[2022]
[Monday 23 May
2022]
Mediterraneo Hotel, Λιμένας Χερσόνησου, Crete
07:25–19:30 West Crete €90
This is a screen-capture from the e-mail attachment. The print was in fact a greyscale one.
Janet’s usual practice is to set the alarm clock to sound two hours before our appointed activity time; so it was that she’d set it for 5.25am for the trip starting at 7.25am. “I was up at 5.40am,” she wrote, “[after a] reasonable sleep.” She added: “Ever since we arrived we have heard Mr. Blackbird singing — just as back home. Early morning,
etc. He was singing like billyo when I was woken by the alarm at 5.25am. We’ve heard crickets only occasionally; and, so far, I’ve seen one big lurid green ‘Eddie’ [lizard], and we both saw a small ‘Eddie’ on the way to dinner last night.”
I showered after Janet vacated the bathroom. Checked my Gmail inbox
(06:34)…
“Breakfast of sorts,” Janet noted next: “Dining room not open until 7.30am.” We’d notified reception of our early start, so the restaurant door was unlocked and I was able
e.g. to get breakfast cereal, but most other items were lacking.
“We were supposed to be picked up outside the hotel entrance at 7.25am, but as usual it was a cock-up. It was actually at the bus stop. If [John] hadn’t gone down there, whilst I remained at the hotel entrance, when he saw a coach arrive, we could have missed the bloody thing.”
The voucher for today’s tour stated, clearly and unequivocally, “Pick-up point: Mediterraneo (Hotel entrance).” It was the only voucher that did so; all the others specified the bus stop: “Main Road B/S (Others)”. I suggested that we ought to station ourselves at the end of the driveway, where it joins the old road running parallel to the newer main road, not up at the hotel entrance. That way, if the coach actually did go to the hotel entrance, it would only be a short distance to go back up there. In the event, it was only because I hurried the 160 yards from there to investigate a double decker coach that had stopped at the bus stop, that we didn’t miss our pick-up. Rania, today’s tour manager, dismissively replied to my objection, saying that all pick-ups are from the bus stop. I thought this unhelpful, and it scored her no points for customer service; for the voucher clearly stated that the pick-up would be at the “hotel entrance”. Indeed, she proved to be a bit “schoolma’am-sh” (or “cattle-drover-ish”?!); and woe betide anyone seated on the coach not wearing a face-mask whenever she came upstairs en route!
Google Maps “Terrain” view, with places visited or seen
Tuesday 24 May 2022 07:39:36
Aboard the coach
The “cock-up” of the pick-up wasn’t the end of Janet’s displeasure, indeed of ours. “I was also pissed off,” she wrote, “that we were given no information until we’d spent 1½ hours picking up other people. That didn’t bode well for our return either. Finally, after 2½ hours, we had a comfort break.”
After we boarded and were directed upstairs, the coach seemed constantly to be leaving the main road and winding along the narrow lanes serving hotels and other holiday accommodations. It was doing multiple pick-ups for over 1½ hours.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 09:05:42
Views from the coach: headland at the north-west of the Gulf of Heraklion
Between the above photo and the one below, there was a pick-up stop at Agia Pelagia.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 09:13:42
Views from the coach: coastline west of Agia Pelagia
At 9.15am there were still people boarding. People who boarded together were having to sit apart because of the fewness of the seats left. Till now there had been no explanation about what was going on, or what would happen and when; but now Rania’s voice came on the loudspeaker: we’d be making a stop in 40 minutes, she informed us in English then in German, after which we’d be visiting Chaniá, Kournas and Réthymno. Every time she would speak, it would be followed by an “older woman’s voice”, saying the same things in French.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 09:26:56
Views from the coach
Tuesday 24 May 2022 09:30:12
Views from the coach
Tuesday 24 May 2022 09:34:42
Views from the coach
Tuesday 24 May 2022 09:46:00
Views from the coach: the mountains of Ida (or Psiloritis)
Tuesday 24 May 2022 09:53:00
Views from the coach: crossing the Μυλοπόταμος (“Mill River”)
(OpenStreetMap) / Γεροπόταμος (“Sacred River”) (Google
Maps)
So it was, that some 40 minutes later, the coach left the main road, and we stopped at a place with a sign:
- STATION
Taverna Snack Bar
ΣΤΑΘΜΟΣ
I wrote in my notebook the information Rania gave about identifying the correct coach: "№21 TOUR LINE”. It was while we were seated in the establishment, that a second woman in the trio of tour staff at a nearby table expressed recognition of us: it was Emmanouela from the
Spinalonga
tour. It hadn’t occurred to me that the French-speaking “older woman’s voice” was hers!
