Blogs from Crete, Greece, Europe - page 29

Elikkäs nyt on sitten melkein 6 päivää takana täällä Kreetalla. Matka tänne oli aika uuvuttava, koska piti vaihtaa Prahassa ja Ateenassa konetta ja hengailla molemmilla lentokentillä 4h. Yhteensä matka kesti 14h ja perillä olin 6.20 sunnuntaiaamuna. Olin jotenki olettanu, että mua oltais oltu vastassa lentokentällä (sopimuksessakin lukee että ne järkkää kuljetuksen ”from the capital of home country to the hotel area”), mutta eipäs ollut. Puhelinnumerot jotka mulle oli annettu, oli väärään hotelliin tai sitten niistä ei vastattu ja taksikuskit ei näyttäny tietävän missä mun hotelli on. Ne taksisedät oli kuitenkin tosi ystävällisiä ja esimerkiks soitti mun puolesta niihin numeroihin. Lopulta löyty kuski joka ties missä mun hotelli on. Se oli kyl ihan hullu kaahari, ajo 40-alueella 80km/h! Kun pääsin hotellille klo 8 aamulla, mut opastettiin aulan sohvalle istumaan ja odottamaan hotellin... read more

Wednesday 6th May In search of Uncle Dan The principal reason for coming to Crete was to search for some history of where my late Uncle Dan fought with the 18th Infantry,NZ Expeditionary Force in the disastarous Battle of Crete in May 1941. My mother always spoke fondly of her brother Dan,who had a mop of auburn/ginger hair just like I used to have, and it was for her more than anything that we have made this pilgramige to Crete as it was one place she would have liked to visit had she been able. Uncle Dan joined the army shortly after he was married in September 1940 as WW2 moved into a more involved state.Within 2 months he was on board a ship bound for more intensive training in war in Egypt.I don’t think he ... read more

Well, got to live somewhere later in life - London is so expensive, it's impossible...However, decided that Crete wasn't for me - unless I wanted to spend my life rebuilding - starting with a roof! And Kate and I had a great holiday, our balcony overlooked the sea and it was great to be back in this part of the world. But house-hunting for later in life is just going to have to wait a bit longer... We loved whizzing around having a look everywhere though - Krista was the village I thought looked most likely for me, but not to be. We grabbed a boat out to Spinalonga - the 'Leper Island', now abandoned - a very still place, surrounded by vivid turquoise sea and lots of remnants of the old Turkish architecture, overlaid with ... read more

Hi folks - afraid this will be the last message as the adventure is almost over. I really have had a whale of a time. Left Palermo last night, possibly my favourite place. Full of classical architecture decorated with statues, like Rome without the ampitheatre, but with the same drivers....you have to witness Italian drivers to believe it. No Mafia apparent but Judy (the lady I mentioned meeting, born in Italy) tells me they're there all right below the surface. They really to appear in Trilbys and shut the street down to deal with business! Judy is a romany gypsy employed as a tarot reader and to chat to passengers ( the real thing, she's used by the police to solve crimes). Perhaps she saw me coming? She lives on the Isle of Wight and loves ... read more

Friday, 9th January, 2009, continued We relaxed for a while, and changed to go out for a walk and some dinner. There was a Chinese restaurant just round the corner, so this was our choice for tonight. We had meal for two, changed a couple of items, and had the following, a chicken noodle and chicken sweetcorn soup, spring rolls, sweet and sour pork balls, chicken in mushroom sauce, szeuchan beef and fried rice. With drinks €41.40. Pat likes the coffee place, Livingroom, so we had a coffee, and did some people watching for a while, then popped to the supermarket and back to the hotel. I forgot to mention a couple of the places we visited in Chania earlier today, one was a Greek Orthodox church in the town centre. We had a quick look ... read more