This morning we are off to explore the Island with the car we have rented. I am comfortable driving here (NOT) but with the GPS and Wes’ co-pilot skills we will find our way. What concerns me is that the Greek drivers have their own rules and I am not sure I have figured them out. Defensive driving here means staying home. For example there are times when the road gets very narrow (as opposed to be just narrow as normal) and you have to beep your horn as your enter that section. But at other times you don’t, so go figure when or when not.
Today our plan is to drive to the Kamari Beach, Perissa Beach, Red Beach and visit the Pre-historic town of Akrotiri. The drive was pleasant as it was Sunday and there was very little traffic to deal with. Most traffic we met was other tourists who looked as concentrated on their driving as we were and that included cars, quads and bikes.
As for the country side we finally figured out that the fields build with rows of retaining walls along the hillsides as well as the fields on the ‘plains’ were grapes. There is a lot of wine growing in the area and I suspect it is the primary agricultural crop. However the grape plants at this time of year are dormant and all look like coils of rope circled on the ground. There are no supports or anything which would be what we had expected.
As for the countryside itself, we were amazed at how land there was on this side of the island that was either undeveloped or fields. I am not sure what they do for water since it seems very dry, but they must have some system in place to survive.
Our first stop was Kamari beach which we had been told was a beautiful must see black sand beach. It was black but hardly sand. The beach was ocean polished black stones which looked beautiful, but not what I would want to throw a blanket down to lay on. While we were walking around exploring we kept hearing shouting and large bangs. At first we wondered if there was a demonstration happening somewhere and if we needed to start to look for shelter if those were guns being fired. However, no one we saw seemed to be worried so we decided to just carry on. Eventually we wondered around a corner to find a soccer game getting started and that was fans with noise makers, fire crackers and some form of very large firecracker that sounded like a small bomb going off. We decided to stop for a bit and watch the game. The fans here are very VERY very supportive of their team and it looked intense. We did not stay to the end of the game but it was fun to watch.
Then we moved on to the second beach, Perissa Beach, also a described as a black sandy beach and this one did have black sand. Of course it is just before the official tourist season is to begin so everywhere we went we watched renovations being done. No wonder everything here looks freshly painted and so clean – it is freshly painted and cleaned but we got to see the transition happening. Above on the cliff overlooking the beach is a ruin of some sort but we did not find out what it was about.
We carried on looking for Red Beach next. This was interesting since we got to the place where Red Beach should be and we are in a parking lot for a Bastille. The rocks above this are red and there are red rocks in the water but there was no way we could see a beach. Wes commented that on the map it looked like we had to take a pathway along the shore to get to the beach so we looked and found an unmarked, undeveloped but visible path at the end of the parking lot going around the point of land. We followed it around and sure enough we got to an outcropping to look down on a cove where there was a beach with rock from the red cliffs around us. We went down to the beach which was very small and very rocky (not real sand but crushed red lava rock) and met up with a group of young people hanging out in the sun. We took some pictures and left them alone.
We were surprised to see that we passed the Ancient town of Akrotiri on our way to Red Beach even though the map indicated it was in a totally different area. It was good that we went to Red Beach first so we discovered its true location rather than spending time looking for it on the map provided. At any rate, it was a waste of time since we discovered that it is still closed for ‘technical problems’. Apparently a few years ago a roof collapsed killing a tourist so they are in the process of ensuring it is safe but we are not sure how long that will take.
So we decided that instead of the ancient town we would continue on the road out to the Lighthouse at the end of the Island. We climbed up to a viewing point above the lighthouse and had fantastic views of the caldera and the west side of the island.
We returned to Fira to return the car and head back to the hotel to get our ride down to the port for the ferry. The hotel owners’ son (we think) drove us down and he drove like all Greek’s, fast but proficiently. As we headed over the cliff edge on the cut in the ledge switchbacked narrow road to drop the 300 m to the new port I did have to wonder at times if we would get there safely. Needless to say since I am writing this, we did.
The ferry we took to Crete is a fast ferry and it has very comfortable seats. It is a catamaran build, travels quickly and does tend to bob up and down with the waves. However we both were able to sleep part of the 2 hours we were enroute so it was not too bad.
We arrived in Heraklion at 8 pm and we had looked up potential places to get a room so we were not feeling as unprepared as we have at other stops. However the taxi drivers were really pressuring us to take a ride with them but we knew that the hotels were not very far (1-3 kms) and we could walk that. I am so glad we did not take a taxi ride since one of the things we learned as we walked is that the streets are often one way and for a car to travel to a destination about ½ km away by foot they have to travel about 3 km by road.
At any rate we decided to be smarter this time and put in the address of one of the hotels we had found on the internet into our GPS and locate it on a map to help us. We found the first one without any problem at all, but it was closed for renovations. Ok, we decide to go for another name (we had picked three) and we started off towards it. The streets here are extremely narrow (narrower than the back alleys in downtown Vancouver) and so at first we looked at them and wondered about walking down them at night. Eventually we decided we really did not need worry so we stayed to the better lit ones and walked to the next hotel.
When I asked for a room and the rates we were told 55 Euro. I explained that on the internet it was advertised at 45 Euro so the receptionist said she would match that. Then I asked if it included breakfast and she said no, that would be extra. I suggested that was not what was advertised so she said, ok, I will give you the room for 50 Euros and include breakfast. Then she said, no it would be 55 Euros (5 Euro each for breakfast) and I said no. She immediately switched back to ok, 50 Euro and breakfast. I then asked about internet and she said that was extra as well, even though it had been advertised as free in the hotel. By now I feel that the more she talked the more I wanted to walk, so we did. She was a bit surprised but I did not feel I could trust her.
We headed off to find another hotel in this area which was the center of town and very busy. We felt we wanted to stay in this central area if we could. Now I should explain for those who are not familiar with the style of township layout. At the center is a circular townpark. Off of this town center are numerous narrow streets that radiate outward. In this case attached to the one town center separated by a building is another circular park with road radiate from it as well. The roads leading away are cross linked in a variety of patterns making this a very interesting area to walk around.
Ok, back to the amazing race day for us as we are looking for a hotel. We have the GPS helping and we are heading to a hotel in a pattern of going around and find ways to move into the center by reducing the circular route we seemed to be taking. Finally we are standing in front of a hotel but not the one we are looking for but this one looks really nice and newly renovated. We discussed prices with the receptionist and were able to get a room with breakfast and free internet for 50 Euro. We felt much better about this so we immediately rented the room for the next couple of days.
As we went out for dinner after settling into the room we found the hotel we had been looking for, it was right next door, but was closed for renovations which explains why we did not see it as we found this one.
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