Catastroika

The team that produced Debtocracy, about the Greek financial crisis and the overturning of democracy, have got a new doco out on the asset privatisation plans. Good watching with English subtitles at: http://www.catastroika.com/indexen.php

Athens and austerity

After managing to ignore politics for the last five weeks, there is no escaping it in Athens - nor in the villages in Crete if you really look.

The owners of the little hotel I stayed at in Mirthios are showing the strain - the bi-monthly extra tax bill with the electricity account is causing them huge stress, as they never know how much it will be each month.  They are also supporting one daughter who can't get work and another whose wages are too low to pay her rent.

I was in Sfakia for the elections - the owner of the hotel there told me he was disgusted the Nazis ("Golden Dawn") managed to win seats for the first time.  

In Chania a shop owner said nearly all the shops around her had closed over the last year.

Here in Athens there are closed down shops everywhere, even on the tourist streets. Plenty of graffiti too, which I take ages to decipher as my Greek reading skills are still quite slow.  Apparently there is an Occupy demo on tonight, according to BBC World News but I missed it in my hotel comfort zone.  The police here have armoured police wagons and there were a few around Syntagma, but they could be there every day.

On the trolley bus today I was talking to three young African men  - we were talking French and to deflect the questions about whether I was married or not I started asking about the work situation. One told me the racism in Greece means he can't get work so is trying to go to France, "but it's complicated" (if you've seen any of the films about illegal immigrants in Europe you will know why).

It's encouraging to see the high vote for SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) and the anti-austerity message it is sending Europe. (see http://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/the-greek-paradox-and-the-left/#more-2767).  They are likely to get an even higher vote in the next election now the mainstream media has had to stop ignoring them.

I wish I understood more but I'm not staying here, and there is plenty in New Zealand to deal with: irrational welfare reform, privatisation of our collective assets and Prime Minister John Key making private deals with Sky City casino to increase pokie harm, to name a few.

Good luck to the Greeks - I hope they stand strong and develop a better economy that works for more of its people than the current one does.

Samaria and Sfakia

I've had a wonderful week in south west Crete - one outstanding walk and lots of relaxing in tavernas and on beaches.  It's less than I meant to do but it feels like it was just right.

First off I took the bus to Omalos on a very winding round to the high plateau in the White mountains. There's still snow on the peaks, so the temperature is cooler on the plateau.  After a night here, I walked the Samaria Gorge in a thoroughly enjoyable day. The walk is very hyped and seen as a must do for all type of tourists from serious hikers to people in sneakers, and even jandals I saw (not recommended because of the stones).  However it is a stunning walk - breathtaking from the start at 1250m, down to the narrow gorge towards the end.

It took me over six hours as I kept stopping to look around and take photos.   By the end I was very glad I was staying at the village of Agia Roumeli instead of getting the boat and bus back as the day trippers have to do, making it a very long day for them.

The next day I cruised past the coastal walking track on the boat - the English walking tour were little dots on one of the cliffs.  I stayed at Sfakia for four days and, Loraine, I have to confess that the closest I got to the walking track from Loutro to Anapolis is sitting in a taverna at Loutro looking up at it.   The track recommended by Loraine is a zigzag up this hill:

It's hard to pick my favourite from the three bays of Sfakia, Loutro and Finix.  I swam at all three, and tried out the tavernas.  I thought about walking and how another time I will do it with at least one other person.    But I really felt like I had come to the end of my travels  for now and my energy gave out.  Or maybe it was just too easy to stay on the beach.  

The next time I come to Crete I will head straight for here and not bother with the bigger towns. I've found my ideal holiday spot.  

Last day in Mirthios

It's my last day in Mirthios - tomorrow I am catching the 7am bus to Rethymnon. I'm glad I came here, I like the new  memories that are overlaying the old ones.  I feel very rested and ready for the next two weeks of more active travel.

I've enjoyed the walking here, mainly for the simple sights - olive trees, a multitude of spring flowers, eagles and buzzards riding the thermals, cold sea water and even colder rivers.

I walked to Preveli gorge and beach with a small group on Sunday.  We walked down to the Kourtaliotiko Gorge where the limestone rock is like a sponge, soaking up the rain water and then releasing it into the gorge in five side by side springs that fall into the river.

We followed the river down to Preveli and climbed down many steps to Preveli Beach.  This area has been declared a national park so all the sun umbrellas and pedalos etc have gone, making it much more peaceful but maybe losing some revenue for the locals.  Behind the beach, the river slows to deep green pools and there are palm trees along both sides.

