Greece and the art of bus maintenance
Well, it has been over a week since I posted on here - and a surprisingly vast amount has happened since then.
We spent a day in Athens cramming as many ruins into one day as we could fit around Hilary's hair appointment, and then it was off to Crete on the overnight ferry.
An overnight ferry in Deck class is an interesting animal - as you lie down on the floor of the ship's cafe with your earplugs, blinder mask, etc. on and attempt sleep in a room slightly dimmer than a stadium, with 5 TVs and 200 people in it, you begin to wonder about the value of a cabin.
Anyways, we arrived in Hania bright and early at 6am - found our beautiful hostel, and settled in. Hania was charming - we had planned to hike the Samaria Gorge, but had to abandon after a massive thunderstorm closed the entire park. That was disappointing. However, in the spare day we had we planned the missing 3 weeks of our trip - which now centers around Bergen, Norway and the Fjords ... details to follow.
From Hania it was on to Plakias, a tiny seaside town that I visited two years ago. On the Southern edge of Crete it has Europe's southernmost youth hostel - also home to the world's weirdest collection of people. The hostel functions more as a playground to a core group of middle-aged regulars, including Crazy-Bush-Guy, the team of lesbians, "Evil Christos" (that's actually how he introduces himself - and he looks exactly like Matty except he is German, with long hair, and about 40), "Scary French guy who carries on conversations with himself", and "Bjorg".
Anyways, we had a fantastic time doing a fantastic river-walk that includes climbing up waterfalls, and walking upstream until you come out on top of this amazing hill in a beautiful Cretan valley. So that was a highlight ...
Another highlight was the bus ride there, which featured "four-hundred-pound-milkshake-drinking-and-smoking-while-driving-a-stickshift-bus-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff-bus-driver" - amazingly you can pilot a massive bus around a treacherous mountain cliff with only your elbows, although occassionally he had to pause with the cigarette in his mouth to shift gears. The driver proved his worth, however, when 10km from Plakias the bus broke down and he fixed it with his bare hands, pausing to wipe the grease off them before resuming drinking/smoking/driving.
So, that's what we've been up to - we're in Iraklio now, seeing the Minoan palace of Knossos tomorrow, and then we are off to rendevous with my friend and (maybe) yours Paul Bissett on Santorini.
Hopefully I can upload some pics soon.
Let me know what's up with all y'all
Dane
We spent a day in Athens cramming as many ruins into one day as we could fit around Hilary's hair appointment, and then it was off to Crete on the overnight ferry.
An overnight ferry in Deck class is an interesting animal - as you lie down on the floor of the ship's cafe with your earplugs, blinder mask, etc. on and attempt sleep in a room slightly dimmer than a stadium, with 5 TVs and 200 people in it, you begin to wonder about the value of a cabin.
Anyways, we arrived in Hania bright and early at 6am - found our beautiful hostel, and settled in. Hania was charming - we had planned to hike the Samaria Gorge, but had to abandon after a massive thunderstorm closed the entire park. That was disappointing. However, in the spare day we had we planned the missing 3 weeks of our trip - which now centers around Bergen, Norway and the Fjords ... details to follow.
From Hania it was on to Plakias, a tiny seaside town that I visited two years ago. On the Southern edge of Crete it has Europe's southernmost youth hostel - also home to the world's weirdest collection of people. The hostel functions more as a playground to a core group of middle-aged regulars, including Crazy-Bush-Guy, the team of lesbians, "Evil Christos" (that's actually how he introduces himself - and he looks exactly like Matty except he is German, with long hair, and about 40), "Scary French guy who carries on conversations with himself", and "Bjorg".
Anyways, we had a fantastic time doing a fantastic river-walk that includes climbing up waterfalls, and walking upstream until you come out on top of this amazing hill in a beautiful Cretan valley. So that was a highlight ...
Another highlight was the bus ride there, which featured "four-hundred-pound-milkshake-drinking-and-smoking-while-driving-a-stickshift-bus-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff-bus-driver" - amazingly you can pilot a massive bus around a treacherous mountain cliff with only your elbows, although occassionally he had to pause with the cigarette in his mouth to shift gears. The driver proved his worth, however, when 10km from Plakias the bus broke down and he fixed it with his bare hands, pausing to wipe the grease off them before resuming drinking/smoking/driving.
So, that's what we've been up to - we're in Iraklio now, seeing the Minoan palace of Knossos tomorrow, and then we are off to rendevous with my friend and (maybe) yours Paul Bissett on Santorini.
Hopefully I can upload some pics soon.
Let me know what's up with all y'all
Dane
posted by Dane at 8:58 AM
2 Comments:
I see you're still using the cocoon method of sleeping. Earplugs, mask, and chained to the bed right?
You should try to go to Delos if you haven't been already. There's some pretty weak museum staffed by 1 person, but the better part of the island is the huge mountain that's worth a trip to the top.
Awaiting scooter movies...
yeah ... I've been to Delos, but I'm planning on going back for an afternoon.
we rented a car in Santorini, so I don't know if there will be any scooter vids. But certainly there are a couple car videos.
dane
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