Monday, June 21, 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy, 21 degrees NL, clear evening, 27 degrees GR
This morning we got up at 10:00. I shower first, then René. Meanwhile, I make coffee and breakfast downstairs and clean out the refrigerator. Anything that can spoil during our vacation can go. After breakfast we put the last things in the suitcase. They are really a bit too heavy, so a pair of shoes belonging to René must unfortunately be left behind. The culprit is actually the toiletry bag, which contains the shampoo, shower gel, sunscreen and the like. I’ll be glad when in two years that kind of stuff is allowed in the hand luggage again. It will save a kilo or two. We clean up the rest of the house and put a piece of paper on the bar for the caretakers, with the last instructions on it. Then everything in the car and ready for departure. We wanted to leave around 12:00 and are right on schedule. We drive via Baarlo to Zwartsluis and from there through the polder to Schiphol. On the way we stop at Haje de Aalscholver, for a bite to eat. René has a bacon and I have two croquettes on brown bread. That way we can leave in peace. There is not much to get on the plane and what they often have is expensive. After dinner we get in the car and drive on. At 2:10 pm we arrive at P3. This year we didn’t ask anyone to take us away. Given the day and times of departure and arrival, we didn’t want to do that to anyone. We therefore put the car in Long Parking ourselves. This way we can go wherever we want. It will be spot 311. We only have to wait a moment or the bus for the departure hall is there. And unlike the previous times, we are now the only ones on the bus. We are dropped off exactly at our departure hall because we are the only ones. And that’s at departure hall 3, since we have already checked in online, all we have to do is drop off the luggage. The scales indicate 40.3 kilograms for two suitcases. So that wasn’t so bad after all. Boarding is at C12 at 4:05 pm. So we have another hour and a half. René discovered last time that you can just smoke behind customs in some places, so we go straight through customs. Everything off again, in terms of jewelry and belts and I also my shoes. And we were both allowed to walk right through. Even René, who is normally always searched. Everything went exactly according to schedule and at 16:05 we were allowed to board the plane. First we wait for the majority of the group. We are on the first row and otherwise everyone has to walk past us. The flight leaves exactly on time and therefore we land at Heraklion at 21:10 (Greek time). The suitcases arrive smoothly and we quickly check out at the hostess. We take a cab this year. We haven’t rented a car yet. Because we want a quiet vacation and because we can always rent something in Malia itself. There are only two of us now. The cab driver brings us quickly and safely to the apartment. He knew exactly where Cretan Family was, he even knew Aristo. And so at 10 p.m. we are already on the doorstep. We meet Lazarus, the guy at the apartment (the new Marieke). He tells us that we have the same room as last time, 301. Nice upstairs on the corner. A nice place. We quickly bring the suitcases upstairs and then walk straight to the restaurant. That way we are still in time for a bite to eat. Yorgos greets us with a big hug, as do Vassili, Eddy and, of course, Aristo. We walk on to the old boss and there too I get a few big kisses on my cheeks and a hug. The same team is still in the kitchen and we greet them too. And not long after, we are sitting down to wine and beer with a salad for two between us. We meet Angelique and Rob. They know us from our website with photos and travel reports. But we don’t know them, yet. By the way, there are more acquaintances in the restaurant and thus also in the apartment. Like the parents of Marieke and Femke with a few children. After the salad, each of us gets a plate of Soutzoukakia. René also immediately gets a glass of whiskey. Then some raki and Akbak. Eddy already starts shaking his head again, too much coffee, too much coffee … And especially a lot of work for him. We walk back to the apartment and on the way and at the bar we already see a total of 13 geckos. Not bad for a first night. The temperature is very warm even this late at night, about 27 degrees. Fortunately, there is a breeze. We sit down at the bar, where Yorgos was already sitting. And we chat for a while. And we also get to know Angelique and Rob better. In terms of rooms they are our neighbors. At 2:50 we call it a day, help close the place and go to bed.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy with strong winds, 25 degrees
We get up at 9:00 a.m. today. I shower first, then René. While he showers I can nicely unpack the suitcases and put everything in the closet. After showering, René goes to the supermarket to look for breakfast stuff. I make coffee in the meantime. It takes almost 45 minutes for René to return. The supermarket where he used to get stuff turns out to no longer exist. The other one not too far from there was out of bread and so he ended up at the SPAR! That’s why it took so long. He brought something more right away. But after we had breakfast, we still had to look for sunscreen, water and toilet paper. Downstairs we also see Rania. Of course we greet her warmly. As soon as we are back from the supermarket, we bring the stuff back to the room. Now it is time to lie by the pool for a while. You see, I am very bothered by the temperature, although it is not really very hot. It is 25 degrees. But the humidity and such is different from Holland and usually it takes me a day or two to get used to it. The wind is enormously strong today, but fortunately northwest wind and no south wind. The clouds get thicker and thicker, and around two o’clock we call it a day. We change clothes and head for the village. Let’s see what’s still there, closed or replaced by something else. On the way back we stop at Revolution. We are hungry and order a sandwich. Me with a cup of tea with lemon and René a double espresso. The sandwiches are again accompanied by chips! They only do that here at Revolution. It remains a strange combo. We stop once more at a supermarket, because we don’t have a dishwashing brush and I have to buy postcards. They don’t have stamps here, so we don’t want to send them. For 1 washing-up brush and 3 cards we pay €1.83. Of which the dish brush was the most expensive. The cards are only a quarter each! The stamps will probably cost much more later. We walk back to the apartment and see that Katharina is there. Again hugs and kisses. By now it is 3:45 pm and we go to the room. Near our room we see a cicada sitting in a jar. We don’t miss the chance to take a picture of it. So often you don’t see them that well. René tries the WiFi connection and gets just enough signal in the living area to briefly check email at home. Then I pick up the laptop and start the travelogue. Despite the fact that we do not experience much on such a lazy day, I am already 1320 words further says the laptop. It is then 17:00 and I decide to lie down next to René on the bed. Have a rest and then shower and change for dinner. Around 18:00 we get back on our feet. First a shower, wash off all the sunburn. Then change clothes and around 19:00 we are ready to go to the restaurant. We sit at the very front, table 30. I can see through the whole restaurant and René can see all kinds of things happening in the kitchen. We order wine and beer again and for dinner Rene takes Souvlaki and I take Kotosouvlaki. The raki flows profusely all evening. I skip most of it; Aristo always gives me a drop, so that I have the aroma but not the full load. We tell Aristo right away that we would like to rent a car through him. And he immediately calls his friend. What kind of car should it be? How many days? He gets a price and we like it. He tells us that it’s okay and not much later the best man shows up at our doorstep to make better arrangements. Tomorrow evening he will bring him to the Taverna around 8:00 pm. It’s another jeep, so we can go off-road. A little later we meet a girl who arranges a lot for websites and Yorgos would like to do some things differently. And he would like to work with her and us to arrange some things for his website. We talk for a while and decide that it would be better to meet during the day sometime, without having drunk alcohol already. The day after tomorrow she will come by the apartment around 11:00 a.m., Yorgos will try to be there too. After dinner we order Akbak again and then we go to the Metaxa 5* and Sexy Ouzo’s. Then it really is time to head back towards the apartment. On the way we get talking to four English guys who want to know the way to the center. We walk quite a distance with them and the conversation soon turns to soccer. They think the Dutch team is very good, but their own team is not. Because of all the talking, we don’t have a chance to go gecko hunting. So the score remains the same as yesterday. At the bar of the apartment we chat for quite a while. We talk to Henk-Jan who, like us, would like to get married in Crete. The plan is to get married next June in Malia. That is possible nowadays, with us it was not an option. Around 2:00 am we call it a day and go to sleep.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy and even more windy than yesterday, 26 degrees
We got up around 10:00 a.m. today. At least Rene, I was already awake for a while and ready for the start. René goes to get bread and I prepare the rest of breakfast in the meantime. The egg boiling fails, it was cracked and therefore deflated in the pan. We don’t have an egg piercer. Maybe next time we’ll bring one anyway. The coffee tastes better than yesterday, less strong. After breakfast we lay back by the pool. Yesterday my back was already quite sunburnt, so today we take the front side into the sun. Soon it is too hot for me and I seek shade. When even that doesn’t help anymore I put on a shirt. But after a while my legs start to get red as well and I look for a table at the bar. Rene lasted longer in the sun, but is already quite red and he too goes inside. We have another ice cream and then sit on the balcony in the shade. But the wind is so strong that it is quite chilly. We get a little restless and go to take a look at the sea with our cameras at the ready. There we see huge waves. And swimming is forbidden.
