Crete, the highlights (2)

My last post about Crete was rather short, so this post will be devoted to describe the things I’ve done there in more detail.

Samaria Gorge

This was without a doubt the coolest activity I did on Crete, but it was also the most heavy. I had to wake up at 04:20 am in order to get on the bus at 5 am. After a bus trip of five (!) hours I found myself on the other end of the island and in a totally different landscape. The eastern part of Crete (where I stayed) is rather dry, and that can clearly be seen in the landscape. The western part is much greener, and it has a lot of orange trees!

The Samaria Gorge is 18 km (about 11,5 miles) long and during the walk you are only descending. I consider myself a pretty experienced hiker and I can tell you that the walk wasn’t an easy one. The path was mostly made up by rocks, and slippery rocks at that! I was therefore dumbfounded to see a lot of idiots doing the hike on a variety of shoes totally inappropriate for this adventure: All Stars, sandals and even a few total morons on slippers could be spotted on the trail. I wonder if these people had even read about the walk or just decided to do it because everyone else was doing it. I mean, even if you go for a 18 km stroll on a Cretan boulevard you wouldn’t wear the most cheap-ass slippers???

I met a few people on the bus who were also alone and together we did the hike. Whistling, we passed most of the idiots on their crappy shoes and we arrived after a good 4,5 hours. We barely took breaks, it seemed a waste of time because we were walking in a very steady rhythm. The only downside of this, is that I didn’t take lots of pictures.

The last part of the walk, from the gorge to the nearest village was the hardest. Not because the trail was hard, but because I started to feel like 75 year old. My legs hurt so much! In the village we took a dip in the sea, ate a fruit salad and then we embarked on the long journey back to the east of the island. I was back at the apartment at 11 pm. A long day, but well worth it!

Diving

The next best thing that I did was definitely diving. People usually laugh at my reason, but I’m gonna tell it anyway. When I was a little girl my favorite movie was The Little Mermaid. It has been my long time wish to be able to go underwater and stay underwater, like the mermaids! So my wish has finally come true! xD

After the introduction and the practice dive in the swimming pool we set out to dive in the sea and it was lovely! The underwater world is so serene; there are no sounds (apart from the Darth Vader-like sounds you produce with the breathing mask). The fish are minding there own business, floating here and there. The underwater plants flow with the tide of the sea, and I got to see some cool stuff: sponges, sea cucumbers and some stuff I forgot the English names from (Dutch: zee-egels).

The downside of diving is that the diving itself is not really pleasant. You have to tie waits around your waist in order to stay underwater. Those waits have to be really tight and it made me feel really nauseous (maybe it was a little too tight). Also, the breathing through the mask isn’t really comfortable. After 30 minutes I was longing for a nice gulp of fresh air.

Other highlights

I only spent one day doing absolutely nothing. I saw Knossos, Spinalonga, Agios Nikolaos, and we rented a scooter.
The scooter was quite crappy and I managed to crash myself. Apart from a nice scratch on my leg I’m unharmed but I’m never getting on a scooter again. I hate them now; they are noisy, stinky and dangerous.