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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Sep 20, 2003 02:00 PM Crete (GR) - Agios Nicolaos
In Agios Nicolaos we took a ferry to Rhodes and learnt the power of Long Island Iced Tea. In reversed order!
Quite extravagantly, we took a Mercedes taxi from Iraklio to Agios Nicolaos, and then stayed at a budget accommodation. The small hotel was called Afrodite Rooms and was located about 15 minutes from the harbour, a centre of the town.
Agios Nicolaos is not exceptionally pretty at all. It has a nice harbour and a great looking lake adjacent with very, very steep banks. Again, like most other Cretan towns, Agios Nicolaos looked at its best at night, flooded in the lights of the street lanterns, restaurants, bars, boats... For the architecture was rather basic, square and concrete based.
To be fair, we only went there to board a ferry. We had no expectations and treated it simply as a transfer port. This however, did not stop us to mingle with the tourist, who came to Agios Nicolaos to spend there time specifically.
No, we did not make new friends or enemies, or anything in between. We just joined the hordes in the restaurants and bars. There was this one bar, which we will always remember. It was right at the harbour with its long terrace offering quite a nice view.
This bar, whose name I cannot recall, was serving great Long Island Iced Teas. They were made perfectly. The only flaw of them was a sparkle attached to them. After our third round, we threatened the waiter that if he brought another round with this awful sparkle, we would do something to him. I cannot remember actually what we said, but he must have taken this very seriously, as our following rounds were free of this terrible decoration.
I had no idea how many rounds we had, but I know that we had to pay with a credit card there, and in the morning we nearly missed our ferry. Fortunately, I bought the ferry tickets in advance, so we did not need to worry about buying them in the very last minute.
In the morning, I got up some twenty minutes before the ferry was due to leave. When I went to wake my friends up, they would not believe me, so I had to bring them an alarm clock from my room to demonstrate that if we did not leave the hotel in two minutes, we were going to have to stay on Crete a few more days. The ferry did not run on a daily basis. There were still about 15 minutes to the port from the hotel. We were running with our entire luggage on our backs towards the ferry terminal within four minutes after getting on our feet.
We made it with two minutes to spare. The ferry left twenty minutes late.
For some of us, this fourteen hour ferry ride was the longest trip of our lives. With nothing on the ferry in the form of entertainment, it was hard to remain sane for the entire length of the journey. Fortunately, there was a bar serving reasonably cold beer.
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Sep 19, 2003 02:00 PM Crete (GR) - Iraklio, day two.
When my friends arrived, a chance arose to check Iraklio’s reputation of a party place. And we party fine. We developed this practice to warm up in the hotel room pre-drinking some of the quality whiskies we brought from the airports upon departure. Then we hit the town.
We tried a few places, best of which were located again at the very popular Koraï street. The bars and clubs there were trendy and provided for great people watching. Actually, this part of town looked decent and civilised even in the daylight. Some of the places were kept in a modern style, which looked like this little street was taken straight from Manhattan, London’s West End or Berlin’s Oranienburger Strasse in the eastern part of the city. And some looked like they were styled in a mix Cretan-Greek folk style with a hint of XX century. All of them served beer from tap and a range of internationally recognised drinks, plus the expected Ouzo-based intoxicans, which were actually based avoided altogether.
Well, we partied so hard that a few episodes from the nights have become a subject of teasing and making annoying jokes. It is really brilliant and the fun was great.
We kept chasing each other around the old town, along the cornish, in the old harbour, etc. We ended up at the hotel separately accompanied (up to the hotel’s main door only) by strangers, perhaps locals. I am not entirely sure who they were.
I would like to write more about what we did and how we partied, but I cannot remember now. And those fragments that I do remember I cannot describe, I am afraid. For a number of reasons!
The AVIS office in Iraklio screwed me. I made a booking for a car for one week, and they claimed that it was only for a single day. They were happy to provide me with a vehicle but wanted to charge me twice as much per day than my reservation suggested. You can easily imagine what I told them.
So, I went to another car rental company, of which there was plenty of choice. Actually, what I should have done, was to look a little harder for an Internet Cafe and make another booking there. The web rates at AVIS were very attractive and just because the man behind the desk in Crete was, like the majority of Cretans I met, a crook and liar, should not put me off making good business. I am cleverer than that.
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Sep 19, 2003 02:00 PM Crete (GR) - Knossos
The first destination on Crete, outside Iraklio was obviously Knossos, the capital of the Minoan Crete. The Minoan civilisation was so great that its history sounds like a myth. I will not go down to the very detail of the kingdom. I will only mention a few fast facts of the palace in Knossos.
