Sep 20 2004
Flight to Crete
We are flying to Crete, Greece today. Althought we woke up early enough, we still had to run to catch a train to the airport. It took only about 3 hours to travel from Naples to Rome. But nowadays you need get started at least 3 hours to get to your flight.
We had a connection in Athens. To me, the city is an endless source of fascination. Think of today’s world, thousands of years after the Athenians and with so many technologies available, the majority of the population still live in various levels of poverty, superstition and repression. Back than, I can’t imagine what kind of a world the Athenians were surrounded by? Were there still Neanderthals? Yet the Athenians stood like a giant amidst this vast primitivity. It took the rest of the world another 1700 years to “get” what they had achieved in 100 years.
The Athens airport looked brand new. Still full of Olympic logos, it was very clean and charming. However, the plane was delayed in Rome and now in Athens again. So we arrived in Heraklion, Crete more than 2 hours late.
Before coming to Crete, we’ve heard from other visitors that: one, we should rent a car; two, the lodgings were very cheap and easily available. Indeed, inside the airport there were 7 or 8 car rental counters. They were all very small in size (like a cubicle) and were next to each other. You could shop among them like in a farmers market. We found a car that cost only 100 euro for 3 days with everything included. I handed them the cash and they gave me the key.
We were not surprised by the size of car. After all, we had seen all kinds of miniture cars in Italy (some even made by Mercedes and Audi). It was pretty clean and very easy to drive. We bumper-car-ed our way out of a very packed parking lot and went to a eatery at local’s recommendations. It was called 3 Trees and the name was really helpful to find it. By then, we were starving. I ordered an extra beef stew dish. The hostess, althought didn’t speak much English, apparently understood but didn’t comprehend:)
Finally, we got on the road driving south. We were here to visit the ancient Minoan sites and people recommended some sites in the south. We planned to drive there on day one, then circle back to visit Knossos before leaving. Because the plane was late, we started in the dark. The roads were well paved. But the road signs, to us, looked like random math formulars without the equal signs or the operands. There were English signs but you had to look hard to find them. We got the freeway OK but missed an exit to the main road to the south.
Driving in here was more stressful than I was ready for. Not only the cars were running fast, apparently there were unwritten rules you had to get use to. For example, on a one lane road, slower cars ought to drive on shoulders. Some sections of the road we traveled were winding around sea side mountains. When I drove on the shoulder, sometimes, it was absolute darkness on my side. In addition, we had to yield to passing cars and to find directions. It was a bit nerve-racking at first.
Finally we found our way to south. It was clear, however, we were not able to reach our original destination by midnight. So when we saw a “Room for Rent” sign in a village, we decided to check in and call it a night. The room was cheap, only 20 euros. But to our chagrin, not only we had to share the toilette and shower, but there was no hot water. The beds were not very conformtable either. And my worst fear also came to pass: the toilette paper rule.
When we were in Florence, a fellow traveler from Gig Harbor told us that he stationed in Greece for many years before. Still he couldn’t get use to their toilettes because one had to throw the toilette paper in a backet. Even in bathrooms with flush toilettes, you were not supposed to flush them away. It could get very nasty in a hot day. I was hoping this had changed by now but … it was not.