Daphne's Drivel

With Rosita and David on their last day After six weeks on this island, our time on Crete ended yesterday.  On Saturday we said farewell to David and Rosita as they flew out from Chania to Ireland. It had been so good to be able to spend this time together. Then yesterday we needed to make our way to nearby Souda to catch our overnight ferry to Athens. But first we managed to squeeze in one last bike ride. You may have heard of “Zorba the Greek”, a book and movie. The movie starred Anthony Quinn and it was made in 1964. It contains one very famous scene where Quinn and his co-star do this dance on a beach. The dance is known as the syrtaki and the music they danced to is very recognisable. You can check it out here   and I'm sure  it will sound familiar. Frank showing his moves on Stavros beach That beach, Stavros, happens to be about 20km northwest of Chania, so we decided it would be a good cycle for our last day. It felt great to get back on the ...

Enjoying dinner in the Old Town with David and Rosita (This restaurant was once a Turkish bath house!) The city of Chania, also spelled Hania (pronounced Han-yah) on Crete's north-west coast was our base for a week after we finished our cycling. Chania is Crete's second largest city after the capital Heraklion, and said to be it's prettiest. We loved the Old Town and Venetian Harbour, narrow alleyways and outdoor restaurants. So full of character and history. It was there that we were joined by my brother and sister in law David and Rosita. They flew into Chania direct from Dublin thanks to Ryan Air, and we had a happy reunion (three years since we last saw each other in Ireland). And just before they arrived, we were able to meet up with a good Calgary friend, Sarah, who was in Crete with her English cousins for a week. We were very excited to see her - a familiar face from back home after seven weeks of not seeing anyone we knew! We had a rental car and a very ...

A full week has passed since Frank and I completed the cycle portion of the trip. We're missing the bikes, and could have quite happily continued, but very happy to now be spending time with David and Rosita in Chania and area. The ride planned for the last day So last Monday we rode the 66km from Sougia on the south coast, through the mountains to a campground in the city of Chania. We expected a hard day, but were pleasantly surprised that the 900m of net elevation gain was nicely spread over the distance and never got too steep. The first 30km was uphill. Once on top of the pass, it was a sweet 30km of downhill to the north coast. Another reminder of Crete's tragic history. Just outside Sougia, a memorial for residents who ended up in German concentration camps Pleasant riding through villages Local produce at roadside stand, includes  local honey, grapes, raki and chestnuts The route took us through an ever-changing landscape. It was all...

The previous episode of lazy beach time ended the minute we left the town of Plakias. Immediately we faced the steepest bit of road thus far on Crete. It was only 3.2km, but we pushed most of it. But after that, the scenery was fantastic with sweeping views of the bay below us, and mountains with goats and olive trees on the other side. Coffee stop in a village after the climb Great views and some agriculture west of Plakias The view looking back towards Plakias  A beautiful section of the route along a rough track (not shown on any map but our Maps.Me navigation found it!) Frangokastello, a Venetian castle from the 1300s We hotelled it for a couple of nights along the coast, and eventually were able to get  a ferry along a section of the coast with no roads, between Sfakion and Sougia. The town of Sfakion where we spent a night and got the ferry to Sougia Sunset from our hotel room  So many flowers everywhere...