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Reminder: the panoramic photos at the start of the blog change every 7/8 seconds and give a larger and clearer image than when viewed with the other photos. Also, there are more photos below the text if you want to skip the diary details; and if you double click on any of the photos you will get an enlarged, clearer image. You can return to the text anytime.
Sunday 6
th May: the plan was to drive to Sfakia and get a ferry to Loutro; which is one of the most highly rated places to visit in Crete. Sfakia is 40 kms / 25 miles from Plakias but as it’s a winding mountain road it took us 1 hour 20 minutes to get to there. When we arrived we walked down to the harbour to check the ferry times and prices. Very conveniently the next ferry departed in 15 minutes from the adjacent commercial port which allowed us plenty of times to walk there. There were around 20/25 passengers on the ferry, which could probably hold twice that number, and we sat outside to enjoy the view. The journey was quite rough and we sometimes had spray splashing over us even
though we were at the back of the boat. It took just over half an hour to get to Loutro and when we landed there wasn’t that much to see: just a line of shops, some small hotels and houses around the edge of a sheltered bay with a narrow shingle beach. As our ferry was returning to Sfakia in 55 minutes time at 1.30pm and the next one departing at 4pm we decided to have a quick look around and get the 1.30pm ferry. This gave us enough time to head along the coast path west of the village towards the ruins of a Roman era port called Finix. Apart from some ruins of an indeterminate age alongside the path there wasn’t much to see. The ferry left at exactly 1.30pm and made good time back to Sfakia as we had the wind and waves behind us: almost surfing which I quite enjoyed. Back at Sfakia we went looking for a place to have lunch overlooking the old harbour and settled on a restaurant that had roll-down transparent plastic screens to shelter the diners from the strong onshore wind. With the waiter’s guidance Jane ordered grilled local fresh fish
The road to Sfakia
View down from the road. For most of the drive the road is in the mountains 400/500 feet above the sea. while I opted for the local salad. After 35 minutes and no sign of the meal I asked the waiter what was going on and he replied that I had told him that I wanted my salad to be served at the same time as the fish. This was true so to be clear I asked him why it had taken more than half an hour to grill a fish. “Just one more minute” he replied, and the fish and salad arrived 5 minutes later. The fish was overcooked and dry while my salad: tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, was very cold, almost frozen; probably because it had been kept in the refrigerator for half an hour while the fish was being prepared. A bigger disappointment was to follow when we received a bill of €54.80 of which the fish accounted for €42.50. When I queried the cost of the fish the waiter claimed that it had weighed 850 gms and that the price quoted to Jane when she ordered it was €50 per kilo. As it was too late to check the weight of the fish I paid up – no gratuity (and a scathing review in TripAdvisor when we
got back). Well miffed by now with this part of Crete, disappointed with Loutro and ripped off in Sfakia, we headed back to Plakias and a good dinner and a couple of drinks at a restaurant very close to our hotel: at slightly more than half the cost of the Sfakia restaurant meal.
Monday 7
th May
The local weather forecast had predicted rain but we were nevertheless surprised to see that it was wet when we got up. I headed off to buy some croissants at the local patisserie but before I reached our car the loose change in my (brand new) shorts fell out as there was a hole in the pocket, and the coins disappeared under a parked car. Then our car wouldn’t start. So I returned to our apartment and knocked on the door but there wasn’t any answer so I went off to reception to ask to be let into our room – and slipped and nearly fell on some wet marble steps. Back at the apartment I telephoned the car rental company and was told to make sure that I had both the brake and clutch pedals depressed before turning on
the ignition. This worked (I didn’t realise that I had been doing that automatically up until then) so I headed off for the croissants: although I considered going back to bed for the rest of the day to avoid any further disasters.
The weather got even worse with heavy rain and low cloud. All this and we saw on the news that the Bank Holiday weather in UK was great. The weather gods had evidently got their weather planning back to front: May Bank Holidays in the UK are always wet, while Crete is always warm and dry in May.
The rain eased off by late morning so we decided to drive over to Damnoni for a walk and to see if our favourite restaurant was open. It was and they had a covered seating area that was dry. So we went for a pre-lunch walk past the completely empty nudist beach to the equally empty Ammoudi Beach, and back to the similarly empty Damnoni Beach. Despite the bad weather there were a few other customers in the restaurant and we enjoyed another excellent meal; with a couple of glasses of wine to ward off the damp.
Back at Plakias there was little to do except read but it did stop raining later on so we went for a walk along the seafront and into the town. Just as we arrived at the harbour it started raining heavily again so we dodged into a café for a coke and soda water. Fortunately the rain stopped after a few minutes and we were able to walk the 20 minutes back to our apartment without further mishap.
To make up for the disappointments of the day we headed up the mountain to Mirthios for dinner at the Plateia taverna which was excellent as always.
Just one more full day in Plakias tomorrow and hopefully the weather will be back to its seasonal normal: warm sunshine.May
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