Crete livin'
Trip Start
Jul 01, 2008
1
5
11
Trip End
Aug 17, 2008
Where I stayed
Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
It was 95 degrees last night!!! We cooked here in Crete.
Crete is amazing, we rented a car and have been driving in the crazy city! Its like driving in Calcutta something!! No rules, no lines in the road, lots of honking and tons tons of motor scooters jamming the roads. The biggest challenge being aggressive and safe at the same time-phew. I love it actually- and it was a surprise how naturally it came to me. While we were in the thick of it,...I actually felt like my dad. I bet that's where I get my cool handedness in crazy situations.
Jenni and I went into Iraklion yesterday (city in Crete), got totally lost in the narrow busy congested streets. We called on the San Francisco parking fairy and she delivered us a nice easy parking spot-thank god! I got a little of my driving on video. We went to the archaeological museum (super cool-artifacts and jewelery from the Minoan civilization 3000 BC!!) We went to the ruins the day before-big huge castles/columns and wall paintings. I loved it- So visiting the archaeological museum made more sense. Then we saw an old Venetian fortress at the harbor. We found this great book store and the owner invited us to stay for a drink of local liquor- potent, straight alcohol usually served cold. We sipped on it while we talked politics and the death rates of motor scooters in Greece-all very melancholy topics (perfect conversations for a dark bookstore).
Ek-plixi! (means surprise in Greek). Our Greek has been coming along too-yasis means hello, yamas=cheers and calimera= good morning. Soon, when we go to Istanbul, we will have to learn Turkish!
Oh, there was an earthquake yesterday morning! I felt the rumbling and shaking of my window glass. Very cool-not much damage done. Hallie said in the beginning of our trip that natural disasters follow her-suprise...she was right!
We took a 2 hour road trip yesterday to Chania, where we are now. Another coastal town on north-west Crete. It was great to see the scenery change. Crete is a huge island with a mountainous interior. We are still on the coast, close to beaches, but we have a nice view of some arid mountains behind us. The driving is great! Totally crazy, but the excitement is our favorite part (there's even an ipod hook up so we have a soundtrack to our crazy adventures.)
Well, today we laze on the beaches again, then take a road trip tomorrow to the south coast through the mountains.
miss everyone!