The sun shines well even though the mountains are again shrouded in very dark clouds. After walking for a while, we decide to walk back. Along the way we see beautiful purple clumps of flowering thyme. It smells great! Back at the bar, we order two frikadellen and a Frappé from Katharina each. Then it is 4:00 pm and we go back to the room. I update the report again and then it is time to close my eyes for a while. Even I manage to take another nap anyway. Around 6 p.m. I am awake again and we get ready for the restaurant. We arrive there at 7:15 pm. We are the first ones. And it also takes a while before more people arrive. They do come, but very sparsely. At 8 p.m. a smart car stops and I see the man from the car rental company getting out. Just for fun I tell Rene that this will be our rental car, but I see that a Suzuki Jimny is also parked in the parking lot. A ferrari red one. That is our car. W arrange the papers and then our food arrives. Rene has ordered a pork chop and I Gemista. Yorgos is teasing Rene with his meat. In fact, he also had stewed lamb, something that seemed much tastier to him. But René himself preferred this. Neither of us drinks much, because we still have to drive back by car and besides, the weather is very peculiar. It seems cold, but it is warm and the wind is always blowing very annoyingly around your head. After dinner and coffee (tea for me this time) we return to the apartment. Yorgos had been playing for a while, also nice. Since we go back by car, we again have no chance to count geckos. But at the apartment we see one at the bar. Everyone is sitting in front of the TV watching soccer. Match Germany against Ghana. Germany eventually wins 2-0. There is a German couple in the apartment for the first time this year and they are happy with the result. The couple’s wife is named Sylvia and she jumps and dances around. Is crazy about Celine Dion. Does try to learn some Dutch. And even has herself decorated with an orange crown on her head. Everyone is laughing. Angelique and I decide that we have seen not 1 but 2 geckos today. Sylvia is the second. After watching soccer, people come into the grounds and I immediately recognize them. It is the first time we meet them like this, we only know them through the Internet and the cards around Christmas. They are Diana and Mark. They are always very committed to the donkeys on Crete (http://www.ezelopvangkreta.eu/). With all the chatting and so on, it is already 2:30 when we decide to go to bed.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy and much less wind, 26 degrees
We get up around 9:00 a.m. today. After all, we have an appointment with Patty for the website at 11:00. But first we just have breakfast. We go downstairs on time where we have a Frappé and a tea ourselves. Right on time Patty appears. She immediately orders a very large Frappé. And we start talking. Not long after, we are sitting at a table with two laptops. Some changes that Yorgos and Aristo want we can’t do now, because the season is already underway. But at the end of the season we will do things differently. We are already creating a facebook page (Cretan Family Facebook) Cretan Family was already on Hyves (http://cretanfamily.hyves.nl/) , but Facebook is more international. We already put some pictures and information on it and invite everyone we have on Facebook to also become a friend of Cretan Family. At 1:30 p.m. we call it a day. Patty goes home a bite to eat and then to work. We are going to get some cash and gas. Then we can hit the road with confidence. First we drive to Neapoli. From there we drive to the Lassithi plateau. On the way you then pass through the village of Zenia and just before the end of the village (from this side) is Manolis. He is still alive and still waving a spoon in his hand to everyone who passes by. The best man is now 110 years old. But he still looks his best and even had new clothes on. We drive on and decide to have a bite to eat at the Taverna Panorama. It is almost 3 p.m. by then and we are hungry. Just before the Taverna we suddenly see griffon vultures on the right side of the road down in a field. A piece on 5! But we can’t stop at that point. So we park the car at the Taverna and walk back a bit. Of course, the field is empty when we get near it. We wait a while and then see 2 birds returning. But the distance is still too great to take pictures. We return to the Taverna. The owner asks us if we managed to take pictures. There is a group of 40 birds in this area. And he knows exactly which field we mean. But even he has not yet managed to get them on camera. They are very shy and fly away immediately when you approach. Moreover, they usually come when he has to work and cannot take pictures. Meanwhile, we take a seat at a small table and each order an omelet with bacon and a bottle of tonic. We get a bowl of olives and garlic croutons of the house to go with it. As we eat, we regularly see griffon vultures flying high in the sky, but the sky is overcast, which doesn’t make taking pictures any easier. René does manage to capture a wood bee sitting on a hollyhock.
