Crete - another side of Greek Life

Change in plans meant we spent 8 days on Crete. Interestingly this is the Greek Island that determines the southern border of Europe. Skirted by the Aegean in the north and the Libyan Sea in the south it is one of the larger greek islands but has a slightly different Greek flavour in its cuisine which provided us with new taste sensations that included roasted, stifado - veal, cuttlefish, snails and enjoyed (or not) the taste of raki and some very good white wines.

Our mode of transport for the adventure of Crete was to hire a yellow Chevrolet Matiz car. What a great move! We followed the roads which crisscrossed this island. The huge moutain ranges meant that on one side, we could almost be blown off the road by the strong winds, the scenery of stark white poxy limestone rock resembling snow in the distance and ancient ruins close up; through huge gorges and past mysterious caves and then crossing the mountain range into calmness and fertile fields of citrus trees, grapevines and ordered olive groves that looked like a supurb patchwork across the mountainside into the valleys.

The road maps we obtained lead us on some deadend roads, into villages that didn't exist on the map and up narrow streets that came to such a narrow point we needed to reverse our way out. Despite one or two minor rifts (or misunderstandings) these diversions lead us to backstreet experiences of local people carrying out their daily activities. (Robby is still a little bemused at the fact that it is the men that seem to sit around and drink coffee - not the women.) This holiday, or our current way of life, brings the joy of not having to be at a particular place at a given time as we only book our accommodation when we get to wherever we are going and most of the time we don't know where that is until we get there!

The beauty of Crete is not only in its natural environment but along every stretch of road there are signs to ancient monestries where we were transfixed by the ancient icons; archeological sites which date back to the Minoans of 2000 BC - we walked in their footsteps, visited their palaces (Knossos); learned more about the myths and wondered and pretended to be part of their mystery.

The weather and beaches surprised and pleased us with the water temperature around 21 degrees (eat your heart out the swim group) with each days temperature ranging from min 20 to max 35. September is definitely the time of the year to come to Crete, not to mention the cheap accommodation.

Thanks to Deb and Geroge, all our replacement cards are on their way to Crete so whilst we mark time for them to arrive we decided to visit Santorini (just 2 hrs from Crete - Heralkion).