Tuesday 24 May 2022 10:13:08
“Station Taverna Snack Bar”, Arkadi
“After that,” Janet wrote, “We headed off for Chaniá.” I wrote in my notebook: “Passed 10.30 Ρέθυμνο.”
Tuesday 24 May 2022 10:41:36
Views from the coach: looking across the Gulf of Almyros, with Lefka Ori (White Mountains) in the background
Tuesday 24 May 2022 10:56:14
Views from the coach: Lefka Ori (White Mountains)
Tuesday 24 May 2022 10:57:58
Views from the coach: Lefka Ori (White Mountains)
Tuesday 24 May 2022 11:09:28
Views from the coach: Lefka Ori (White Mountains)
“Before we arrived we were given a map of where to go in Chaniá, plus Réthymno, and set off to explore.”
Most people nowadays are equipped with “smart phones” which incorporate a camera, but I used my actual camera when Rania came around to everyone, to show them a sheet with street plans of “Chania” and “Rethimno” drawn on it.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 11:25:38
Street plans of “Chaniá” and “Rethimno”
Chaniá: Places indicated in “quotes” are as they appear on Rania’s street plan.
When we got to Chaniá, Rania led us the short distance to outside the building she had marked as “Market Hall” on her plan. This was where we were to meet later, to resume the tour. I wrote in my notebook:
- Meet 13:55
Depart 14:00
Tuesday 24 May 2022 11:59:26
With Rania, outside “Market Hall”, Chaniá
“…We… set off to explore,” Janet wrote. “It was very hot and sunny. We had a drink then went to the harbour for photos….”
From the “Market Hall”, following Rania’s street plan, Janet and I walked 100 or so yards, then turned right into a pedestrian street (Μουσούρων) lined with many shops.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:02:00
Μουσούρων, Chaniá
Before proceeding any further, we found a bar and had refreshments, I a
Staropramen pilsner and Janet a Coke Zero. There was also water to drink.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:08:30
Refreshments in a bar, Chaniá
First left from the pedestrian street was a bustling narrow alley lined with canopied shops almost bursting with displays of leather goods, so it was no work of genius to guess that this must be “Leather
Street”.[ii]
- [ii] The German version of “Leather Street” on Rania’s plan was “Leder-strasse”, but
Google Maps’ “Ledergasse” would be more accurate a designation because it was so narrow.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:22:06
“Leather Street”, Σκρυδλώφ, Chaniá
From the end of “Leather Street”, following the street plan, we turned right along another pedestrian shopping street (Χάληδων), heading for the “Venetian Harbour”; but we stopped on the way when we saw the Orthodox cathedral, to visit it.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:25:32
Χάληδων, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:26:36
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Holy Metropolitan Church, Athinagora Square, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:26:36 (detail 1)
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:26:36 (detail 2)
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:28:50
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Holy Metropolitan Church, Athinagora Square, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:29:18
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Cathedral, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:29:48
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Cathedral, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:29:56
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Cathedral, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:32:30
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Holy Metropolitan Church, Athinagora Square, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:34:40
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Cathedral, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:34:56
- “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:37:26
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Holy Metropolitan Church, Athinagora Square, Chaniá
- Jude 1:9: “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:37:26 (detail)
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Holy Metropolitan Church, Athinagora Square, Chaniá
- Jude 1:9: “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:38:00
Presentation of the Virgin Mary Holy Metropolitan Church, Athinagora Square, Chaniá
- John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:39:38
Statue on the south side of Athinagora Square, Chaniá
ΑΘΠ
Ecumenical Patriarch
ATHENAGORAS I
1886–1972
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:40:32
Statue on the north side of Athinagora Square, Chaniá