After dinner we walk through the little store next to it and this time I do buy a bag. I see them hanging here all the time and now I take one. It is a kind of hippie bag made of fabric with all different colors of blue. We then get back into the car and drive via the Lassithi plateau and Krassi back to Malia. It is 4:30 p.m. when we are back. René does some more reading and I update the report. Then he goes flat and I decide to do some reading. In 50 minutes it will be 6 p.m. and we get back on our feet. We fix ourselves up and then quietly walk toward the restaurant. We do have to walk slowly because I have my heels 9 ½ inches high on. It goes pretty well the whole way, better than other times. It already felt quite chilly, so we put on something with long sleeves. But in the restaurant under the canopy, it is hot and muggy. A shirt wouldn’t have been too bad there. The heat caused my feet to set right away. But oh well, I can always walk back barefoot. That certainly wouldn’t be the first time. We both order Bifteki tonight. René’s stomach is still bothering him and he doesn’t want to eat that much. Bifteki consists of two large flat meatballs, so that’s just about doable. Yorgos wants us to try a sauce with the meat and asks Kostas to make a bowl. When that’s done, Aristo grabs this bowl and takes it to a completely different table. Turned out it was for us, though. He kept saying sorry and got red up to behind the ears. The sauce with it is very tasty, although it remains totally unclear what exactly it is. After dinner, of course, we had Akbak again. Then Rene sticks to beer and I have the Sexy Ouzo. We ask Aristo what exactly is in it. I have tried to make it at home but apparently I am doing something wrong. And it shows. I did use the ice, ouzo and grenadine syrup, but forgot the Sprite. We’re in no hurry tonight. The rest of the guests all want to get back in time to watch soccer, but since the Netherlands is a round ahead anyway, this match doesn’t really interest them. Yorgos doesn’t like soccer much either, he would rather play another game tonight. A girl has been walking around the restaurant the last few days (maybe from the neighbors of the Taverna) and she likes music too. She just can’t play or sing, but Yorgos doesn’t care. He lets her pick up a musical instrument and she plays along. She has a very cute face, although she acts more like a boy. She is not a girly girl. At 10:30 p.m. we check out and walk back. My feet hurt pretty badly, so after a few feet I put on my shoes and continue barefoot. We do try to find geckos this time, but really don’t see 1. At the apartment we notice that we returned too early. Less than five minutes later the 2-1 for the Netherlands falls in. And not long after that, the match is over. We find a quieter spot at the bar and talk for a while with Yorgos, Angelique and Rob and at one point it is almost 3:00 am. Quickly to bed, because tomorrow we want to go to the Koudouma monastery.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Weather: In Malia on the north coast partly cloudy with a few splashes, 27 degrees, at Paranymfi showers and lots of thunder, 20 degrees.
We get up at 9:00. Rene is so dull. Probably had one whiskey too many yesterday anyway. Lazarus knows a best size, so it was a double instead of a single almost every time. I pack the stuff for the trip to Koudouma Monastery in the backpack. We don’t have breakfast in the room today. We have a cup of coffee and Frappé downstairs at the bar. Then we get in the car around 10:30. We stop at the bakery in the village for two baguettes and then the journey can begin. When I get in, it sputters a little, and so we find out that the windshield wipers aren’t really much of a thing. But fortunately it soon stops raining and we just drive on. We have to head first toward Heraklion, from there we turn off to Pyrgos. But we don’t drive that far. We come to a large traffic circle and there we take the exit to Harakas. From there the journey continues in the direction of Paranymfi. After Harakas, the road soon becomes winding and steeper. But that is not the biggest problem we have. It suddenly begins to rain very hard. There is quite a lot of oil on the road here, as it looks like the road is smeared with shampoo. It just foams! We have to brake and accelerate a few times and we feel the back of the car break away. It has suddenly become slippery. We stop at a little church, hoping the shower will stop soon. When it is a little drier we carefully drive on. But when we arrive in Paranymfi the road gets even steeper and more slippery. Just before the road turns into a dirt road up to the monastery we decide it is not safe to continue. It is just too dangerous with this weather. We turn the car around and carefully begin the journey back. Driving at walking pace, we re-enter civilization at Harakas. All around us are thunderstorms. Near Pyrgos we see that it must have struck somewhere, smoke suddenly coming from between the mountains. But the further we drive back toward Heraklion, the drier the road is. We drive back from Heraklion on the old road. In Malia we stop at the SPAR for some groceries and I need stamps for the cards I bought. Those stamps turn out to cost 72 cents each. And that while the card was only 25 cents! Back at the apartment we quickly bring the groceries to the room and then we sit downstairs at the bar with Katharina. We hear from her that it only sputtered for 5 minutes here in Malia, nothing else. She hears our story and is glad that we were sensible after all and had gone back. We thought this was a little too adventurous ourselves. And because we came back in one piece, we treat ourselves to an ice cream. We get some more soda from Katharina and by then it is almost 4:00 pm. We go back to the room and after having read a bit (and of course I have updated the report) we lay down for a while. As usual, we get up around 6 p.m. again. We shower briefly and change for dinner. Around 7:10 pm we arrive at the Taverna. It is again quite quiet and Yorgos soon comes to ask what we want to eat. I order Papoutsakia first, but it turns out they don’t have that today. There is Mousaka. It is very similar but has a more powerful taste. Then that one, which is also delicious. Rene orders lamb chops. His stomach seems a little better, so he dares again. After only a short wait, our food is ready. Neither of us can finish it all. The portions are too big for us today. While eating, we noticed a man coming to sell strawberries to Yorgos. He had taken away a whole box. So after dinner we decided anyway, even though we were very full to have yogurt with fresh strawberries and I then also with honey. We teased Eddy about that last year. He sighs deeply and says it’s fine as long as we skip the Akbak. But we soon see that he has outsourced the job of the strawberries to Vassili. So it did cost him an extra bowl, because a bowl fell to him broken. More had already been broken today. Yorgos had already dropped a cup of coffee. It’s just another one of those evenings. After the bowl of yogurt with strawberries, I really can’t say porridge anymore. So indeed I do not take Akbak but a cup of tea. René, of course, just orders coffee. Even though we ate quietly and drank slowly, we are completely finished by 9:30 pm. We decide to just pay the bill anyway and then go back. Aristo doesn’t like that, he asks why we are so fast. And we explain that the food was just there very quickly and that’s why we finished so quickly. Well, he agrees to that for today, but he will put on the piece of paper tomorrow that they should serve us more slowly. We just walk back for now. This time we do see geckos. In total (not counting Sylvia again) we are at 11 today. The total for the vacation now sits at 25 without Sylvia. At the bar we have another drink and chat for quite some time. There is still soccer on when we sit down, and automatically you watch it anyway. But after the soccer, we quickly find another place. And with all the chatting and telling jokes and tall tales, it is already 3:30! So we quickly go upstairs. When Yorgos has also left we hear a lot of laughter and singing coming from downstairs. A glass breaks and a little later we suddenly hear a lot of splashing. Turns out Sylvia and her husband and a Dutch couple, or at least a couple of them, are swimming. They are drunk as a horn! On the one hand, we think it is dangerous to go swimming with so many drinks on, and on the other hand, it is forbidden to swim in the pool after 7 p.m.. But it seems to be going well. In any case, we are going to sleep now. We want to go to the gypsy market tomorrow.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Weather: Sunny, 26 degrees
