To start, I am sitting on a Sun D’or airplane some thousands of feet in the air with the Greek Islands scattered underneath me like anthills sticking up from the sidewalk. I am returning from a four day five night trip to the largest of the Greek Islands and the birthplace of Zeus, Crete. I wanted to travel one last time before returning to the States and was aimlessly searching travel websites to find a last minute deal to either Greece, Turkey or Cyprus. I eventually found a cheap package to Crete but as luck would have it I could not find anyone to travel with. I called all my friends still in Israel for the summer but each one had a reason not to go: one had no money, another had a parent coming to visit, one was starting a job, one was looking for a job and so on. I originally did not want to go alone so I decided that I would not go and stay in Israel (not a bad alternative) hang out, continue to volunteer with a severely wounded soldier, go to the beach and in the words of the big guy strait chill. Saturday night came around and I was still ‘jonzing for a fix’ to travel and after a few calls to Daka 90 (Minute 90, last minute deal travel agency) I decided to go by myself. I arrived to the airport around 12, still not having booked anything and an hour later had a flight, hotel, and meals arranged for 4 nights in Crete. Just to note, Jeremy was in Israel the previous two weeks visiting and he as well had a flight that left Sunday AM. Jeremy being Jeremy and in classic fashion arrived to the airport drunk and in true form. As he walked through security, half slurring his words he made sure to sugar talk the security officer (happens to be a woman) for what feels like 15 minutes before proceeding to the check in counter, always a charmer.
I arrived in Crete at 7 in the morning and needless to say extremely tired because I slept little that night in the airport and on the plane. There was a bus at the airport that took me and about 10 other Israelis to our hotel, located about 30 minutes East of the main city, Heraklion. The town that I stayed in was a tourist hotspot on the Northern Coast with more hotel, bars, and car rental places than anywhere I have been before. Most tourist in Crete are from former USSR countries, Russia, Ukraine, Romania as well as from Germany and the Netherlands. The hotel I stayed at was nothing special, it provided the essentials, bed, room and food. Everything else was not included in the price and came a’ la carte to the dismay of mostly elder Israelis who also stayed at the hotel. For example, air condition was 10 euro a day, a fan 10 euro a week, and though not necessary it did get a little warm in the rooms. I ate a small breakfast of tomatoes, cucumbers and cheese and headed for my room where once I put my bags down I passed out for a few hours and got some much needed sleep.
I awoke feeling not as tired but still sluggish. I walked around the town which is built on tourism so store after store was either a restaurant/bar, rental car, souvenir shop, or knock off designer clothing. On my walk back to the hotel I arranged for a trip to Sameria Gorge and walked along the water (not many beaches, most of the beaches were rocky and the water frigid, I only got in once).
The trip to Sameria Gorge left at 5:20 in the morning, not the ideal time to wake up when on vacation, but I am all about making the necessary sacrifices. The gorge is located in the center of the Island so after about 3 1/2 hours of driving and breaks for bathroom and something to eat the bus arrived at the Gorge (I ate a breakfast of a Greek yogurt and honey, delicious). Now when I was told that it takes about 5 to 6 hours to hike I thought that for me being in prime physical conditioning and shape I would be able to do it around 4 hours, 4 1/2 if I take long breaks. In the end the 18 kilometer hike took me 5 1/2 hours though with multiple breaks and spectacular views and photo ops. I met a middle aged couple from Australia who I walked with for about the last hour and after the hike got a drink with in a small restaurant overlooking the beach. We had to take a boat ride back to the bus that was supposed to be an hour ride, but to me it felt like 2 minutes, for the minute I got on I fell asleep and was awoken by the Aussie when we docked in the port. The bus driver felt as though he belonged in NASCAR and drove up the mountain passing cars with no guardrail on the side and a 50-70 meter falloff.