ANAGNOSTIS MANTAKAS
1817–1916
from Lakka Kydonia
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:44:18
Küçük Hasan Pasha Mosque, “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:45:10
Rebuilt Venetian Lighthouse of Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:45:10 (detail)
Rebuilt Venetian Lighthouse of Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:45:30
Panorama of views, rightwards around the “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:45:42
Panorama of views, rightwards around the “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:45:54
Panorama of views, rightwards around the “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:46:06
Panorama of views, rightwards around the “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:46:22
View left of “12:45:30” of the “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:48:58
View south from the “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá, reminiscent of the High Atlas Mountains from Marrakesh
Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:49:44
View left of “12:46:22” of the “Venetian Harbour”, Chaniá
“We had another drink before returning to the coach,”
Janet wrote. “[John] had a beer, plus a small rakí ca. half a pint! We took most away.” From the “Venetian Harbour”, we followed the street-plan back, but on the north-east corner of “Leather Street” and the first shopping street we stopped for refreshments at a bar. The large metal mug, in which the rakí/τσικουδιά was served, was the smallest amount available; I could have had a litre one! I emptied the 500ml water bottle I had with me, and decanted the undrunk τσικουδιά into it to take away with me, before we left.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 13:14:26
Γυροτεχνείο, Μουσούρων 2, Chaniá
There were swifts noisily flying around, and I asked the server what one of them was called in Greek. Or that’s what I meant when I asked what “that” was! She wrote “Μπαρμπόπουλος”; but it took me some minutes to realise that this was the name of the clothing store on the opposite corner, at which I must have seemed to be pointing when I asked, “What’s that?”
Tuesday 24 May 2022 13:30:40
See next photo.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 13:31:38
“Μπαρμπόπουλος”: Barbopoulos clothing store, Τσουδερών 1, Chaniá
“What’s that?” I asked, meaning a swift that was flying around. “Can you write it down for me in Greek?”
She wrote “ΜΠΑΡΜΠΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ”, mistaking what I was pointing at.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 13:37:58
Γυροτεχνείο, Μουσούρων 2, Chaniá
“Our next stop was Lake Kournas,” Janet wrote, “the biggest freshwater lake in Crete. We went to a taverna and sat
al fresco facing the lake. What a view! Later, we walked down to the water but were not impressed as it was so commercialised.” I scribbled “16:15” in my notebook before we arrived, the time given for getting back on the coach. According to
Wikipedia, Lake Kournas is “Crete’s only freshwater lake” [emphasis mine]. I assume that means, natural freshwater lake, for there are artificial lakes created by damming used as reservoirs.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:02:42
Lake Kournas
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:03:30
Lake Kournas
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:13:22
Activity on Lake Kournas
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:27:14
Lunch at Taverna Souhlis
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:50:06
Down by Lake Kournas
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:52:56
Large, black, bee-like fly
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:53:10
Large, black, bee-like fly
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:54:18
Vines, with an orange tree visible in the distance
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:54:32
Zoomed in view of the orange tree
The toilet for the taverna was downstairs in the adjoined shop.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:57:02
Squat toilet in Polymnia market
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:01:14
Taverna Souhlis (above, left); Polymnia market (below, left); Lake Kournas (background)
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:01:28
About to board the coach on the opposite side of the road from Taverna Souhlis
From there, we went for our final stop at Réthymno, which we’d passed on the outward journey to Chaniá. Before we arrived, I scribbled “18:00” in my notebook.
“Next, we went to Réthymno,” Janet wrote. “We left our coach at the harbour, and… looked for the spring. There wasn’t any water: we’d been told there was!”