We get up at 9:00 a.m. again today. Rene gets bread and I prepare the rest of breakfast. Then I quickly wash a few things. A few more dishes and then we are ready to leave. It is 11:00 am when we leave by car in the direction of Heraklion. After searching for a while we find a place to park the car and then we walk to the market. As always, it is very crowded. And they keep shouting to sell their stuff. I see some nice things, but either the size is not right or the quality is disappointing. We end up going back to the car without having bought anything. We drive to our regular parking spot at the harbor and for €2.50 it is parked there all day. We walk towards the center and straight to Platanos. First we have a drink. It is quite warm and there is not much wind today. This makes it feel much warmer. We both order a Frappé with vanilla ice cream. And a bottle of water to quench our thirst. Then we go through the shopping streets. Here too I see lots of nice things, especially at Zara, but there are only sizes S or M left of most things and I just don’t fit into those. René buys a compilation CD with this year’s Greek hits for the car at the music store. We walk through the daily market and there we find pouring corks that we hope will fit a bottle we have at home (when we arrive at home it turns out they are not pouring corks, but sealing corks). Actually, I am now in the mood for a pita gyros, but the place where we always eat these no longer exists. So we decide to go back to Malia. There we get pita gyros at the Take-Away and take them back to the room. Rene’s feet hurt too much to walk, store or hike. He has new shoes and they are pinching his heels. So we relax in our room. I update the report at the same time. And then we fall asleep. We get up at the usual time. But we take it easy and so we walk to the restaurant at 19:30. René can’t quite figure out what he wants to eat. His stomach has been bothering him all vacation when we have to eat, so he doesn’t dare do anything. To be on the safe side, he opts for a Souvlaki and I opt for the Kotosouvlaki. We order some more beer and wine and then Yorgos starts to play. First together with Kostas (the cook) as singer. Then for a while with Frank (father of Marieke and Femke) who accompanies him on a bouzouki. And then the neighbor of the Taverna turns out to be a good lyra player. So even more music. While enjoying Akbak, we totally enjoy ourselves. All Cretan songs, full of emotion and passion. After the music, we checkout. It is then about 10:45 pm. We see 3 geckos along the way this time, so total is now 28. At the bar we watch another piece of soccer and see that Ghana wins in the extension with 2-1 against the USA. We chat some more and drink some more, but everyone wants to go to bed early. Some have to leave tomorrow by plane and two gentlemen are going fishing with Yorgos. But it is not really possible to go to bed early, because of all the chatting it is 3:00 a.m. again. So now we go to sleep quickly.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Weather: Sunny, 29 degrees
We get up at 9:00 a.m. After a short breakfast, we run out of eggs, we get ready to leave. Today we go to the Richti gorge. Here is located the most beautiful waterfall in eastern Crete. Hardly anyone knows it and it is certainly not the easiest hike. First we drive from Malia via Agios Nikolaos to Exo Mouliana. This is just before Sitia. In the village you take the exit to the left “Beach of Richti”, the road then immediately becomes a lot worse. René then immediately switches on the 4×4. It is still paved, but just as wide as one car. And full of cracks and bumps. There is also a fine layer of stones over a large part of the road. According to the YouTube video I had seen of this gorge, we had to stop at the little bridge and from there follow the path along the stream. We find the bridge and park the car. Just next to the bridge is indeed a very narrow footpath. We follow this for a while, passing through three vegetable gardens on the way, and the path gets worse and worse. It is completely overgrown and at a certain point we decide to return to the car. After all, you can also walk up the gorge from the beach. So we get back in the car and drive on. Through countless hairpin bends we first wind our way up and then down. Far below us we can indeed see the gorge. At the end of the road is a small place where you can park the car. Everywhere around us we see beautiful bushes with purple plumes and it is also full of those very large black wood bees.
There is also a sign indicating how far it is to walk, but I don’t think the distances are correct at all. It is also handwritten underneath that we will hear many cicadas after half an hour and after three quarters of an hour. The sign says it is only 1100 meters of walking to the waterfall, but after almost an hour of walking on a narrow path over rocks and some very rickety steps and bridges, we finally reach our final destination. The cicadas were correct, they made so much noise in both places that we almost stood with our fingers in our ears. It almost hurt your ears. On the way we first see a small waterfall. The light falls beautifully on the branch in the waterfall and the red roots behind it.
After walking for a while more we reached the big waterfall. That waterfall is beautiful and plunges from about 15 meters down into a small lake.
There are even a few picnic tables here. Although how they got them here is a mystery to me. René hangs his T-shirt to dry over a branch, there was no dry thread left on it. And after a few sips of water, we take a closer look. It is indeed beautiful here. René suddenly sees a crab sitting on a rock near the water.
And I see something swimming in the water that looks like an eel, but it could also be a water snake. It’s not easy to see. A little later it is closer, but then we are bothered by the glare of the water. We take a few beautiful pictures of the waterfall and its surroundings and then René wants to go up the stairs that lead to the top. I try it a little bit, but my fear of heights doesn’t like this very much. The construction also leaves much to be desired and I stop.
René walks on and a while later I suddenly hear his voice coming from above the waterfall. After taking some pictures from that side, he walks back down and we start our way back. First I see a large green lizard with those black cheeks scurry away and no matter how we search we can’t find it again to take a picture. Then a little later we see another brown lizard, but it too is too fast for us. We do manage to take a picture of a very large grasshopper.
