The Samaria Gorge - Holly style

Our last day on Crete we joined a tour bus group to the Samaria Gorge. I signed us up for the tour because it was difficult to do the gorge without help. The bus picked us up outside our apartment at 5:30AM. That is very early for a walk. After picking up many others, we arrived at the gorge around 8:30am. The Samaria Gorge is the largest gorge in Europe. It is 18 km long and drops 1.6 km from top to bottom. In other words, a normal workout for my mom or Shirley. The tour guide on the bus told us it was a VERY strenuous walk and to wear good shoes. He also told us if we weren’t able to do the first 4 km in the time allowed, we might as well turn around and hike back to the top because it wasn’t going to get any easier. I wondered why he was telling us all this on the bus to the gorge. Wouldn’t this information have been better BEFORE we got on the bus at the crack of dawn?

The first 4 km was all downhill into the gorge. The path was steep with few rails or safety precautions. In fact, there were signs periodically reminding us to walk quickly because it was very dangerous in that area. Ya gotta love Greece. We walked along paths with mesh wire above our heads, presumably to help prevent being brained by falling rocks. Imagine the Grouse Grind in reverse, with only Pine trees, lots of loose gravel and stone steps, and you kind of get the picture. By the bottom of this area my knees and thighs were notifying me they had had enough. The scenery was quite beautiful and the air was cool and pleasant. We caught glimpses every now and then of the cliff tops of the gorge soaring over our heads. All in all quite wonderful.

After 8 km we finally entered the gorge, following the route the water would take in the early spring melt. The path was easily lost and the loose gravel became loose boulders. Every now and then one of us would rediscover the path and the walking would get easier. I wondered what happened to the trail during the spring melt. Did they have to reblaze the trail every year? Parts of it looked particularly precarious and unstable, like a really good rush of water would take the whole thing out.



The canyon walls crept closer together and we were warned to keep our voices down lest we caused a rock slide. Again, we saw signs asking us to move quickly to avoid the great danger. It was about this point that Julia started to fade and we had to pull out the Scooby snacks to lure her along. We didn’t feel too safe sitting to rest when it was obvious the Greeks thought this was not a place for a picnic. We all began to feel our feet as well. There were rest areas every km or so with toilets and water but the wasp population discouraged lingering. The temperature rose but the sun was still blocked by the steep walls so it was bearable.

At around km 11 or 12 we arrived at the narrowest part of the gorge. The wind howled through the area and at the narrowest point was quite fierce. Once through, however, the wind disappeared completely. Weird.

The rest of the walk was fairly flat as we came out of the river bed. Even after we left the park, we still had another couple of km to walk and now the sun was out in full force with no shade. We were exhausted but thankful we had not stopped to long to rest because it was still only about noon.

By the time we reached the ocean, the four of us had HAD it. We were filthy dirty, sweaty, achy, and exhausted. We limped to the furthest café we could find. At least that is what it seemed like. The café was called Restaurant Gigilos and I felt sort of pulled towards it. It was a lovely place to relax but didn’t live up to its somewhat enticing name. We spent the next few hours frolicking in the waves. This was by far the best ocean swim we’ve had. Once our feet touched the cool salt water, it was like we hadn’t just spent four hours beating them up. I highly recommend it.

There was no car access to the village so we had to take a boat to another little village further along the coast to meet our bus. We left at 5pm. By the time the bus dropped us back at our apartment it was 8:30pm. It was a long but satisfying day.

