Thursday, May 21, 2009
Weather: Sunny and partly cloudy, 20 degrees NL
Although we don’t really go on vacation until tomorrow, the story begins today. We get up around 8:30, Thijn’s birthday is today and we all have to go to the campsite first. We go to the Meerkoet at 10:00 and pick up Daan and Fenna. Now we drive our car, later tonight we drive theirs. We stay at the campsite until 12:30 and then drive back to Meppel. Daan and Fenna have already packed their suitcases, but we have yet to start. And also in the house there is still some work to be done. Changing beds, some cleaning work, etc. Around 5 p.m. René goes to the Argentine to get spareribs. After dinner Rene goes flat, after all, he has to drive his car immediately after arriving in Crete. I also try to sleep, but I don’t succeed. Too many things haunt me. Haven’t we forgotten anything? The containers still have to be filled. The computers and such still have to be turned off… After fifteen minutes I give up. Erica had called in the meantime and I decide to call her back. I mess around in the house and around 10:30 pm I wake René up again. Then he has some extra time to shower. Then I finish the last things and before we know it, it is 0:00 AM and Daan and Fenna are on our doorstep.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Weather: Sunny with occasional clouds, 11 degrees and 24 degrees, NL and GR
We load the suitcases and leave for Schiphol Airport. Everything goes smoothly and we have no delays anywhere. We drive to P3, long term parking. We couldn’t find enough people to take us this time. So therefore we drive there ourselves and put it on long term parking. We are in row 123. The shuttle bus takes us nicely to Schiphol itself. It is now about 02:00. We had already checked in online, so all we had to do was drop off our bags. We had planned to sit at Starbucks. After all, the gentlemen can easily go outside to smoke there. I had looked on the Internet to see if it was open and the one at Arrival 4 was supposed to be open 24 hours a day, so it wasn’t. Everything else is also closed for inspection. Only a DeliFrance is open. There we take a cup of coffee. The gentlemen do indeed smoke something and then we go through the checkpoint. We do not walk around much, we are all a bit listless. Daan and Fenna have hardly slept either. We finally arrive at our gate, C11. There we then wait until we can board at 04:45. Punctually at 05:15 we leave for Heraklion. And the flight also goes perfectly. We land at Nikos Kazantzakis Airport at 09:30 local time.
It doesn’t take very long for our suitcases to arrive. We then check out at the Hostess and go in search of our car. This turns out not to be a KIA Sorento, but a Hyundai Tucson. Also a nice car, also 4WD, same engine power and also black. So doesn’t matter. Apparently the KIA had been roughed up by us in the previous vacation. At least this one is newer which is always good. Together with the rental man we load the suitcases in the back and leave for Malia. On the way, René stops for gas. The tank is only a quarter full. Then we drive on.
Rania arrives at the apartment and greets us warmly. First we get something to drink. And then she picks up the keys. We don’t sit next to each other this time, but that’s not a bad thing at all. Last time, the gentlemen sometimes lost their way when it came to drinking on the balcony and so on. Daan and Fenna are in room 102 and Rene and I are in 304. We have a drink, Rania informs us that our light in the living area does not work and that Yorgos has not yet had time to fix it. His father is in the hospital and he drives back and forth to Heraklion a lot. It doesn’t matter, it will all work out. Later, in our room, the door to the bathroom does not close properly either. Oh well, there are worse things. At the bar we had already seen many of the regulars. Aad, Hennie, Jos, Gonnie, Tilly and a friend of hers whose name escapes me. Reinier appears to have died last year. That is why there are two of them. Once in the room we quickly unpack the suitcases, then we immediately change into shorts. I ask by SMS how long Daan wants to lie down, he almost fell over from sleep, and we agree to get back on our feet at 3:00 pm. By the way, we were in Malia before 11:30 (local time). In the meantime, Rene does some reading and I start the trip report as I do every year. This time not in a notebook but typing directly on our mini laptop.
At 3:00 pm we are downstairs in front of 102. We speak to Tilly. She is having a hard time, you can tell, but I think it’s brave of her to be there anyway. Nelly is her friend’s name. A little later Daan and Fenna are there too and we decide to go shopping right away. We drive the car to Ariadne in Old Malalia and fill it with our daily necessities. Sandwiches, water, some desserts for breakfast, eggs, and so on. We drive right back and put the groceries away. Then we go for coffee at the bar. René and I take a frappe. Delicious.
We talk a bit with Marieke, about herself, about the season here and that it is finally starting to get a little busier. Fenna thinks she could finally get some sleep around 5:30, so we all go back to our rooms. At 7 p.m. we are all ready to go to the restaurant again.
Quietly we walk in that direction, looking at everything growing and blooming along the way. At the restaurant we are warmly greeted by Minos and not long after, Aristo is also there. Kisses and hugs all around. We sit down at table 42, a spacious four-person table. We are given the menu, but I know what I want. I start this vacation with Soutzoukakia. And apparently I ignite the rest. Daan and René take the same. Fenna has some stomach trouble and would like to eat some chicken. There are no quarter chickens or half chickens, but there is chicken souvlaki. And that is what it becomes. With red wine, beer and water. And of course both brothers regularly serve raki. After the main course Daan and Fenna take a Greek yogurt with honey and René and I start with an Axbax. Then we pay and leave for the apartment. Yorgos (whom of course we had also greeted extensively in the restaurant) asks if we want to take Ouzo with us for at the bar.
Around 00:30 Yorgos is also at the bar and we catch up. We give him the cheese, which he starts right away. Katerina finally has another car. A Ford Fiesta. Thank goodness. It also turns out that their house has been broken into. So what Katerina was always afraid of has now happened. His father is doing a little better (he is now in the hospital), he will probably come home on Monday. Around 1:30 we call it a day and all go to bed.
While getting cheese, I saw 1 gecko near our room. A big one that is, but for a first day a meager harvest.
Saturday 23 may 2009
Weather: Sunny and I estimate about 25 degrees (there is no longer a thermometer at the bar)
Slept wonderfully last night. Around 8:30 a.m., René gets up. He has to be the first, because he still has to get bread from the bakery. When he is all done in the bathroom I also get up. Then we go to room 102 for breakfast. Fenna has already boiled eggs and made fresh gravy and, of course, a cup of coffee.
After a full breakfast and after everyone has been to the bathroom, we set out today for the Lassithi Plateau. Before we reach the plateau, we stop at the Homo Sapien museum, for the view and a pee break.
Then at the top of the mountain pass we stop at the watchtowers. We climb a little closer to them and René takes several more pictures of them. Both inside and out.
I see a cute little mill that I also decide to buy after some insistence from René. I also see a cute monkey, but I leave this one hanging. We drive on. The plateau is one big sea of flowers. Red, pink, yellow, purple, white. You name it. Gorgeous! We stop regularly during our tour around the plateau to take pictures.
In the process I scrape my foot while trying to photograph a gladiolus. We end the tour at the little chapel of St. Georgos of Honos. Then we drive back to the mountain pass. By now we have also gotten hungry. So we stop again at the watchtowers and have a bite to eat.
We all take an omelet with bacon. Rene takes a fresh juice, Daan a tonic, Fenna a fresh apple juice and I take a frappe. We walk around the stores after dinner and we buy the monkey after all. He makes a lot of noise when you touch his butt. He laughs and giggles about it.
We then drive on again, this time back via Krassi. We had gone via Mochos on the way out. In Krassi we stop again and look at the tree and water pools. We also suddenly see a beautiful blue/purple iris blooming.
Then the trip goes back to Malia. We bring the stuff back to the rooms and then sit by the bar. We take the laptop with us. This way we can look back at the photos right away and I continue with the travelogue. After two fraps we go back to the room. We all go flat for a while.
At 7 p.m. everyone is ready for dinner again. We walk quietly in that direction. Just before the restaurant, we see a couple of men selling strawberries from their car. And when we reach the restaurant, a little later they too arrive there. Yorgos is running the restaurant service today and Irini is also there again. Yorgos buys a box full of trays of strawberries from the gentlemen and Eddy lets us all taste a strawberry before putting them in the cooler. Then he brings us our drinks. Yorgos joins us and asks if we are very hungry or not very hungry. He would like to serve us Mezes. In other words, all small portions of various dishes. We, René and I, always like that very much because that way you can taste and eat something of everything. He will put some things down and if it is too little we just have to say it, then he will bring more. But it was more than enough. We got most of it, only some of the salad remained. Since we now knew there were fresh strawberries, we all wanted Greek yogurt with honey (except René, who doesn’t like honey) and fresh strawberries. Whew, that was a bit much all together, but oh how delicious. Then another cup of coffee for the gentlemen. And while we reminisce, Yorgos joins Irini to play some music. Katerina has also arrived and we catch up. She looks very tired. It is exam time at school, which is always very stressful. That completes the evening. Around ten o’clock we return to the apartment.
