7 May - Over the hill!

Evacuation route to Sfakia

Mountains of stone and rock!

Road trip to Sfakia.  The road through the centre of Crete was the principal evacuation route of the Commonwealth Forces.  Crete is an island of mountains, complete with snow caps.  As you might guess, if you want to get from north to south… it is a case of up and over.  Some simply staggering landscapes!!  

 

At Sfakia.

Can I have a swim?

Sfakia is a tiny seaside (Libyan Sea… didn’t see Gaffafi!) town on the southside of Crete.  A gathering of small stone buildings hug a little bay with a an equally small pier/wharf.  The water was crystal clear… dark blue fading to shades of lighter blue and green as the ocean came to shore on the stony beach.  Guess who couldn’t hold herself back from charging into the water?  Karen of course, if she had had her togs she would have gone swimming (the water temperature was ‘pleasant’, apparently). 

One owner, handyman required!

After Sfakia, we drove eastward along the southern coast. We visited a Venetian castle, it was in amazingly good condition for a 500+ year old castle! We stopped for lunch at Plakias.

Warrior monk statue.

We visited a monastery that housed a band of warrior monks who helped many soldiers of the Commonwealth to escape for months, years after the evacuation ceased.  The monastery has been recognised for their efforts by the governments of Australia, NZ and UK.

Bridge... it is an engineer thing!

Southern Crete landscape.

Australian Memorial - Rethymon.

Who is taking the photo?

Roar of the engines!

Red wine, raki, racing... just fantastic fun!

We returned northward via a different route… not quite the steep climbs of our southern path.  We got back to the hotel in time to hire some motor scooters (Honda 150cc, we had a red one… for the obvious reason… red ones go faster!!). There were three couples.  We rode up into the mountains, not going anywhere in particular.  We stopped and shared a bottle of red wine and because it was a little chilly (travelling at HIGH speed) we also shared a Raki chaser!  We made it back to the hotel safely, even testing the scooters on a highway section.  If we had been racing I would have won! You know… if!  It was a huge amount of fun... it may be some time before I stop hearing a voice though (slow down, don't lean the bike over so far, ahhhhhh!).  Comment from Karen... I was alright, I wasn't as bad as that. Peter's reply... Yes dear!