Crete... one day down, twenty to go

We arrived in Crete pretty late at night. It must have been around 11. We were all tired and ready for bed, so we got a taxi. Unfortunately our taxi driver decided to cram the three of us in with two other people. There were only four seats for five of us so Jo had to sit on my knee. We were pretty unimpressed., but we let it go. We went into our hotel only to find that the three person room we had booked was unavailable. Instead we got two two person rooms. Jo and Erin took one, and I took the other. This was fine, as I got to sleep in my underwear. Score! The girls told me I had to be up at 8, and I grumpily agreed. The next morning I woke up at the appointed time, dragged myself out of bed, showered, did my hair, and dressed. Then I read for a while. Just after 9 Erin and Jo knocked on my door. They had just got up and were ready for breakfast. Bastards! I’m kidding, of course. I actually didn’t mind sitting in my room reading. I was pretty into the book I was reading, and I was eager to finish it and start on one of my other books so I could lighten my load (I’ll just say, as a side note, that at the moment I am carting around seven novels, one massive guidebook, a journal, and a book of crossword puzzles. This is after I got rid of some books. I feel like a walking library). The breakfast at the hotel was pretty good. They had this really good bread with chocolate chips in it, and they had hard boiled eggs, which I haven’t encountered at a continental breakfast since I was in Germany.

At our hotel we found a stack of free postcards, so obviously we each took a few. Then we got a cab and headed to the bus station. It was a much more comfortable ride than the one the night before. We got our bus and had a fairly uneventful bus trip to…

Once we arrived we had a doubly pleasant surprise when our hostel owner picked us up from the station and brought us to our hostel. When we arrived he informed us that the room we had booked was not available so he was giving us an even better room. He was a very nice Cretan Canadian, originally from Montreal, who moved to Crete when he was 19. He was pleasant enough, except he kept trying to make us feel bad about only staying in Crete for one day (he said we would need at least twenty days to properly see the island. With one day we wouldn‘t even get a taste). It was a bit unnecessary, as I’m sure the three of us wish we could have stayed longer, but sometimes these things are just not possible. Because we had only limited time on the island, we decided to go to the beach and just have a relaxing day by the ocean. After a rather unpleasant interaction with the owner’s wife, we made our way down to the beach. It was quite a nice beach, though a little bit seaweedy. Jo really didn’t enjoy the seaweed, and insists she saw a snake in the water. Erin and I didn’t mind it so much. It’s like swimming in an Ontario lake. We also had lunch at a restaurant recommended to us by the hostel owner. It was pretty good. I ordered the fava bean dip again, but it wasn’t as good as in Santorini. At the end of the meal they brought us watermelon and this local shot, which was maybe the strongest alcohol I have ever tried (and I’ve tried PEI moonshine). We couldn’t stomach it for fear of projectile vomiting, but the watermelon was great!

After we’d had our fill of the beach, we headed back to our hostel to shower and get ready for supper (I know, all we did was swim and eat. It was the best time ever). We went to another place recommended by our hostel. The girls had muscles and I had chicken. None of us were overly impressed by the food, so we ended up going out for desert. I got a banana split, but they gave be strawberry icecream instead of chocolate, which was kind of a bummer. It still tasted great. Erin got this cake that was quite good. Jo shocked us all by going for the lemon pie. It wasn’t very good, and I think she regretted it in the end, but it was nice to see her throw a wrench in the spokes and change up the old routine. By the time we got back to our room it was after midnight, and we had to be up at five to get our flight to Athens. I think we managed to eke out about three hours of sleep, give or take, and next thing we knew we were pulled out of our reverie and thrown into a cab on our way to the airport. We made our flight without any glitches. We even got to sit together, which was nice because we didn’t book our tickets together. While we waited to board I went to the duty free and bought an enormous Toblerone as a surprise. I also bought three postcards. Jo could not be fooled, even when I insisted that all I had were the postcards. She’s like a chocolate detective. Luckily I was able to conceal the Toblerone for a few hours, though ultimately I ended up cracking and telling Erin about it.

We boarded our flight, but it ended up being an hour delayed. We were already pushing it with our bus to Corfu, so Jo went to investigate other means of getting there. It turns out there was another bus leaving from Pirareus at 10:30, or so we were told. We jumped in a cab (driven by the only cab driver I have ever had in Europe who drove under the speed limit). We arrived at the bus station with what we thought was plenty of time. Not so. Turns out the bus actually leaves at 10. We were five minutes late. Luckily the men at the counter offered to drive us to catch up to the bus. Jo says this is Erin’s luck, but I choose to chalk it up to my uncanny ability to be offered rides by any and everyone in my time of need (please refer to the Switzerland incident)I think I just have a naturally pathetic look about me. Anyway, we ended up making it, though I am sure everyone on the bus hated us for delaying them. We sat down and settled in for what would prove to be a very long, very hot bus ride. More on that later.

These pics are all from Erin and Jo's cameras. Apparently I took no pictures in Crete.

Jo's work of art in the sand. I still wish she had built a sand castle.

The beach in Crete. Too sandweedy for Jo's tastes, but Erin and I thought it was fine.

Erin and Jo demonstrate female affection. I don't think this was one of the times I made them hug because they were fighting. I think this one was genuine.

Sunset at the beach in Chania.

Out for supper. Check out Erin's new scarf! Just the right amount of flash, I'd say.