Walking slowly again (also because of the bursitis Fenna has had in her hip recently). We see only 1 gecko on the way, it was just sticking its head out of a hole in the wall. At the bar we drink some more and around noon Yorgos comes too. We also talk about what we are going to do tomorrow. It will be the drive from Malia to Ierapetra and from there to Sitia and then back via Agios Nikolaos to Malia. At 01:15 we go to sleep.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Weather: Sunny and about 33 degrees
It is very warm today. There is hardly any wind and the sun burns right on. Today we get up half an hour earlier than yesterday. This is because today’s drive is also a bit longer. After breakfast we also set off almost immediately. The first part of the ride to Ierapetra is not the most beautiful part. It is quite busy on the road despite it being Sunday. In Ierapetra we park the car at the harbor.
We walk a little towards the fort that stands there and decide to have a drink at 1 of the tents there. Some of us also have to go to the toilet. At the tent where we have a drink they have two very small kittens. They are only a few weeks out and have just got their eyes right. There is no mother cat with them and the owner takes good care of them herself. She gives them a small bottle to drink and keeps a close eye on them. They have their bellies nicely full. So this is how it can be done. And of course it is also good for business, small kittens attract tourists and they drink or eat something right away.
After drinking we walk in the direction of the house where Napoleon is supposed to have lived, but although the sign says that it is in a small street after 50 meters, there is no indication on the facade which house it is. We suspect which one it is. But it was not that special. So we walk back to the car and drive on.
Now we first go a long way east along the south coast. Through numerous villages and beautiful vistas to a bay or a stretch of sea in the distance. Then the road turns north and we head toward Sitia. They have apparently been hit a lot by forest fires here. Whole stretches along the road are bare or blackened. We drive on to Sitia and there we stop again. This time to check out the harbor and get something to eat. In the harbor there are some nice boats and also a lot of international boats. People from Canada, Australia, America and Italy are in the harbor with their sailing boats.
Then we walk along the boulevard to a restaurant. Daan takes an Omelet Special and the rest takes scrambled eggs with tomato. A kind of Smik-Smak-Smoerie. And we all take a frappe with a scoop of ice cream. Then back to the car. Driving into Sitia and to the harbor was not so difficult, but getting out again is a little more difficult. There are one-way signs everywhere. So we followed the signs to the fortress and eventually took the road around the airport. This leads to the road to Agios Nikolaos. They are busy building a new, wider road here, but we are still on the old road. On both sides of the road grow huge forests of gorse and oleander. We stop at a nice spot to take some pictures and the air is heavy with the perfume of the flowers. Daan also sees some unusual butterflies. We don’t know what species they are, so we have to look them up at home.
Then we drive on and after a few kilometers we stop at a beautiful viewpoint over the coast. On the way, just before Agios Nikolaos, we see another half-sole on a scooter (a pizza courier) who overtakes cars and buses in short sleeves, but with a helmet. He prefers it to me. If he falls, only his head remains intact. The rest you can throw away.
Then we drive on again to Malia. Almost home again, we stop at the caper plant that I had seen a few years ago, it does not bloom very nicely anymore, but still enough for a picture. Then a little further to take some nice pictures of the cactus that is there. This one is also in full bloom. Then we got back to the apartment. It has been 5 p.m. by now. Everyone goes flat except me. I am not tired and would rather spend some time typing on the trip report. I even manage to get back to normal. We get ready for dinner again.
We expected Aristo to be at the restaurant today, but it’s Yorgos again. He indicates the he has Souvlaki today with garlic sauce and also has liver. We just have to think about whether we like that too. The gentlemen decide to go for the Souvlaki. Fenna and I both take Chicken Souvlaki. I can order it all in Greek these days and Yorgos is perplexed. Good, so then my pronunciation was finally exactly as it was supposed to be. After dinner we again have Greek yogurt with strawberries and honey. And then 4x Axbax again. It is busy in the restaurant. Also a lot of guests just for a drink. But that never matters here in terms of service and hospitality. Everyone can stay as long as he wants. But because it is so busy now, it takes a while before we have paid. No problem, there is plenty to watch. After we have paid around 10:30 pm, Yorgos gives us a bottle of raki for the bar of the apartment.
On the way we see no geckos at all this time. Apparently it is either the time or not yet. Maybe they find the walls on which they normally sit too cold. At the bar, for a change, I don’t drink water but ouzo. The gentlemen play pool again. After three games this time it is 2-1 for Daan, last night it was the other way around. René wants to get on the computer for a while, but appears to have to fix it first. It does not start up anymore. After much fiddling we manage to get the thing working again, normally not much work, but with a Greek version of Vista everything suddenly becomes very difficult. We check our email, but there is nothing important. Then, using the toolbox in the little office, René fixes the shower for Daan and Fenna. Yorgos would do it, but he is very busy and forgetful. As a temporary solution we decide to take the showerhead from the shower behind the toilets and swap it with theirs. This way they can still shower and the rear shower is not used much. Daan then wants a raki at the bar. Marieke loosens the bottle I had given her earlier and says it doesn’t smell like raki, but rather like plain water. She never drinks it herself, so I take a sip from the glass and note indeed that it is water. A joke from Yorgos! When he arrives at the bar not long after that, too, he is completely in a state of doubled over. He thought it was a good joke of his own. We all (Nelly, Jos, Gonnie, Hennie, Aad, Marieke, Yorgos, and the four of us) sit together for a while, but around 2:00 we call it a day. Then we go to sleep.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Weather: Sunny, with some veil clouds and 28 degrees
It feels very hot today, even though later in the day it turns out to be only 28 degrees. There are also veil clouds and the mountains are all hazy. We get up at 8:30 today and have breakfast an hour later. Today the trip is to Sissi. Not so far away and also a very nice place.
We park the car at the harbor and then walk back a bit. In the old harbor are all small fishing boats. It always looks nice with the palm trees on the other side. We walk around and then arrive at those palm trees. You can get to the beach here through the grounds of a hotel (Palm Bay). They also have very nice sitting areas here with hammocks and chairs. So on the way back (during which our shoes get covered in some kind of preparatory sludge from asphalt) we stop there and order something to drink. While enjoying a fresh juice and tonic, we enjoy the view. When Daan returns from a visit to the restroom he tells us that behind the hotel in the courtyards it is beautiful. There are all apartments and everything is overgrown with Bougainville. Against white walls and with blue woodwork and red window frames. Gorgeous! Lots of pictures of that, of course.
We then continue walking through the village again. In the harbor we sit down at a little restaurant and order something to eat. Fenna takes a tosti, I a Greek salad and the gentlemen both want fried eggs with French fries and bacon. The latter becomes a full english breakfast! Complete with white beans in tomato sauce, sausage and mushrooms! That was not the intention, but they eat it anyway as best they can. We all also have a delicious frappe with vanilla ice cream in front of us. This one is fine, the rest is a bit disappointing. Especially considering the price. 40 euros! That’s almost what we have a complete hot meal for the four of us at Cretan Family. When everyone has finished eating, we pay and drive back to Malia. We park the car at the SPAR and first go to the ATM. Then we walk back, on the way I see some nice earrings for 7 euros, which we take with us. Then we go into the SPAR to get groceries. Most things were already almost gone.
We drive back to the apartment and store the groceries. Then we lie by the pool for a while. Everyone goes right into the sun. I don’t. So under the parasol. I burn enough as it is, even while walking and taking pictures.
Later in the room when I start the travelogue, I notice again that my back is covered with sun allergy. I have to go to the doctor again. The ointment I got from Yorgos works fine, but then you have it first. Maybe there is something I can use preventively. In any case, I’m now suffering from itching again. And no, that’s definitely not fun. Around 19:00 everyone is ready to go to the restaurant. At the bar, Aad first tells a nice story about 1 of the restaurants we always walk by. We never see people sitting there and Aad knew why. The four of them went there for a drink after they had eaten at Cretan Family. They felt so sorry for the owner. But there was no atmosphere or anything in it and when they wanted something to snack on besides a drink, they got, honestly, 1 walnut which the four of them had to share! So that’s why no one ever sits there.
