Makrigialos 4

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Sunday, 28th December, 2008.

We drove down to the town just after twelve and popped into Gecko Bar to say hello. Whilst there we updated the blog.

We had arranged that we would watch the Liverpool versus Newcastle football match at Status. Jonnie supports Liverpool and Steve supports Newcastle. Liverpool sadly won 5 - 1.

It rained again during the afternoon, and we left the bar shortly after the game finished.

We popped into the supermarket on the way back, for a few bits and pieces. Pat then cooked the Bolognaise, made the other day, with some pasta and a Greek Salad.

Monday, 29th December, 2008.

Very windy overnight.

We took a walk into town just before twelve.

Pat wanted to see if we could get some of her Asthma medicine. It is available only on prescription in the UK, but we have bought it over the counter before in other countries.

There is a chemists just down the hill and Pat took the box to show them and the prescription. We managed the purchase with no problem.

Next was a visit to the travel agent to see if we could book the ferry. The lady advised that they still hadn't been set up to sell tickets for that particular Company, GA Ferries, yet. She suggested that we would find an agency in either Sitia or Ierapetra, that would be able too.

We decided that we would drive to Sitia straight away, and walked back to the villa to get the car.

The car hit the 6000 miles mark on the trip, as we started the journey.

The drive to Sitia is about thirty to forty minutes, and we parked near the town centre.

We wandered for only a short while in the Port area and found a Travel Agency, and it was able to sell us the tickets.

It didn't take credit cards so we quickly went to a nearby bank and got some cash. Straight back and we purchased the tickets, €119.40.

Our next ferry crossing will be on Wednesday, 7th January, 2009, from Iraklion to Santorini, depart 1110 hrs arriving 1550 hrs. The Company is GA Ferries and the vessel is the Milena.

We decided to get something to eat whilst we were here and found a restaurant nearby called Zorba's. We had a Greek salad, A Kebab Zorba's special and a beefsteak, with drinks, €25.50.

We then took a short stroll around the town, some shops were closed, because it was afternoon. It was trying to rain a little so we decided to head back.

Straight back to Makrigialos with no stops took thirty minutes. We went straight to Status and had a quick look at our emails, chatted and played pool, .

It was nice to note that it was slightly later in the day when it got darker. According to the forecast, apparently we should be getting snow tomorrow! We left the bar around six o'clock.

We snacked for tea and had a quiet evening.

Even though the weather isn't too good, the temperature on the car still said 12°C.

Tuesday, 30th December, 2008.

Very windy again overnight, but a bright start to the day, certainly, nothing really looking like snow.

We took a drive out and headed off about twelve o'clock. We had looked at the map and were heading in the general direction of Zerokambos. This is situated on the South Eastern corner of Crete.

The traffic again was very light. We drove along in no particular hurry, taking in the scenery. The roads are in and out, and up and down. The temperature on the car was 17°C.

We followed the road signs and the map and had no difficulty finding the place. The road down to the coast was a new surface and very scenic looking down on the coast from quite a height. There was a bay with the beautiful blues and a good looking beach.

The level of buildings was quite low, and the olive groves went right down to the beach. We stopped directly on the beach, while taking a short walk around. The wind was blowing quite strongly, from the North.

We drove around and further along the beach, generally looking at everything. We then decided to head back and drove back away from the coast. We tried to take a slightly different route back, but after driving along a pretty poor mountain track, which was untarmaced and not appearing to be getting anywhere, we turned round and drove back the way we had come.

We arrived back in the Town at four thirty and popped into Status, played pool and chatted.

We went to the Butchers and the supermarket on the way back, for some bits and pieces.

Pat cooked some Pork Slices for our dinner.

Wednesday, 31st December, 2008.

14 Weeks travelling

New Year's Eve.

Again it was a very windy night. It still blew strongly through the morning, but it was bright and the sun was shining.

Pat cut my hair with the clippers and whilst sitting outside doing this we could still feel the sun warming us.

We popped to the shops in town by car, briefly, in the afternoon to pick up a few bits and pieces from the shops.

Then we went to Status at four, Pat helped Connie prepare some of the food for tonight.

