Greece: the Southern Parts
While in Crete, I had an okay time…the people were not much more friendly and the main sights I wanted to see–the Minoan Palace, Knossos and the Venetian Harbor of Chania–were both very disappointing. They both had a Disneyland-type feel and it was very hard to enjoy them because there were SO many tourists snapping TONS of pictures. On top of that, there were lots of stands selling all kinds of crap, little trinkets that I still don’t know who buys them, and postcards and jewelry. Anyway, it was awful just on that front, on top of that however, there were restaurant ‘touts’ along the waterfront in Chania and as you walked around trying to enjoy the old buildings they would hound you with menus and ask you where you’re from to try to get you to sit down and eat. I knew to duck into the back streets and find a place there, and I did, and it ended up being probably the best meal experience I had while in Greece. I had Cretan rabbit stew, called Stifado, which was cooked in a tomato and pearl onion sauce. While I ate, Cretan men played guitars and sang traditional songs. After I finished eating, they brought out complimentary yogurt cake and raki–strong local liquer–and the cake was fantastic. I could have done without the raki, but it was free, so…
The next day I took off for Kissamos, on the northwestern point of the island. The island is huge, so it took a long time to get there on the bus. Once in Kissamos, there was NOTHING to do except soak up the view. I had planned to go to Balos beach, a perfect lagoon on the other side of the peninsula, on the same day I arrived in Kissamos. Bad idea, as I would soon find out. I walked to the ferry port ‘only 3 km away,’ as a local lightly put it. Well, I hadn’t checked into a hotel yet so I had my backpack on and my small bag that carries the essentials like my camera and iTouch around my neck. It took probably 40 minutes to walk to the port along a very busy and dangerous road that had barely any shoulder on which for me to walk. I finally got there, and ticket in hand, I watched as the boat pulled away from the dock. I had missed the last boat there. Fortunately there were very friendly Greeks in the info booth and they made my ticket an open-date so that I could go the next day. Minus the lonnng walk back to town, it worked out well because I was better-prepared the next day anyway, having applied a good amount of sunscreen and having just my little day-bag. I had a great time, although I was on a boat crammed with tourists, but the scenery is what made it fantastic and worthwhile. The first stop was a fortress called Gramvousa. It was a LONG hike up the stairs to that baby but the views were incredible from the top. Then we took off for the Balos Lagoon. The water was so gorgeous and it was really shallow, so it was nice and warm. Usually I don’t like warm water in tropical places because the last thing I want is to be warmer, but the views made it nice. We stayed in the lagoon for about 3 hours and I hiked up the hill at one point to get a panorama of the beach and it was worth the very hot, sandy hike. We headed back into Kissamos and I grabbed a gyro and went to bed shortly after.
The next day I caught a ferry to the mainland, well, the Peloponnese penisula at least, and the ferry didn’t leave till about 5:30 and we got in at midnight! How they come up with the screwy and inconvenient ferry schedules is beyond comprehension. My first thought upon getting into Gythio was, ‘Great…I have no place to stay and all the hotels and booking companies are going to be closed’. But then I spotted a fellow backpacker and, as I learned from my mistake of NOT following the backpackers to the nearest accomodation in Heraklion, I tailed him closely…probably stalker close…because I could see that on his bag it said ‘Adirondacks’. We walked to the nearest accomodation place and he told us it was 45 Euro each and we both looked at each other in shock. We walked back out onto the street and I introduced myself and he suggested we split a room so it would be cheap. We walked around in the upper streets and found a place and after saying ‘Hello? Hello!?’ a few times an old woman appeared and told us she had no room, but directed us up to another old lady and they whispered and gesticulated to each other in the dark street and we followed the second lady to what must have been her personal home. She made the bed and couch up for us and showed us how the shower and coffee maker worked. She didn’t speak a lick of English, but she was cute and very pleasant. She left us the keys and took our passports. I talked with Alex, who turned out to be from Utica, and learned that he was on his way to Slovenia to study the language and possibly live there. We went to bed at about 2 and woke up the next day to retrieve our passports and pay the woman. We walked around the town a little, which was very beautiful by daylight, and ate breakfast at a bakery on the waterfront. I had a delicious cherry tort and Greek coffee. We said goodbye soon after and I headed out to Monemvasia by bus.
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