And again tonight the place is deserted. So we also just walk on. We turn out to be the first tonight. But we just sit down at our regular table (42). The rest will come by itself. We decide to have Gyros tonight, except for myself. I take Stifado. My Stifado is fine, just way too much for me. The Gyros is disappointing I hear from the rest. A little crunchy and a little less well seasoned. Well, that can happen sometimes. Another time it will be delicious again. In any case, I am so full that at first I say that I do not want yogurt with honey and strawberries. But after a raki, I change my mind. Then I still have enough room. Only, according to Aristo, there appears to be no honey. Then I’ll have to do without. Only Fenna prefers strawberries with vanilla ice cream. Also delicious. I can’t quite finish mine, but René gladly sacrifices himself and eats the rest. Then another cup of coffee. And the occasional raki. When Aristo is there (like tonight) the amount of raki is much more than when Yorgos is alone. The latter often just forgets about it. Anyway, their father is out of the hospital again and is back behind the desk in the restaurant. He keeps an eye on everything and hears and sees everything.
While we are waiting for coffee, suddenly Katerina arrives with both children. This is the first time this vacation we have seen Nikos. He is still to be devoured. He immediately runs to Yorgos. And he tells Nikos that he should also stop by to shake our hands. And he does so obediently. Nicely behaved, already. Then he runs to Grandpa, which is also the reason he was allowed to come along. He hadn’t seen Grandpa since he was in the hospital. Yorgos is delighted that both children are there and immediately starts playing music. Much to the delight of Nikos. He claps his hands and pretends to play Lyra. At least we do not have the illusion that he is playing for us, he is really playing for his children. When Yorgos finishes playing, they go home again. Nikos comes to shake hands with us again and says Kalinichta. So sweet! With his big bunch of curls, he looks a bit like Mozart. We make an attempt to pay, which succeeds after a while. And then we walk back to the apartment. The gecko harvest is much higher this time. We see (counting a few at the apartment) a total of 8 tonight! We stay at the bar talking for a while, with Yorgos joining us later as well. He finally finds the video on YouTube he was looking for me, it’s by Yiannis Xalouris or something. I saved it to my favorites there. We talk about many more things, but they are not suitable for the travelogue. At 2:30 we then go upstairs to sleep.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Weather: sunny and 30 degrees
This morning again just got up at 8:30. And breakfast at 9:30. The rhythm is already there. After breakfast we get ready for departure and around 10:30 am we are in the car. The first part is on the new main road to Heraklion until the exit to Anogia. We take that and drive up to Anogia itself. There we take the turnoff to the ski resort and the Nida Plateau.
We are going to do the same route as last vacation, but this time also to the resort. We thought we visited that last time too, but that was a taverna. The resort is one turn earlier to the right. We head toward the cave first. On the way we first see a lizard that has been hit. Typical case of Road Kill.
A little further on, another lizard tries to cross in front of our car, but instead of walking straight through, it lifts its head first and stays put. René can no longer avoid him. So this time also Road Kill, but by René. We drive on and take the dirt road at the taverna, heading for the cave.
To our surprise, the dirt road to the top is being completely refurbished. Walls are being put up along it and the road itself is being leveled as well. At the top they are even building something. We don’t yet know what that will be, maybe a taverna or a toilet building or something. I guess we’ll see. We (except Daan) go into the cave. Just before the cave we see two more ravens. Unfortunately, we don’t manage to get them in the picture. We did manage to get the goats stuck to the rock wall. Down in the cave it appears that things have changed. The decking has been improved and even a fence has been installed. In the cave there is also some snow! Not very much but still.
In any case, it is very cold. Also outside at the entrance it is a lot cooler than down along the coast. We take a lot of pictures and then go back to the car and back to the paved road. We drive it back to the exit to the ski resort. This road is unpaved but doable with our car. The resort has never been used and has been completely nicked by goats. The windows are all broken and goats are everywhere.
They watch us and we watch them. Then they set off running and with much ringing of bells they run up the mountain. Some dare more and stay put. Anyway, we take some great pictures. Hilarious all those goats in that building. Then we turn the car around again and drive back to the paved road. At the junction we stop again. Daan wants to take a picture of the resort sign. This is so full of bullet holes that I hadn’t noticed it was an exit either. The arrow is no longer there.
A car stops and they ask if there is anything nice to see that way, if it is worth it and if their car can handle it. Daan says it can easily be done and they leave for the ski resort. They will never make it, they will turn around, but at least we are having fun. We ourselves drive back a little further until we reach the turnoff to Gergeri. This is not signposted, but it is the only paved road that turns off our way. Past the turnoff to the planetarium, the road appears to be further paved. But this stops not too much further anyway. It is slightly flatter, though. In a while this road will probably be completely paved. That would take away much of the road’s charm. It is nice this way and hardly anyone dares to drive on it now.
At least you won’t have to expect oncoming traffic or anything like that. We stop a few times along the way to take pictures and eventually arrive at Gergeri.
There was a nice turnoff on the way, but due to lack of time we didn’t do it. We go back to Heraklion and then to Malia. By now it is almost five o’clock, so we drink a frappe and eat a sandwich at the bar. So a very late lunch. Then we go back to the rooms. I take a seat on the balcony to update the report.
At our regular time we simply head back to the restaurant. This time Yorgos indicates that there is chicken and he has pork from the oven. We can come and see and taste that first. Daan and Fenna decide to go for the half chicken and René and I take the pork from the oven. Delicious! There are new boxes of strawberries again, much to Eddy’s displeasure, so we take our usual dessert. The only problem is that René has honey on his too. Let’s eat it with honey. Then we all take another Axbax. We finish eating quickly because both the chicken and the pork were already ready. So a little before 10 p.m. we walk back.
We count 5 geckos tonight. René first goes to play pool with his father and because I had commented on René I also have to play two games with him. Both I win because René plays the black ball in the wrong hole. This is how I usually win, because I am not that good at pool. René had also won two of the three games with his father.
Yorgos also comes again and shows us pictures of his little boat. Not very big and converted for fishing. Maybe we went out to sea with it. We’ll see. He also shows us another very handy program for the phone. Shazam. It records three seconds of music and then tells you who the artist is, what song it is and gives you a link to YouTube. We should look for that, then. Around 0:45 we call it a day. We go to sleep.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Weather: sunny and 26 degrees
We got up around 9:00 and had breakfast at 10:00. We only want a short drive today and Daan had not slept too well for a couple of nights. We are going to Elounda today. I already notice with getting up that I am not having my day today. Either my blood pressure is too low again or my heart rate is too low or my oxygen level is too high again. Maybe all three as well, but in any case I am extremely giddy. I also hardly eat anything with breakfast. Maybe it will perk up around lunch.
Around noon we are all ready to go out. We want to take the old road to Elounda, but because they are working on the new road it turns out that the old road is one-way. We cannot get on the old road before Neapoli. We do so and drive through the mountains to Elounda.
There we drive straight to the small lock with the two windmills. The sea here is a lot wilder than yesterday and all. It splashes all the way up over the road. We follow the road quite a bit up the peninsula.
This island is actually called Spinalonga, but everyone calls the island the fortress is on that way. We park the car near a little church and follow another path on foot. But it is quite warm today, so only Rene ends up walking a bit further. But there was nothing special to see. Off the coast is a smaller island that we have now renamed SpinaBifia.
We check out the little church near the car for a while, but the church is locked and not very special. So we drive back in the direction of the windmills. We suddenly see an old lady on a donkey approaching and Daan wants to take her picture, but the lady does not like that. She is waving a branch around and cursing like hell! Still we manage to get her on the picture, much to her dismay. We are not the only ones who try this and it only makes her angrier.
We take another look at the lock itself and I am almost certain that there must also be old mosaics here somewhere. But I cannot find them anywhere and it is not indicated. So we get back in the car and drive to Elounda itself. There we park the car, this time it is paid parking. 2 euros for 3 hours. Or 1.80 euros for 2 hours. We choose three. Better a little too long than too short and for those 20 cents extra… We have lunch here right away. We all take an omelet with bacon. Daan and Fenna take another frappe with vanilla ice cream (very popular this vacation), René takes tonic and I take cola. The omelet is delicious and the salty bacon makes me feel quite well again. I feel a lot better. We walk around some more stores, where we suddenly see the brand of René’s after shave balm (which we bought last year in Spili). We immediately buy two tubes. And a pump of shaving cream. It costs something, but then you have something. It is the brand Olivelia. And I can definitely recommend it. Then we go back to the car and drive to Plaka. Here you can take beautiful pictures of Spinalonga and of the bay itself. How blue the water is here. Much more than at Malia.