On Tuesday the 14, Julia and I got some freedom and went to a mini golf & etc. place by ourselves. The place had Go-Karts, the world's greatest invention¹, trampolines, a bull ride, water motor floaty circle things, climbing nets, mini golf, and maybe a few other things. When I saw the Go-Karts, I knew I had to go (kart). The guy said we had 5 minutes total on the kart, which is a surprisingly long-and-short time. We agreed that I would have 3 minutes driving and Julia would have 2 minutes since I was so excited. The thing could fit 2 people, which was Julia's mistake. I drove on the very edge of the track flooring the gas, whipping around corners at top speed with the wheels screeching! It was so much fun - until Julia's turn. She drove a bit then tested the brakes. Then picked up a little and hit the left wall. The guy watching us told her to be more careful. Next we played mini golf. They didn't understand the meaning of "Par" so there was no par, just shots. We both had our good holes and our bad holes. I had the record high and low, with 2 and 24. I beat Julia by -19: she had 89, I had 108, and I always win. Then we went on the buckin' bronco and we had 2 turns each. Julia went first, and fell off almost right away. On her second try she got 44 seconds. Julia filmed me on the thing, and I got 45 seconds! Then we talked about how cool the Go-Karts were as we walked back towards our apartment, looking for food. We went to a Pita Gyros² place, and they were the most delicious ones I had yet! Gyros consist of pork, tomatoes, onions, tzaziki, and spice wrapped up in pita bread. Dad says they are like the Greek hot dog, and they're everywhere!

1. The printing press is close in 2^nd!

2. Shape your mouth like a G and say keyrows with out a solid "kuh" sound, but have your tongue close to the top of your mouth.

The isle of Crete.

I am on the ferry to Rhodes, after finishing a week on the isle of Crete, Greece. I am pretty tired after our hike yesterday but I’ll get to that later. We arrived last Saturday in the port of Iraklion and continued on via bus to Plantinais. This is a 4 hour ferry from Santorini then a 2.5 hour bus ride, all pretty relaxing traveling. In my mind I had Crete as a barren wasteland of heat with a few great beaches. I was completely wrong. I now think that the island is more beautiful than Santorini. It may be the positive experiences we had at every corner of the island. Anyways, parts of Crete remind me of lush Hawaii, dry southern California, sweeping Oregon coast, and the rocky deserts of the Okanagan and Kamloops.

On the first night we went out locally to a small restaurant called Tassos. We were the first ones there which is usually a bad sign. We were served from a small menu and the food was terrific. What a relief from the so-so food of Santorini. The fact that it was about ½ the price also lent itself to a positive experience.

On Sunday we didn’t go too far, we went to Plantinais, a very long strip of tourist trap. It was very fun, we did some shopping but bought no clothing (Julia fighting all the way). We finished at the beach there. That night we made spaghetti at home, it was a nice change.

Monday was the day for business, all the stores were open so we went into the big city of Chania (or Xania) pronounced Hania, to do some banking and find a Vodafone (cell phone, internet). Chania has a very quaint Venetian harbour and the surrounding shops and restaurants were fun and picturesque. At the end of the day we had to wait until 6:30pm to see a full size replica of a Minoan sailing/row boat. So we had a drink and some tzaziki and raki at a local restaurant. Raki is moonshine, similar to skreech. When we finally got into the boat house museum, the boat was terrific.

Tuesday we rented a car, a three day rental, we have stuff to do. I thought of Cheri as we started our beach tour, Cheri loves beaches. Crete has many beaches but two were recommended and we are hitting them both, Tuesday is Falasarna. It is on the NW corner and is a terrific drive. We spent the day there and agreed it was the best Greek beach we had been to, even better then Kamari on Santorini. After 6 hours we headed back tired from swimming and sitting in the sun, you know that tired as only a day at the beach can produce.

Wednesday we drove all the way back to Iraklion (2 hours) to visit Knossos. It is a Minoan palace found around 100 years ago under 60m of soil dating from 3500 years ago. It was an interesting day. It was found by a poet who knew of the legend of Knossos about a Minotaur in a labyrinth. He figured there was something to the town of the same name and 40 years later a rich Englishman found it. According to our guide and Holly, who is really up on these things, this is the place of the labyrinth. The guide said the labyrinth IS the palace and from the layout you can really see that it might be true. In one area the stairs look as though Escher could have designed them. Later that day we stopped in Rathminon, a city similar to Chania, Holly found a bar that had WiFi so she could fix our internet stick, man we have had internet problems, Rhys read a book, Julia and I looked around. I got a haircut and now I, according to Holly, look Greek. Great.