In 1941 a submarine came close in to this beach to rescue many of the Australians and New Zealanders who had been stranded after the evacuation at Sfakia - I first heard the story when I came to Mirthios in the 1980s.

My least favourite memories here are the winds that have started up in the last few days, funnelled by the two gorges on either side of Mirthios.  They blow strongly in the night, die down a little around the middle of the day and then pick up again in the evening.  I'm hoping to walk to the other gorge this afternoon but it could be blowing too hard.

I'm also tired of walking up hills. I think I will be missing a few out on the trip from Agia Roumeli to Sfakia where I can use boats.  I'm walking up hills every day but it doesn't seem to get any easier!  I took this picture on the last time I walked up the hill from Plakias today - so glad I don't have to do that again!

I'll be off line for the next week as I'm temporarily offloading some gear to lighten my pack, including the laptop.  I'm going to walk the Samaria Gorge and then head along the coast from Agia Roumeli to Loutro and Sfakia.  I'll walk if there's company but I don't think I want to walk long stretches of the coast alone.

And then it's nearly home time which I am looking forward to more and more.  I have decided not to be a hermit after all, and that friends and family are the best things to have in your life - and dogs of course.

A walk to the old mill at Mirthios

Selective memories

Mirthios and Plakias have changed over the last thirty years, as you would expect, and mostly the changes are good. People seem better off than when I was here before, though whether that applies right now with the government's austerity measures, I don't know.  The new houses and hotels aren't hideous, except the awful Hapimag complex at the once beautiful beach of Damnoni.  The rest of the beaches all seem as magnificent as they always were, and not yet full of beach umbrellas for the summer.  Here's my favourite, Souda:

There were no buildings at all when I was last here, and now there are plenty, but they have stayed back from the beach.

I went walking on another series of beaches yesterday - four that are connected by tracks - and as I walked over a  particularly spiky and rather arduous section of path between the first and second beaches, I was full of admiration for young Karen who bounded over these tracks.  Once I got to the next one though I realised that of course I had never actually been as far along as the first beach - I just went to any one of the other three, which had a much easier path.

My memory has been selective on other walking tracks too - I know I went up the local high point Timeo Stavros, so thought I should do it again for old times sake and the best view of the region. I cursed as I slogged up, having no recall of how steep a climb it was.  The view was still spectacular though, even though I didn't quite make it to the top this time (making use of the Solomon Islands' belief of the sacredness of mountain tops comes in handy when you get tired).

The other memory blank I have is of the steep climb from Plakias by the sea back up to Mirthios. I used to go up and down here all the time - how could I forget it was so steep! Not helped I think by being concreted now, while before at least there were a few bends on the path through the olive trees and a lot more shade.

Some things I do still remember - the old youth hostel building is still there though no longer used as such. It was my home for two winters, and freezing cold it was too when it snowed.  It's the upper storey in the photo - downstairs was the taverna where I had to drink lots of brandy to stay warm.  The three doors on the far left are the outside loos and the cold water shower.

This time I am in my comfy studio, with ensuite, and wifi access and enjoying much better food.  I'm sad I can't bring back Plakias honey and Sellia yoghurt, so I am trying to eat as much as possible now.

I don't recognise anyone from the old days and I'm not going looking!  I went to the cemetery and only found a couple of names I knew.   I'm enjoying creating new memories, but I can appreciate why this place has been in my memory for so long.

View from my window - Mirthios

OK so here's the view from my window - actually balcony - at Mirthios. And I wonder why I wanted to come back after thirty years:

To the far east of Crete

Last day in Sougia was lovely - a walk along the cliffs to the east for a couple of hours, followed by second breakfast at one of the cafes on the waterfront that had internet; lots of time to read and plan where to go next.  Since the weather, namely the wind, is not going to get any better I'm heading for another place I didn't quite get to last time I was in Crete - Sitia in Eastern Crete and the Minoan palace of Zakros.

So on Wednesday a bus turned up at last. The friendly French family that has been stranded here since I arrived were very relieved as their flight was that evening.  Everyday they had packed up and gone to the wharf at 9.30 in the morning to wait for the boat and every morning it didn't come because of the wind.   Then I would see them in the cafe and say "oh no, still here?" (in French of course) and they would shrug  and say "there is no escape from Sougia!"