This large structure, spanning an area of approximately 175 metres by 205 metres, is believed to have been first constructed in 1900 BC. It was destroyed by an earthquake two hundred years later., but then rebuilt to a better and more complex shape. Again two hundred years after that it was partially destroyed. It was repaired but in the year 1400 BC was totally consumed by a fire.
The palace was not just a royal residence. Within its walls, there were quarters of the royal officials, priests, but also ordinary citizens and cemetery for all. This fascinating building housed the royal family living quarters, temples and shrines, treasury, storage rooms, workshops and public access areas for receptions and social affairs.
When I visited the site, the day was nice. Sun was shining and since it was still early, the crowds have not arrived there yet. It makes such a difference to be able to wander around snap photos free of colourful t-shirts of the American, Italian, Dutch, Russian and German tourists discussing loudly and citing their guide books at every insignificant feature of the palace.
Fragments of the site were being restored, so there was some distraction from hammering and painting. Nevertheless, I liked the spot. It would be so great if it were completely restored to its greatest glory from 3700 years ago. I am a fan of completely rebuilding the most significant structures to the human kind and the life on this planet.
I guess it is a little against the history, which allowed some of the sites to be destroyed by the events of our evolution and development of the civilisation. However, I do not believe it would be wrong to have Knossos completely rebuilt along with at least of one each of the Egyptian, Persian, Mayan, Aztec, Chimu, Roman and Greek cities buried under the desert or jungle. I think it would illustrate the history in a completely different dimension and become a great money-making machine.
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Sep 18, 2003 02:00 PM Crete (GR) - Iraklio, day one.
I arrived on Crete one day ahead of my friends, as this is how the flights worked for me and them. This meant that I had a chance to be alone and develop an objective opinion about the place. I did not want to rely on stories I had been told before but simply judge the island with my own eyes and through my own experiences.
So, my first impression was not great. I thought the island was dirty and underdeveloped to my liking as a European holiday spot of sun and relaxation.
The worst was traffic. Driving in Greece, and particularly on Crete, is a nightmare. No-one adheres to the highway code, and regulations are treated as mere suggestions, at best. This is exactly why I crashed a rental car there!
The capital of Crete, and Greece’s third largest city, is an ugly one. Daylight should never be allowed there, as the city looked its best in the dark. When a dimmed light of lanterns and streetlights did not reveal too many ugliness of the place, it was just fine. The candles of the numerous restaurants and bars made the mood, which was the only attraction of the place.
On my first day in Iraklio, when I was on my own, I explored a little of the city. I walked along the cornish, in the port, in the shopping streets and the market streets, and I failed to begin liking it. The only somewhat remarkable feature of Iraklio was its Venetian fort, Rocca al Mare, at the entry to the old fishing harbour.
There were few atmospheric places in the city, where one could sit down, relax with a glass of beer, and enjoy the scenery. One was the Plateia Venizelou with the Morosini Fountain. The two others were bars along the Koraï and the large Plateia Eleftherias with the large monument and full of people.
I was looking for a nice spot to relax. I heard about this great fountain, Bembo, a must-see attraction of the city. I went to see it. It was hidden under the trees of the long square Plateia Kornarou and it did not work. A cafe whose little wobbly metal tables surrounded it, was also closed and I decided that my trip there was a flop.
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Sep 17, 2003 02:00 PM Greece - A short island hopping escapade
I have to admit that the Greek islands have not been high on my holiday priority list. However, my friends wanted to go somewhere close, so I thought Rhodos and Santorini (Thira), with possible landing on Crete, which I wanted to visit one day anyway, should not do much harm to my long term holiday panning.
It was also relatively easy to organise a trip completely independently from London in the United Kingdom for one person and from Slupsk in Poland for the other two, and then synchronise the itineraries at a selected destination point in Greece.
My friends eventually selected Crete for the landing point, after much pain of agreeing to which of the islands they would get a good flight deal.
I definitely wanted to go to Rhodos (also spelled Rhodes) and Santorini, so I pushed for visiting more than just Crete. We all agreed to do that with the view that we will allow for a lot of relaxing and flexibility of the itinerary.
The plan was to kick off in Iraklio, the capital of Crete, where we decided to meet and then set out to Rhodos.
The plan stated that from Crete to Rhodos we were going by ferry, which was scheduled to leave from Agios Nicolaos directly to Rhodos Town – I checked previously that there was a regular, twice weekly service operated by one of the ferry lines. This took me several days of browsing through the Internet trying to find a website with reliable schedules of the somewhat unreliable Greek ferry lines.
On Rhodos, we planned to rent a car and see some of the more interesting parts of the island with specific emphasis on the UNESCO inscribed medieval city of Rhodos itself as well as the ancient site and town of Lindos. Those two sites were to dominate the very short visit on this island, but as we were planning to drive around we allowed for flexibility to fit anything that was to emerge on the spot as we were already on the island.
