Crete -- Goats and Northern Europeans Take Over

G:  We got off the ship in the busiest port of Crete, Heraklion ("ir RAC leon"), then waved goodbye later that day as it sailed for Santorini (we know, but we'll get there another time!).   We bought a used guide to Crete before we left the US only to discover that some 40 pages, including those about the Heraklion province, had been excised!

















G:  After checking into a centrally-located hotel,  we started walking.  The first thing we noticed  about this small city is the imposing Venetian-built fortress at the harbor's edge.  Note the lion, symbol of Venice, in the wall of the castle.

G:   In the shadow of the Venetian fortress, a street guitarist was playing "Cuando, Cuando, Cuando."  And while Jon was an attentive audience, I was trying to engage this cute little dog, but he had a mind of his own.  If he were mine,  he would have been named Tuffy.


















J:  The Starbucks sign advertises the traditional Greek coffee drink normally made with instant Nescafe--hey, it was Sunday morning and not much was open and yes, it tasted just like home!  But they have much more interesting pastries in the case, like lemon tarts and macaroons.  As stores began to open, we found all sorts of pedestrian walking streets and souvenir shops, but not much else..

This city is the jumping off point for an excursion to nearby Knossos,  THE Minoan ruin.   We will try to get there before we leave Crete.












G:  FYI CRETE:  geographically,  running east/west, it  is closer to Libya than Athens,  260km long and 60km at its widest point.  It has only been a part of Greece since 1913.  Before that Minoans, Dorian Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines, Venetians, Turks and the Germans during WWII all conquered the island at one time or another.  Visually, it is a contrast of tan and red rocky mountains and barren hills mingled with valleys of olive trees that meet exquisite turquoise waters at bays and coves, some of  which have small villages--but many are uninhabited.  Beaches are narrow and some pebble and rock, others sand.  But is hard to take my eyes off of the color of the water...which colors in the Crayola box describes those blues and turquoises?

We have read that once Crete was heavily forested, but cutting trees, especially in the Venetian period, compounded by  goats' hunger for seedlings has turned the island into the barren  rock we see today.  And that produces erosion and dust, kicked up by the high winds from the north that blow in July and August.





G:   Catching a bus the next day from Heraklion (central north coast) to Agios Nikolaos, a small port town to the east, we arrived in the early afternoon  to our prerented 2 room apartment.  While we have a most exquisite view  of the bay and marina from our bedroom and living room balconies, the apartment itself is just 50 sq.meters, just too small to spend 2 months here (which is what we planned).  The apartment also has no comfortable reading chairs, but we do have a large bathroom and plenty of hot water.  And just below us is a long straight lane  filled with constant scooter,  motorcycle, car and bus noises at all hours.  Greeks love motorbikes, and not the little Vespa scooters -- big BMW bikes are everywhere.
So all in all, it is not a bad place, but we will be ready to move along after just two weeks.  Luckily, the landlordess didn't ask for any money up front and is very gracious about letting us out of our two month commitment.

J:   Here's the view from our apartment balcony at sunset.  A soccer field, so far unused, surrounded by a track, which is used, is also part of our view.  The water is actually the Bay of Mirabello and we look at mountains on the far eastern side of the bay.  It's a two minute walk to a smallish sand beach right in the town.  We prefer a 15 minute walk out of town to a long beautiful sand beach filled with umbrellas and recliners (6 Euros for two per day).

G:  The town (20,000) of Agios Nikolaos (St. Nickolas) itself is perched on a hill spilling down to the harbor.   Its one unusual attraction is a small bottomless lake which connects to the harbor by a canal.   Except for the cafes and promenade that surround part of the lake,  the city's buildings seemingly lack any kind of building code or plan.  About every other day a huge cruise ship docks downtown, dwarfing the town and filling it with shoppers and gawkers.  We have seen very few American tourists.  Most of the visitors are German and British.  After Greek, English is clearly the predominant language.

G:  A good bus system allows us to get out of town-- a short ride to the village port of Elounda, where we caught a boat for the 10 min. ride to the small island of Spinalonga, another Venetian fortress.  But more importantly, this island was the last leper colony in Europe, active until 1957.  Walking around the buildings of  tumbling stone and rotting wood, it is hard to imagine how bleak life must have been for the colony that was forced to live here.  This was a haunting tourist attraction.













J: In our minimalist kitchen (two burners, no oven or microwave), G's managed to put together some delightful meals.  This is truly "shop local" country.  The produce, cheese and wine is all Cretan.  We have had the most fragrant melons and sweetest table grapes.   One of the distinguishing features of Crete in comparison to the other Greek islands is that Crete is the only self-sufficient island.  Places like Santorini and Mykonos import everything.   Here is a picture of the bowl of ingredients for lentil soup.