Via Plaka we drive through the mountains back towards Fourni. Just before that there are about 13 windmills on the mountainside. Completely dilapidated, but therefore beautiful. It blows enormously here (a very good place for mills). Via a narrow staircase but with a handrail, René and I can descend a little further to take a picture of them.
Then we continue on the old road to Malia. At the bar we drink some coffee, frappe or apple juice and look at some photos on the laptop. Then we go to our rooms, some of us again to get some sleep, I continue with the report. I like it on the laptop. Every day I just make some short notes in a notebook and then work them all out. That way I keep up nicely. We go to the restaurant again at the regular time. This time we ask for the menu again and we all order something different. Daan takes Soutzoukakia, Fenna takes Chicken Souvlaki, René takes Stifado and I take Gemista. Our dessert is the same, strawberries again, with Greek yogurt and honey, except René, who of course takes it again without honey. Then again 4 Axbax. Aristo gives us so much raki that at a certain moment I give up. I just don’t like it. Marieke had asked before we went to the restaurant if we could ask Yorgos for Metaxa for the bar. Of course we get it, but I have to promise that the Piranha’s won’t get anything until the bottle is with Marieke. While walking we see 4 geckos. We then hang around the bar for a while. It is very cozy. The whole group sits together. At some point, everyone goes upstairs and René and I help finish up. By the time we finish it is 2:00.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Weather: sunny and 27 degrees
Today we don’t get up until 9:00 am. And we have breakfast at 10:00. We will not go out by car today. We will do some walking through Old Malia and Malia itself. Around 11:00 a.m. we go in that direction.
We walk through Old Malia first. They are totally fixing up the streets there, but it’s still a mess right now. After some strolling, we move on to Malia itself. Rene would like another pair of slippers of Lucky Strike and, like every vacation, that is a drama to find. Daan would like a lighter (Yorgos had one he really liked). On the way we stop at a clothing store, where I buy a sweatvest by Burberry and a shirt by Gucci. Daan buys a black polo shirt from Paul & Shark there. All fake, of course, but the good quality. You can’t tell.
At Revolution we make a pit stop. Here the gentlemen take a double espresso and Fenna and I have tea. Me with fresh lemon. Then we walk back that way towards the Mc Donalds. Finally we find the cigarettes and lighters and we also find a bunch of nice stickers for on the suitcases. We had some on them, but they were already pretty worn out. Then we go back to the apartment. There we first have a drink at the bar and then quickly change clothes and sunbathe by the pool.
We also want to get a bit of a tan. Although, of course, that is not in the cards for me. I only get more and more sun allergy. At least we see the swallows again, who also love the pool.
At 3:40 p.m. we take a quick bite to eat at the bar. René wants two frikadellen, Daan and Fenna share a sandwich and I take a sandwich for myself. Then at 4 p.m. we call it a day and go upstairs. At least now we can lay flat for a while. Even I decide to sleep for a while. At 6:00 p.m. I wake René, who really has to come a long way. We recover, I jump in the shower and then we are ready for the restaurant.
Tonight at the restaurant we get Mezes from Yorgos again. He writes everything down and disappears with the piece of paper to the kitchen. All sorts of things appear on the table. Chicken salad, half a chicken, Stifado, Bifteki, garlic rolls, lamb chops, Deep-fried zucchini sliced with cheese, and feta from the oven. We’re just getting by. After a raki, we have room again for our regular dessert (which I’m really not going to describe now). Eddy wants to write it on the bill but can’t find it. We tell him that Yorgos took it to the kitchen but didn’t bring it back. He walks in that direction, but also returns without the bill. After dessert, of course, we take our coffee again. When we want to pay, it turns out that our note is still missing. Yorgos doesn’t understand and checks every corner of our table. Nowhere to be found. He quickly writes it down on a new one. Aristo charges us, but cannot read the bill Yorgos has now made. I then just list what we all had. Then we’re fine. We get one last Metaxa shot from Aristo.
Then quickly back to the apartment. We see 5 geckos tonight. Of which one without a tail. At the bar we stay for a while and say goodbye to Aad, Hennie, Jos and Gonnie and four other guests who are also leaving. Tonight Yorgos started talking about getting married at Marieke’s and that we were also married in Heraklion, but that it was not yet complete at our place. We still have to get married for the church here, he thinks. We agree, but it is not so easy here. I think we have to be Greek Orthodox first and that means being baptized first. He said he would take care of it one day. We will find out when he has made concrete plans. With him you never know when exactly that will be, it could be this year, but it could also take a few years. Anyway, we are going upstairs now, it has been 01:00 in the meantime.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Weather: Sunny and 28 degrees
Today we get up at 08:00 and have breakfast at 09:00. Today’s trip is to Lake Kournas and Rethymnon. Just before we want to walk out the door at 10:00, Rania comes and asks if it is okay for the construction workers to come and fix our bathroom door. Sure! We are leaving soon anyway. Immediately she comes running upstairs with two men. Then we set off.
On the way we stop first in Fodele for a smoke break and because it is quite beautiful here.
Although the river is full of garbage. The garbage cans are overflowing everywhere. But I had seen that in more places on Crete. Maybe the garbage collectors are on strike. Not something very unusual here in Greece. After Fodele we stop again for a smoke and pee break. Daan also takes several pictures of the flowering roadsides from the car.
Then we arrive at the lake of Kournas. We can easily park the car despite it apparently being school trip day. We had the same in Fodele. We walk along the lake and unfortunately do not see any turtles. Apparently you really have to go out with one of those pedal boats. We see 2 lizards, this time alive. Photographed, of course.
Then we go to a taverna for a drink. Last time Rene bought an ashtray here for outside, but unfortunately it had broken down. Now that we are here again, we look for a new one and Fenna finally finds some nice little eyes, those blue ones to protect the evil eye. She wants to give these as gifts to some friends.
Then the journey goes back to Rethymnon. We park the car again in the large parking lot in the center and then walk through the old center toward the harbor. We arrive at the old harbor and are immediately asked on all sides, very pushy, if we want something to eat or drink. Finally we choose one. The place where he lets us sit is certainly not the nicest. The gentlemen sit on the far edge of the quay. So we pull the table further in for safety. We get a drink on the house and all order an omelet with bacon. Another bottle of water appears and bread and herb butter and the drink we ordered. The whole table is full and we really only wanted an omelet after all. This one is also slightly disappointing. We have had much better. We have to pay 42 euros for the food and drinks. Those are really expensive omelets. So you really have to pay for those drinks yourself. You can have a nice look at all the fish swimming in the harbor. They feed them regularly with bread. Some are very large.
After lunch we walk towards the old fort. There we turn to the old center. It is still very beautiful, all those narrow streets and alleys.
They are also busy paving here. After a while we are bored and walk back to the car. We drive back to Malia in one go. There we go straight to Ariadne. Some shopping must be done. Around 5:40 p.m. we are back at the apartment.
When René has just laid down, there is a knock on the door by Marieke. The builders were not quite finished and one wants to finish it. That’s no problem. He immediately starts banging on the frame with his hammer to fix the strip. In case any more people wanted to sleep for a while, they did. What a racket! He only works for about 10 minutes and then it’s done. René decides to go back to sleep.
At 7 p.m. we are all ready to eat again. Tonight we all have something different. Daan takes Stifado, Fenna takes Gemista, René takes Soutzoukakia and I go for the Chicken Souvlaki. For dessert we again have strawberries with yogurt and honey (Daan and Fenna), or without honey (René) or without yogurt and honey, but with Ouzo and sugar (me). The latter had recently been given to another guest as well and he recommended it to me. It is indeed very tasty. Something completely different. But it doesn’t combine well with the small glasses of raki. That’s too much alcohol. Yorgos, while writing down the yogurt, also wrote down four Axbax. And Eddy brings them after the strawberries. We are well full so we want to checkout. We have just finished with Aristo when Yorgos joins us with a plate full of spaghetti and starts eating. We wait nicely until he finishes his plate. And then we walk back.
Tonight we see another 5 geckos. In total we now have 29 geckos. We talk some more at the bar. Yorgos tells all kinds of stories again. And at 2:30 we all decide to go to bed.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Weather: Partly cloudy (veil clouds) and about 30 degrees
It is muggy warm today. There is quite a lot of veil cloud, occasionally even a little thicker. But the heat lingers tremendously and when the sun does shine, it is immediately quite warm. Today we get up at 8:00 am and have breakfast at 9:00 am. At 10:30 we are ready to go out again.
