Chapter 5 - Part 1

Leaving Santorini & the beginning of Crete:

Thursday – 9/18/08
We are up early packing for our transfer to Crete. It won’t be until 5:45 pm, so we have the day to explore some more. The hotel stores our luggage & we are taken to Thira, the nearby town, by the hotel van. It is another ascending maze of shops & restaurants…ascending to the cliff coast of this west side of the island.

We stop in the Archaeological Museum & pay 3 Eu/pp to enter. Of course, it’s all marble and glass cases with the ancient pieces identified by era in Greek & English. I took a picture & my flash automatically went off in the dim light. A young woman rushed forward and said, “No flash please & no posing”. Very attentive young ladies kept a close eye on everyone, even chastising a young couple that cuddled & kissed. Also, a young man was reprimanded for standing too close to the glass exhibit case! We perused the one floor of exhibits & then out to peer in more shops.

We found our final souvenirs that we wanted along the way. As we walked, we ascended to the cable car entrance for & stood on the edge of the cliff, viewing Nea Kameni from this different angle. The cliff can be ascended by donkey & we saw one after letting his rider off going back down the steep rock path for another rider.

After descending back down, we found ourselves hungry and needing a rest. We wanted a place to sit and eat…not just grab something to go. Suddenly I saw a young man across the street waving to us & motioning he had 2 seats for us. At that moment, he was like an angel sent to bring us lunch! We enjoyed our sandwiches & rest.

We then made our way to the taxi station as one pulled up. Then, he said, “We’re taking 2 more people..OK?” So we crammed in & I held on for dear life to the “Oh shit” handle as he drove quickly back to the hotel. Gee, 5 Euros for that 7 minute ride. No tip…we had to share!

Back in plenty of time, we wait for our transfer to the port. We spy our usual hotel driver & ask if he’ll be taking us to port. He tells us it’s running very late & we won’t be going yet. Our boat time, 5:45pm, is now the time we actually leave for the port with 6 others. Still very early, we people-watch.

We board about 7pm & take off in this Jet Boat, expecting a ride that lasts 1 hr 45 min. The sun sets as we go quickly, & turbulently through the water. My Seabands are nearly insufficient. Going to the WC, I find I’m not the only one feeling the effects of the choppy waves…if you know what I mean! I manage to get back to my seat and doze a bit. Waking, we go another 15 min & then the lights of Heraklion, Crete can be seen in the pitch black of the sea.

We quickly disembark & wait for the luggage to come down the rolling ramps. One poor man lifted each piece to go down...hundreds of bags…I imagined the back problems he suffered.

The port was busy, but we found our car rental rep. She looked for another couple & we followed her like puppies. Finding them, she got us set up & pointed to a hill where our hotel was perched, about a mile away. She explained the route we should take.

We took off in the rental car. Her explanation included letting us know of a round-a-bout. I am not used to them and feel uneasy. We set off with the manual transmission car…me driving. Now, it’s been ages since I drove one, so I was quite satisfied that I didn’t pop the clutch once, although I never got out of second gear!

Here we are in a foreign country, at night, looking for our hotel. As we traveled along, it reminded me of the narrow intersecting streets of Athens. The Greek road signs weren’t helpful & I just moved along with the traffic. Swerving through the round-a-bouts, we peered into the darkness looking for our destination, the Hotel Lato. We ended up going further than needed and I suggested we go back to the port to try again. Apprehension rose was we found the one-way street back to our start point. We started off again and found that we hadn’t turned soon enough. With cars parked on either side of the road, pointing in either direction, I wasn’t sure if we’d stumbled on a one-way street going the wrong way! Finally seeing our hotel, a valet took over to park the car & we were whisked into the hotel. The first room we were shown on the 4th floor STUNK like someone had sat & smoked a carton of cigarettes in it. I called the reception desk and they brought us to the empty room next door, which was actually more spacious.

