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Published: August 30th 2017
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After a much needed wash and a rest we felt well enough to take up Niall's suggestion that we drive down to the nearby larger village of Kalyves which is on the coast, and have dinner there. We went to a very good seafood restaurant right on the seafront. It had been windy and the waves were sending spray up against the plastic sheets on the seaward side of the room. In Crete the portions are huge, and our appetiser of fried courgette was delicious but immense. Niall and I then had grilled cuttlefish, but even Niall, who is a valiant trencherman, could not finish his. Fortunately it is quite acceptable to ask for "Paketo" which is "doggybag". We were fading seriously by then so drove back and crashed into bed.
We began the next day very quietly by admiring the deep blue sea, the pale hills and the bright flowers from the balcony. The evil respiratory infection had developed into a sort of flu with a cough, but by the late afternoon we felt sufficiently restored to walk from our village of Tsivaras down to another village called Armenoi. Niall has checked out many of the off road tracks
on his runs, and there is a whole network of them going through olive groves and Mediterranean style bush. We were walking down a gentle slope when we heard the sound of sheep bells, and coming round a corner we saw the shepherd sitting beside the track, watching his sheep which were grazing under the olives. He seemed pleased to have someone to talk to. The sheep are quite large with long legs and necks, short hairy coats and intelligent looking faces. We carried on to an underpass under the Ethniki which is a highway along the north coast of Crete, like our roads of national significance. We walked down some steep narrow roads into the village keeping a sharp look out for cars. They drive on the right, but actually prefer to drive in the middle of the road especially if there are no lane markings. We stopped at a very traditional looking taverna for a drink. The clientele was mostly elderly men, some of whom were playing backgammon with great enthusiasm, others reading the newspaper, this is very typical. The architecture of the old buildings is strongly influenced by venetian architecture, with wrought iron balconies and pastel coloured
plaster finish. While we were sitting quietly a small tractor drove through the village right past us as fast as it could, Crete is still a very agricultural country and has wonderful fruit and vegetables. The people are on the while very friendly and even a few words of Greek go a long way, and of course Niall could chat with anybody. His Greek has improved a lot in the three years since we were here. He speaks several other languages as well.
We then strolled down to a serious eating establishment where we had specials of the day and a "small" side salad which was a huge bowl, heaped high enough to feed half a dozen people. It makes our NZ salad plates look incredibly mingy. Unfortunately a side effect of the flu is loss of appetite so Paketo was once again called for. Niall had worked out that walking to a destination and getting a taxi home was much better than hiring a car so we ordered a taxi and waited opposite a fine big church. The taxis are very well maintained Mercedes!
The next day was equally bright and sunny so we walked down to
Kalyves Beach for a swim, rather on the principle of kill or cure, and besides it would have been a shame to stay near the sea in Crete and not go swimming. The water was surprisingly cold but nice once one got in. The ambience was very laid back although it is the high season, a mixture of locals and tourists mostly of mature years and rather large, no one seemed to bother about wearing fancy beachwear. The local bar provides free sun loungers on the beach so of course most people by a drink or some fruit juice and everyone is happy. We lay in the sun for a while and got a taxi home. After all these exertions Dave and Tamara opted to stay in and have an early night and Niall went out for dinner to meet some member's of his partner's family who were also visiting. We had heard a lot about Helen and wondered when or if we would meet her.
It turned out that they would meet us for breakfast at the village of Almyrida. This is another of Niall's running routes, heading in the opposite direction from our previous excursions. The weather
was grey and cool with a possibility of a thunderstorm later, excellent for walking so we were out before 8:30 going up the steep street through the old part of Tsivaras. we looked at the church which is very well kept up but there were a lot of rather derelict looking buildings, one of which looked like an old olive press. Tamara coveted the millstone leaning against the back wall. Another is used once a year as a raki still. We walked up down and around for several ks along a track which had been badly damaged in the last heavy rains, but which was in the process of being repaired. It was quite passable on foot. We reached Almyrida by about 9 o'clock but it was still half asleep as it has a lively night life. The taverna where we were to meet was sort of open, so we had things to drink while we waited for others who were quite late. But we did get to meet Helen, who was very nice and her sister Diane and Diane's son who were visiting from Auckland. The son is quite a serious cricketer. Diane has been closely involved with a
community fruit picking charity in Auckland where they collect spare fruit from people's gardens and take it to foodbanks. We also had breakfast, Tamara chose the smallest item, a toasted sandwich which was actually quite nice and the coffee was really good. She was feeling a lot better at this stage. We then walked along to the end of the little beach up to a small shrine and then onto the top of the little hill from where we had a fine view out to sea and saw. the ferry for Greece coming out of Souda Bay.
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Elaine pacey
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Get better soon Tamara
So sorry to hear that you have not been your usual robust self Tamara at the start of your adventures. Looks like a beautiful part of the world and so far you and Dave have managed to do lots as well as sample the food delights. Here's to you feeling a great deal better and enjoy your time there before heading of on the next part of your trip.