Today the gypsy market in Heraklion is on the agenda. And the center itself. First we go to the market. We found it in no time, but getting rid of the car in a place is more difficult. We find one where our car just fits. It is very busy at the market and everywhere there are cars, scooters or people walking on the street. We get out and go into the market ourselves. What a crowd. They look like ants! And a racket some of them have. Fenna spots quite quickly a nice bag made of “leather” for only 10 euros. A little further on, Daan sees nice T-shirts, also fake of course but very nice. Also for very little. Then I see a stall with some semi-precious beads. And I had promised Syane (my colleague) to take some if I see something. For 15 euros I buy two different strands. Still a little further on I see a nice shirt hanging. It is the last of that kind and 1 size. I take it for 5 euros. No money either. René doesn’t see anything nice. After walking around some more we have seen enough and walk back to the car. We do see an old Toyota bus, full of dents and tied together with ropes.
We get into our own car and drive further to the harbor and park the car on the paid parking spots. For 2.50 euros you can park here as long as you want. At least that’s something different from our own hometown. There they keep making things more and more expensive and the time you can park your car shorter and shorter. The train that used to stand nearby is no longer there.
We walk along the old harbor and then into August 25 Street. Behind the Loggia we take a drink. You can sit there wonderfully under the plane tree. Drinking here is not particularly expensive and the toilets are clean. After drinking, we continue into the center. The Loggia itself turns out to be covered in graffiti. A real shame and also very difficult to remove on that marble. The paint sucks in so deeply. You really can’t get it off completely. So there is no point in taking a picture of the place where we got married. Fortunately, we already have plenty of pictures of it. Yorgos had asked if we wanted to watch Darts in Heraklion. He has a board, but no darts. We look everywhere and ask in various places, but we can’t find them. We even have to use some kind of hints to explain exactly what we mean and therefore what we are looking for. That doesn’t raise much hope for darts. I check the day market to see if they have a nice wallet there to go with my bag. I had bought that one here in October. They do have one, but 47 euros for a wallet is too much money. We don’t see anything else nice, so we go back to Malia.
We check out the sports store there, but the girl tells us that she doesn’t have any darts and doesn’t expect us to find any. The sport is hardly done here, if at all, so finding darts will be very difficult. I do see some very nice slippers from Nike and they are even in my size. For 21 euros they are mine and of course I can’t resist. I have never bought so many clothes or something similar in one vacation as I did this time. We also have to go to the clothing store again. Daan’s polo shirt is covered with weird stains and the fabric is not good in some places. He gets to pick another one and this time Rene sees something nice. A purple polo from Burberry. Daan chooses the same one but in black and he picks out another Paul & Shark T-shirt. For only 20 euros. René also bought one here five years ago. The exact same one is still here and today he is wearing his own. There is hardly any color difference. So they stay very good. Then we really stop shopping and walk back. At Revolution we decide to have a drink and a sandwich as well. By now it is already 3:30 pm. The waiter from October is there this time and he also recognizes us. After a double espresso for the gentlemen and tea for the ladies, and a couple of delicious sandwiches with chips, we can go back to the apartment.
It is a long walk, but I have always been able to walk well in these heels, so it should not be a problem. We get a menu and an extra appetizer right away. It was misdelivered to the table next to us. It is stewed slices of zucchini and eggplant with onions and tomatoes. Very tasty. Yorgos indicates that today he has fresh shrimps with rice. But we all feel like something else. Daan takes lamb chops, with extra fries. Fenna takes Chicken Souvlaki, René takes a plain Souvlaki and I go for the Mousaka. It’s very filling, but also very tasty. I can’t quite finish it, but I had already eaten most of the appetizer. We have our usual dessert again, but I can’t finish it either. Fortunately, René gives me a hand. Then we get a raki. That helps quite a bit, but for some reason it hasn’t tasted the same to me since a few days. I can’t stomach them like that anymore. So I skip the others tonight. We take 4 more Axbax and then head back to the apartment. The checkout is always made difficult, they don’t want us to leave at all yet. But Marieke also wants some company.
Tonight we see 8 geckos. The two big ones near the apartment are also there again. René goes to play pool with Daan and loses 4-2. Marieke’s sister Femke also drops by for a while. We have a nice chat. Then she leaves together with Marieke. Femke had four days off and because they have a house in old Malalia anyway, she came over to Crete for those days. It’s great when you can do that. I want that too. Yorgos joins us for a while and tells all kinds of stories again. He also wants to play pool and manages to persuade Huib (one of the other guests). Yorgos has a hard time with him, he is behind in terms of won games. At the end of the evening the score is 6-3 in Huib’s favor. Around 1:50 Fenna and I go to bed. The gentlemen stay with Yorgos for a while while enjoying a Metaxa. Tomorrow we will have a pool day. So tomorrow we will have breakfast around 9:30.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Weather: Sunny and 28 degrees
The sky is bright blue today and there is not a cloud in sight. Perfect for a day of baking in the sun. Not that I’m very good at that, but I can soak in the sun for a while. We get up at 8:30 and have breakfast at 9:30. We are not going out today, as I said. Dan wants a day of baking in the sun and a day without a car should be possible.
Around 10:45 we are ready and seek out the sun beds. For me, I last quite a long time before I lie down under the parasol. René, as usual, lies right in the sun. Without protection factor or anything. I have warned him often enough, but he is stubborn. We take an ice cream at the bar at 2 p.m. and around 3 p.m. we have had enough of the sun. We all have a hamburger sandwich (except Fenna, who prefers a toasted sandwich) and then head to the room. René jumps right into the shower and after the shower it is really clear that he is badly burned. We put on some aftersun. I continue with the travelogue. Not much text today, because we did nothing more than lying in the sun. When I have recovered, I read a bit more and then I want to lie down. I’ll shower later before we eat. After I get out of the shower, I also appear to be quite sunburned. Right along the edge of my top.
At 18:30 René and I are ready to eat, so we walk down to the bar and have a drink. At least we try to. René wants a beer from the tap and Marieke has been arguing with that thing all day. It only produces foam. I ask her if maybe the keg is empty then. Of course it could be. We replace the keg (René fetches a new one for her, as these things are rather heavy) and she connects it. Now almost nothing comes out. We look at everything but are none the wiser. Marieke calls Yorgos and he sees if he can send someone over. Not long after that, Eddy arrives on his scooter. He checks whether the pressure tank is connected properly and then checks whether the new barrel is connected properly. Normally you have to turn the lever first, so that the beer does not spray in all directions. Eddy forgets this or is stubborn, but in any case he gets the full brunt of it. The three of us were on the right side of the bar. Only a few drops fly there. His shirt now smells completely like beer and he’s quite vain, so he doesn’t like that. The new keg turned out not to be connected properly and he pushes the connection on more firmly. Now it seems to go better. First a lot of foam comes out and then the beer starts coming. For us it is now time to go to the restaurant, Marieke now has all kinds of things to clean up, the beer is everywhere behind the bar. We are back at the restaurant at our regular time and all four of us just order from the menu. Daan takes Mix Grill, Fenna takes Souvlaki, René takes Bifteki and I take Soutzoukakia. And, of course, our regular dessert. The restaurant is crawling with flying ants today. The last few evenings there were some, but never as many as today. They are mainly attracted to the light of the lamps and Yorgos finally decides to turn off the lights and put candles on the table. If they fly into those, they are dead immediately. But those crazy beasts find the flame too hot so they just land on the table. In no time our whole table is covered in them. And everything itches and does. So we decide to check out and have coffee at the apartment bar. Things are getting too crazy for us here.
We see almost no geckos this time on the way back. There are other people walking in front of us and there is also a dog walking and they all make so much noise that the geckos are of course long gone. We only see 2 on the last piece of wall and against the wall on the outside of the bar there are 2 more. So not many tonight. We sit down at the bar and the gentlemen play a few games of pool. The score tonight will be 4-2 for Daan.
We hear from other guests that right after we left the restaurant an ambulance came for the boys’ father. He went for a check-up and Yorgos went with him. Therefore, later in the evening Aristo arrives at the apartment bar. He also brings the new fire extinguishers right away. These are checked every year and replaced every five years. And so now they need to be replaced. Marieke reports to us that there is still no beer from the tap. It is too hot and the spray is not yet great either. So I ask Aristo if he might take a look at it. He thinks he has solved it, but it will now take another 2-3 hours before it is cold enough. We don’t wait for that anymore. Suddenly we see something moving in the pool, we walk over and it turns out to be a toad swimming through the pool with a perfect breaststroke. He just has a very hard time getting out. He just manages it himself when we try to give him a hand, only then the stupid animal jumps into the baby pool.
