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Ron's Millenium Visit
The year 2000 saw us on our 16th visit to Crete and as the plane touched down (after a 2½ hours delay in Manchester), it felt good to be 'home'.
Our party was larger this time as my brother Ian (a photographer) and
his girlfriend Jan had joined us....this was the first time they had
visited the island.
We arrived at the Hera Village Hotel (between Aghios Nikolaos and
Elounda) around 7:30am, dropped our cases in our allotted rooms
and had breakfast. I had cat napped on the plane, but everyone
else was tired and went off to sleep. I had a quick walk round
the Hera Village Hotel to find out where everything was, this being
the first time we had stayed there. Then took a steady 3km stroll
down the hill into Aghios Nikolaos.
Being so early in the morning
most of the cafes and shops were closed...but by the time I had
steadily walked down into the harbour...the place was slowly coming
alive. I sat down at a table in front of the Bridge café, ordered a
coffee and watched the day unfold for a good hour.
After my second
cup, I paid my bill and walked back along the seafront, there was no
need to rush in the early morning heat. Along the way I stopped to
say hello to my friend Michaelis who runs the 'No Name Bar'.... we
chatted for a while and I left telling him that I would see him later
in the day.
I walk another few hundred yards along the road and surprised Anna at
the Samaria Restaurant. It was all big hugs and kisses and she told
me that Antonis wouldn't be long.... which he wasn't. More hugs and
kisses...it was good to see my friend again. We talked for a good while
before duty called and he was busy serving breakfasts. I left to meet
the others in the harbour and just arrived as they got out of the taxi
. Not bad either...3km for 1500 drachma (under £3.00, we later used a
lot of taxis). The rest of the first day was spent showing our travelling
companions around Aghios Nikolaos, until we returned to the Hera for
siesta.
The first night we ate (as we did every night) at the Samaria. Antonis
and Anna made us more than welcome again. Nice to see a few faces that
we had seen on previous trips eating there too.
When we got back to the Hera, they had a 'Toga Party'. It was a warm
night so I stripped down to my jocks, wrapped a sheet from the bed
around me and made my way to the bar. The owner of the Hera was behind
the bar and he looked at me and cried "Argh!!! My friend you look like
Omiros, so this is what we shall call you"...I replied to my rather
large host, "Ok, if I'm Omiros, you shall be called 'twosheets' ". We
had a good laugh that night and also plenty of dancing.
Our first few days were just spent in Aghios Nikolaos generally
relaxing and meeting up with old friends from the town, like Manoli,
who used to own the Bridge café and Antonis's daughter Thespina
(Debbie for short) who is now a beautiful, confident young lady and
working in Heraklion.
After a few days resting, we hired a car and made a trip to Ierapetra
and spent a good few hours wandering round with my brother taking
pictures as we went. With the car we also made our pilgrimage up to
the Lassithi Plateau with lunch in the Milos Taverna in Psychro. Had
Sunday Lunch in Moholos, visited Milatos, Sisi and Kritsa. But after
15 visits to Crete we decided it was about time that we had a look
round the Minoan Palace of Knossos and what an eye opener it was.
The reconstruction done by Sir Arthur Evans many years ago really
brings the place to life.
We were advised to pay for a guide and for 1500 drachma each we 'bought'
the services of English speaking Marina, who showed about 8 of us round
the site pointing out all the places and things of interest. One of
which was a mountain 9km away from which the Minoans piped water to
the palace from a spring high up. She later showed us three sections
of the original water pipes still in tact, with their flanged and
tapered ends. I found this very interesting and to think they did
this 4,000BC....pity Greek plumbing has not moved on since then.
Knossos (said with the 'K') was well worth a visit, only wish we had
gone on a previous visit.
Well the rest of the holiday was made up of relaxing by the pool,
reading and just generally putting our feet up, but needless to say
we will be back again, either later this year or definitely in May
again next year. When I'll hope to have more pictures and more
stories from 'Our Holiday Island of Crete' till then 'Yassas'
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