The search for hot water...

Monday, May 10, 2010

Hello!

Internet access!! HOT WATER!! All the comforts of home!!! Okay, back to dinner last night. After a nice nap, we headed back into Matala around 7:30 p.m. to look for a place for dinner. (Oh! And we’re no longer alone in the hotel! There is what appears to be a German couple in the bungalow next to us!)
Found a really nice spot almost at the end of the beach, which specialized in grilling, and grabbed a table in the corner by the railing. (Smoke wasn’t too bad, as the people on the other side of us did not smoke, but the folks beyond them did…) I had the usual starter – Dakos – rye bread topped with tomatoes and feta cheese, and R had fried mussels in a tomato and cheese sauce. (Picture included of R’s starter.) This was followed by chicken souvlaki (on a skewer with peppers and onion) for me, and Dorade for Robert. Dorade is a fish that he’s had in France – and of course, this one comes with ALL the bits and pieces attached! UGH! He is becoming a real expert in deboning, though, and he said it was great! Again, we didn’t want dessert, but this time we were presented with a plate of wonderful sliced watermelon and two glasses of Raki – that clear liquid that burns!! We shared the watermelon – I gave R the Raki on the grounds that I was driving! Watched the beautiful sunset and headed back to the hotel.

Up this morning to discover that, surprise! We had warm water! (Notice I didn’t say hot??) But at least I was able to take a bath and R a shower without too much pain…until I tried the hairdryer…oh well! Who needs well groomed hair on holiday, right?! Packed everything up and headed to the main building for breakfast. R paid our bill – and as yesterday was Mother’s Day, and we had NO cell phone reception on either of our phones, we used the phone in the room to call Mom in Michigan…but this morning, the poor guy at the front desk (who apparently isn’t a big computer fan) couldn’t figure out how to figure out what the call cost, so it was free! Oh well!! Out and on the road by about 9, with the objective of getting to Iraklion and getting our laundry to Perfect Laundry.

Quite an adventure on the drive! We ran into something – not sure if it was a demonstration or a funeral! – think the former, though – that tied up the traffic terribly! This being Crete, however, no problem – you just drive two across in lanes meant for one, and expect the other side to get out of the way! And they do! R thought possibly it was a HUGE funeral party, but I thought it looked more like tail-gating, as so many of the small trucks seemed to be carrying things like water. Finally put that behind us and got into Iraklion and to the hotel.

The Megaron is quite the place. It is in a completely renovated citrus factory building, beautifully done up . Hard to find a place to park (unlike the Lato Boutique up the street) but finally managed to squeeze in against the curb. Even though it was only 10:30 a.m. they had a room ready for us, and upgraded us as well! We’ve got a wonderful view of the harbor on the second floor (European second; U.S. third). Nice sized room; large flat screen TV with lots of channels (including Eurosport, so I’m happy!) Big bathroom with squishy bathrobes and lots of amenities (including flat screen TV there, too!) Dropped out bags and headed off with our dirty laundry. It’s promised for 2:00 p.m. – YIPEE!
From there, walked along the waterfront to the Natural History Museum, on the harbor front. Not a very impressive museum, to tell the truth, but an interesting building. We were also able to identify a bird we saw yesterday, the Chukar. It was in the road so we had a nice leisurely study! From the museum we walked back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and to collect my forgotten hat. Out once again, looking for lunch. Decided to return to the Veneto Café where we’d had dinner last week, and this time we had the upstairs terrace literally to ourselves. GREAT! I had dakos and R had something he can’t remember the name of, which turned out to be fried cheese patties – which he said were great! Add a couple of glasses of wine, and you have a great meal!

From there we went to museum-of-the-day-#2, the Crete Historical Museum. This was truly a wonderful place, and we would recommend it highly!! The ground floor contained pieces from Crete’s beginning days, and then transitioned from the Minoan to the Doric Greeks and Romans, to the Muslims from Andalusia, the Venetians, then the Turks, and finally the Germans in WWII. Boy, does this island have a story to tell! It was particularly difficult learning about the Turks and the Germans and the privations that the islanders suffered. Very impressive museum.

It was now almost 4:30 p.m. and we picked up our laundry. Wow! Feels GREAT to have all clean clothes again!! (I’m trying to figure out how to manage things; figure I’ll do a bit of laundry in Chania on Friday, which should get us through Athens, and then we’ll find a place in Istanbul! Fingers crossed!) Back to the hotel, put things away and spent a bit of time on email. So, that about brings us up to date!

More later!
Love,
m
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