He can’t get out of that and 1 of the guests gets him out and puts him on the lawn. At 1:30 everyone goes to bed and René and I help Aristo shut down for a while. He does not know exactly how everything works and together we come a long way. Then we too go to our room to sleep.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Weather: Sunny with wind chills and very hazy, I estimate about 29 degrees
Today we get up at 8:00 am and have breakfast at 9:00 am. Today we are going to the Arkadi Monastery. We have been there a couple of times, but it remains very beautiful.
We get in the car around 10:00. Where the new road starts we see a car against the cliff. It went straight on instead of driving on the old road to Malia. It is completely crushed from the front and has also partly burned out. It made a big bang. We drive to Heraklion first and head for the old road and then towards Arkadi. On the way we stop a few times to smoke, pee (easy for the gentlemen and with all that coffee, fresh juice and milk from breakfast, regularly necessary) or to enjoy the view. Around 1 p.m. we are then at the spot. We decide to have a drink first and walk straight through the souvenir shop. Also, before entering the monastery, we all go to the toilet (yes, we have to go very often, yes), it is still possible. For 2.50 euros per person we can enter the monastery. Inside it is one big floral display. The smell of roses is everywhere. And these are in all sorts of colors.
From bright yellow to soft pink, from red to white. And large and small. Beautiful. We walk through the whole monastery and I also find a sweet cat sleeping in a nice spot. A very sweet picture.
Then we go into the little store at the monastery for a while. Linda, my niece, would like to have the same bracelet that Rene and I bought here last time. And Daan also likes such a bracelet. René and I want to look at an icon of Agios Georgos. We find it a beautiful image and if we are going to buy one then preferably in this monastery. We find one with silver and gold and not too big. Handmade on canvas and wood and plastered with silver and gold. You can see that and the price is accordingly. For 60 euros we can take it with us. The man behind the counter neatly wraps it in a box. For Linda, we find exactly the same strap as mine, with light blue beads in between. Daan also finds one. Now he has two on. They cost three euros here. In some monasteries you get a bracelet like this, but this is not an active monastery, but a monument. And the money is spent on restoring the monastery. It’s 2:30 p.m. when we’re done looking.
We drive towards the new main road and drive that towards Bali. There we want to have a bite to eat. We first walk past the boats in the harbor. The water is very clear and we also see sea urchins all sitting on the edges.
We also find a nice taverna near the harbor. We have an omelet and a frappe with vanilla ice cream. When we want to pay, we get another plate with fruit and a plate with two kinds of cake. And a bottle of raki. These are on the house. Only the bread we got with the omelet we have to pay extra. For just over 30 euros we are done. And with four people that is not money. That’s 7.50 euros per person, for an omelet, frappe with ice cream, fruit, cake, bread and raki. No money. After dinner we drive back to Malia. The car we saw burned out this morning has already been taken away. That is not so bad, because sometimes you see them for days, if not weeks.
First we drive to the supermarket and get the last groceries of this vacation. Then we drive to the store where the gentlemen had found cigarettes. There they have replenished their stock so they take new ones right away. You are allowed to take four cartons per person to the Netherlands. At the apartment we unload everything and go to the room. It is 17:00. A little rest before dinner. And I update the report again. We have dinner again at 7:00 pm. Daan takes Gyros, Fenna again goes for the Chicken Souvlaki, René takes Soutzoukakia and I take Gemista. Katerina is first in the restaurant tonight. Yorgos wasn’t back from the hospital until 3:30 last night. His father is still lying there. His blood pressure was again way too high and he again almost couldn’t breathe. Now he was doing better. But he still has to stay for a while. Yorgos went to sleep for a while this afternoon and was supposed to be at the restaurant around 8:30 p.m. and he is. Irini sits at the table with us for a while drawing and talking. But when we get our regular dessert, she neatly leaves the table with us for a while. Yorgos starts playing music and while enjoying Axbax we listen along. Then we pay and immediately take Marieke’s order to the bar. She must have Metaxa again and she is almost out of Baileys. By the way, there were a lot less flying ants and other vermin tonight. But we did sit by candlelight for a while.
On the way back we see the first gecko quite quickly and the final tally tonight remains at 10! At least that makes progress. We sit down at the bar and not long after us Femke is there again. We talk about everything and also about making necklaces. I show what I have with me and Fenna also picks up hers. Marieke likes the necklace I am wearing best, she would like to have something like that too. I tell her that the necklace is for sale for 7 euros. She seizes the opportunity immediately. Only now she doesn’t have 7 euros with her. That doesn’t matter, we will be here for a few more days, plenty of time. We say goodbye to Femke, who returns to the Netherlands tomorrow around 5:00.
We talk some more with Yorgos, who sometimes is not quite there with his thoughts. And that is of course quite understandable. We tell him that we had eaten at Eva’s last year and how bad the food was. I have never had such bad food. Yorgos was very happy with these words, because Eva’s husband keeps trying to put him in a bad light, saying that his products are fresher and better. Well that is so absolutely not true. If you can mess up even tatziki… We help him clean up at the end of the evening and send the last guests to bed. That’s where Yorgos belongs too, his bed. Who has slept very little since yesterday. It is 2:30 a.m. when we go to bed.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Weather: Partly cloudy to heavily cloudy (depending on where on the island you were sitting) and bloody hot (30 degrees and 87 percent humidity)
Today we get up again at 8:00 a.m. and have breakfast together at 9:00. We each go our own way today. Daan and Fenna actually want another day at the pool and Rene and I want to drive a specific route. So that is what we are going to do today. Besides, René and I are still quite sunburned from last time. A day without sun is not a bad idea. Moreover, today we have a very high chance of Sirocco and it is extremely hot. The humidity is high and there is not a breath of wind, but it is expected to come from the south tonight.
At 10:00 a.m. we leave by car. First we drive via Heraklion and Ag. Deka to Gortys. We had wanted to go to Rizenia on the way, but could not find the exit. They are busy with road works at Ag. Varvara and therefore you cannot pass certain exits. We’ll save those for another time. We eventually arrive at Gortys.
Here the first law was found and there are beautiful marble statues and a very beautiful old basilica and an odeion. We also take beautiful pictures of very old olive trees there.
Across the road are some more special things, including an olive tree that has a pillar in it. The tree has grown all around it.
We see both at Gortys and at that tree a separate lizard, very smooth and brown and very quick, as we do not manage to get them in the picture. Later in Holland I see that they were pearl skinks (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parelskink). We drive from Ag. Deka to Vagionia and then we want to go to Tripiti via Koumasa. But at Koumasa we don’t find the right road and end up in Vasiliki. Not a problem either, because from here there should also be a road to Tripiti. Only in the village we do not immediately find the right road (we had found it, but there was just new concrete and we did not want to drive through it). We try another road, but it is soon too narrow. So we have to turn around and keep looking. A friendly Greek gentleman stops us and asks us in perfect English where we want to go. We explain that we are trying to get to Krotos because we want to go to Tripiti. He says he can show us the way, but then he has to ride with us for a while. That is no problem. It turns out he speaks English so well because he was born here in the village, but lived for years in America. He now lives here again. We stop near his house which is on the right route and he asks if we would like to have a drink at his house. We thank him for the honor and thank him very much for showing us the way. We quickly move on. Very kind of him. We ourselves would never have found it so quickly. We drive on and suddenly see a very large poisonous green lizard walking across the road. We jump out of the car, grab our cameras but are too late. He was so fast. We get back in and drive on. At one point we should not follow the road to Krotos, but take the turn to the left. This road then comes out exactly at Tripiti. The road is fantastic. Higher and higher, narrower and rougher. And unpaved. Our favorite kind of road surface.
Every now and then I look beside me and then I see the bottom of the ravine very far down. Halfway along the route there should be a church and just as we see it and stop for a moment a griffon vulture skims past the car (about 2 meters in front of it)! How colossal these beasts are! That wingspan of 2.65 meters I believe immediately. We suspect that he or she had a nest there and wanted to chase us away. But we see no nest and it dives into the ravine so quickly that we don’t succeed in taking a picture of it. We are both enormously impressed. We had seen them flying before, but never this close. I don’t think we will ever see one this close again. We drive on again and then suddenly in the distance I see the gorge of Tripiti appear. When we get closer it looks as if the road goes straight to the cliff and stops there. But there is a road through it. It is so narrow that just a car can pass. Very special.