Thursday is a Cheri day again. We take a wild road to Elafanicia Beach in the SW corner of Crete. I am sure you are sick of the road stories I have been telling. I am becoming acclimatized to the high twisting roads. Doesn’t stop me from commenting though. As we go through a one lane tunnel that was built 100 years ago and pop out on a cliff side that has rock overhang I find myself saying “Wow”…turn…”wow” over and over. Holly nods in agreement and shifts over in her seat to avoid slipping off the car. We made a short stop at a cave called St. Sophia. It was worth the 150 stairs and the stop. It is about the size of our house and has many stalagmites; the Greeks have naturally installed a church. On to the beach, Elafanicia is spectacular. It is without a doubt the nicest beach I have been to, better than Tuesday’s. It is a shallow lagoon with white sand and several small islands. The whole site is very large without too many people. The lagoon splits two beach areas and has a small current. What a super place. We take yet another winding mountaintop road along the coastline home. I took a few videos of that drive, I will try posting them. We returned the car. It will probably need brakes.

Friday we wake up at 4:45 AM to take a tour bus to the Samarian gorge for a 17 km hike down 1600m vertical of mountainside to the sea. It takes you through a gorge that has high bluffs on either side for several kilometers. The hike is supposed to take 6 hours. The bus ride is pretty daring and one lady gets sick. She is at the front so she can see the road, no wonder she is sick. We stop at a small town for some coffee, a snack and a bathroom brake. The bus travels a few more kilometers and we start the hike. A small sign recommends no high heels. Down we go on the stairs, stairs, and more stairs. The smells and scenes are very Cariboo country, with all the pine trees and we quickly get down into the valley, which is also steep. After a coupe hours and 6 kilometers it flattens out slightly and we can use different muscles. The soles of my feel are bruised, my shoes aren’t thick enough. We all have different minor pains but we suck it up and soon we are at the “Iron Gates” at 11.5 km mark which is the post card picture point of the gorge. The remaining canyon is scenic and flatter but it’s getting hotter, as we finish it seems like about 32 C, plenty hot for a 17 km hike. We hit the end of the trail and a man tries to sell us a bus ride into the town, we decline, we won’t be cheated out of “making it to the end”. At the town we collapse into a restaurant and order “the best tasting beer I have ever drank”. I don’t share. We have a little snack and go for a very refreshing swim on a black sand beach. The hike took us only 4 hours, so we have a little more time than the other hikers on our tour. We eat a little dinner and catch a short scenic ferry ride back to our bus on a different highway. After a vomit inducing bus ride and we are home at 8:30 PM. Quite a day.

Saturday we are up a 7 AM for a local bus ride to Chania then a bus to Iraklion, then a ferry to Rhodes for an early morning taxi ride to Lindos, on Rhodes. Arrival time? Could be 4 AM Sunday, maybe.

On the first day of school we had an interesting day on Santorini. We went on a mini cruise, on the mini cruise there were things we could do. So first we went out to the active volcano that erupted not to long ago. The volcano had a really cool steam vent with smoke from the lava.

The volcano had an amazing view you could see the ocean all around and the ash too. I never thought that a volcano had a whole island I thought it was just a big crator, but no its an island with a bunch of crators.

After the volcano island thing we went to the hot springs on the other side of the volcano. We got 25 minites in the hot springs. Which was eunuf time to swin there and back. We had to swim off the boat because the boat couldn’t dock in the springs there were too may people already swimming ( like 2 people.) The springs were a copper colour and dyed our bathing suits copper, which sucked! But it kinda came out…kinda.

Then we spent two hours eating lunch on a beach restaurant. If you jumped off the side of the restaurant you land in the water lots of people jumped off, I didn’t I didn’t really think about doing it, sad face. For lunch I had meatballs they were good. I tried some of dad’s octopus, I don’t like octopus, everyone else did though.

