene Republic of Venice - they weren't too impressed with themselves, were they?). So, the Venetians back in the 1202 were contracted by the crusaders to provide passage to the holy land. When the crusaders weren't able to pay, the Venetians made a bargain - you help us invade Zara (then Croatia/Hungary) as payment. It was the first time a ''Christian'' army attacked another Christian country. Once that was done it wasn't a big stretch to include an attack on Constantinople (and it's holdings, which included Crete at the time). The Venetians got the lions share of the plunder.


To protect their new asset, they built forts in the major cities which included Heraklio and Chania. The fort at Heraklio is called Castello a Mare (now known as Koules Fortress) and was built in the 16th century using old sunken ships as a base.
It is quite impressive from the outside and beautiful on the inside (albeit a little austere - it is a fortification after all).

To Crete!

Our ferry to crete was in the late afternoon so we had one more morning in Oia to get additional photos and enjoy beautiful setting we were in.


We weren't more than 10 minutes out of our hotel when I fell in love. A pretty young thing she was - part pointer, part spaniel, not more than one year old. I told Dominique to go on without me and spent the next hour cuddling my new little friend. I went to the grocery store and bought some dog food for her, but alas, I wasn't thinking like a street dog. They aren't used to canned dog food and she had absolutely no interest in it! I sat and watched her find a bone and play with it just like any dog would - she'd fling it in the air and then chase after it wagging her tail happily. It broke my heart to leave her, but we had a bus to catch to get to Fira.

When we got to the bus stop it was chock-a-block with people waiting for the same bus. We weren't all going to fit. Because this was a local bus you can't buy a seat before hand, you pay once you are on board. We waited. More people came. When the bus finally arrived it was a mad dash to get in. Dominique stowed our bags and I tried to get in to get some seats. Ha! I just squeezed in and Dominique almost didn't get on. It was standing room only and standing room was bumper to bumper. We all stank of sweat and suntan lotion. The bus swayed to and fro through the mountain passes. I thought I was going to throw up. Dominique, being the last one on, got the seat right up front where the ticket guy usually sits.
We were all very glad when we got to Fira.


We had another couple of hours to kill here before our next bus to the port. So we stowed our bags and had a squizz. There were even more people here than in Oia. By this time I was well over people. We were both very glad that we hadn't included Fira in our holiday plans.

We made it to the port without incident and as we were waiting for the ferry to Crete, we saw the one bound for Athens come and go. It is a well oiled machine this ferry system - people and cars were off and on in less than 15 minutes. We saw a couple run down the pier in a desperate attempt to catch their ferry that was already bringing in their plank. The ferry dude on deck looked at them and shrugged. Right. Don't be late for the ferry.