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Crete Managed to get a few hours sleep. The disco bar on the ferry finally closed and the nauseatingly repetitive Greek tunes ceased. The early hours of the morning were filled with loud voices from bar patrons who had apparently enjoyed the music. Sharon and I slept out on the deck, preferring the crisp salt air to the lingering stale tobacco odors inside the ship. On our journey we received a few light showers and a liberal dose of wind. We docked in Khaniá at 5:45 a.m. and were rather distressed to see freshly fallen snow in the mountains we planned to cross. Athens was much warmer than our first morning on Crete. So much for traveling south to find warmer weather. We watched the sun rise-a first in a long while and headed towards the snow in the notsodistant western mountain tops. There wasn't much vegetation on Crete. All we saw were gnarly scrub brush and olive trees. We crested one hill and the entire valley was filled with olive groves. There was nothing else in sight except a few houses and the sea. The one exception to the rule was around residences and hotels where they watered flowers and plants that grew to gargantuan proportion. In Tavronitis we came across a flowering ten foot tall poinsettia tree. An old chap was working in his garden tending his precious gladiolas. When Sharon posed by the tree he came over and said: "All the tourists take photos. Click, click." Try to fit one of those babies on the tv at Christmas. I had another pita gyross and it was the best so far. Spicy lamb meat, sour cream, loaded with tomatoes and onions with a huge handful of French fries tossed in for good measure. The quintessential Greek fast food. Dessert was a pomegranate picked off a tree. Since it was winter, half of the towns and villages were boarded up and windows soaped over. Very few tourists were about in November. The locals seemed to be in mode "mellow." Take it easy, don't worry, don't get excited. A new road started partway to Kissamos. We took the old route and had the whole twisty road to ourselves. The downhill was fun. I imagined Vicky going full bore on the smooth pavement and flying off a curve. There were no guardrails. The wind blew the strongest we had had in ages. At Platanos we headed south to find a spot with a view and succeeded in discovering a picture perfect camping spot overlooking the sea. Three small rocky islands added interest to the coastline. The price for the panorama was periodic gusting winds raging through our olive grove and tugging at our tent fly. |
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