And so the days pass by....

17th of May 2008 textmessages ticked in from Norway: sleet, 3 degrees Celsius, strong winds, fresh snow in the hillsides... etc.. etc...
And here I was, in a beautiful village by the sea, with my little Norwegian flag on my veranda. Enjoying the sun and the warm breeze and my fantastic view of the Cretan South coast.

On my way to Andrini Beach, my favorite beach I prefer to walk to, I met David, the English retired guy of 77 Flora chose to be my dinner companion the day before. He is a great guy with a lot of stories and a lot of British humour. So we sat down with a coffee and chatted for a while and decided to have dinner together later in the evening.

I had audiobooks in my backpack, and a book by Paulo Coelho: Like the flowing river. But there on the beach I had mostly enough to do just listening to the soft murmurs of the small waves crashing against the shore. So the reading was put aside, and still the hours disappeared.

Saturday evening is a day for families to go out together. Every night the close off the main street here around six o'clock, and yesterday it was a lot of people out to drink and eat. Children ran around playing, having a great time.

Dinner with David was great. We were stuffed from all the tasty dishes, and had to sit a long time chatting and nursing our wine before we were able to move again.

I miss my cat! She seems to have disappeared along with her kittens. I am afraid they have done away with them all. But she probably was in great pain, so even though brutal, maybe that would be the best after all. But they could have waited till I left!

Today I went to the beach again. Beginning to get in shape now! But it was much more windy, and I didn't stay so long. Had chicken souvlaki for lunch, with vegetables instead of fried potatoes. That and a beer added up to 8.50, a little bit more than you pay for 0.5 l beer back home. Right now I feel like a siesta!

There is a lot of serious walkers here. They follow the coastal trails as long as possible before changing to buses or boats. But I don't want to have a lot on my agenda. I might go to Efalonissos Beach one day, but then again, maybe another year. This place is for certain a place I have to come back to.

Just walking around in the streets is a pleasure. There are trees and flowers everywhere, and the Mulberry trees they help grow together so they almost form sculptures along the street. Bougainvillas in full bloom, and a lot of other bushes and flowers I don't know the name of.

Enough for now, siestatime!

Back in Paleochora

After a day of rest, talking and small walks following the strenuous walk to Sougia, I packed up and found the boat to Agios Roumeli. Always sad to say goodbye to new friends, but it is the law of the holidays. My stay in Sougia had a nice end: dinner with Ian and Claudia and Gabi from Germany. So many nice things to eat! And such good company!
Nice weather today also, a mild breeze made it bearable to do some hours of walking into the Samaria Gorge. But even though the geology was impressing, even this early in the season it is a tourist trap! I would have changed to Irini Gorge had I had the chance, but it was a little late for that. During the seven hour long walk two days before we stopped and talked to almost everyone we met on the trail. Today I tried to say hello, but hardly any response at all! Were they too tired? Or just a completely different kind of tourists? Or simply too many to say hello to?

I stopped for a snack some kilometers into the gorge, and during half a sandwich I counted 80 people rushing by me! So I stopped eating, packed up and walked back like in a parade to the Tavernas by the sea, and had a Greek salad with retsina to compensate.

Now I am back in Paleochora again, and will grab a snack and a beer at Haris studios before going to bed.
10 hours walking in three days is really something for this lady!

Tomorrow I have made reservation for a special dinner at Haris studio. Once a week they give one. So I'd better continue exercising, the food is so good here! Tomorrow I must try and find a place to recharge the battery of the camera... almost nothing left now.

More later.

Sougia

Staying on for one more day in Sougia after a long 7 hour walk from Paleochora. A wonderful walk, but pretty hard climbing some of the time. Three stops for a swim along the way made the trip bearable, and goodhumoured Ian made me laugh every time I wondered if I should give up. I couldn't have better company than him on a trip like this.

This trail has some fantastic highligts, with wonderful views of the coastline. An absolute high was Lissos, once a thriving village 1100 years ago, now only ruins left. But so peaceful, and a little beach, Thunder Bay, which gave us a nice third swim of the day.

