Makrigialos 2

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Sunday, 14th December, 2008.

Another slow start to the day. We phoned my Mum and Dad and Pat's Mum, the weather at home is gloomy. Nothing else particularly to report.

We had our usual snack lunch.

We went for a walk at two and headed for the Harbour area we hadn't got to last week.

We took a look at the new housing development built just a little way along. A lot of the houses seem finished on the outside, they have individual - small - swimming pools and BBQ's built in.

The weather was pleasant and I was wearing T-Shirt and shorts. The harbour area leads round to a headland overlooking the next beach and the remains of a Roman villa on the top of the headland. We walked back through the town and did a diversion around the back of the complex.

We ended up walking a short way back down the road from Pefki and decided that, it would be nice to give it a visit. So we hopped in the car and drove inland towards Pefki, which is described as a typical Cretan village. It is set into the mountainside and has a certain charm. Not a place I would actually want to spend any time, living wise.

The road then heads on to Agios Stefano, which is a similar type of village.

The scenery is stunning and you get some great views down to Makrigialos and the surrounding bays.

We then came back down and joined the road back at Lucky Luke's and drove home.

Another quiet evening, Pat prepared pasta bolognaise from the mince we bought the other day for dinner.

Monday, 15th December, 2008.

Another beautiful day.

Pat had a day of cleaning the villa and changing sheets. I spent most of the day sunbathing and reading.

We had another snack lunch.

Around four o'clock we went for a walk down to Status, played some pool and had a few beers.

We got back around seven thirty. I warmed up a sauce and cooked some pasta for our dinner. Followed by fruit.

If you hadn't already noticed, we do seem to have slowed our lives down quite considerably, compared to the recent hectic pace of life we had been leading. This has primarily been due to the four weeks we have booked at our current location, giving us the opportunity to slow down. There are a few things that we want to see on the Island of Crete, but so far, we haven't felt like doing any of these in any particular hurry.

We always knew that the Christmas and New Year time wasn't an ideal time to be travelling around, sightseeing and looking for accommodation on any kind of daily basis. The truth is that the adventure has changed pattern now anyway, simply due to geographical issues.

We are no longer on mainland Europe, able to move from one town and or site of interest to another just up the road. Greece is largely a nation of Islands. Our current journey is twofold, first is to see as much as we practically can of this country. Second, is to keep our eyes open for prospective future sites for us to live.

We still have an overall agenda to be in Cyprus in July of next year.

Tuesday, 15th December, 2008.

Another slow start to the day.

We had seen a Travel Agency in the town and went along in the morning. A very helpful young lady was able to give us some information about ferries between Crete and Santorini.

They are not that often, about twice a week at this time of year, but as long as there is one, is what is important to us.

She was not able to make any bookings yet, because her agency does not currently have dealings with that particular ferry company. But she did say they hope to have it in place over the next couple of weeks, so to pop back.

So we now have a better idea of what next, even if not the details.

We took a slow amble back along the beach. The weather again was wonderful and I walked along in just my shorts.

We returned and had a snack lunch, outside on the balcony. After lunch we both moved round to the front of the villa and sat reading and sunbathing.

Late in the afternoon we drove to Status and had a couple of beers and a few games of pool.

We returned home and had dinner, some of the turkey pieces and some potatoes.

Wednesday, 17th December, 2008.

Twelve weeks today.

We planned to visit Knossos Palace today. It is situated North of Iraklion and is a good two hours drive from Makrigialos.

Pat woke and started to move at her usual time and I followed. We left the Villa at 0836 hours.

The weather was overcast and still warm. It did rain a little at Iraklion and the wind was stronger on the North side of the Island.

The drive was uneventful, the traffic was extremely light. We couldn't find the signs off the motorway, for Knossos Palace, although we had seen brown signs, they weren't in place to show which exit. We took a slip road off and headed south, then orientated by map, when the villages came along, to Knossos.

We arrived at the site and had a quick coffee in a cafe across the road.

Knossos Palace has a vast amount of history pinned onto it. The site is fascinating and I am glad that we made the effort to drive here. Having said that, I feel that the site has an element of over-hyping about it. I wouldn't say I was disappointed or underwhelmed, both those words are too strong for how I feel, but a lot more is made of it,than it possibly merits. The site was dug by an Englishman, by the name of Arthur Evans and his views on the place dominate, with a lot of reconstruction work.

As an aside, Pat says that she wasn't impressed with the ladies toilets, and wonders how they would cope in the height of the summer season.

The olives are being harvested on the Island and lots of work is going on in the groves. There are vehicles being driven around full of the picked olives in hessian sacks.

You can tell the where the olive presses are, because the sacks are stacked up outside. Pat came up with a new description for the presses - “olive oilery”.

As the visit to Knossos didn't take too long, we decided to came back a different way, and took a southerly secondary route through the Island, for some sightseeing. We stopped for petrol and paid €0,91 per litre.

We were navigating by map and stopping occasionally at junctions to get our bearings. At one junction we were pulled over and a car stopped alongside us and wound down it's windows. The driver asked were we were going and Pat said Ierapetra He said to follow him. So we followed him for several kilometers through villages. He stopped and got out of his car, showed us where we were were on the map and where we needed to go. Another example of the Greek hospitality.

As we drove through the Island at one stage we had gone high up into mountains, and the cloud level was below us, I always find it strange when that happens and somewhat unnatural. It probably has something to do with living most of my life in the flat countryside of East Anglia.

I missed mentioning when we hit the 5000 mile mark recently, and we have now hit the 5500 mile mark, since the journey started.

We stopped at the supermarket at Ierapetra on the way back, to pick up supplies.

We were back in Makrigialos at five and as we didn't fancy cooking when we got back, we stopped at Lucky Luke's and bought a cooked whole chicken and chips for our dinner.

The chicken was wonderful and followed by Baclava, we had bought at the supermarket.

A quiet evening.

Thursday, 18th December, 2008.

Another slow to the day. The weather we had heard was not due to be so good, but although overcast and grey, isn't bad.

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Photos

Makrigialos
Pat on the walk towards Pefki

Gournia
The view outside the archeaological site

Gournia
Pat at the ruins

Knossos Palace
Pat with some small vase's