Hotel Matheo Malia

... no supermarkets, no shops, nada! By this stage we were starving as well, so the kind man who ran the hotel took pity on us and loaned us his car to take into the "nearby" village.... which was pretty much deserted. Sigh. We bought a loaf of bread, a tomato, some cheese and some ham, which was to be our dinner, and then our breakfast and lunch for the next day.

We decided one night in solitude was more than enough for both of us so packed up our gear ...

... local sausages from Rethmyio rounded out our meal. After some false starts looking for the bus station, we had a hot slow bus trip out to Knossos, the vast Minoan palace excavated and somewhat Disnified by Arthur Evans in the 1900s. That palace dates from 1700-1400 BC and is a large structure of 1300 rooms. The palace is known for its frescoes, labyrinthian ways, Minoan columns, and frescoes. It also contains the earliest ...

... Greek story tellers - the Minoans were highly organized and technologically advanced some 4000 years ago, and well before the Greeks. The palace grounds were bought from the Turks in 1900, by a British archaeologist, Harold Evans, and he spent the next 35 years investigating and restoring (controversially) the ruins. Well done Evans and another yah boo sucks to Lord Elgin.

We went to one of the beach front bars near Leoniki Residence for cocktails. The view at ...

This campsite is in a wonderful little oasis directly on the beach, in fact surrounded by quiet unspoilt beaches. You can sit at the bar or restaurant and watch the world go by or just listen to the waves crashing on the rocks. When the sun goes down you can retire to the bar after a very tasy meal of moussaka or a wonderful mixed grill with very good prices !! and join the other campers or the locals and be adventurous and take the Raki's or Ouzo's ...

Somehow wherever I am on holiday I think about Mark. Perhaps it's because you notice couples holding hands on the beach or it's just part of the holiday romance ...

Vreti sa stiti cum e Grecia? E foarte frumoasa, va spun eu. Am fost in vara asta acolo. Mai precis in Creta, Herssonisos.

E si o tara foarte evlavioasa, in care biserica ortodoxa este foarte puternica. Eu am vizitat o duzina de biserici si putin a lipsit sa nu ma intorc sfant de acolo. M-am intors fara un leu dar sper… imbogatit spiritual.

Vorbesc serios… 3 euro magarul pana la intrare, 5 euro intrarea, 7 euro poza cu popa ...

Just finished reading Portraits by Cynthia Freeman. Makes me feel even more grateful for my family. I must be one of the luckiest girls around to have a family who love and support me.

... to get us eating at there place. But thankfully they didn't - with exception of one, but you have that evrywhere, don't you? "Hello come into my restaurant. We sell nice food.. fish.. meat.." and they quote the whole menu to you while all you want to do is run away. So in our case not the best way to get us to eat there. That's sounds like rather childish behaviour of us if I read that :/

I just swollowed salt water *Yuck!* The sea was lovely though - many waves!

... apartement. But at last -we didn't think we would ever get there!- we arrived there and sat down exhausted, dripping with sweat, at the pool dipping our feet in the lovely cool water. I almost, almost, jumped in it with all my clothes on and all! After a few minutes Eve decided to get busy and clean the pool and tried to get bugs and leaves out of it with a fsihing net. When back at our aprtment we ...

... the airport with our backpacks - boy it was hot! I keep trying to remember why I brought a woolly jumper with me. Saying that there is not a bus to the place we want to go to, the taxi drivers say they don't mind driving us there for €35. Me, being less firm than Eve, was thinking that perhaps we should take a taxi- just one time as we are just starting off- but ...