J: Another day we took the bus into the mountains to Kritsa, a typical traditional village with one walking street lined with shops displaying embroidered linens, their specialty. At each door a widow in black, beckons us to come in with a "special price just for you." Again,  more tourist shops with poorly painted copies of pottery in garish colors.    We did enjoy the music by a Brit, who played flamenco guitar while we ate lunch.  Note the blackboard at the Art Cafe -- certainly not pitching the local market.




























G: Finally on a closing note, here's my new friend from Kritsa, Charley.  Do you know the artist who paints "The Blue Dog"?  Charley could be his model.

Cruising the Isles to Crete

J:  The task was to get from Athens to our apartment in Crete.   In keeping with what all do who come to Greece, we found a "local" cruise ship, the Aquamarine, and at the Athens harbor set sail for Mykonos and beyond.  The ship was well-traveled and not quite maintained like typical Caribbean mega-ships.  The passengers were probably 75% from Greece and other Balkan countries.  And the schedule was a flurry of starts and stops (recalling Chevy Chase's Vacation film, where the family races past the Grand Canyon?).  Here's the lifeboat drill with our new best traveling companion, Curious George -- courtesy of our grandson Liam in Eugene.
We left Athens at 11am, arrived in Mykonos at 4pm, left Mykonos at 9pm and arrived the next morning  at Kusadasi, Turkey.  Fours hours to visit Ephesus, then back to the ship and on to the Greek island of  Patmos (close to Turkey) in time for a visit to the cave where the Book of Revelations was conceived.  The next morning we were in Heraklion, Crete.
We discovered that the "right" way to take this cruise is to treat it like one of the off-and-on city bus tours.  Leave the ship for a couple of days at each port then catch the next one when it comes through.  But out goal was to get to our apartment on Crete, and we got to see more than we would have on a 50-minute flight.  The sunsets and blue waters were the highlight of our three nights on the Aquamarine.


G:  What?  The all-you-can-eat buffet was not a highlight?  We ate there at lunch the first day and then opted for the dining room for all other meals..  I didn't want to have to sharpen my elbows for the feeding frenzy at the buffet!  It's not just an American phenomena!



G: Mykonos is one of  the most picturesque of the islands -- all the buildings are whitewashed by decree.  And never mind that there are lots of blue doors and shuttered windows to add to the "look".


J: It could be a Las Vegas mall, quaint and tiny streets, filled with high-end shops.  Eat and shop -- that probably covers what to do in Mykonos.


G: Sunset was the perfect time to be there and we were enjoying the sunset in a piano bar when the power and lights went out for over an hour.  So by candlelight, we had a delightful time with our new friends from England and Miami.





Mykonos  is known for its windmills and its party atmosphere but this night was serene and beautiful!















J:  Time to run to Kudasdasi, Turkey.  We boarded a bus outside the terminal which drove us 1/2 hour north and inland to the ruins of  Ephesus.  The first stop was a shrine to Mary,  the mother of  Jesus.  Tradition says that she was taken from the Holy Lands by the Apostle John (author of the gospel and Revelations -- more on John when we get to Patmos) and with a number of the apostles and Paul settled in Ephesus.  A German nun in the 19th century (who had never traveled) described in detail, Mary's home outside Ephesus.  Surprise, when they went to the location they found a foundation of a first century house -- which is now recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as where Mary lived and died.  This picture is of  the remnants of a library built at Ephesus by the Emperor Hadrian.


G:  Although now this area is several miles from the Mediterranean, it was once a port.   Silt from the River Meander eventually left Ephesus high and dry...

J:  One of the most famous sites in Ephesus is the theater.  The Book of Acts says that Paul preached here.  It is meaningful for me, because my father and mother visited Ephesus in the 70's.  Dad carried a New Testament, and he read to his tour group from the Book of Acts at this theater.  For a while they held mega-concerts here, ie Elton John.  Note the new seating in the upper corner.  The crowds caused too much destruction to the original seating and so no more concerts.






J:  Finally, at Ephesus there was homage paid to the Beaverton, Oregon, multi-national shoe company.  This proves Nike is everywhere.


G:  And let's not forget she is the Goddess of Victory.  I was surprised to learn that 200,000 people lived here at one time and that so little of the city has been excavated.  Work is being done now, but there is so much here to be saved that has been covered over in time with feet of dirt and vegetation.  There is really little that is off limits to the public, so people crawl on the ruins when posing for pictures...this is an amazing place!

