Crete

July 30 to August 3^rd

 

I had planned to go to the Greek island of Ios but by the time I tried to get a ferry ticket, it was too late. If I were to do my trip again, I would book as much of my lodging and transportation in advance as possible. My idea was to be more flexible with my plans by not booking everything in advance. But as it turns out, the good hostels fill up so I am now booking my lodging 1-2 weeks in advance. So the flexibility is lost. Oh well.

The travel agent recommended I go to Crete when we found out I couldn’t go to Ios. I think it was a good recommendation! Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and its main city is the 4^th largest (by population I guess?) in all of Greece.

The ferries from Athens are incredible! 9 decks, multiple restaurants, a swimming pool (I’m writing this next to the swimming pool on my return trip), etc. It’s a cruise ship with capacity for cars on the bottom decks. There are even 3 floors of staterooms, all for a 6 ½ hour trip. The company has 2 of these boats that are identical and each makes 2 trips every day.

The main street in Irakleio runs perpendicular to the sea and cars are not allowed. In Greece, anywhere you can ride a motorcycle it is OK so there was some motorcycle traffic but mainly foot. I stayed at the El Greco hotel, which is around 4 blocks up the main foot street. It was fancier than I needed but it was only around 10 bucks more than the alternative hostel, in a better location and the travel agent recommended it so I went for it. At both hotels I’ve stayed so far, each room is opened with a metal key. When you leave the hotel, you leave the key at the front desk. When you return, just tell the receptionist your room number and she’ll give you your key back. I was always a little worried about the security of the system but no theft so far.

I wanted to go to Ios to lounge on the beach, so I decided to take the same approach in Crete. The first day I went to a beach 3 miles west of the main town, the second a beach 6 miles east. Both beaches were nice and had a fair number of people doing the same thing I was. The water is very warm! Like Hawaii or maybe even a tad warmer. I was able to float on my back, which has never been possible as far as I can remember. Maybe there is a high salt content in the water?

I ate at two local restaurants in Crete. Both gave me fresh fruit for dessert “on the house” including watermelon, cherries and cantaloupe. Don’t know if this is a Crete thing or what but it was nice!

One of the restaurants I visited was called the Fish Tavern. They had calamari as an entrée. Forrest introduced me to calamari 2 summers ago and ever since I have really liked it, but I’ve never seen it as an entrée- only as an appetizer. I got 2 grilled calamari and they were whole. The rings and tentacles make so much more sense now! I never really understood what part of the animal I was eating. I was going to get a Greek salad but I saw for the same price they had a crab salad. I was expecting a green salad with crab on top but instead got a bowl of the kind of crab salad you would normally put on a sandwich. Oh well. The calamari was really good! It tasted fresh; I’m guessing they pull it out of the Mediterranean. Definitely the best calamari I’ve ever had.

The second restaurant was in a city park on the road the parallels the sea on the water side. There is a large shelter (roof only, no walls) and 4 restaurants share the space. The actual restaurants are across the street but no one was eating in there. The waiters have to run the food across the busy street and dodge the car and motorcycles- pretty crazy! I saw a couple of close calls. For dinner I got a Greek salad (decided not to be adventurous with my salad choice after the previous night) and the mixed seafood plate so I could try some different things. Unfortunately the seafood plate was fried but oh well. It had calamari, muscles, shrimp, 2 filets (I forgot what types those were) and anchovies. It was fun- I don’t think I’ve ever had anchovies before. I had to peel the meat off the skeleton. Everything was good! I decided to order Ouza because I had read that is a traditional Greek drink. It comes as 40% alcohol that you mix at the table with water and ice. A couple cubes of ice, fill the glass 25-30% with ouza and fill er up with water. It didn’t have much flavor, I don’t know what I can relate it to. Then for my complimentary dessert along with my fruit, the waiter brought some hard alcohol that he said is made with the byproducts of making wine. He warned me that it would make me dizzy after confirm that I wasn’t driving home, but I can’t say I felt any dizziness. After dinner I walked down the street to check out the night life but at midnight, it was still pretty dead. I don’t know if the party was just starting or if it was an off night. Based on the bars preparing they venues, looked like they expected customers later. People stay out late in Greece! When I left the restaurant around 11:45, it was still full and there were families with little kids eating at that time of night. I wonder what time people in Greece typically start work and if all the people out late at night are vacationers. My guess is no.

I didn’t mention it in my post about Athens, but on every corner in both Athens and Crete, there is a kiosk and an Indian selling junk from China. The Indians either sell sun umbrellas, little r/c cars, light up sticks the size of a straw that they shoot up into the air at night, sunglasses, fake designer purses or rubber balls that make a design when you throw them at something (they have small 1x8s to show you). Most sell the rubber balls. I never saw anyone buy one but they are always out throwing their balls at the boards. It cracks me up every time! The kiosks are like miniature versions of a 7Eleven. They always have cokes, candy, etc. They’re everywhere and the locals buy from these little stands. When I had to call my bank in the U.S., I had to go to a kiosk and but a calling card to stick in the pay phone- the phones themselves don’t take your money like in the states. Next stop, Rome!