Hotel Silver Beach Perivolia Crete

... lashings of olive oil (hand pressed by an old lady in Argyroupoli).

On the Beach

On Wednesday we decided to visit the ancient sites of Phaestos and Gortys south east of Rethymno, with a brief stop at Matala to check out the beach. Matala is on the south coast of Crete and not as popular with the mass tourist markets, although it was popular with hippies in the 60s - Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens holidayed there. It proved ...

... 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 ...

... donkeys wait to take any unlucky hiker who couldn't finish and had to be taken back.

At the end of the hike, we only had to walk 2 km more to get to the Libyan Sea, the perfect place to jump in after a long, sweaty hike. This end of the island was super remote and we ended up in one of the tiniest villages I've ever seen. There wasn't an ATM either, so luckily Brenden had cash, otherwise we would've missed the last boat to the last bus in Chania.

We ended up taking a bus to a town called Rethmynos to see this big old fortress with a mosque and a church within it, overlooking the water. It was interesting enough, but then we headed to the main part of town, which our "trusty" Lonely Planet had referred to as the second most charming city in Crete. I can only come to the conclusion that Crete is full of some **** cities. It was a weird ghost town full of ...

... i want some new greek sandals!!! I am taking the over ngiht ferry to Athens on thursday arrivi9ng at 6 AM aghhhh I am going to ehad over to the hostel right away and leave my bag there I am so excited to walk down the streets I walked for 5 weeks and to smell the smells and to eat the food and to see if I recognize anyone!

I am getting so ridiculously excited to come home!!!! YAYYYY!!! I am ready now ...

... have a conversation with me at whatever time in the morning while I am hung as **** trying to brush my teeth in order to just go back to bed. so ok I will indulge him but then he gets a little creepy- "are you here alone?" I of course answer yeah! then think oh **** uhhh kind of alone?? I came by myself but am meeting up with friends from last year all the while brushing my teeth spitting as I speak the poor mirror has a fresh snow white look to it and he walks away ...

... is back together! And how GREAT it is like no time has elapsed! HAVE been meeting some great "new people" and loving it! Dave called em the other night (the love of my life plutonic brother/housemate from ireland) I just happened (weirdly actually as I never have it on me) my cell! it started ringing during dinner look down DAVE!!! Jump out of my seat storm triumphantly out of the restaraunt and say whats up dick! (yes my name is usually dick but when I can I call ...

... 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

... sitting here :o) It took quite a feet to get here though. I Malame we had to wait at leats an hour for our bus. Every busdriver that passed in a bus said "the next bus!" We wondered if we ust imagined reading about the bus to Kastelli. We wlaked to the next bus station when - finally- a helpful man from the bus told us it wouldn't be here for another 20 minutes.

... place and providing a lot of potential for future growth. Deciding to make the most of it I set off to explore further and soon enough found a great little Naval Museum on the western foreshore. The ground floor provides a fascinating overview of ancient naval history throughout the Mediterranean; dozens of intricate scale models of vessels from ...