J:  Next stop, Patmos.  Very small island with 2,500 residents,  primarily recognized as the place where Apostle John, resident of Ephesus, was exiled and imprisoned.  He lived in a cave and took the imposed vacation time to write the Book of Revelations.  The cave is now a Greek Orthodox Church, and we joined the lines of tourists to walk down the stairs to visit the cave.

J:  We would have loved to have spent the night and seen the dance festival in Patmos.  But our tight schedule demanded that everyone be back on the ship and off to Crete.  The next morning, Heraklion.

Athens: The Beginning

J:  Any trip to Greece begins at the Acropolis.  Lines to buy a $15 ticket.  Lines to give the gate keeper the ticket (they nixed the $6 juice slushee cup, but you can enter with bottled water).  We started by taking the trail that circles the mountain, past piles of marble and theaters still used for summer concerts.  I was surprised at the number of caves, once temples to this god and that.  Finally after about an hour, we made the climb up the stairs to the hill-top with the remnants of Athen's Glory.  I was struck by the destruction: Christians, Turks, Brits all share the blame.  It made me recall the Buddha statues in Afghanistan that were destroyed a few years ago by the Taliban.  Such ignorance and stupidity in the name of religion.

J: Arriving in Athens the day before was one of those forgettable travel incidences.  Traffic was heavy.  We asked to be left at a specific subway station (where our British landlord was to meet us).  I guess that taxi driver got impatient at the delays, and dropped us off one station before the one we sought, about a mile from our goal.  It took a while to figure out that we were not where we wanted to be.  I left G with the luggage to walk down the street looking for information. Since we hadn't taken Greek 101, all signs looked like parts of sororities and fraternities...Delta was the easy letter! When they say "It's all Greek to me," they mean it!


G:  While he was gone, I smiled at any approaching man who I thought might be British.  Had some interesting reactions and was chuckling to myself by the time Jon returned...


J:    Then we simply lugged the bags down the stairs, took the metro to the next station and met Judith, the landlord's babysitter who was waiting for us with Sofia in a stroller (another of her charges).  My guitar was the give away when the escalator brought us up to street level.....

G:  We walked 5 blocks or so to our little apartment for the next three nights--in a neighborhood just a few Metro stops from the center of the city where all the action is.  Our home was comfortable yet sparse.  As some of the places we have rented online before, photos have a way of romanticizing the truth.  The apartment was in the basement with two windows (with metal louvered shutters at street level).

In a way, I was miffed that the British owner didn't meet us, although he actually never said he would...He is a cellist  with a chamber symphony and together with his father, have written a book (it was on the shelf in the apartment) about their life on the island of Naxos, where his father, a former BBC correspondent,  decided to retire and build a home.  Christopher, the son and our landlord, spends summers on Naxos (which I read in the book) which is why, I gathered, he was a no-show.

During the nights, we heard scooters & cycles park or  start up in front of the windows and lots of conversation....thank goodness it was Greek--we didn't want to know!   They seemed virtually in the apartment with us!  But we had  steady hot water, good pressure in the shower, a fridge and coffee maker and a microwave with two burners  attached to the top a first)....More pluses than minuses in other words!  And much less than a hotel!

We had a reasonably good time in Athens during the days, although we never went out at night, preferring to have a large late afternoon meal to tide us over until breakfast.  The local cafes serve something called a "FRAPPE" in the summer-- instant NESCAFE blended with milk and ice---where this came from I'd like to know!  But everyone drinks them through  straws all day long--we saw taxi drivers and delivery men with them in their trucks--and  old men and young people too--all drinking this concoction--one was enough for me!!!!!  Better are FREDDOS, cold espresso on ice with milk.

On a positive note, two museums were outstanding:  Acropolis (modern and new) & Benaki (private).  Both were a treasure trove of beautiful large and small items...  The obvious contrast came upon leaving the museums when we came face to face with modern day Athens...no pride in upkeep of properties, cars, or people and  lots of litter.  

 I keep thinking I  will have the dream in which I haven't studied for the Art History test....and won't  know the Minoan pottery from the Ionic!  Or the Doric columns vs. Corinthian! The dream hasn't happened yet, but it is coming!

G:  This quick lunch we shared consisted of a cafeteria tray covered with paper and the food served on top: "sticks" (their term) of grilled chicken and pork, sweet red onions, RIPE tomatoes, pita bread plus a Greek salad with toasted bread on the bottom, then feta, cherry tomatoes,  cukes, onions and olives  covered with olive oil.  By the time the oil made its way to soggify (my term) the toast, it created one of the best Greek salads we've ever had! We were sure there will be many more salads  to come! Fast food was never so good!