It is now 3:00 pm when we get back to the car. We get in and start our way up again. Now let’s hope we don’t meet any oncoming traffic, because there is nowhere else to go. After many bumps and bumps we arrive back in Exo Mouliana and drive back to Malia. There we first stop at the Taverna for a few glasses of fresh orange juice. And at the apartment we have another ice cream. Then we head upstairs. I update the report and René goes flat for a while. Since it is already 5:30 p.m. when I finish typing, we decide to rest until 6:30 p.m. Then we both really need a good shower. Because everything is dusty and sweaty and I am also covered in scratches and wounds from the blackberry bushes we had to pass. Around 7:30 p.m. we are fresh and fruity enough to go to the Taverna. We have a quiet drink before asking for the menus, because Aristo wants us to slow down. Besides, Yorgos is not here now either, still lying on one ear. He went fishing today and now wants to catch up on some sleep. So Aristo is already there and Katharina is also present. After a glass of wine and beer we ask for the menu and René chooses the veal steak and I go for the Stifado. René asks for a small steak, but the piece of meat he gets on his plate is anything but small. After dinner we ask for yogurt with strawberries. Then we also take an Akbak. Around 10:30 pm we finish eating, Yorgos was there by now. So we go back again. We do see 7 geckos. So the total is now 35 of them. No matter how slowly we walk the soccer is not over again. So we see a pretty big part of Argentina against Mexico, which Argentina manages to win 3-1. We have another drink and then Yorgos wants to see Richti’s pictures. He cannot imagine that this is in Crete, according to him these are pictures of Thailand or something. He would also like to go there very much. With his Rav that shouldn’t be a problem. After some chatting at the bar we quickly go to bed, it was a tiring day today with all the climbing and clambering. It is only 1:00 a.m. when we go upstairs and go to sleep.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy, 28 degrees
Today we don’t have any wild plans, so we also get up half an hour later than usual. 9:30 the alarm clock goes off. We have breakfast downstairs at Rania’s. A glass of fresh juice, a sandwich and a cup of coffee or tea. Then we briefly drive the car to Sissi. We are almost through the Olivelia stuff ourselves (http://www.olivelia.com/) and René’s father would like to have some shaving cream of that brand as well. We know they sell it there, but we have not been able to find it anywhere in Malia. So we first withdraw some money and to great hilarity the machine only gives us 20 euro bills, leaving us with quite a pile. This makes it seem like a lot of money. We stock up on the stuff we need and then walk through Sissi some more, but it’s not really cozy anymore. Many things are closed and some are even now doing renovations while the season is full on. Not a good sign. So we decide to go back to Malia and then walk into the center. I would still get earrings from René for my birthday and I want to buy them here at 1 specific store. The store is open and after having had a look at the window we go inside. I see a pair, very similar to the wedding rings we have. White with yellow gold and a small diamond in it. The man does something nice with the price and a little later I walk out with a very small bag. Then we walk on to the clothing store where we both succeed well. I see a nice shirt by Ed Hardy, black with long sleeves and René finds a blue polo shirt by Hugo Boss and a summer coat by Paul & Shark. So here we walk out of the store with a much bigger bag. We decide to go back before we spend all the money and have a bite to eat at a place on Beach Road. We fancy Scrambled Eggs on Toast with a glass of fresh gravy. And at the little place formerly called Dr. Doktor but now Mr. Dish, we order that, we sat here a lot years ago. The prices here are very different from outside the center. A cup of coffee here just costs €3. After dinner we go back to the apartment. It is still early, about 2:00 p.m. so we are going to lie by the pool for a while. In fact, we decide to go in and we never do that often in the vacations crazy enough. At 16:10 we call it a day and go upstairs to take a shower and put our shorts back on. Soccer is about to start and the Netherlands is about to play. While we are upstairs, René thinks he has seen Arthur. We know Arthur from the Crete Home Page (http://kreta.startpagina.nl/prikbord/). We knew he would be here around the same time as us and we had said to him that we could always be found at the restaurant around the same time. But now he was probably at the apartment. When we are downstairs he is no longer there. Indeed, Katharina tells us that he was and that he went to the Taverna with his wife. But it is far too early to eat and besides, we want to watch soccer first. Almost at the end of the first half Arthur shows up again with his wife Danka and we talk for a while at the bar. Turns out he sent another text message to my cell phone, but it had been on the charge all day and besides, I almost never take it with me when we are downstairs or anything. Anyway, we met now and it was pretty funny. He was exactly as I thought he would be, though. We see another part of the second half when they have left again and so we see that the Netherlands eventually wins 2-1 over Slovakia. We quickly change clothes for dinner and then make our own way to the Taverna. Yorgos first asks if Arthur has also spoken and then what we want to eat and I indicate that I would like Bifteki. Then he asks Rene, but he then indicates that he also has Pork in wine sauce. That seems much tastier to me too and so we both order that. Two large pieces of meat are on our plates. It is delicious, but a lot. I am almost full when I also find a whole garlic clove, which explains why I thought that piece tasted like garlic. But fortunately we have both had it, so it doesn’t matter. We drink some more and then order Akbak. Tonight we will have to deal with the raki again. But we are getting used to it. Then we pay and head back to the apartment. On the way we see another 7 geckos and so we are already at 42 of them this vacation. We see another part of Brazil against Chile, which Brazil wins 3-1. We are already so tired today, so after a few drinks we call it a day. Tomorrow we want to make another attempt to drive to Koudouma. We could use the sleep, besides I am covered in sun allergy again. Despite the high protection factor I always use. Around 1:30 I crawl into my bed.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy, 28 degrees
Today we get up at 9:00 am. We have breakfast on the balcony and see yesterday’s chick lying on the ground again. Now it is dead. Probably something has been wrong with him and the parents have thrown him out. He is not exactly under the nest itself, but a bit away from it. We are cleaning him up now. No big ritual, just put it in the garbage bag. After breakfast we think about where we will go today. René mentioned Arkadi yesterday. Not so much because we want to see the monastery again, we know that now, but because there are some people in the family who also want a bracelet like the one we are wearing. Around 10:30 we leave. We go via the old road towards Arkadi, so the drive is our actual goal for today. On the way we stop in Elefterna at the excavation site. It is unfortunately not open to the public, but nearby is a very old Byzantine church. And we can get in and around it.After a few nice pictures we drive on to Arkadi.
We take a quick walk through it, I take a few more pictures and then we go to the store. We find what we are looking for and then actually go right back to the exit.