We went home and Pat prepared a stew which we had for dinner and then went back to the bar about eight thirty.

The bar was pretty busy and the evening passed very quickly. Before we knew it we were at midnight and expressing our good wishes and Happy New Year to all and sundry.

The raffle then took place which took some time. Pat and I helped with the draw and giving out prizes.

We made a move about one thirty and went back to the villa.

Thursday, 1st January, 2009.

The sun was shining first thing.

We had a very, very lazy day, with both of us just reading for most of the day.

Pat warmed up the remainder of the stew which we had for our dinner.

We popped down to the town, about seven thirty, Status was closed, so we did some exploring, watched the sea for a while and then went back to the vila.

Friday, 2nd January, 2009.

Clear blue skies greeted us this morning.

We both sunbathed for most of the morning, on the top balcony. Pat was doing washing and some ironing, at the same time.

We decided to visit Ierapetra, in the afternoon, and left just before two o'clock.

We parked in the port area, where we had parked previously. The town was a lot quieter than our last visit, which was immediately before Christmas.

We wandered around for a while and had spotted a pizza restaurant that was open, Casa di Pasta. We had a Greek salad, meatballs, the Pizza special and the Pasta special. The sun was still shining, and it was a very pleasant lunch. With drinks the meal came to €30.50.

We left Ierapetra and headed back. The big supermarkets were both shut, so we just went straight to Makirigialos.

We stopped at Status and arrived about five o'clock.

Jacob's little dog, Ajax, had jumped out of the car as he was driving along at about 40 kph and managed to hurt his leg. Jacob says that Ajax learned to open the window himself, by standing on it.

We played pool and chatted for a while and left about seven o'clock.

One of my own personal milestones has notched up another year. I finished my last alcoholic drink, at 23.59 hours on the 1st January, 1991. So, it's now been 18 years since I had my last drink.

I am an Alcoholic and without being overly dramatic, I can say with a reasonable amount of certainty, that my life would probably have ended or been a shallow shadow of the existence, that I lead now, if I had continued drinking at the rate I was.

Each and every day that I now spend on the fast revolving planet, can be argued, is a bonus for me. There are a number of people, those who have an interest in my life, including me, are very glad, that I no longer drink.

Anyway, enough melodramatics, here we are now already heading along 2009. What will the year have in store for us?

Fate, destiny, call it what you will, will have it's own way with us, whatever plans or routes we decide to follow.

Our plans, broadly speaking, are that we will be gradually moving through the Greek Islands, and then on to Cyprus, for the summer of 2009. After that we don't know.

We currently have two reasons to be in Cyprus. Firstly my parents usually holiday in Cyprus, the first two weeks in June, and it would be wonderful to be there with them. Secondly, Pat's God-Daughter, is getting married in Paphos in late July, and we have said that we will be there.

Our immediate plans, are to move on to Santorini (Thira), then it all depends on were the ferries go, to where we go. We know for example, that there are ferries from Rhodes to Cyprus and we are therefore heading in that direction.

Saturday, 3rd January, 2009.

Hazy clouds, with occasional sun breaking through, with a slight breeze.

We decided that we ought to get some exercise. So, we went for a walk into town. We had seen the signs for a Minoan Villa, at the other end of the town, and this was our possible destination.

We left around one o'clock and strolled mainly along the beach. We came back up into the town and found the sign for the villa. We walked up the track and found the villa. Surrounded by a fence, with a locked gate, we weren't able to get too close. It was probably slightly bigger than we would have expected. It was basically rocks in piles, suggesting the layout of the villa.

We then walked to the beach situated on the other side of the headland that splits Makrigialos. This is also where the Asteria apartments owned by Steve and Jo, is sited.

We walked back along the beach and the headland, past the Roman Villa and ended up in Status.

We stopped for a while and chatted to various people. We decided to have a Chicken take away, so I popped back to get the car, as we didn't want to walk all the way home with the take away, as it would get cold.

I picked Pat up at the bar and went to Lucky Luke's. No Chickens were ready, so we had Souvlaki, instead.

We arrived back at the villa and ate the Souvlaki's.

Sunday, 4th January, 2009.

A cloudy, but bright start to the day.

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