East to Heraklion
Trip Start
Apr 30, 2008
1
24
31
Trip End
May 31, 2008
Heraklion,
Crete,
Greece
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The greatest recent achievement of my life was the mastering of the air conditioner remote last night. After some dedicated experimentation, cool air was flowing into my room. I shut the double-pane windows and between that and the hum of the fan, I slept from 11 to 7. No Greek and Albania street chorus could wrestle me from the arms of Morpheus.
I take a shower -- with the shampoo and soap I bought, sparing the dish detergent -- and hurry downstairs to try to sneak out before breakfast. I hear the girl stirring in the kitchen, but duck through the door into the shop, where my bag hooks on a tall rack of jewelry and almost lands on the floor. I ease it back into place and step out into the street.
It's roughly 20 euros for a return ticket to Iraklion - a bargain for a 5-hour Sunday spin. The main road punches east along the north shore of the island, The White Mountains are grey against the blue skies to my right and the beaches to my left alternate between sweeps of white sand and lava moonscape. The landscape shows off its violent origins like a prizefighter. Muscular, arid hills covered with scrub pine and the suede of dry grass. The peaks of the mountains still hold patches of dusty snow. Pink and yellow flowers crowd the side of the road. We pass the NATO base just out of town and continue east, passing through Rethymnon an hour later and arriving at Iraklion around 11.30.
It's a short walk from the bust station to the Venetian center. I have a late breakfast of meatballs and yogurt with a mug of Mythos under leafy shade in a cafe in the square beside the Byzantine church of Ayios Titos and plan my next move.
