Crete

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We berthed at the port of Iraklion and all 6 of us (plus driver makes 7) squeezed into a Skoda taxi with all our luggage contained in the giant sized luggage compartment. We hired a car from the recommended Motor Club rental operation, one of the larger privately owned operators with a fleet of 450 vehicles. I had a good chat with the GM about our business and his. Not surprisingly we hired a (new) Skoda for the week, with ample space for our needs.

We headed straight for Agio Nicholas (Father Christmas) which is about 65km South, South East on the coast, arriving at 10pm and, with some advice from the parking attendant, located a hotel for the night. On arrival we encountered the Cretian equivalent of Bazil Faulty, sitting on a chair outside his hotel and quite unimpressed with our needs at that hour. He spoke little to us but found his voice to tell the children to be silent. It did not improve our relationship when we discovered that our air con did not respond to the remote and I phoned him in reception. But for some reason his mood seemed to improve the next morning and he took a little shine to Maz managing something close to a smile and advising her in broken English on a destination for that night.

Agio Nicholas is quite a pretty town set around a lake-like inlet with many restaurants around the water and overlooking the water from cliff tops above the western end of the inlet. The shops are quite fashionable with many french style jewellers and expensive mens and womens fashions. We bought some fresh fruit which, peaches, pums, grapes and bananas, which were delicious. Obviously sun ripened.

After a late breakfast overlooking the tour boats we drove to Mohlos, a small village on the north east coast with real charm. Vangelis and I swam to the island about 500m off the beach. This small island was once joined to the mainland and was a major village in Minoan times (3,000-1900BC). We visited a stone cottage built by the Minoans and still standing. Then back in the car and on to Sitia, one of the larger towns at the eastern end of the island with yellow sandy beach. We stopped at Palekastro where we had our lunch at a taverna overlooking the town centre. After lunch we drove to the beach at Vai where Maz and I had a siesta on banana lounges under a brolly of thatched palm leaves, followed by a swim. 3E to park the car and 7E to park the bodies on the sun-lounges. We also visited Itanos, a few kilometres further along the coast where Vangelis was interested to see the ancient ruins.

With Caterina having some car sickness we stopped for the night at the village of Zakros, a neglected village (Maz writes "Shabby") and a "no star" hotel. Not a lot of tourists here at the Zakros Hilton. But, oh well, we were tired and it was only 60E for the two rooms. Personalised friendly service of the owners is probably their strong suit, although their advertising signs along the road into town give you little doubt that this is the place to stay. If we had been more adventurous their were simple but well placed rooms at the hotel on the foreshore, about 5 kms through the village adjacent to the historic palace ruins.

Crete seems to have more available water than the other islands we have visited and along the south coast there are vast numbers of hot houses to give protection to the fruit and vegetables grown near the sea.

We were directed to a local taverna a few hundred metres beyond our hotel and Maz, Michele and I enjoyed a very tasty Calzone pizza and lettle vegetable pies with a carafe of local Rose. Sunday morning we visited the local beach area and Vangelis inspected the ancient palace ruins.

We travelled on to Zerox over mountainous country and some badly unmade road for a few kilometres. Here we swam at another pretty beach and snorkelled amongst the abundant fish around the rocks. We has a superb lunch of barbequed fresh fish and some local vegetable dishes with a cold drinks all round.

About 4pm we reached Iearpetra where Vangelis insisted we catch up with his Uncle and cousin who spend their summers here. Uncle was sleeping but we did meet up with his cousin Franchesca and her daughter Angelique. We discovered that Franchesca's family and the K's are close friens and neighbours in Athens. We walked with them a short distance from the town square to the waterfront where we ordered drinks and fresh fruits and chatted for a while. Franchesca suggested we stay at a nearby seasidee village called Myrtos.

It was good advice and we felt attracted to this charming fishing / tourist village at first sight, with its narrow lanes and congested buildings set on the hillside down to the water front. We decided to stay here for a couple of days and soon found good accommodation like a suite with 2 adjoining rooms, a balcony, and separate kitchen, 50 metres from the waterfront along which is the scene for eateries and social life. The beach here looks over the Libian Sea, next stop Africa.

Monday morning I went to the internet café then met up with Maz and we had breakfast including an interesting dish of yoghurt and honey.

The promenade is filled with tavernas and we adopted the beach café for late afternoon drinks. Maz had a G&T which went to her head a little but soon recovered.

Tuesday (8/8) made our way along the narrow, winding road through small villages and over quite mountainous country. We stopped at Matala, with caves etched out of the sandstone cliff-face at the end of the beach, for a swim..surf. The caved were inhabited by resident of the area around 6000 BC. Very popular location with the Cretians on holiday and tourists in general.

