Hotel Agapi Platanias

... timorous drive east from the airport on Saturday, hugging the side of the road and shuddering every time a truck overtook at speed in no passing areas. We met a couple from New Zealand (he was born in Invercargill) who were also in Crete for a week and they both remarked on the terrifying driving habits of the Cretans.

Dinner that night was more leisurely than usual – grapes, local bread, fetta and emmental cheeses, tomatoes ...

... are lots of shops calling themselves supermarkets, but they are really souvenir shops. The supermarket was part of a chain called Lidl with all the usual things, but mostly in large volumes. We stocked up on breakfast supplies, water coffee and milk (our less than perfect Greek made understanding this carton difficult but the picture of a cow was a fair indication, and when we got it out later it had "Semi-Skimmed Milk" written on the ...

... I have been most excited about.

The Samaria Gorge is the longest natural gorge in Europe (9 miles, I think?) before ending at the ocean on the southern coast of Crete. It felt like longer than that, but perhaps that was because of the rocky terrain, which kept our eyes firmly on the ground as we descended from the top of the mountain to the level part of the gorge. The hike was absolutely gorgeous--gorges (we're hilarious...). Taking the 7:30am bus was ...

... stores with an underwhelming waterfront. We were glad in a way that we had gone though, if only to affirm that Chania was the best city to stay in. We got back to Chania for another late dinner -people eat so freaking late in Europe...I even saw a woman in sequinned booty shorts pushing a baby carriage around 11pm. Anyway, we went to bed early, but still dead tired, to get up for the 7:30am bus to Samaria Gorge.

August 18

The ferry ride to Crete was 8 hours, almost as long as my flight from the US to Athens. My still terrible jetlag caused me to attempt to sleep in the corner of a hallway for half the trip, and upn arrival, I went to sleep almost immediately. Although I'm a bit cross that that means one day of my already short stay has been frittered away, I can already tell that Chania is worth it. I woke up far too early and went to ...

Eventually left Rhodes at 5am, and luckily found a nice spot on the top floor, to lay our sleeping bags and get a fine uninterrupted sleep.

Slow slow journey, stopping at Karpathos, Kassos and in Crete at Sitia, before landing at Heraklion just after 6pm. A swift walk to the bus station, we caught a ...

... yet, so we had to take a taxi (60 Euro) to the top. We spent a lovely seven hours hiking to the bottom of the gorge and to the busy beach village of Aghia Roumeli. Bus loads of hikers arrived at 8:30 AM, so we decided to let the macho guys, European speed hikers with sticks, young hot shots, and pesky people go ahead of us. Most of the time, we hiked alone, listening to the birds, smelling the pines, and enjoying the gurgling stream. In the summer, they have about 2000 ...

... The first was Agio Triadha, that was built around 1700 BC. Clay seals and rare tablets with Minoan Linear A script were discovered here, along with a magnificent painted sarcophagus that are now in the museum in Iraklion. The present monastery dates to 1884 and the monks are well-known for their organic olive oil and wine. The second monastery, Gouverneto, was just a ruin. It was quite a walk down the ...

... are sitting on a terrace sipping fresh orange juice, enjoying baklava and listening to Grecian radio. Nex t week we will try to take a ferr to Italy so whish us good luck! I hope you are well and not becoming too jealous *g*

~*~

SMS from mum

- Liesel are you wlaking through the (Samarian) Gorge now? At the end you can take a boat. Love mama

A mix of chocolate, cherry and banana as I taste my icecream. We arrived at Kissamos today and we treated ourselves on a well deserved treat. We are sitting on the main square shaded from the sun by big palm leaved parasols while the crickets make as much noise as possible so we don't forget them either. Now and then a car passes or a woman walking her dog. It's ...