After lunch we went on a reif tour our boat had a glass bottom so it would of been really cool if the reif was good. Although we did see a ship wrecked down there and an old crab net. Also a whole lot of small fish but no big ones, and not a single shark.
And after that the boat dropped us off at the bottom of a mountain and at the top is the place were staying . So, obviously, we took a donkey up because there’s no other way right? It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done! We went on a very thin narrow path getting higher and higher. My donkey liked to be as close to the edge as possible and race the other donkeys up, to see who could get to the top first. And I had no control, all I could do was sit back and relax. But how could I relax with death on a thin line? Dad was perfectly fine and so was Rhys (even though Rhys was put in a seprate group of donkeys.) Mom said it the best thing ever she loved it. So I was the only one.

On the way home it was hot. Everyone was seeking shade , even dogs.

So how was your first day of school?

Our place in Santorini

Our Place on Santorini is really neat. It is in Finikia, a small suburb of Oia, the farthest city west on the island. It is not the most convenient location because we have to take a bus back to the main city if we want to go to any beaches, but it is a beautiful and very neat place to stay. I love the streets we wind through to get here. I love the coolness of the cave in the heat of the day. The kitchen has a very low entry and Tom almost knocked himself out entering it one evening. He now hates the kitchen. We only have a hotplate to cook with so we haven’t eaten a lot of dinners home. The food here is very expensive. The meals are around 40 to 60 dollars each time and the portion size is small and the quality is only mediocre. We are trying to eat cheaply but are not having an easy time of it. Greeece is way more expensive than we remember. On the other hand, the beaches are fabulous and relaxing. Tom and I lounge in deck chairs sipping cool drinks while the kids frolic and cavort in the ocean. Both of them have loved the experience of playing in the waves. This is their first ocean swim.

Kids at front gate

Our street

Our street looking the other direction

Our front door to the house

Standing in the front door looking back at our yard. The bathroom is the blue door, the other door is the door to the street.



The kitchen

The Greek Experience September 4th

It has been 20 years since we were last in Greece but both Tom and I have fond memories. We were newly in love on that trip and everything was seen with stars in our eyes. Our children had heard stories of the wonderful things we saw from us and from their friends so everyone in the family was very much looking forward to landing in this country. We have now been here a week and have done different things and have seen it in a new way. I know both Tom and Rhys have written about our experiences but I just couldn’t resist adding my thoughts.

Greece is relaxed in a way I rarely attain. Tom and I could both feel it within days of our arrival. It is kind of like when you are having trouble falling asleep. You are lying there in bed thinking a million thoughts and suddenly you realize you are not falling asleep. You make a conscious effort to stop the wave of thoughts and feel your facial muscles relax. That’s when you realize you aren’t falling asleep because you are actually pretty tense after a day of stress. Being in Greece is like this. You thought you were relaxed but then you realize there was a whole new level of relaxation and you aren’t there. It seems cruel to those at home to say we haven’t yet relaxed when we have been on vacation for the past four weeks, but I believe I am about to achieve a higher level of relaxation. Either that or I am getting seriously close to hysteria.

There are several indicators in Greek culture that these people see life differently. First off, their stores open at very irregular hours compared to Canada. The banks are only open from 8am to 2pm. Most other stores are open from 8am to about 2pm and then they close for a few hours and reopen around 6pm for another four hours or so. This must be because of nap time. While in Canada nap time is relegated to the small or elderly, in Greece it is a way of life. I like it. Except when I am trying to do banking at 2:30. People here need to nap because they are all going to get up and party until the wee hours of the morning. Restaurants don’t even get going until 9pm or 10pm at night and I wouldn’t know what time they close because I haven’t stayed up that late yet. This whole approach to work and socializing is quite civilized.

However, nowhere is this enlightened relaxation the Greeks have attained more obvious than during driving. Several times now, the Greeks have explained to me that words in Greek are spelled the way they sound. This makes sense, no? It certainly makes more sense than some of the ridiculous English spellings we concoct. Interestingly, this is never more obvious than when navigating the roads of Greece. Words don’t need to be spelled the same way every time if you are spelling by the sound, right? How does one spell Delphi? Piraeus? Athens? The road signs just take a stab at the word and if it comes somewhat close, that’s good enough. No need to stick with one spelling of a word. We all know how to sound it out, right? And if it sounds a bit different each time, as long as it’s close, that’s what counts, right? I mean if Nafplion is Nafplio or Nafplia what does it matter? Ending a word with on, o or a is really close, after all. Only a librarian might worry.

