is supposed to be 600m deep?
The day started at 0830 with more church bells and litugical singing, followed by the exit of some of the tripper boats close and at speed. We plan to move, since I can now admit that my positioning had much to do with the possibility of wifi and not much to do with comfort and space. The promise had not been fulfilled, although there are plenty of secured access points about.
We went for a walk through the village, calling on a number of car hire firms, but found that the rate for 8 days hire was much the same everywhere. We had a drink at the Jungle Bar, and returned to the first car hire place (Olous Travel) who had been marginally cheaper and who seemed pleasant, to confirm our requirement. We bought a tourist road map of Crete, and a book about the island and what to see. Going through the book, I highlighted the places on the map and cross referenced them back to the book. Very organised!
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| The pool at Agios Nikalaos, formed by a volcanic eruption is supposed to be 600m deep? |
We picked up the car after lunch, and drove over to Aghios Nikalaos, parking up in the marina car park for an extortionate 3 euros. We had been warned against the activities of the traffic wardens, or whatever the Cretan equivalent might be, by Chronis in the car hire shop. He had also presented us with a bottle of the local olive oil. We walked around the shoreline and through the more popular tourist area of Ag Nik. A Tui cruise liner was docked and the place was busy. The rendezvous we had picked for Sandy's arrival was the Minos Beach hotel, and this proved to be at the extreme end of the Mirabello bay, so a brief stop for refreshment was necessary. We walked back over the top of the hill: hard work in the heat, but shorter than the way we had come.
We returned to Fuga, and waited for the the text message to say when we might expect Sandy to arrive. It was a long time coming, by which time we had realised that our plan to hold off eating until she was with us might be foolhardy. We drove to the hotel, and found a nearby taverna, enjoyed a meal and had paid the bill when the text message arrived announcing her arrival. We picked her up and returned to the taverna for an omelette and more wine.
I had gleaned some intelligence about gas bottles from Margaret on 'Skag of Lorne': they had spent the winter in Ag Nik and had anchored in the lagoon nearby. So on our way out we took two gas bottles, and went into Ag Nik to look for the place with my interpretation of her directions. This led us up some interesting narrow allies, but without success. We were on our way out, when Sandy or Mo spotted gas bottles on the pavement. We had to leave the bottles, for collection on Friday afternoon, and I wondered whether our last bottle would hold out.
We followed the road south around the bay until the point where the road to Ierapetra ran south across the island. This road ran through a valley between two mountainous areas, and was populated by olive and fruit trees, which gave way to greenhouses and market gardening as we went. Nearly everywhere in Crete along the roadside we encountered 'christmas trees' of pipe work and water meters that led off into the olive groves. We stopped in Ierapetra, and parked up near the harbour, walking along to the Venetian fortress the guards the old harbour. It was now time for lunch, so we selected one of the many shoreside tavernas. Returning to the car, we set off to find the Minoan ruins at Mirtos. We had already learnt that sign posting is not a strong point. When we eventually located where we thought they were, the ruins were only accessible on foot, and up a steep hill, and it was difficult to leave the car. We decided to give them a miss, and try an alternative route back to the north coast across the foothills. It was certainly different!
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| The greenhouses rival Almerimar's, but seemed sturdier! |
Everyone who goes to Crete should see Knossos! This was our destination for the day, and so we took the road to Iraklion. There were some discontinuities in it, so it was not all straightforward to the uninitiated. It was slightly disconcerting sharing road space with quad bikes, and pedestrians, to say nothing of being overtaken on bends, over double white lines, or to face that coming in the opposite direction. We made it in good time, and parked up, managing to avoid some of the 'parking' scams. Knossos is the site of a Minoan palace, c. 2000BC, rebuilt after an earthquake destroyed it c. 1700 BC. It was excavated by Arthur Evans after the second world war, and some say 'over restored' by him using disguised concrete. It was fascinating to walk around and the reconstruction helped you to appreciate the sheer scale of the building so long ago.
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| Overlooking a fertile valley south of Iraklion |
Afterwards, we continued south in the hope of seeing more Minoan ruins, but failed. You clearly need to get out and look, and once again the absence of any signage does not help. What signs there are are often in Greek script, or use place names subtly different from those on the map. After lunch in a beautiful village taverna, we set out to return across country. Once more, we got lost, and went down the wrong road on a number of occasions before rejoining the main road about one third of the way back to Ag Nik.
We had decided to have a quiet day. Sandy had booked a transfer to and from the airport, and had been given a letter which gave the 'Olive Grove' in Elounda as one of the pick up points. The other was a hotel in Ag Nik. We decided to try to find the Olive Grove: the internet had not been particularly helpful. So we set off to find our way amongst the hotels that fringed Mirabello bay, towards Ag Nik. No one had heard of the Olive Grove. We returned to the boat feeling frustrated, but relaxed over some drinks and a lunch. Later in the evening, Mo and Sandy took themselves off to see whether they could find the Olive Grove. We had found out a little more from the internet, including what the buildings looked like. The elusive place was eventually found, more or less opposite the church in the centre of the village. There was Sunday pick up expected. The intrepid pair returned and found their way into Manos bar, opposite the boat, where they had a drink before returning for supper. Meanwhile, I had enjoyed a quiet nerd on the internet.