Réthymno: Places indicated in “quotes” are as they appear on Rania’s street plan.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:46:22
“Fortress” (Venetian Fortezza), Réthymno
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:48:08
“Venetian Harbour”, Réthymno
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:49:18
Proceeding along Αρκαδίου, Réthymno
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:53:00
“Loggia” on the corner of Αρκαδίου and Κωνσταντίνου Παλαιολόγου, Réthymno
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:54:04
Proceeding along Κωνσταντίνου Παλαιολόγου, Réthymno
We turned right just before the “Loggia”, and at the end of that cobbled street there was a
“T” junction. Turning right brought us to “Rimondi Spring” after a few yards. As
Janet said, “There wasn’t any water.” The three lion figures (or whatever they were) between the four columns weren’t spewing any water out of their mouths, nor did they look as though they had done so for a long time.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:56:24
“Rimondi Spring”, Venetian fountain, Réthymno
They were doing so in a 2013 photo that I would later find in the Wikipedia article on Réthymno:
Photo by Benoît Prieur 24 July 2013, 14:02:24
(Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27438161)
Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:56:32
“Rimondi Spring”, Venetian fountain, Réthymno
Going in the opposite direction (i.e. as if turning left at the
“T” junction) brought us, after less than the “500m” stated on Rania’s street plan, to the former “Mosque”.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:00:36
“Mosque” (Neratze Mosque), east end and north side, Réthymno
Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:00:54
“Mosque” (Neratze Mosque), east end and north side, Réthymno
Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:02:20
Bath-house just south of Neratze Mosque, in the north-east corner of Mikrasiaton Square, Réthymno
Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:04:18
“Mosque” (Neratze Mosque), west end and south side, viewed from Mikrasiaton Square, Réthymno
“We went to a gelateria,” Janet recalled, “and [John] had a pistachio gelato then a freshly squeezed orange juice. I had nothing [because it would be] a long way back!” In fact, as I realised afterwards, it was the location labelled “Ice Cream” on Rania’s street plan. Indeed, she, Emmanouela and the driver were seated there.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:31:16
Cow Scream (“Ice Cream”) on the corner of Αρκαδίου and Νεάρχου, Réthymno: (from left:) Emmanouela, Rania and the driver
Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:35:18
Cow Scream (“Ice Cream”) on the corner of Αρκαδίου and Νεάρχου, Réthymno: precarious stair-well to the W.C.
Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:45:26
Rejoining the coach, Réthymno
“We departed, 6pm,” Janet wrote. The mind-numbing tedium of turning off the main road and going here, there, and everywhere, seemingly interminably, to drop off people in reverse order from that in which they’d boarded this morning, was mitigated marginally en route by a stop, when a number of passengers were taken off the coach to transfer to another, smaller vehicle. Any time-saving afforded by this, though, was lost when, “at 6.50pm we were stopped by the police for ‘a routine check’, which took
30 minutes! I dread to think how long it would have taken if anything had been amiss!
Bastards!” So we were waiting for them to finish till ca.7.20pm. I don’t know what they were doing all the while; they didn’t come aboard to carry out any kind of inspection. “Consequently, it was 9.15pm before we reached the hotel and went for dinner,”
Janet’s journal continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a meal so quickly in my life!”
Back at the hotel, the receptionist gave me a “Departure List”, which informed us of principally of the “approx[imate] pick-up time” tomorrow: “20:40”. (Can you have a “list” of one item?)
“I’d been worried about securing a security locker tomorrow morning,”
Janet wrote, “and was prepared to get up at 7am [to get one before they would all be taken by others]. However, I decided after dinner to bag one if possible. Phew! most of the nine were empty, so we got one. I was a lot happier.” To obtain the key, one had to insert €2 into a slot; so by doing that, we reserved one. To lock anything in it tomorrow, we’d have to unlock it first, then pay another €2 to lock it again and remove the key.
I… found that my computer would no longer automatically log on to the hotel-room Wi-Fi. I’d purchased a week’s worth, and today was the eighth day; so I suppose it was a bonus even to be able to use the internet this morning.…
Janet wrote: “I had a shower and we were in bed at 11pm.” There were new guests, French people, in the next room. “Unfortunately, next door, some
bloody loud ‘Frogs’, including a child, were sitting on their balcony talking
very loudly. Eventually, I shouted, ‘Shut the f— up’, to no avail. More
bastards. I was so tired I had to close the balcony door and I didn’t want to.”
Strange to be writing this a couple of months after the event: I thought I was the one who’d bellowed, “Shut the f— up!” Fortunately for us, therefore, this was our last night in the hotel.
[Wednesday 25 May
2022]
|