It’s a beautiful monastery, but this is the fifth time or so we’ve come here and it hasn’t changed that much. We decide to have another sticky sugared donut with some soda at the Taverna and then we head back on our way. We follow a slightly different route back to the old main road and drive it back to Heraklion. There we continue along the new road. We stop in Malia at the SPAR and stock up on some supplies again. Then we return to the apartment. We put everything back in the refrigerator and decide to hang out on the balcony some more. We have a drink and then Rene goes flat and I start the travelogue. Around 5:30 pm I finish that and decide to close my eyes for a while as well. I had trouble keeping them open on the way back this afternoon. It was very hot and even though we had the windows open it makes you very lazy and languid. Around 6:30 pm we get up again and about 7:30 pm we are ready for the restaurant again. First we order something to drink and after a while we order something to eat. Rene chooses Bifteki and I go for the Gemista. We both have a hard time finishing the portions. Probably because of the heat or something. It is still very warm and there is almost no wind. After dinner Eddy gives us a dish of watermelon and we consider this our dessert, because we have no room for yogurt today. After the yogurt we have Akbak and tea. And then we just have to start paying. At 10:15 pm we walk back, but this time by a different route than usual. We need new mosquito repellent. The spray no longer works well enough, probably because it is already a bit old. We can no longer buy the same one, it is now also banned here. We decide to buy 1 for plugging in at one of the supermarkets. Let’s see if that works. But first we go to the bar for a drink. We take the tables out from under the canopy, because the heat is still there and even now it is just 22 degrees. New people have come again and we all get reacquainted. Around 2:00 a.m. most have gone to bed and we help Yorgos close up again. And then we also go to bed. We put our new mosquito repellent in the socket and it appears to be necessary, because there is a mosquito in the room and we cannot find it.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Weather: Sunny, 28 degrees
Today we are only going to do a short ride, although again off-road, so we don’t get up until about 10:00 today. Well, Rene then. I was already awake three quarters of an hour earlier. And so am already washed and all when I wake René up. We just have breakfast on the balcony, so René gets bread and I try to cook eggs again. Again two fall apart. So next time we better take the egg piercer with us. After breakfast we pack our things and go on our way. First we go to Elounda (from Neapoli by the old road) and there we stop for a while. We find a new calendar for next year and I see a glass pendant for Erica. She herself had seen beautiful pendants on Kos, but then thought she might see them again later and then buy them. That turned out not to be the case and she somewhat regretted that. So now I see them here and decide to take one for her. She got lucky with the price. There were several of different quality lying around. The cheapest ones (and there were most of them) were €4.50. The nicer and therefore more expensive ones ranged from €7.50 to €12. The woman apparently thought it was a €4.50 box, because that’s what we had to pay for. Later I realized that was the box next to it. This one was actually €7.50, which makes a difference of €3. We have another Frappé with vanilla ice cream at the port and then the journey continues. The next stop is Plaka. We’ve been there once before, but then we didn’t see anything of the place itself. Now we walk it for a while. There are not many stores, but there is a nice jewelry shop. Only I don’t see what I’m looking for in my size. I already have a silver ring with Onyx, but I would also like one with Turquoise. They have jewelry with that in this store, but not the right size or kind. So without buying anything we walk on and back to the car. From now on we continue over new territory. Well, new… Just around the bend after Plaka is a right turn. Here the road immediately turns to dirt and the road soon gets much worse.
This is really the worst road we have ever driven. And we are really used to a lot of roads. I know river beds that are better to drive on than this road. We do have a very nice view of Spinalonga, but from the other side. And the sea here is very blue again.
Just when we were in doubt as to whether continuing on is still useful, the road gets a little better again and eventually we arrive at our destination. The windmills on the northeastern tip above Plaka. There is also a nice little church here and on foot you can possibly take a hike to the lighthouse on the point. We don’t do the latter. It is simply too hot for it and the hike takes at least an hour, if not longer. There is no shade anywhere and we are wearing the wrong shoes.
We do take beautiful pictures and again, thyme is everywhere. Only this one seems even more purple than the other pollen we had seen.
We then get back in the car and drive back the other road that leads from here. This road ends in Vrouchas and is better to drive. Only you miss the beautiful places we have seen now. You also have nice views of Spinalonga, but still different.
We drive from Vrouchas through the mountains back to Fourni and then back to Neapoli.
Via the old road we drive back to Malia. We bring our stuff back to the room and then have a drink at the bar. Around 16:45 we go back upstairs. We read some more and I update the report. Then it is 17:20 and time to close our eyes for a while. Around 18:30 we get up again. And at 19:30 we walk to the restaurant. There Yiannis is already sitting at a table waiting for us. We have a drink and then we are ready to order. John would like a Bifteki with feta. Rene wants a Souvlaki and I wanted to go for the Stifado. But Yorgos says he also has green bean dish and I really like that one. So no Stifado today, but beans. After the order goes to the kitchen, Yorgos comes walking back. The cook has another option for John’s Bifteki, a variant that Yorgos is also unfamiliar with. Whether that’s a good thing. John is not easily afraid to try something, so it’s okay. When the food arrives, his Bifteki turns out to be covered in some kind of cream sauce. He loves it and gives Yorgos a taste. He calls Malaka and very good. So he also likes this variant. I already knew the bean dish from previous vacations and it was just as good as I remembered. My plate is empty. After dinner and some raki we ask for 3 pieces of Galaktabouriko (or however you write that). Aristo goes to look and sees that there are only 2 pieces left, whether it would be a problem to add 1 Kataifi. That’s tasty, too. John points out that he has eaten Galaktabouriko before, so those two pieces are for us. He takes Kataifi. After a few more raki, we order Akbak and Greek coffee. The latter is for John and he gets a double. Well, he is far from asleep! We each pay separately today, but quite coincidentally the amounts are exactly the same, both bills are €26.50. Then we descend to the apartment. John joins us again, too. He goes on the scooter and we walk. At least this way we can count geckos and he knows his way around. We see 7 geckos on the way and later another one at the apartment. We are now down to 58 in total. When we arrive John is already there and he even has an account here now, room number 007 in the name of Yiannis. We chat for a while and laugh our heads off. The group consists of people who have been coming here for years as well as new guests. They quickly feel at home and I hope that this feeling will continue. With all this chatter, it is already 3:00 a.m. when we help Yorgos close up and go to bed.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Weather: Sunny, 34 degrees (in the south)
We initially got up at 9:00 a.m. today. We were going to make a long drive, but René definitely wants to be back before soccer starts. So we change plans and drive a different route. René therefore turns around one more time. At 9:45 I wake him up again. We freshen up and eat breakfast downstairs at the bar. We throw the stuff in the car and hit the road. Today the drive is from Malia to Agios Nikolaos and then to Ierapetra. From there towards Myrtos and then to Viannos. Then we continue until we see the turnoff to Kastelli. And from there towards Chersonissos. The scenery during the drive is beautiful, but there aren’t many places to stop and when we can, it’s not exactly a Kodak moment. Around 1:30 pm we reach Kastelli and on the way to Chersonissos we make a slight deviation from the route. There is a Byzantine church along the road here, one with three doors and arches. And the bell hangs outside on the facade. The little church comes from somewhere between the 4th and 6th centuries AD! And the bell is made from the top of a World War II bomb! We do take some nice pictures there.