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| This windmill was running, pumping water for irrigation |
The Lasithi Plateau was the objective for the next day's run. This is fairly high, in a bowl between the surrounding mountains. We took the 'old road' from Ag Nik, and soon missed the route (again no signs) and found ourselves high in the hills above. We turned round and retraced our steps to find our way back onto the road, leaving it soon after it crossed under the 'new road' to begin the climb into the hills. The road skirts the side of a valley, through tiny hamlets rather than villages, with olive trees everywhere. There came a point where the vegetation changed to more broad leafed trees, possibly nuts. Passing through one village there were ladies everywhere selling honey, olive oil, and other local produce. Finally we made it to the top, full of admiration for a group who were cycling up. A relatively brief descent brought us to the first glimpse of the wide fertile plateau below, dotted with villages, churches, and windmills used for pumping water. Unfortunately relatively few were still working.
We left the car at Tzermiado to have a look around. This was an expensive mistake, as we did not get past the first shop selling tapestry and lace and suffered a loss of cash in return for a table cloth embroidered with olives, and Sandy bought a smaller table cloth.
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We continued around a circular route until we felt hungry, and found a delightful restaurant with potted plants and roses, on a slight escarpment overlooking the plateau. It seemed that there was a road leading out of the plateau and on to the village of Kritsa. We tried hard to find it, becoming quite confused by the roads and villages with almost identical names. Having gone some way down a long road through a vinyard we gave up, and returned the way we had come in. This time we succumbed to the ladies selling produce, and settled for a jar of honey, some walnuts (delicious dipped in honey), and some raki to wash it down.
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Almost where we would have regained the 'old road' back to Ag Nik, we turned along a more minor road leading to Kritsa. The road climbed out of one valley, and over a pass into the next valley. Kritsa looked entertaining, but as it was by now getting late, we returned back to the boat in time for a swim.
.At the entrance to Spinalonga lagoon, where we were lying, there is an island called Spinalonga. Since the lagoon forms a valuable natural harbour, the island has a long history as a fortified castle. More recently it was home to a colony of lepers from the turn of the 1900's until the 1950's when a treatment for the disease was found. After lunch we set off up the lagoon in Fuga, out past the island to dump our holding tank, and then back to anchor off the island so that we could go ashore. It is a popular destination for ferries and tripper boats. We paid our entrance fee, 2 euros, and bought a book which may not have been strictly necessary. The place is now being looked after, but much of its former glory lies in ruins. Some of this was caused by the lepers, who used the wood from the buildings as fuel to keep themselves more comfortable. Back on Fuga, we set off back to our original anchorage.
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| Some of the ruined houses from Ottoman times |
We had thought about heading to the north coast to see the Minoan ruins at Malia, but curiousity was still eating at me regarding the back route to the Lasithi Plateau from Kritsa. We had found the road out of Kritsa that led to the plateau on our previous visit, so back there we went, 'just to see'. On our way through, we collected the gas bottles that we had left to be filled on Monday. We stopped in Kritsa, as we wanted to find the old church there. Kritsa is full of tourist shops, and we fell into one with some beautiful interlocking dishes with an olive motive. They were far too expensive, but Sandy found a dish she liked, and we spent some while looking at the paintings on display. After this, we set off for the plateau. The road climbed and climbed, and the views magnificent. Eventually we reached a plateau, not the Lasithi Plateau that I had imagined I had read on the road signs, but the Katharo Plateau! We could not identify where the track leading to the Lasithi Plateau had turned off our road, and on our return we saw that the signs had indeed read 'Katharo'!
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| The Byzantine church of Panaghia Kera is decorated with extensive murals depicting religious scenes |
With directions to the church of the Panaghia Kera as the quid pro quo for our earlier shopping, we soon found it. The Byzantine murals, similar to those we had seen in some rock churches in Capodocia, had remained in reasonable condition because of the subdued light. We decided that enough was enough, and returned to the boat for lunch. We enjoyed relaxing and swimming.
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| We enjoyed lunch overlooking the lagoon with Spinalonga Island in the background |
Sandy had established that her transfer bus would pick her up from the Hermes hotel in Ag. Nik. To make sure we knew how to get to it, we went out during the morning, and wandered around the lake area (formed by a volcanic eruption, it is said), stopping for a drink and to people watch by the empty cruise liner quay. We returned to the boat, had a swim, and then went out to lunch at Plaka, higher up the road along the lagoon, opposite Spinalonga. The taverna 'Aris' proved to be an excellent choice, with our table on the open balcony overlooking the sea. Back on the boat again, we swam, and Sandy made ready to leave. The bus showed up just a few minutes late, enough to get us wondering, and we finally returned to the boat without Sandy.
Various chores had been neglected during our 'holiday'. Mo defrosted the fridge, while I collected buckets of fresh water from the tap on the beach, ready for the washing. We put up the sun awnings over the front of the saloon. Then we set off for Lidl on the road to Krista, just outside Ag Nik. We loaded our trolley to the gunwhales with the necessities of life afloat: beer, wine, whisky, smoked salmon, ham, pork, minced beef, pasta, milk and orange juice were the more significant purchases. We returned to the boat, tranferred it all in two boat loads to Fuga, and Mo started stowing the fresh stuff while I took the car back to the rental company. That left an awful lot of stowing still to do, something for the cool of the morning perhaps.
With various bits that Sandy brought out from the UK, there is more stowage and work to do. We plan to try to rig a mosquito screen across our cabin door and across the hatch way, and it would be nice to get the SSB aerial so that it works properly. Fitted the fan in our cabin on Mo's side, and got the BBQ out to cook some fish we bought in Kipa at Alanya before we left Turkey.
