Itisallgreek2me

Thursday 2 May-Friday 3 May 2024

I oniy had a short stay in Athens, mainly to recover a little after my journey from New Zealand. Yesterday, up early and out by 0800 hours to walk back to Kerameikos Station and take the Metro to the Port of Piraeus.

I’m not sure when or why, after years of flying from Athens to Crete, I decided this time to take a ferry. Anek Lines the ELYROS… massive boat and fully booked like all ferries during Greek Easter. The scheduled 1000 hours departure from Gate E3 became 1100 hours and the 1800 hours arrival more like 1900 hours. Greeks love to talk and of course, they were feeling excited about returning home to their beloved Crete for Easter celebrations with families. The occasional scrap between dogs added to the noise levels. Nothing else to do on the economy deck but people watch, play on my phone like everyone does these days and from time to time, move out into the sun to warm up.

Our late arrival in Chania meant that by the time I took a bus into the city and walked from the drop off point to Xtel Bus Station, I had missed the 1900 hours bus to Kastéli. The next bus and last one for the day was at 2130 hours. My host had messaged to say my key would be left in a flowerpot at Revekka Rooms, their sister hotel opposite Kissamia Rooms, the hotel I had booked. Retrieved the key no problem, however, confusion reigned when I discovered my hotel wasn’t ready for occupation. A group of, I assumed to be Albanian workers, barbecuing on the street, got involved. A call was made and only when Chrissa came did I discover that Costas had omitted to tell me I would be staying in Revekka, their sister hotel. But, Costas did message me earlier saying he would upgrade me to a bigger room for free… nice one and had said “You are not a tourist but a friend of Crete” 🥰

Good Friday in Greece and the supermarket opened at 1100 hours, enabling me to buy a few provisions. In more than 40 years, this is the first time I haven’t stayed in the family home. Before leaving NZ, I learned that the family matriarch Anna, in her 104th year now, sadly is bedridden. Therefore, I felt it best that I find alternative accommodation.

Around midday, I walked along the beachfront and up to the family home, a walk which will be repeated many times over the next 12 days when I will go to see Anna and spend time with my family.

I’ve not long arrived back at my lodgings from Roma and Vanna’s (Anna’s eldest granddaughter) where I got to catchup with another branch of the family. All in all, a day to remember.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 3rd, 2024 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.