And while we were assured signs are in Greek and in English, that too is taken somewhat liberally. Yes, most signs are in English and Greek. Sometimes, this means the sign will be in Greek and then further along the same sign will be in English. Sometimes, this means the words will be written in Greek and English on the same sign. Sometimes, this means the word will be written in Greek and why the heck haven’t you figured out the Greek letters by now you silly traveler? A culture has to be pretty laid back to not be overly concerned about road sign spelling, in my opinion.

Another example of the stress-free approach to living is the roads themselves. Tom and Rhys have already shared some of the amazing things we have seen on the roads but I cannot impress upon you all how effective the roads have been at hammering home this more lenient way of viewing life. First of all, leaving Athens it became apparent that the lines on the road are as Julia said, “a suggestion” to the drivers. Motorcycles obviously are meant to follow any of the white lines like line tag, while cars stay somewhere on the pavement. The shoulder of the highway is just an extension of road. We were on a three lane highway when a car passed a motorcycle (who was carefully following the white line on the shoulder) on the right side, ignoring the other two empty passing lanes on the left of the motorcycle. Several cars drove strattling the white shoulder line, though we have since come to recognize this rule as the “pass me if you dare” rule. Within our first hour of driving, we inched by an overturned car on the highway, smashed and littering the road.

I am pretty sure there are no turn signal bulb factories in Greece. Either that or the owners are impoverished. No one could possibly need to replace a turn signal bulb as no one ever uses them. It is kind of up to the other drivers to guess which way you will move. Motorcyclists do not need to wear helmets. It’s too hot anyway. However, it may be law to have them on the bike as many motorcyclists seemed to carry it over their arm while driving. Elbow protection?

These factors delighted and terrified us as we drove. We laughed hysterically at the four car pass on the two lane road. We shook our heads at the major roadways that seemed little better than goat trails to us. It has all been part of the fun, especially our drive across the Peloponnese peninsula between Olympia and Nafplion that Tom mentioned. This drive deserves special mention and I really must encourage several of our readers to try this sometime. If you have ever thought of skydiving or bungee jumping as a fun thing to do, then this is for you! Just trying to leave Olympia is experience enough. If you drive in on a two way road, shouldn’t you be able to drive out on the same two way road? I mean, how can you head east by driving on the road west? And yet, friends, somehow this works.

Okay, let me add that we had to turn around more than one time in order to find the major highway to Nafplion. It said it was the major highway on the map. Yes it did. This road was terrifying. Imagine the Whistler drive without lines on the road or rails at the side, with shorter, tighter turns and the odd farm animal strolling out. Oh, and add a jet fighter flying low overhead as you make a critical turn. Tom was pretty sure the mountain was coming down on our heads. Every so often, Tom and I would both exhale making me realize we were holding our breath. Eventually the hysterical laughter set in. How can you do anything else when you are clearly going to die any minute? We crawled along this at times 3 metre (the sign said that’s how wide it was) wide major highway turning hairpin turns on cliffs with no rail. Some actually had a mirror, yes a mirror, to help you see oncoming traffic. Who makes a hairpin turn 3 metres wide, people? On a cliff, no less? And weirdly, there was oncoming traffic! We knew we were on the right road because we met people on it. I wonder how many commuters there are there? Less and less every day judging by the number of little roadside shrines. And let me tell you, passing roadside shrines to the dead every five metres does nothing for one’s stress level either!

And then, just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer, there was a town! A town clinging to the side of this mountain! The buildings were so vertical, they looked like comic structures. We wanted to stop, more just to cling to the edge of the mountain in terror than anything else. What could these people possibly do for a living? They live on a 45 degree slope? Skiing isn’t an option. The snow wouldn’t stick to the side of this place. Ball playing is right out. I looked but strangely none of them seemed to be wearing ropes and clamps…or helmets…not even over their arms.

