A return home, stopping for a day at Heraklion to see the sights.
Zakros is not the easiest place to get out of on a Saturday morning, there are no buses so I hired a taxi at 50 euros to take me to Sitia. Cafe Xyloporta's friendly owner kindly booked it for me with his friend. Driving along in an air conditioned, gleaming white Mercedes, the olive groves looked beautiful this morning through the window, if somewhat artificial as until now I had mostly seen them at a slower pace while wiping the sweat away from my eyes. Rather than climbing up to the fortress at Sitia, I had breakfast by the waterfront at one of the many cafes and restaurants.
For the next 3 1/2 hours I was on a bus as it navigated bendy coastal roads to Heraklion. Over 30 years ago I spent a holiday near Agios Nikolaos. Passing through the area again in the bus I was disappointed at the coastal sprawl that now swamped the area: lots of souvenir shops, concrete blocks, tavernas, apartments, hotels and half built buildings, rebar sticking out of their roofs like unruly tufts of hair. It had an air of over-development, yet during my walk on the E4 across Crete, the accomodation and restaurants were localised, picturesque and on a smaller scale, as well as not being exactly full. The tourist sprawl looked like being on a narrow strip of the North coast where I would not wish to spend another holiday, knowing the beauty of the south coast of the Chania region or the grandeur of the mountains.
In Heraklion I stayed at the Atrion hotel, although it could easily have been one of the many others. I did the rounds of the sights, starting with the archeological museum. When I was around 12 I did an essay on the Minoan civilisation and had been impressed by the amazing wall paintings in the books. Men and women leaping over bulls and dolphins frolicking looked so much more interesting than the pictures of Egyptian pharaohs and slaves that my schoolmates chose to write about. I was therefore disappointed to discover they were actually based on just a few original fragments with most of the frescos extrapolated from these.
I also visited: the Natural History museum, checking the seismograph to see if I had missed an earth tremor overnight; the Venetian fortress that guards the harbour; the History museum, and I walked the length of the Venetian walls around the city. Finally, I bought a few gifts in the one of the many shops that line the mainly pedestrianised streets of the old town.
On Monday it was a bus to the airport, although I was tempted to spend an hour walking there as it is quite near the centre. The airport was overcrowded but all went well and some hours later I was catching the train home from Gatwick.
Now only Cyprus to cross to complete the E4....
Zakros is not the easiest place to get out of on a Saturday morning, there are no buses so I hired a taxi at 50 euros to take me to Sitia. Cafe Xyloporta's friendly owner kindly booked it for me with his friend. Driving along in an air conditioned, gleaming white Mercedes, the olive groves looked beautiful this morning through the window, if somewhat artificial as until now I had mostly seen them at a slower pace while wiping the sweat away from my eyes. Rather than climbing up to the fortress at Sitia, I had breakfast by the waterfront at one of the many cafes and restaurants.
For the next 3 1/2 hours I was on a bus as it navigated bendy coastal roads to Heraklion. Over 30 years ago I spent a holiday near Agios Nikolaos. Passing through the area again in the bus I was disappointed at the coastal sprawl that now swamped the area: lots of souvenir shops, concrete blocks, tavernas, apartments, hotels and half built buildings, rebar sticking out of their roofs like unruly tufts of hair. It had an air of over-development, yet during my walk on the E4 across Crete, the accomodation and restaurants were localised, picturesque and on a smaller scale, as well as not being exactly full. The tourist sprawl looked like being on a narrow strip of the North coast where I would not wish to spend another holiday, knowing the beauty of the south coast of the Chania region or the grandeur of the mountains.
In Heraklion I stayed at the Atrion hotel, although it could easily have been one of the many others. I did the rounds of the sights, starting with the archeological museum. When I was around 12 I did an essay on the Minoan civilisation and had been impressed by the amazing wall paintings in the books. Men and women leaping over bulls and dolphins frolicking looked so much more interesting than the pictures of Egyptian pharaohs and slaves that my schoolmates chose to write about. I was therefore disappointed to discover they were actually based on just a few original fragments with most of the frescos extrapolated from these.
I also visited: the Natural History museum, checking the seismograph to see if I had missed an earth tremor overnight; the Venetian fortress that guards the harbour; the History museum, and I walked the length of the Venetian walls around the city. Finally, I bought a few gifts in the one of the many shops that line the mainly pedestrianised streets of the old town.
On Monday it was a bus to the airport, although I was tempted to spend an hour walking there as it is quite near the centre. The airport was overcrowded but all went well and some hours later I was catching the train home from Gatwick.
Now only Cyprus to cross to complete the E4....
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