We left Sougia in the pouring rain - the stoic English couple got off at Aghia Irini to walk back through the downpours via the gorge.  From there, I overdosed on buses, taking three to get to the small town of Sitia.  And now I must gloat for here is the view from the balcony of my hotel:

It's still off season so rates are low in case people think I am being too self indulgent.  Sitia is a sweet little town - very relaxed and easy to get around.  From here I've been doing trips out to the countryside - it's not spectacular like the west but it's still rocky and hilly - just a lot more farms and beaches.

Today I walked down the Gorge of the Dead to reach Kato Zakros.  It was yet another wonderful gorge walk, with the sound of goat bells from high up the cliffs, and a river that disappeared and then reappeared later as springs.  The track is fantastically well marked because of  a local man who maintains the signs.   It's called Gorge of the Dead because there were Minoan burials in the caves.

All along this area there are patches of purple schist which makes it look like the paths and rocks are stained with grape juice.  Lovely matching patches of flowering thyme too.

At the end of the gorge after a couple of hours, I emerged at Kato Zakros (lower Zakros to distinguish it from Zakros, up in the hills at the start of the gorge) and had my reward - second breakfast at the beach:

Then I walked around Minoan Zakros palace and town site just a little bit inland.  It's sited so it could be a centre for trade with Egypt and it was very easy to imagine the boats arriving at the bay where I had had breakfast.   The town has narrow streets and steps and must have looked similar to the older parts of  Cretan villages where there are still narrow lanes between the houses.

Still stuck in Sougia

Maybe the tiny south western Crete village of Sougia wasn't the smartest place to go to for Greek Easter, when the buses stop and the spring winds keep the ferry boats away for days at a time.  I am wondering why I left Paleochora with its three buses a day, plenty of walks, car hire even. Of course Sougia's appeal is its isolation and the fact that not many people go there.

Getting here was hard enough - I had planned to do it the easy way with the ferry boat from Paleochora. All the Sougia passengers are waiting at the wharf at 9am, the boat turns up, but then won't let us on board.  They reckon they can't land at Sougia because of the rough sea. Now at this point I could have decided to stay in Paleochora with its three buses a day, or even gone back to Chania with buses galore, but because there is a path I decided to walk it.

It's a beautiful route, along the sea, a smallish hill to climb then descend to the site of ancient Lissos, another little up and then down through a gorge to Sougia. Simple.  Alas, at this point I discovered that what I read and what it feels like to actually do it with a slightly too heavy pack are two different things. This is also when I discover a major difference between the tracks of Crete and those in Aotearoa:  Cretan paths are very stony and the rocks all seem to be sharp and pointed, so by the end of a day's walking my feet felt bruised. The walking is also very exposed, on hillsides with little more than prickly groundcovers among the rocks.

And what looks like a simple short up is actually a long slog when you are not used to it.  However, the views did make up for some of it - and there is no way I would have experienced this on the boat.

That was Friday and since then I have been in Sougia where the last bus left Friday about two hours before I arrived and there hasn't been a single boat.  We were told the Monday bus was cancelled because of Easter, so the next bus is Wednesday, though one did turn up out of the blue today (Monday) but none of us were ready to take it and it left 5 minutes later.

Sougia luckily is quite a delightful place, though once you have walked to one end of the beach and back there is not much else to walk to. So back to the cafe with wifi for another pot of tea.

Here's most of Sougia - it is easy to get in one photo:

I'm staying in a largely empty pension and the family who owned it have been giving me food every time I walk by, as they have been feasting over Easter.  Before midnight on Saturday it was all vegetarian - best dolmades I have ever had made by Soula - and then after church at midnight it was a feast of lamb shanks. I can't face lamb at midnight at the best of times so gave it a miss, but the now legless lamb was spit roasted the next day, along with a lot of beer drunk.  Unfortunately I developed a stomach bug so wasn't able to partake of much - which felt like a tragic waste of the poor wee lamb.

Today I went for a walk in the Agia Irini gorge, a nice gentle downhill shaded by pine trees, but with some impressive rock falls from the cliffs above.  I met a lamb that had escaped Easter in the gorge:

So now I have run out of places to go and we are waiting to hear if there is a bus tomorrow or if it's Wednesday. Not sure what I will do tomorrow - I tell myself I have to do more 'being' rather than 'doing', but it is not really my nature.  Relax? By a beach? with six cafes to choose from?  Where's my guided historical sites tour with every minute filled in when I needed it?

Trying to slow down in Chania

I've been in Chania five days now and I am starting to get the hang of sitting in cafes and taking life a little slower. For the first four days I walked furiously, anxious to see as much as I could of the town and the nearby countryside, but today, at last, I started to realise that life is not always about doing.