Moving our things, we settle into the new room washing off the dust of the day to prepare for dinner. After using the toilet, I attempt to turn the door knob to leave and IT WON’T TURN. I turn the locking mechanism again and IT STILL WON’T TURN!!! Arghh…claustrophobia again. I yell for Dick, “Get me out of the bathroom!” He doesn’t come right away and I hear him moving in the room. I yelled again and he says, “ I thought you were yelling for me to get you a bathrobe and I’m looking for one!” He came and found that the locking mechanism requires a button to be pushed on the knob, and then a push/pull action on the knob to open. Oh boy…this claustrophobia thing is something I’m gonna have to address if we are going to do more traveling in the future!
We went to the rooftop restaurant, enjoying the relaxing meal before heading back to the room to sleep.

Friday – 9/19/08
Anxious to leave the congested city, we find the car in the morning to make our get-away by 9:15 am. The narrow streets, congested with parked cars, pedestrian traffic & hills are challenging to maneuver, but the way to the Palace of Knossos is well-marked & just 3 miles away from us. We find it quite easily, park & walk down to the entrance. We were offered group tours by people as we entered, but the 10Eur/pp price, & their salesman-like manner, led us to decline their offer. Seeing there was plenty of posted documentation & our Fodor’s travel book had a chapter on the subject allowed us to understand the exhibit.

With it being named “The Palace”, I expected more pageantry than the rubble we actually found. Some structures were clearly “rooms”, but the signs posted throughout noted that Sir Arthur Evans, the archaeologist who reconstructed the area, took great liberties with his efforts.

The sun was bright & very warm, but not intolerable with our hats and sunglasses. Here in Greece, cats & dogs roam freely. Some have collars, but most just wander around. The cats may approach outdoor diners, but I never felt accosted by any animals.

The area around Knossos is very hilly, that had visibly tended agricultural areas. They made a pretty pattern of color and organization on the hillsides. After a couple of hours, we walked back toward the parking lot. We stopped for a snack of the spinach & cheese pies and an ICEE-type drink…very refreshing. The friendly clerk gave us directions to our destination, the city of Chania.

As we started off, I had no idea that I was about to be tested beyond having 4 children, twins and a son off to war! We started counting the traffic lights as her directions explained we would pass 6 of them. Then, turning left, we found ourselves on the typical Greece side road…congested with traffic and heading uphill.

The darn rental car drove so poorly in first gear, and I stalled it about 4 times on the ascending road, with traffic congestion all around. We inched forward, past a construction site & I smelled a burning odor. Assuming it was from the construction site we were passing, we continued on, until I spied some smoke wafting from the side of the car’s hood. Panic started to rise & I began to look for somewhere to pull over. There were no open spots and the buildings seemed to loom around us. I prayed out loud and BEGGED God for help NOW! As we reached the top of the hill where we would turn, the cross street was labeled the “Autobahn”. We turned onto the smooth-sailing highway road. The higher continuous speeds allowed the clutch to cool off, and the smoke cleared.

The speeds ranged from 50-90 km/hr along the way & we continued to feel confident with the directions we’d been given by the clerk near Knossos. Oddly, Greece has different names for one locations…We were grateful the clerk had alerted us to the optional name for cities we would pass. With the sea on our right, we drove along. Soon, the landscape began to heighten & we were traversing sharp corners around the high hills & cliffs of this northern coast of Crete. Usually, our speed was 80 km/hr on straight-aways & I noticed once on a flat that I was over 100 km/hr. The car was driving smoothly & all seemed to be functioning well. Our speed would slow to 50 km/hr through the towns. Between them, we’d pass trucks that slowly climbed up the hills. Each direction looked like 2 lanes, but the far right lane was not as wide a lane. It was used to veer over to allow passing vehicles by. We passed some people, & were passed by others, but I felt we kept up respectably with traffic. As I relaxed, I was reminded to keep a sharp eye on oncoming passers that would float into our driving lane. As we neared Chania, I had anticipated a sleepy port city like Washington Island, WI. Boy, was I wrong! The real testing of my mettle was about to begin....