We arrived in Crete to the knocking of someone at our door. For some reason my alarm had failed to go off and this was our butler bringing us breakfast!! (More on that tomorrow)
The weather was overcast with drizzle and around 15C. We headed down to the waiting area (More on that tomorrow) before being escorted out to our coach.
The first stop ws Aptera, up in the hills, for a photo opportunity. The area is steeped in mythology, and in particular here it was the “sirens” who were believed to lure ship onto rocks with their singing. The 3 islands in the photo are believed to be the remains of the sirens after they lost their wings and crashed into the water. In addition to the islands there is also a bonus US Navy ship in the picture. This body of water is well sheltered and houses 3 naval bases, Greek, U.S. and NATO
Below are the remains of an ancient city wall, originally 4km long around a city of 15,000 people.
Below is a more modern structure, the Aptra Fortress built around 1867 by the Ottermans after the Cretan revolt of 1866.
Next is an old fortress, most recently used as a prison. It is no longer in use.
From here we drove to the village of Gavalochori, most famous as the first toilet break on the trip. We had 3 coach loads of passengers who had been on the road for about 45 minutes and just had to use the toilets. The village boasted 2 cafes and a supermarket, each with a single toilet. You do the math!
At the supermarket the grandmother of the owner was showing bobbin lacing. This particular form of lacing is unique to this part of Crete.
A few general street sciences in the village
A little later than scheduled, after everyone was rounded up from the toilets we headed off to the village of Georgioupolis (Georgetown). We had some heavy rain showers on the way, but they had mostly cleared up by the time we arrived.
The final stop was the city of Chania, which is an old Venetian port. Here we had a longer stay to allow us to get some food at one of the many waterside restaurants. We tried the local gyro in pita. There are 3 churches in the city, one Orthodox, one Catholic and one Mosque. The Mosque is no longer in use as such, as back in the early 20th century after one of many wars with Turkey an agreement was made to move most Muslims from Greece to Turkey and most Catholics from Turkey to Greece!! The Catholic church is down a narrow alley, as Christian churches were meant to be built out of view behind other buildings.
As we headed back to the boat the skies cleared and the sun came out!
Tomorrow is a sea day, so I’ll explain those “more about this later” comments.