Friday 17th October
After three days and nights in Chania the beautiful capital of Western Crete we decided that our souls had caught up with our bodies sufficiently for us to move on. So without a great deal of planning we picked Kissamos off the map and decided to head west.
Originally the plan had been to use public transport as much as possible and in this case to take the bus would have been an option but the prospect of dragging our suitcases half a mile to the bus station was too much of an obstacle so the simple solution was a taxi - door to door, no hassle the other end - simple. So that was that decision made!
First impressions of Kissamos weren't great, it's not a very attractive town, but the hotel the Elena Bay was fine with it's own sandy beach and a man-made breakwater protecting it from any unwanted wind or waves.
We were the only people staying apart from a young German cabinet maker so we didn't have to wait long at reception!
We settled in pretty quickly, had a swim, read books, lunch, slept in the sun.
On Saturday we hired a couple of mountain bikes and explored locally.
There is a ferry which runs from the local port to the southern tip of the Peloponnese which at this time of year goes when it's full - it's been here since we arrived and there isn't much sign of life at the moment.
Kissamos has a small museum full of Minoan and Roman artefacts which are anything up to 4,000 years old which we enjoyed.
This evening we walked to the old fishing harbour and selected one of the two restaurants on the waters edge. There is a pretty one with several people in it and a rather dull looking one where clearly the locals like to go and which at 8.30pm was empty. Following the advice of The Rough Guide we went into The Captain - the empty one and as the food began to arrive realized why it was empty and decided that Rough Guide might be a rougher guide than we'd anticipated.
Sunday 19th Oct.
About 20 miles away on the western side of a bit of land which stick up toward mainland Greece is a bay known as Balos. Worth a visit owing to it's unique turquoise water and white sand beaches. The only problem is getting there. You need a four wheel drive and preferably a sturdy one. So we hired one and being the intrepid travelers we are, set off on Sunday morning to discover Balos.
The road was indeed very rugged and heading north the drop on the right hand side was massive (quite a lot of squawking from the passenger) but what was more impressive was the locals in what I can only imagine were hire or Company cars bouncing over the rocks and overtaking us on the bends.
From the car park at the top there begins a long decent which is well worth it and the beach and the sea really are as good as the guide books say.
The bay was glorious but it was blowing horribly hard so it was necessary to hide behind rocks to shelter from and wind.
Alec sheltering from the wind behind a rock!
We only paddled which was a bit pathetic.
The island Gramvoussa north of Balos Bay has long been a pirate's stronghold and it was the last Greek stronghold against the Venetians and the Turks.
The pity is there is hardly a bird in sight. I can't believe the Greeks have shot and eaten them all, perhaps they've migrated.
However we did see a kingfisher in the little harbour.
Fortunately we didn't need this pelican as we had teased the hotel owner about what he was going to cook us for dinner and he'd risen to the challenge by saying 'a Cretan feast' and do you know what he wasn't joking!
(He had looked so disappointed every evening when we went elsewhere for supper instead of sitting in the huge bare dining room.)
After three days and nights in Chania the beautiful capital of Western Crete we decided that our souls had caught up with our bodies sufficiently for us to move on. So without a great deal of planning we picked Kissamos off the map and decided to head west.
Originally the plan had been to use public transport as much as possible and in this case to take the bus would have been an option but the prospect of dragging our suitcases half a mile to the bus station was too much of an obstacle so the simple solution was a taxi - door to door, no hassle the other end - simple. So that was that decision made!
First impressions of Kissamos weren't great, it's not a very attractive town, but the hotel the Elena Bay was fine with it's own sandy beach and a man-made breakwater protecting it from any unwanted wind or waves.
We were the only people staying apart from a young German cabinet maker so we didn't have to wait long at reception!
We settled in pretty quickly, had a swim, read books, lunch, slept in the sun.
On Saturday we hired a couple of mountain bikes and explored locally.
Kissamos has a small museum full of Minoan and Roman artefacts which are anything up to 4,000 years old which we enjoyed.
This evening we walked to the old fishing harbour and selected one of the two restaurants on the waters edge. There is a pretty one with several people in it and a rather dull looking one where clearly the locals like to go and which at 8.30pm was empty. Following the advice of The Rough Guide we went into The Captain - the empty one and as the food began to arrive realized why it was empty and decided that Rough Guide might be a rougher guide than we'd anticipated.
Sunday 19th Oct.
About 20 miles away on the western side of a bit of land which stick up toward mainland Greece is a bay known as Balos. Worth a visit owing to it's unique turquoise water and white sand beaches. The only problem is getting there. You need a four wheel drive and preferably a sturdy one. So we hired one and being the intrepid travelers we are, set off on Sunday morning to discover Balos.
The road was indeed very rugged and heading north the drop on the right hand side was massive (quite a lot of squawking from the passenger) but what was more impressive was the locals in what I can only imagine were hire or Company cars bouncing over the rocks and overtaking us on the bends.
From the car park at the top there begins a long decent which is well worth it and the beach and the sea really are as good as the guide books say.
The donkey taxi is case you couldn't walk.
The bay was glorious but it was blowing horribly hard so it was necessary to hide behind rocks to shelter from and wind.
Alec sheltering from the wind behind a rock!
We only paddled which was a bit pathetic.
The island Gramvoussa north of Balos Bay has long been a pirate's stronghold and it was the last Greek stronghold against the Venetians and the Turks.
However we did see a kingfisher in the little harbour.
 |
| Whilst scavenging for our dinner we came across this - too skinny! |
(He had looked so disappointed every evening when we went elsewhere for supper instead of sitting in the huge bare dining room.)
We started with an ouzo aperitif followed by Spinacopita, stuffed courgette flowers (zucchini) tzatziki, aubergines, and grilled red peppers. Then lamb from the oven, pork souvlaki, yogurt, grapes and syrup for pudding plus the ubiquitous chips and two mini decanters of raki with many toasts to England, God, Greece and anyone else you care to name all shared with the host and a charming German cabinet maker who was the hotel's only other guest.
On Monday we swopped the jeep in for a small car to head south to Paleochora. As we checked the bill from the hotel, after leaving, we noticed that our host had not charged us a cent for the feast last night. That really typifies the generosity of the Cretans.
On Monday we swopped the jeep in for a small car to head south to Paleochora. As we checked the bill from the hotel, after leaving, we noticed that our host had not charged us a cent for the feast last night. That really typifies the generosity of the Cretans.
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