Today, we are on a great big ship heading to the beautiful island of Santorini. The sun is shining and the rental car is back in the parking lot at the port. They say you grow and change with travel. If I can achieve even a fifth of the laid back casualness of the Greek people, I think I will be doing myself a service. This will NOT happen while driving, however.

The road to Greece

Driving across Greece has been quite different than expected. I was expecting southern California scenery and found more similarities with southern BC than California, that is other than the heat. We have now driven to the north of Greece to Meteora, to see the monasteries high on the hoodoos with breathtaking views. The view turned out to be as great as described and we saw three different places that morning. Next we drove to Delphi, high over a flood plain delta that was covered with a sea of olive trees. The road in between was very winding with many mountain passes. Greeks don’t mind making switchbacks or cliff hanging turns. The view here was awe inspiring; we got this view from our hotel room too. In the morning we visited ancient Delphi, home to the Oracle. Ancient Greeks would come from across the land for a look into the future. This was the capitol of Greece in the ancient world. The Romans kept the tradition alive and built a great temple, amphitheatre and stadium. The stadium and amphitheatre are well preserved.

Next stop, same day, was Olympia, home to the original Olympic Games. The drive to Olympia was very scary, most of it along the mountain tops. The Greeks like to put mini churches at the side of the road if a loved one died there; there are many on this road. Several times during the journey you would question yourself as to your direction. There would be clues that you had turned the wrong way, such as : going through an operating rock quarry, the lines in the middle of the road disappearing for miles at a time, goats on the road, going through a one way road through a town with difficult turns, or the road suddenly turning to a dirt road. Surprisingly only the road suddenly turning to a dirt road was incorrect.

We heard that the Olympic Games games hosted 2500 years ago would attract crowds of up to 45,000. We tried to imagine 45,000 people jammed into Olympia. The city today is probably only 5,000 people at the most. We lined up on the starting line in the stadium for some photos. Holly was beat so the kids and I went out for a late dinner 9PM and then to bed.

Leaving Olympia was a bit like the song, Hotel California as we couldn’t leave town. When we entered town we came in on a one way street due to the bridge being collapsed (really). When leaving we had to try the other side of town and found that it went the opposite way of our destination. Back to the other side, up the hill and ask someone. We were correct in going the wrong way, seems you are supposed to go the wrong way and then double back on a slightly different road. The person that gave us directions said that there was a shortcut back across town just up ahead. This turned out to be a very steep grade down a one lane alley that elicited several calls of “cool” from Rhys. This journey to Nafplion was just getting started, as Rhys says, it was to be “epic”. The road was all of the above, up/down, tight turns, very rural and had no signs. As Holly navigated and I drove it became more and more clear we were going to die soon in one of the several ways immediately available to us. Plunge off a cliff (most likely), bridge failure, head on collision, rocks falling on us, getting lost, animal hitting us (had to stop for goats and cattle). Holly took many pictures along this road, ALL the pictures have many little Greek mini churches in them. Then the road became narrow and difficult. The only traffic coming the other way were delivery trucks, they would all hang back and time their arrival for the narrowest corners. All seemed lost when after driving for 45 minutes on this difficult stretch, a sign for the next town said 66 kilometers further. We started laughing. Later, as we drove on, we came around a corner and out popped a town scabbed onto the side of a 500 meter cliff. I can’t remember the name but it was disproportional to the size of the road and the access or traffic. It would seem the main industry is laying around all day drinking coffee and smoking. It was really picturesque the way it was perched. We would have stopped for lunch but we had no cash. Everyone only takes cash, no Visa cards. This is a problem in remote areas as you quickly run out of cash because of the daily limit from the ATM. As you may have guessed we didn’t die.

Nafplion was nice, we were tired and in no mood for extensive sight seeing, I guess we are done, and ready for the Greek islands. Good, we leave for Santorini in the morning, early in the morning, 5:30 AM. It is my first night driving in Greece, reading Greek is hard enough in daylight. Holly has lost her glasses, so Rhys is my navigator. After several unlikely turns we are on our way to Piraeus (one of many different spellings of the same place) it is incredible the path that they direct you through, it is literally a goat trail through an industrial site. We park the car, find Holly’s glasses and board the ferry.