At the end of the road you get to the south coast and there, to our surprise, we find a bus and several caravans. Some, it seems, have been here for years. There are also several cars, also belonging to other tourists. And there is a taverna. We park the car and walk along the pebble beach first.
Then we go back to the taverna. We order two Fanta Lemons which we enjoy in the shade of the tamarisk tree. It is not cloudy here, there are only a few veil clouds and there is a nice breeze from the sea. After sitting for a while, we pay and get back in the car. Now we do go to Krotos. The road first runs along the coast and then quickly goes higher and higher. Again beautiful views and glimpses of the sea.
Near Krotos, we run into a sort of locust infestation. They are brownish-red in color and can even fly a little. There are lots of them here and even one in the car at one point. From Krotos we go back to Ag. Deka via Miamou and from there back to Malia. There we arrive around 4:15 pm.
We quickly bring our stuff to the room while Marieke makes us a sandwich and fresh gravy. Then we go upstairs and René wants to go flat for a while. I update the report again. What a fantastic day we had today. Again we visited new places and had some very special encounters. Both the one with the Greek and the one with the griffon vulture. At 18:35 René and I are ready to go to the restaurant.
So we are a little too early and sit with Marieke for a while. The stereo appears to be malfunctioning today and René sees if he can get the speakers working again. At first only one box worked, but then they both stopped working and in the end it all worked as it should. There is a break in the cable, but as long as they don’t move the stereo again it will be fine. Actually, the whole unit needs to be replaced sometime. It has seen its best days.
At 7:10 pm we are finally ready to go to the restaurant. Today Daan goes for half a chicken, Fenna takes a quarter chicken, René takes Souvlaki and I take Bifteki. Of course we also go for our regular dessert again. And for the Axbax. Yorgos started playing again tonight and even the cook started singing along. Real Cretan music. Only later I thought about the fact that if you like Cretan music, you should throw rose petals at the singer and musicians. And we even had roses on the table today! Silly me. When they finished singing, we walked back to the apartment. Like yesterday, we were not allowed to pay today. Avrio or tomorrow… We see 6 geckos tonight. The gentlemen go and play pool at the bar for a while and when Yorgos is there, the tall tales and jokes soon come as well. It is very pleasant and time flies. At 2:45 we help Yorgos close up and go to sleep. As far as we can, because halfway through the evening the south wind picks up and we get real Sirocco. Even at this time it is choking outside. Fortunately it is cooler in the rooms, which is what they are built for.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Weather: Sunny and a few clouds, I estimate about 28 degrees
Today we get up at 8:00 am and have breakfast at 9:00 am. Today we will take the last somewhat longer drive of this vacation. Among other things, we are going to Matala today. Around 10:30 we are ready to hit the road. In Ag. Varvara we try again to find the exit to Prinas. On the way there we do not succeed. So we drive on and go directly to Matala.
There we can find a nice spot for the car, for which we do not have to pay. We first walk through the village itself and also cross the traditional market. At the end we sit down at Hakuna Matata for a drink.
There is still quite a lot of wind today, but this time from the West. That already makes a big difference in terms of heat. After drinking we walk through the market again and René and I both like a certain kind of ceramic artwork. We think it is quite expensive and leave it hanging for now. But after walking a little further we change our minds and pick it up anyway. On this site, you can find more works by the artist and also the image of the one we bought: http://www.kouroupis.gr/patramanis.html, it is the one with puzzle pieces and silver. It is very carefully wrapped in all kinds of layers of bubble wrap and newspapers. Nothing can really happen to it now. René takes this to the car first, we wait at a few stores.
Then we headed toward the caves. These were first Roman tombs, but later they were used as sleeping places and the like by the hippies. After some climbing and scrambling, we have some nice pictures and head back to the car. We drive back a bit and stop in the next village. There we each have an omelet with bacon and something to drink. We get a bowl of delicious pieces of watermelon as a bonus at checkout. Delicious!
Then we get back in the car and drive back to Festos. René and I have driven past before but have never stopped there. This time we do. For 4 euros per person we are allowed to look around. It was quite a palace and here and there are still those large vases.
After a while we have had enough and drive back. In Ag. Varvara we try one more time to find the right exit to Prinas and yes, from this side there is a small sign. We drive to Prinas itself and then a little further, there is an archaeological site and a beautiful church.
By then it was already 17:15 and we really had to hurry to get back to Malia. In Heraklion there is normally always a bit of a traffic jam because of road works, but today it is very long. They are breaking off a piece of a rock face and apparently something didn’t go right this time. The pieces are now even on the other side of the road and they are busy cleaning everything up. When we can drive on, we see that they have cordoned off the other side of the road and that traffic is directed off just after the Coffeeright. This causes tremendous chaos. The traffic jam on the other side is many times longer than on our side and there are also a lot of buses with people who have to go to the airport or buses to pick up new people. That doesn’t make you happy. We finally arrive at the apartment around 6:30 pm. So today we only go to the restaurant half an hour later. René goes flat anyway and I update the report again.
At 7:30 p.m. we go to the restaurant. Katerina is still there, but already with Yorgos. The boys’ father is still in the hospital, but Yorgos expects him to come home tomorrow. We all order something different again today. Dan wants the spaghetti with pork this time (I thought it was called Horiato Piato or something like that), Fenna doesn’t really feel like eating at all so she chooses the Chicken Souvlaki. René wants the lamb chops this time and I choose Stifado. And then, of course, our dessert again and the Axbax. We tell Eddy that after tonight he only has to do 1 more and then we really go home. Tonight no music by Yorgos so around 21:45 we go back to the apartment.
No shopping for Marieke this time either. We see a total of 8 geckos today. At the bar we play pool again, of course. And then we stay and chat for a while. Yorgos has arrived and has all kinds of stories. He had his RAV washed today and we have to check it out first. Just for fun, René starts texting him while he is behind the bar. And at one point even places his order by text message. Yorgos loves it and shows almost everyone what kind of message he got this time. He has great fun and what’s more, it works, because a little later Rene does indeed get his beer. After a while Yorgos returns with plates of chips and I ask him where the apples from previous vacations have gone. Back then, we used to put out dishes with apple segments and cinnamon. I like that better than chips. I haven’t said it yet when he immediately starts cleaning apples. That was not the intention. At 2:15 everyone has had enough and we help him close up. Then we also go to bed.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Weather: Partly cloudy and about 28 degrees
We get up at 8:30 a.m. today. And we have breakfast at 9:30. We are going to make 1 last short drive today. We will go via Mochos again to the Lassithi Plateau and then from there to Neapoli. We stop a few more times along the way to enjoy all the flowers. It smells like chamomile and wild fennel everywhere. When you bruise the latter you just smell pure ouzo.
When we have just turned onto the road towards Agios Nikolaos we stop at the taverna there to enjoy the view and order something to drink. Fenna buys some necklaces in the little store near the taverna. Then we drive on.
Our real goal today is Manolis in Zenia. The spoon man. Would he still be alive this vacation? The man is well over 100 years old and is obviously a man of the day. When we drive into Zenia we see him right away. He waves friendly and of course we get out. I asked how he is doing and he says well. You can only talk Greek with him. After he catches René’s eye, he says Ollandia, Ollandia. Yes, we are indeed from the Netherlands. Where else do you find such tall slouches… The piece of paper hanging in his display case has been modified. It now says he is 107 years old. Considering his hands, which seem to be just made of parchment, I believe it too. In any case, old he certainly is.
Not long after we stopped, his wife Helena also emerged. She is now also past 100. She is such a sweet cute old lady. She walks all crooked and her hands are all fused from rheumatism, but she is very friendly. She opens the display case so we can get a better look at things. Manolis resumes making a spoon.
So as old as he is, he still does that and without glasses or anything. Using a pair of sharp knives and a shard of glass, he makes the spoon as smooth as anyone else would with sandpaper or a grater. Fenna sees a nice wooden mortar made of olive wood and I see a very nice soup spoon. When Fenna checks out with his wife she gets two tomatoes with it and when I check out I get a banana. We thank them warmly and are waved goodbye by both old people. Glad that we were able to see them again.
We now drive on again and take the exit to Neapoli. There we take the old road towards Malia. First we have a drink at the restaurant. And just as we sit there Aristo arrives with their father. Still very cautious and a bit shaky, but he is home again. He is installed on the bed in the back near the kitchen and Aristo makes sure everything gets its place again. Fortunately he is back. We check out and then drop Fenna off at the apartment. She doesn’t want to walk a bit more through Malia and we have to get some things.