Then we drive on again to Chersonissos and from there back to Malia and the apartment. We drink another Frappé at the bar. And order some food, because we didn’t do that on the road and we won’t last until dinner. Then we go back to the room. Rene wants to get down before the game and I want to update the report right away. By the time I’m done it’s 3:50 pm. I wake René up around 4:30, so we will be ready in time for the match. At a little before 5:00 p.m. we find a nice spot near the TV and are at least ready for it. The atmosphere with the other guests is great. Everyone sympathizes immensely with the match. The oeh’s and ah’s are often heard and when we win against Brazil at the end of the match, it is of course completely awesome. Who would have expected that? We certainly did not. Now everything is possible. We drink one at the bar and then we change for dinner. At 7:45 p.m. we are in the Taverna. We are actually in the mood for something today. Rene orders Soutzoukakia and I order vegetarian Spaghetti. We both almost empty our plates, but just barely. There is no more room for dessert, so we have another drink and Eddy gives us watermelon. Then René takes another beer and I opt for a sexy ouzo. Around 10:30 pm we head back towards the apartment. On the way we do not see many geckos, today it remains at 6. So the total is now 64 pieces. When we are back at the apartment the match between Uruguay and Ghana is still going on. It is 1-1 and already extension. In the end it becomes a penalty shootout and it appears that next Tuesday Uruguay will be our next opponent. We chat for a while and sit outside by the pool again, as the weather remains so warm. It just doesn’t cool down, well into the evening it is still 26 degrees. Around 2:15 we call it a day and help Yorgos close up again. Lazarus is still there. But he too is in need of a stool or so for the bulkheads and René can reach it in no time.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Weather: Sunny, 31 degrees
I wake up early in the morning today, with a weird feeling in my stomach and stomach. It can’t be due to too much booze from the night before, because I haven’t had that much at all. Two glasses of wine and two Sexy Ouzo’s. But something is wrong. I fall asleep again, but when it’s time to get up (9:00 a.m.) I still don’t feel better. I have already figured out what it is, it is already very hot outside again and I think today my blood pressure is just too low. Everything is spinning around me and so I am forced to take it very easy today. So we decide not to take a drive today and stay by the pool. We have breakfast downstairs, although I stick to a cup of tea and a glass of fresh juice. My stomach just isn’t stable enough. We first read by the pool for a while and then decide to go in. The water is lovely, not too cold and not too hot. So we stay in here for quite a while. Then we let ourselves dry off and read or do some more puzzles. Around 2:30 p.m. we call it a day. Both of us are already sunburned. We go to our room to change clothes and then we go into the village. Rene wants to get cigarettes (usually about 3.20 euros a pack here) and we want to go to the clothing store again. Linda, my niece would like an Ed Hardy T-shirt, white without glitter. And I see one that will do, only they don’t have L, only M or XL. I decide to take the XL anyway. If she doesn’t want it, I’ll keep it for myself. The people in the store are starting to know us. Every year we buy something. We buy some other stuff and then we go back to the apartment with some vanilla donuts. There we eat them deliciously on the balcony, while enjoying some soda or beer. And with a newspaper, the first of our vacation. Then I update the travelogue and René goes flat for a while. At 6:30 p.m. we get back on our feet. And at 7:30 pm we are again ready for the Taverna. Today Rene orders Filet with pepper sauce and I take half a Kotosouvlaki. I still don’t trust my stomach very much. And I can’t finish a whole one anyway. I also take only 1 glass of wine today. After dinner and a few cups of tea I feel a lot better. And after two plates of watermelon and a glass of fresh orange juice I even dare to have another Sexy Ouzo. Rene’s filet was delicious, a bit very salty, but he likes that. After eating and drinking, we pay and walk back. It is then 10:15 pm. Along the way we see 7 geckos bringing the total to 71. Lazarus is all alone at the bar. We are the first ones back from dinner. There is soccer on TV, how surprising, and we decide to watch what this match is going to be. It’s Paraguay against Spain. And just before the end, Spain finally manages to score. The score also remains 0-1 after that, in favor of Spain. We chat for a while outside by the pool and tell jokes with Hans and the like. Around 2:05 we help Yorgos close up and go to bed.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Weather: Sunny, 29 degrees
We are up at 9:00 a.m. today. After a quick breakfast on the balcony, we pack our things together and head to Katharina’s. We had arranged with her the day before yesterday that we would join her for coffee this morning. Around 10:30 we drive up the ridiculous driveway to their house again. Good thing we still have the jeep. The dog comes running toward us wagging its tail, but still keeps its distance. It’s a black furry thing, but because of all the hair it’s hard to tell exactly what kind. But that’s the case with most Greek dogs. We walk in and see that her mother is also there, helping with the laundry and ironing. And Nikos and Irini soon emerge to greet us. We are immediately taken by Nikos to his room and have a good look at everything. Irini has switched rooms with her parents. They finally have the largest bedroom. As usual, everything is placed on the table. You can say as often as you like that you have already had breakfast, but you have to take something. We admire the vegetable garden, with homegrown water and honey melons, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and onions. And, of course, the flower garden with a wide variety of roses. We then also get to eat cucumbers from our own garden. Surely no Dutch cucumber can compete with that. Compared to these, they only taste like water. Now that Nikos is here, we take a picture of him while we take turns playing with him. He is absolutely crazy about Power Rangers and Spiderman at the moment. Last year it was Mickey Mouse. All little boys, whether they live in Holland or Crete are also the same.
After an hour and a half we say goodbye and head back down by car. Fortunately, this time also back down at normal speed. Then we drive up the road in the direction of Mochos. We have only stopped here once before, but this time we want to have a drink and walk around. We see some nice old doors and windows. And a refurbished house for sale. You can see right through it!
After walking around, we take a seat on a terrace near the square. After a Frappé with ice cream, I want to check out the Pachmina’s at a store across the street. I have been wanting one for ages and these are not very thick and expensive. I see 1 with fresh colors of blue, green and red for €7.50. No money right? We get back in the car and drive on from Mochos towards the plateau but then turn off again towards Malia. We get the stuff out of the car. The car has to be returned at the Taverna tonight. As we walk up the hill we suddenly see the Queens flying near the Bougainville again. We now try to get them in the picture, but it is not as easy as it seems. They are very mobile. But fortunately there are a few good photos among them.