Had lunch at a taverna in the hills overlooking Metala, Georgo’s. V. friendly and his mother, who did the cooking, took a shine to Maz who collected the kisses on both cheeks and a full embrace. They love Aussies and have relatives in Sydney.

Spilli was the highlight of the day, a pretty village high in the mountains, blessed with an abundance of spring water spilling from fountains in the town centre. After some fresh orange juice (wow was that good) we drove on though a spectacular gorge and down the winding road to Plakia by the sea. We found accommodation after a bit of a hunt with the K’s lucky enough to score a penthouse with huge balcony on the foreshore in the centre of town. Maz and I were quite happy with our (new) apartment about 150 metres away.

Plakias is a bit like Lorne (minus most of the retail shopping) with a small breakwater for the tourist ferries and fishing boats.

Wednesday
Maz Vangelis, Alexios and I set of for the tiny fishing village of Loutro which Vangelis and Michele visited 19 years ago and loved. Vangelis believes we will have to walk from the road about 30-40 minutes down a steep path to get to the village. The map shows a road of which Vangelis is sceptical. The trip is only about 50 kilometres but is, again, mountainous country and the road is full of steep, sharp bends with little or no protection offered along even the highest parts. Maz was quite nervous and I don’t blame her. Thinking about a possible error or mechanical failure is almost inevitable like standing on the balcony of a tall building and looking down.

We had a swim at a remote beach at FrangoKastello, then a light lunch of slow cooked Goat meat, spinach pies (delicious), local cheese, and fresh crusty bread at Anopolis, a small village high in the mountains overlooking the water near Loutro.
Alas, the waiter told us that the road is unsuitable for our vehicle and we decided it was too hot to walk to Loutro. But it was a very picturesque drive through the villages and around the hills back to Plakia where Michele had stayed in peace with Katarina who does not travel well in the hills.

Everyday seems to be 35-38 without a cloud and gentle breezes in the afternoon. But the sun is not so harsh as it is down under and we haven't had any problem with sunburn to date.

On Thursday we took a day excursion on the small vessel Posidonia which departed from Plakia at 10.30 and arrived at our beach destination about 40 minutes later. Priveli is an isolated place accessed only by boat or on foot, with cars limited to parking at the cliff tops and a few hundred metres walk down to the beach.

Maz and I retreated to the banana lounges under shady trees and read our books. The K’s hired a paddle boat and set off up the tidal river which winds its way up the gorge about 500 metres.

We arrived back at Plakia about 4.30pm and set about our afternoon chores.. siesta and internet duties - emails, blog update, and a little news. There is only one internet café in Plakia which advertises it breakfast menu and fresh juices (which are wonderful). But it doesn’t open until after 10 in the morning by which time offices in Melbourne are closing).

Vangelis had to leave on Friday to go back to work so our finale dinner was at Plakia and we chose a taverna at the western end of the town called Gia-mas. Our host provided a special bottle of his best Rose and we ate a variety of fresh seafoods, together with salad, fruits, and yoghurt with honey which Maz and I find yummy. Back at the penthouse we finished the night with a pretty special Greek “sticky” purchased at Santorini.

We departed Plakia Friday morning about 11am and drove north over the mountains to Rethimnon on the north central coast and on to Iraklia, a total of 110km, arriving at Iraklia just after 2pm. Iraklia is the capital of Crete and is a substantial city but not so attractive and carries a poor reputation for tourists. We spent time walking through the shopping malls and alleys which, we thought, were very impressive and right up to the minute with their fashions and décor. But generally a dirty, disorganised and hectic city.

Because we wanted to keep our options open for the final days of the trip we had not booked ferries or accommodation from Crete onwards. However, we were surprised to find that, when we enquired at the booking office at Iraklia, that there were no ferry tickets available to any of our preferred destinations for a week or more. Oops!

After hurried consultation we decided to go with Vangelis to Piraus, the only available destination. We boarded Crete II at around 8.30pm and it sailed at 9.30pm. It was a comfortable ship with many options to accommodate the needs of passengers including shopping, internet and fine dining in addition to cafeteria and snack bars. We watched a little TV and slept fitfully until arriving at Piraus at sunrise, about 5.30am. From there we said our goodbyes to Vangelis who headed off to Athens and was starting work at 8.00am.

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Photos

Historic Mohlos
Once a major population centre in Greece a small cottage still stands after 5,000 years.

Mohlos beach front setting
Maz and I would have been very happy to stop here for the week.

Beware the goats
Many wild goats are to be found along the roadside. When we stopped to say hello one came over to the car and jumped up to say hello through the passengers (open) window.

Mirtos on the central south coast

Plakias- view from the penthouse