Crete, day 1

Well. Here’s an auspicious beginning of my holiday. I’m currently sitting in/near the municipal gardens in Rethymno waiting for the hostel’s reception to open after siesta so I can actually check in. I’ve just had my first, very impressive ice cream (nutella – which as far as I can ascertain was just vanilla with chunks of delicious chocolate in it), and have an hour to kill with my luggage, and with nowhere to get changed into cooler clothes. I’ll live. But anyway, how I got this far…

I caught the coach at 4pm from Cambridge and arrived at Gatwick at about 8pm. The coach driver helped me find the hotel shuttle and I got it with no problems to the Best Western Moat House Hotel. I checked in, paid my £49, and booked a wake-up call for 4.45am, and a shuttle bus back to the North Terminal at 5,15am. I went out to buy some breakfast from the service station nearby, and, due to the lack of other options, had a fairly good omelette in the hotel restaurant. I watched a bit of TV, read my phrase book, and went to bed at about 10.30. I slept well, but was awake at 3.30.

I somehow managed to go back to sleep, because the phone jolted me awake at 4.45. I got up quickly, had a cup of tea and a muesli bar, and headed downstairs to check out and get the bus. I was in plenty of time, and got to the north terminal well in advance of my flight. I went straight through security (being patted down because of the metal in my walking boots), and went to find some breakfast. I found an egg and bacon bagel in Eat, and got a sandwich for later as well. I waited ages for the gate to open, and finally went to it, getting a bus to the plane.

We took off late, but managed to make up the time on the way. The flight was OK, with one spell of fairly good turbulence, and the ubiquitous child hitting/kicking the back of my seat. I did manage to get some sleep, though.

As we got close to Crete, we went over another interesting-looking island. As we came over Crete itself, I (and the child behind me) was aware of a lot of swimming pools. It was an interesting landing (it was very windy, and the plane did one huge bounce after its initial contact) and passport control was almost cursory.

I wandered until I found the public bus stop (the airport isn’t very big) and established that I had to get a bus to the city bus station in order to find my KTEL bus to Rethymno. This was achieved with a minimum of fuss, and the nice bus driver pointed me down the right street. I only just got there in time to get my bus, and I annoyed the driver by not having a ticket, nor the right change (though luckily I’d had some small denominations to work with).

The journey to Rethymno was along the coast, and quite pleasant – I’d changed my shoes, but was still thankful for the air conditioning. I got off at the bus station, and realised that I had to walk back to the previous stop anyway. It was very hot by this stage. I found a cash machine (which gave me a ‘cash advance’, which means I’ll probably get charged a lot) and found the hostel reasonably easily. I found reception, then found it was closed. I sat on the steps in the cool entrance tunnel and ate my sandwiches, as I was now very hungry, and then went back for the ice cream. So we’re back to where you found me, waiting under some beautiful jacaranda trees.

My first impressions of Crete are as follows: It’s very hilly; it has a fairly bare landscape, with pale to reddish soil/dust. I has nice, though not stunning, beaches. It has the same shrines to road victims as Peloponnese. It has a feral goat problem, and, I suspect, a feral cat problem, as I saw a very small one disappear into the bushes behind me about half an hour ago. The hostel may be dodgy, as the only residents I saw were a very large group of rowdy French people. We’ll see: maybe I can snaffle a nice quiet corner. Half an hour to wait until 5pm. Come on!

I went  back to the hostel, and finally got to check in. The guy in charge is very friendly and happy to help. He asked where I was from, and got me to sign the book, and took my money. He showed me upstairs and briefly explained where things were, leaving me to rest. I ended up nodding off a few times, and a guy came in and out while I was there. I finally stirred, said hi to him, and then set off to walk into town and get some dinner – it was about 7pm by now. I saw a few gyros shops on the way, plus a lot of other interesting shops – clothes, shoes, ice cream, and food. I got a chicken gyros just before I got to the water, and sat eating it in front of the fortress, looking out to sea. There were lots of photos I vowed to take the following night.

I walked around the front of the fortress, into the sunset, then turned back and walked around the posh seafood restaurant side, caught a glimpse of a pretty mucky looking beach, and then headed back, stopping at a supermarket on the way. When I got back, there were three lovely guys in my room: Todd and Nathan (Australian) and Andy (British). We had a chat, and they invited me out for a drink, which I accepted, under a little bit of pressure. I’m glad I did, though, because it was a fun, beer-fuelled evening.

Later on (after midnight), Andy decided he was hungry, so we found a place to eat, and Todd decided he fancied some snails. They ate, and then went in search of an ATM. I left them to it at that point, headed back, found another girl in our room, had a shower, and went to bed. The boys were pretty rowdy when they came in, and I don’t think the girl from New York was very impressed, as she moved rooms the next morning.