Daan joins us. First we stop at the cigarette store. There we buy two cartons of Marlboro for Erica (my sister) and Linda (my niece). Daan buys some more funny lighters there. Then we drive on and fill up the tank as it should be returned, so about a quarter tank. Then we park the car near the SPAR and walk to the jewelry store in the road towards Revolution. I get a pendant from René there for my birthday. I had seen a very nice gold one there. And nowhere else after that did I see anything I liked better. My birthday is in two weeks (the 18th), so he has a nice present for me. We get a 15% discount too!
Then we drive back to the apartment and have a bite to eat at the bar. Then René really wants to lay down. He has a headache (Eddy had the same in the restaurant). I update the report again and then I wake him up. We really have to start packing now.
At 7:00 p.m. we first go for a bite to eat. Since this is our last meal here at the restaurant we pay for it. Katerina would be there tonight anyway to say goodbye and to our great pleasure she has brought Nikos with her. We give her and Nikos their presents right now too. Katerina is very happy with her digital picture frame which is also a keychain. I have already put some pictures of Irini and Nikos on it. Nikos is very happy with his little train. They don’t have them here in Crete and usually he gets cars. Then we quickly order something, we are quite hungry. Daan, Fenna and René all three take a pork chop. Katerina first thought they wanted Carbonara, but we explained to her right away that that is something completely different. Apparently it happened to her last year. Tonight I am having Soutzoukakia. That’s where I started the vacation and that’s where I’m going to end it. We see that there is only one container of strawberries left, so before anyone else beats us to it, we quickly order our regular dessert. At least Eddy is happy now. We are leaving, so we don’t order any more and they are the last ones! After dessert another Axbax and then it is time to say goodbye. We thank the cook Kostas for all the delicious meals. We thank Eddy for all the good care and nice cups of coffee. And of course we also thank Minos and Maria. Aristo doesn’t want to say goodbye to us yet. He says he will come to the apartment. So now we walk back to the apartment.
Tonight we see 8 geckos in total. When we arrive at the bar, the hostess of Sunweb appears to be there and Marieke immediately comes running towards us. It turns out that our flight has been canceled. We do not fly at 10:20 but at 22:30. So we still have a full day in the sun! But that does mean that we cannot take the car back to the airport now. René is going to call the rental company right away and they will now pick up the car tomorrow at 9:00 am. That is much easier. Sunweb will arrange for us to be picked up by cab at 7:50 pm. We just don’t know now if we can stay in the rooms. We have to ask Rania about that tomorrow. Fenna doesn’t like it at all, she can’t continue packing now. We just continue packing. They can be opened again soon enough and if we can only keep one room it is no problem. We talk for a while at the bar and another Koumpare from Yorgos comes by. He talks about business in Malia and in Crete and that things are not going well. We could see that for ourselves. A lot of businesses are still closed. Some will never open again. The gentlemen finish the Metaxa and Fenna finishes the Tia Maria. I take another Ouzo. After all, we don’t have to get out before dawn tomorrow. Around 2:30 we help close up again and go to bed.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Weather: Sunny and 29 degrees
We do get up at 8:00 a.m. today. This is because René has to return the car key to the people at the rental agency at 9:00. After that he goes to get bread. A little later he decides that he had better go and get some bread first and that is just as well, because at 9:30 they haven’t shown up yet. So we go and get breakfast first. At some point I see Aristo and Rania’s eldest daughter walking, so I go to Rania first to ask if we can keep the rooms. Daan and Fenna’s room is no problem. Ours could, but then she would have to ask 2 other rooms to wait an extra day. I tell her that is not necessary. We’ll drag our stuff to room 102 and then we’ll share it today. That saves her a lot of work and our suitcases have to go downstairs sometime anyway. I walk back to the room to explain which room it has become. Then I consider that it might be much more convenient if Rania also has the key to the car. Then we don’t have to wait for that and they usually come to the bar or reception first anyway to ask for the key. That’s no problem either. We can have a leisurely breakfast first before we start hauling our stuff.
We change into our pool clothes first. After the move, we settle down by the pool. Me under the parasol and René right in the sun. But he also soon gets too hot and goes into the shade as well. He also spontaneously starts to shed all over. At 3:30 p.m. René and I first continue packing and changing. Then Daan and Fenna do the same. At 4:30 pm we are ready to go to the restaurant for something to eat.
Eddy had also seen us at the apartment this afternoon and already didn’t understand. With dinner he is not there, he starts later. It is very hot when we walk to the restaurant. The sun is burning well and we all have our jeans on for later in the Netherlands. Almost toasted we arrive. None of us are really very hungry, it is too hot and too early. So Daan orders half a portion of Stifado, René half a portion of Soutzoukakia, Fenna wants a Wiener Schnitzel and I take Gemista. We couldn’t order anything from the grill yet because it wasn’t hot yet. None of us get our plates empty. Yorgos asks if we will still be there at 6:00 pm. And we probably still will be. That’s convenient, because Katerina will bring the little Bouzouki then. This one is for Rene. Yorgos wants him to have it. Now to learn to play it. But he wants to. For “dessert” Fenna and I take a cup of tea, René takes Axbax and Daan wants strawberries with Greek yogurt and honey again. It turns out they have bought strawberries again after all. Eddy probably won’t be happy about it. At 18:15 we say goodbye to Nikos (who is still playing with the little train we gave him yesterday) and to Yorgos and Katerina. For us, it only takes a good three months and then we already see them again.
On the way back we do not see a gecko, not surprisingly, it is still too hot. We hear a few lizards, but we don’t see more than a piece of their tails. At the apartment we see that the car is still there. René had already called them a few times this afternoon (when we were at the pool) and had already called them back. They had driven by the apartment, but had not seen the car. Very strange, it was the only car there and it was not so dusty that you can overlook a black car. They would try again, but apparently not yet succeeded. Now we might as well have taken it to the airport ourselves anyway. They figure it out. The key is at the bar and they have the address. At the apartment we clean up the last things and then we just wait for the cab. It is right on time, even 5 minutes early. However, there is only one and there are four of us. But we had the same problem two years ago and with the help of a spider and a lot of stacking everything still fits. We say goodbye to Marieke, whom we will see again in September. I tell her that if she has any orders for things from the Netherlands she should email me. Then we too get into the cab.
Within 30 minutes we are there. At least that is different from taking the bus. We are so early that the check-in desk is not even known yet. As soon as we know, we walk in that direction. Just right before the buses arrive. Still, it’s a lot of crowds. The check-in itself goes well. They don’t even look at the weight of the suitcases. And in the case of Daan and Fenna, that is just as well. One of their suitcases even turns out to weigh 33 kilos. I don’t think they had bought that many things here at all. The other suitcase is exactly 20 kilos. We are 5 kilos overweight with two suitcases together. That includes all the booze in it and the ceramic statue.
We walk straight through customs and here, too, everything goes smoothly. The laptop has to be scanned separately again, but otherwise we only have to take off our watches. In the shop behind customs, René buys 2 bottles of Metaxa (these are on sale, with 2 bottles you get 20% discount) and Daan buys a bottle of J&B (10% off). I want to have another look at the perfume. I had a sample of a perfume with me this vacation and I really liked it. And yes, they have it here too. €36.50 for 100ml Jill Sander Sun Delight. Rene takes Davidoff Cool Water for himself. 75 ml with showergel for also €36.50. Then we pay and walk towards the gates. We finally leave at 10:40 p.m. Greek time.
It turns out we are now not flying back with Transavia, but with a Martinair plane. The plane is even Comfort Class. So we have extra legroom and we even get free coffee, tea and a meal on board. So I don’t mind at all that our flight was cancelled either. We had an extra day in the sun, an extra meal in the restaurant and a much better return flight. At 1:30 a.m. Dutch time we land at Schiphol Airport.
The suitcases take a while to arrive. But when we have them we walk (except for a small pee break by Fenna) straight to the shuttle bus for Long Parking. The gentlemen drop us off and start looking for the car. Then we load everything and leave for Meppel. First we take the wrong exit and after almost a full circle on the Amsterdam ring road we are finally on our way to Meppel.
At 4:20 we are finally home. We put the suitcases in the room, have another drink and then quickly go to bed. We will see the rest tomorrow. In any case, the vacation is over. We go again in September. Oh yes, the final count of geckos this vacation was 73.
For the rest of the vacation photos see HERE