Chania is quite a lovely town sited on a harbour, with Venetian walls and a Turkish mosque.  There are cafes everywhere: snazzy ones with comfy seats on the waterfront - good for rest with a book  but the coffee is expensive; and back street ones with wooden chairs where the food is great and afterwards they give you raki and sweet pastries for free.  Away from the souvenir shops and Easter holidaymakers there are quiet, old streets.

Around Chania was the main battleground for the invasion of Crete in 1941, which left so many New Zealanders stranded in the mountains, some for up to two years.  I haven't wanted to go to Souda where the war cemetery is - being the professional mourner that I am, I would spend at least a day sobbing over the graves.  But I did go to Galatas, as that was a victory of sorts and New Zealanders are well remembered there, with the flag in the local cafe.  Getting off the bus straight in front of me was a street name:

It means roughly "street of the New Zealand warriors".  I'm trying not to be nationalistic and pro war here, but it is still good to see this and to know that the Cretan people have something positive to associate with New Zealand during all the other horrors of the German invasion.  The NZ government of course didn't think it important enough to pay the full cost of some of the remaining veterans attending the latest 70th anniversary ceremonies at Galatas last year.  Here's a link if you want to know more about Galatas:  http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-battle-for-crete/the-battle-day-4-6

The highlight of my time in this area was the walk to Polyrrhenia, near Kastelli.  This is an old fortress and the major settlement here from early Minoan to Roman times.   There are remnants of the temples and cemeteries on the hillside, and at the top of the hill is an acropolis, or hill fort.  It has an amazing setting on a rocky hill with a small steep gorge alongside.  And, best of all when it is cold and raining as it was the day I went there, the village nearby has a cafe run by an English woman where you can warm back up again.  Walking back down again was definitely easier after tea and biscuits!  On the way back I passed a classic Greek village name sign with an impressive array of  bullet marks:

Tomorrow I'm heading south at last to Paleochora for a day and then to Sougia for Greek Easter.  I'm hoping the ferry boats are going, otherwise I have to walk 5 hours to Sougia and my bag is still a little too heavy.

Return to Crete

Returning to Crete was a little harder than I expected. Strong winds delayed the flight from Athens, but eventually after some shouting from the Cretans we were allowed to proceed.

Emotionally it's strange. I feel like I am laying old ghosts to rest, returning to Crete with more ability to do what I want, and staying on my own terms.  I feel respectful of the younger Karen who had such a great adventure and was able to get by on so little money, making the most of opportunities that came up.  I also know that I don't want to relive the past and I want to get to the places, like the White mountains, that circumstances prevented me reaching before.

Rethymnon feels familiar at times then I turn down an alley way and get lost again.  The cafes are flasher and there are far more of them.  Some of the souvenirs still look the same - I saw my old backgammon set design is still for sale. The traditional embroidery has nearly vanished, replaced with machine made pieces, so my two thirty year old pieces are more precious.

Outside my window is an old mosque, part of Turkey that is still here:

There is an archaeological museum in town which has some Minoan sarcophagi - they seem very joyful after the classical Greek ones I saw in Istanbul that were hideously brutal in their carvings of battle and hunting scenes. The Minoans, much earlier, seem to have had a happier outlook on life perhaps:

Today I joined a small walking tour and headed out into the countryside. Everything is lush and green, with native orchids and other wildflowers blooming madly along the tracks,  and wild white cyclamen in the shade. One of the most colourful is the small Cretan iris:

Tomorrow to new places - Chania and the far west.

Leaving Turkey

So it's my last night in Istanbul and Turkey.  The muezzin is calling and a cruise ship has just departed, making three loud calls as it went.  Istanbul has been exhausting - I thought it was jet lag when I was here before but now I think it is just the city.  There are so many people, both tourists and locals, and the pace of the city is fast.  If you are strolling along a footpath, three Turkish men with cellphones clamped to their ears will be rushing past, and the only safe way to cross a road I have discovered is to wait until a local is crossing and go with them.

There's a heavy police presence in the evenings with armoured vehicles and the police carry automatic rifles.  Last time I was here, we left on the day of Kurdish riots, and there were smashed up bus stops from a previous day's riot as well.

There are moments of calm in the madness: stops for chai and Turkish coffee; a rest on a seat in the Hippodrome; leaning on the Galata bridge watching the boats on the Bosphorus.  Shopping is actually quite a slow process too.  Buying a long sleeved walking shirt, I was offered a cup of tea to drink while some different sizes were found.  I can't imagine that in NZ.  Even buying a cheap ring for my daughter involved a conversation and some gentle haggling.