The last part of the trail was trough a little gorge. The clouds was coming, and the first raindrops fell as we walk out in the litte harbour. First stop, belive it ot not :-) was at the nearest taverna for a big beer! The rain poured down while we drank it, and the sun shone again when we finished.

And after getting a room for the night, no shower has ever felt better. And after that we found a nice taverna for a great meal. Both of us had been here before, and it was nice to be back again.

Today has been a day of rest. The weather is rather windy, and I wonder if it will be possible to go back to Paleochora again by boat tomorrow. Time will show.

More reports will follow as long as computers can be found.

New day - new sunburn

As a good Norwegian I have the same problems as ever realizing just how strong the sun is down here! So I am in for a night on the painful side.

But again it seems to be no problem travelling alone, I have never met so many interesting people in so short a time. Haris Studio is the perfect base, Flora and Haris the most caring people you can imagine as hosts, even though I do not live there!

Where I am staying in the old town, I live among the Cretans and can observe their friendly ways and everyday life. Yesterday a child celebrated her birthday in the neghbourhood, and the old folks of the town never pass you without a yassou or another word of greeting.

Tomorrow I will walk to Sougia with an Australian traveller, and probably stay there overnight resting my feet.

More reports of that trip will follow when I am bach here again.

I am there!

My trip to Crete started very nicely. Sunshine and warm weather was abslutely putting me into the holiday mood, even though I could look forward to a long wait at the airport. But ats the airport I met a librarian friend of mine, going on the same plane. So the waiting was shortened by good company. In Chania, Ilias met me at the airport. It was raining quite much, and we took a taxi to his apartment where I left my stuff. And then we went to the best fish restaurants in Chania, Apostoli in the old Venezian Harbour area. Was I in for a treat! Calamares, vegetables, salad and fish + desserts on top of that. White wine to go with the food. A wonderful meal in great company. We dicovered we both liked animation movies, and ended the night with Bees before Jan Garbarek, also a common favoourite surprisingly enough, ended a long and very nice evening. Couchsurfing is a way of travelling I will recommed everyone!

Ilias helped me to get a taxi to the busstation Sunday. The weather was getting warm and sunny, and I had a small conversation with another Norwegian couple also waiting for the bus.

Two hours on the bus, and I could walk with my suitcase along the beach promenade where Flora received me like an old friend and showed me Irinis house were I will be staying the next couple of weeks. Just as beautiful a view as on the picture. And a wonderful elderly greek couple as hosts, this time I am a paying guest.

Tonight I will have dinner with another traveller from Poland-Hamburg. Travelling alone is definitively not boring!

All in all a great start of the holiday.

Getting ready!

I have just sent my first couchsurfer away with the train to Oslo. A very pleasant experience to have guests this way! And now it is my turn to be a surfer.
Yesterday I mailed to my couchsurfer host in Chania to make sure everthing went according to plans. And confirmations came quickly, so now I know I will be met at the airport with a sign that says COUCH! and from there taken to the apartment to leave the luggage before going out to a restaurant in the old Venetian Harbour of Chania to eat fish and/or calamares! What a nice start on a holiday!

Some of the CS people living in the area are planning an other event while I am there, maybe I will join to meet more Greek people.

And now I will find my suitcase and start packing. The passport is in my purse. My car will be taken care of and go through the EU-check-out. Studded tires will be changed for summer-tires, and I will be ready for the Norwegian summer when I get back.

The sun is shining, it will be another nice and warm day, and the world here changed colours to green almost overnight. I will have to do some serious weeding and grassmowing before I leave so I don't have to come home to a wilderness area when I get back in two weeks.

And tomorrow at 5PM there will be a plane leaving Oslo Airport Gardermoen with a seat with my name on it. I can hardly wait!

One more week....

And then I will leave... I work hard now to tie up as many loose ends at work as possible. The snow has left the garden, but hopefully the weather will be cool enough while I am gone for the grass to stay low. I have begun to wonder what to bring. I have never been in Crete in May, but my habit is to bring a lot more than I need. So I will find what I think I need, and try to leave half of it at home. But what book to bring? There are so many I should have read, and it should be paperback. Since I travel alone, a book is nice company. But I still have a week to figure it out.