Then we bring the cameras and stuff upstairs and go downstairs to the bar for a drink. We also take an ice cream. Around 4:00 pm we call it a day and go upstairs again. We do some puzzling and I update the report. Around 16:30 we go downstairs for a while. Around 18:30 we get up again. We freshen up and change our clothes. Then we drive the car first to the center to get money from an ATM and via Beach Road straight to the restaurant. The car must be at the restaurant at 20:00, where it would be picked up and we have to pay for it today. We had kept it an extra day. We have just sat down for a while and are almost at the point of ordering when we see Yiannis driving up again. So we wait until he joins us. After a drink we order our food. Rene takes a Filet a la Crème (with mushroom cream sauce), Yiannis takes Bifteki with feta in it and I go for the regular Bifteki. When the food has subsided a bit, the man from the rental company arrives, we pay for the extra day and give him the keys. There is no more checking. So easy here always. Now, food having subsided a bit anyway, we decide to have yogurt with strawberries. Despite Aristo saying that every good restaurant should have Galaktabouriko, they don’t have it today. And we tease him nicely with that. After the yogurt we have another drink, and since it is our last night, the raki flows copiously. Aristo didn’t really want to drink raki today, but now that he knows this is our last evening, he doesn’t think it’s a good idea anymore. After a few raki, we order Akbak and Greek coffee. And then we settle the bill. By then it is already 11:00 pm. John joins us again at the bar near the apartment. We count geckos on the way again and see 5 this time. Later at the apartment another 2, including another very large one. The total is now 78 and that will probably be all, because tomorrow it will still be light when we go to the Taverna and also when we are picked up by the bus. At the bar we drink some more, Hans and Guido are also there, along with a few other guests. We crack jokes again and play a game with 15 nuts in a kind of pyramid shape. Which almost none of Guido manages to win. But since we have all had quite a lot of booze, we are also not entirely sure if the rules are correct. The gentlemen get more and more tipsy; I’ve been here at the bar the whole time on the Fanta Lemon. Around 3:15 I give up and go upstairs with René’s whiskey for the balcony. The gentlemen chat downstairs for a while longer and then I hear them cleaning up and shutting things down. By the time Rene is upstairs, it’s 3:35 a.m. High time to get some sleep.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Weather: Sunny, 29 degrees
Today we got up at 10:00 am. After last night, René needed a little more sleep. I was awake from about 8:15 am. And I couldn’t get back to sleep either. Today is the day we unfortunately have to go home again and then I am always a bit restless. We wash ourselves and make a start with the suitcases, then we go downstairs to have some breakfast. We are not very hungry, so we share a sandwich together. After breakfast, we go upstairs again and pack a bit further. But that soon ends because we don’t have the bottles of raki yet. We have to pick those up at the restaurant this afternoon. We agreed with Aristo that we would be there at 3:30 pm. Then we can eat something, although I don’t think it will be much. We sit on the balcony for a while when René says he would like to go to Revolution. We go on our way and on the way we see John sitting on Ruud and Maria’s balcony. We didn’t say goodbye to him last night because he too was coming to the Taverna this afternoon. So we just wave and walk on. When we are almost at Revolution, I suddenly notice that René’s pocket looks a bit empty and I ask him if he has any money with him. That turns out not to be the case. He didn’t lose it, he just forgot to take it with him. Good thing we weren’t inside yet and had already ordered something. Then he would have had to walk back and come here again. And it’s actually much too hot for that today. Because even though there is a little wind it is very hot today. So we walk on and go via the Mc Donalds back to the apartment. So we walked our way around, but without any stops. Maybe it was wise that we did not have money with us, otherwise we might have bought more and it all still had to fit in the suitcase. This year they seem to be stricter at Heraklion airport. Other guests who left had texted back that the suitcases had been weighed and they even had to pay extra. Well, that doesn’t stop us. Because going home with us, we will pay extra. After we get back to the apartment, we first replenish our fluids. The sweat is running down our backs from walking in the burning sun. After the drinks we say goodbye to Rania. We go back upstairs for the last things, René wants to get back on his feet. He has to drive back home to the Netherlands soon and really wants to be fit enough. I sit back on the balcony and update the travel report. I will probably only do the last bits at home. Around 14:30 I wake René up again. We both take a shower and partly change our clothes. We have to be in the Taverna at 3:30 p.m. and at 6:45 p.m. the bus is coming to pick us up, but lately it is always 10 minutes early. So a later schedule later. At 3 p.m. we are ready to go to the Taverna. We first want to say goodbye to Katharina at the bar, but that is not allowed. She is coming to the restaurant around 5 p.m., so we’ll do it there, she says. We walk in that direction and order something to drink. A nice big glass of fresh gravy. Aristo gives the empty bottles we brought in a backpack to Eddy to fill with “water.” When these go back into the backpack, it is not yet allowed to be closed. There still have to be shirts in it says Aristo. While we are talking about that, John arrives as well. We order a salad and he orders a Frappé. I am still not really hungry and neither is René. So we leave it at one big salad for the two of us. The table at which we had sat outside, in the little bit of wind that there was, has meanwhile been exposed to the sun and that is really too much for us. We pick up our things and sit down at a little table in the shade. Aristo and Eddy have already said goodbye to us by then and they are relieved by Yorgos and Vassili. Yorgos has him make a Greek coffee and joins us at the table. We talk for a while and drink some more soda. Then Yorgos thinks it would be a good idea to give René’s father, Daan, a box of two cicadas instead of raki. He catches two and puts them in an empty box of cigarettes. Daan may not return to Crete until he has taught these two to dance the sirtaki. We will convey the box and the message. And from Yorgos we also get two shirts with the new design. At 5:15 pm Katharina finally arrives and the time to say goodbye really arrives. First we pay and then we give both Yorgos and Katharina a big hug and some kisses. And again they find it hard to say goodbye. I never find it easy either, but always know that we will be back in a year. And that makes it a little easier. Yorgos doesn’t like the fact that we won’t come again this year, not even in winter. But we promise him that we will come twice next year, once in season and once out of season. We give the backpack to John, who will take it to the apartment by scooter for a while. That way René doesn’t have to walk back to the apartment with it through the burning sun. At the bar we say goodbye to him and wish him a happy last week. Now that we have all our stuff complete, we can put the last things in the suitcases and around 6:00 pm we are downstairs with all our luggage. We return the key to Lazarus and then wait for the bus. It is right on time, 6:45 pm. We are the first ones on the bus. And after picking up everyone in Chersonissos, Piskopiano and Koutoulavari, we remember exactly why we didn’t want to take the bus anymore. What a long ride and stopping everywhere. So next time we will take a car from the airport and then we will drive back ourselves. Once at the airport we get instructions on which check-in desk we should go to, desk 32, and we are told that this year they will really charge for excess weight. 7 euros per kilo too much. We get in line right away and our turn comes pretty quickly. When both suitcases are on the belt, the meter indicates 52.2 kilos. 12.2 kilos too much! The woman at the counter indicates that this is really too much and that we have to pay. She starts calling, but gets no one on the other end. She indicates that we are therefore lucky and that she will let us go through now, because otherwise we will hold up the line. What luck! That saves almost 90 euros after all. After check-in and baggage drop-off, René smokes a few last cigarettes and then we go through customs. It takes a very long time before we finally know which gate we have to be at. On the boarding pass it says 5-6. Eventually it turns out to be 6. We walk through the store for a while, but only buy some cigarettes. Again, these cost 3.20 euros per pack. Quite a difference with in the Netherlands. At 10:15 pm we are in the plane and ready for departure. The flight goes fine. I watch the movie “How to train your dragon”, while Rene tries to get some sleep. After all, he has to drive back home later. At 0:55 we land at Schiphol. We have to walk from gate D all the way to baggage claim area 18. Further apart is hardly possible. Then we walk towards the bus stop for P3. That all goes smoothly. The car is still at the spot and after a long drive home it is finally 3:30 when the car is parked on our drive home in Meppel. The vacation is really over.
For the rest of the vacation photos see HERE