Food continues to be a highlight.  The buttons on my trousers are still tight because breakfast at my hotel is a feast every morning with yoghurt, tomato, cucumber, cheese, several types of bread, pancakes, omelette, fruit... Then there's baklava and meze for snacks through the day, until it is time for dinner. I have just had my best meal in Istanbul at the Anatolia Cafe after finding it on Trip Advisor: (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g293974-d2105735-Reviews-Istanbul_anatolia_cafe_and_restaurant-Istanbul.html)  It was truly as good as they say!  I met two friendly women from Chicago there as well so the company was good also.

In between eating I went to museums, got lost, cruised the Bosphorus, and at last packed my bag ready to leave tomorrow.   Turkey has been much better than I expected and I can already see the beginnings of a return itinerary.  

Selcuk

Well, I just bought a carpet.  I was actually buying a plate but the postage was going to be extremely high so adding a carpet made it a lot better. And I really did want a carpet!  How could I leave Turkey with out one?

Yesterday I took the bus from Pamukalle to Selcuk (Selchuk - can't add cedilla).  This is a lovely town with a castle on the hill top and storks nesting on any high poles, including the one remaining column at the temple of Artemis.  There are storks resting right outside the hotel too:

There were no tours from Selcuk today so I hired a car and drive myself to three sites: Priene, Miletus and the temple of Apollo at Didyma.  Observing Turkish overtaking was interesting and it was very hard to figure out the speed limit as everyone seems to drive to a different one.  Once I became used to everything being a mirror image, driving on the right wasn't too bad.

Each of the sites was different - Priene in a commanding position on the side of a mountain; Miletus on raised land that was originally coastal, with the agora now a small lake full of frogs; and Didyma a huge temple that only gives an indication of its original size.  Overall though, they leave a feeling of change and impermanence, with broken columns and weathered inscriptions.

The carpet will outlive me and my great great great grandchildren they say.

White terraces and tortoises

I am now in the tourist town of Pamukalle which is famous for its white terraces.  The quickest way to them is across part of the terraces themselves, which requires you to go barefoot across the calcified ground - 300 metres or so of foot massage.

The terraces became over commercialised some years ago, but have since been restored nearly to their former glory, and to me it was still spectacular to see what NZ has lost.

At the top of the terraces is the Roman city of Hieropolis - it's very extensive  with a large agora and amphitheatre.  I took lots of photos but I was most excited by the tortoises and saw four in total:

More and more bus parties arrived so I started watching them, because they kept getting in the way between me and the rest of the sights.  The local stray dog was less fazed.

Among the groups of French, German, American, Iranian and Turkish tour groups was at least one group consisting solely of men. They all posed for each other at the top of the theatre:

The internet at the hostel here is very slow so that's enough for now. Tomorrow I'm off to Selcuk, then Izmir and back to Istanbul over the next few days.  I'm already thinking of where I will go the next time I come to Turkey - walk the Lycian way and the St Paul's Way, see Cappadocia again, check out Antalya and all the day trips possible from there...

Quieter times in Eğirdir

Eğirdir is a very peaceful spot in Turkey's lake district.  It's been a good place to stop and reflect after all the busyness of the last two weeks. It gave me time to catch up on my blog too.  Being off season it is even quieter than it would normally be, and at times I feel like the only tourist here, though I did meet a couple of other people over the two days.


Without transport there is not a lot of places to go: on the first day I had a gentle stroll around the peninsula, looking out over the lake and the mountains - it's quite similar to Wanaka.

This being Turkey there are still plenty of coffee shops to stop at to recover from my 20 minutes of exercise.

I'm thinking of doing a series on views from my window, because so far I have had some great views from each room I've stayed at.  Here's Eğirdir:

The next day I went for a longer walk up a nearby mountain - not to the top, but about half way up to a small village.  The other side of the mountain is a commando base so is off limits.  They have their mottoes carved into the hillside - we are commandos, we are strong, etc etc.  I didn't meet any on the way up, just a couple of rather fierce dogs (Shannon would have tamed them).  On the way down I said hello in Turkish to an older woman so she gave me an apple, then I helped another even older woman out from under a barbed wire fence.  I don't know quite what she was doing, but she was happy to get some help up the bank.  It was just one of those odd little encounters that happens along the way.

The view from the cafe at village was quite extensive, and it was good to get out walking again.  Also good to trust myself and know that I don't always need a guide to show me the way.  It did help that there was only one road to follow all the way!