The next island in the plan was, of course, Santorini, otherwise known as Thira, in the middle of the Cycladic islands archipelago. As there were just too many difficulties to arrange for a sea crossing directly from Rhodos to Santorini (such a crossing in fact does not exist!), I eventually took an executive decision to book a flight, which was not excessively expensive at all and saved us an entire day of travelling on a (usually) very boring vessel.
Santorini, an actual ridge of an active and mighty volcano, arguably the most beautiful island on the Mediterranean Sea, and supposed the site of the mythical Atlantis, had an entire weekend planned in our itinerary to impress us. We decided to take this weekend easy, and relax to the max. I was not quite sure how I was going to organise it, but I also wanted a boat trip around this volcano’s crater at sunset and possibly with buffet dinner.
After Santorini, there was time for Crete again, with an entire week to fill. This was a tricky one to plan, because the island is quite large and there are numerous potential sights to visit and activities to do. I had to be both flexible and selective.
At least the connection between Santorini and Crete was quite good with regular and frequent ferry services from a number of ferry lines. To save time again, we decided to catch the superfast Sea Cat.
Specific sites on Crete we pre-selected included at least one of the monasteries, Zakros, Ierapetra, Spinalonga Island, Mohlos, Vai, Agia Galini, Rethymno, and of course, Chania.
Now, let's see if there was enough time to achieve all this. Renting a car was essential... So, that is the plan for sure. On both Crete and Rhodos. Leaving tomorrow.
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May 04, 2003 02:00 PM Sliema (MT) - party town
Sliema is a bustling town, Malta’s nightlife centre, shopping centre and prime holiday resort. I would be quite careful however describing it as a nice town because the majority of it is made of concrete. Apart from fine hotels, sufficiency of shops and fast food restaurants, Sliema offers a magnificent view to Valletta.
Sliema is easily reachable by bus from Valletta, by taxi or better, by ferry. The ferry ride across the Sliema harbour is the quickest option. The ferry is however running only until 5pm, so it is not the most flexible way to get there.
I have not eaten yet, so I managed to invite myself for a light meal at one of the nice hotels at the end of the peninsula. I sat outside, by the pool and watched the colours on the Valletta’s city walls change from light yellow to deep orange. I was waiting for the sun to disappear so I could take the picture of the Valletta’s panorama by night. It was a tricky business as I did not take my tripod with me. I was glad though that I was using a digital camera so I could check on the output and not be bothered by the harbour railing that was blocking the camera and part of the exposure.
What was good to see that the island actually lived a little. As it was getting late, hordes of people started cruising the streets looking for a park-and-drink place, a nightclub for a boogie or a similar form of entertainment. I mean mainly on foot, but I cannot exclude those driving as well. This is so in contrary with Valletta, which is falling in a coma during the night and nothing is happening there.
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May 04, 2003 02:00 PM Floriana (MT) - an extension to Valletta
After having taken a few pictures in Sliema, I thought it could be a good idea to head back towards Valletta and prepare the strategy for the next day.
As I arrived on the bus right at the main gate to Valletta and just outside the town of Floriana (by the Triton Fountain), I saw that there was something happening there. Hundreds of people were heading for Floriana’s Church of St Publius, which was covered in light bulbs. Only now do I realise that this was a feast for the third Sunday after Easter.
They had an entire orchestra playing on a podium right outside the church and another one walking orchestra around the town. The walking orchestra was actually following a statue of a saint, which was carried by a dozen of men. The place was packed and people were very serious about the whole thing. Even numerous roughnecks were following the saint and humbly bowing at the right time.
It was getting quite late but there were hundreds of children around staring at the saint and the stalls with sweets. Not only were sweets being sold there but also all the junk foods, like burgers and awfully smelly sausages. I have to admit the whole thing had an unforgettable atmosphere.
For the beginning of an end of the celebrations, the authorities allowed for an impressive fireworks show. I just wished I had not stood there so close. I was covered in ash all over! And I could not appreciate the fireworks as I would have if I had stood farther from the ignitions.
I could not believe I was wandering there among the crowd until midnight! My plan was to return to the hotel and plan the next day. Well, I did not care much. I was on a weekend break, so relaxing and exploring other cultures were my priorities. The hotel was only fifteen minute walk away, so how could I get bothered with time?!
I did not fully realise that I would later decide to get up early in the morning. This was because already in bed I chose for the next day to go on a cruise around Malta.
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May 03, 2003 02:00 PM Malta - a cruise around the island
I nearly made a mistake booking an iron vessel for the cruise. I got up early in the morning to make sure I can get a ticket for one of the organised cruises. All of them start at the Sliema harbour, so I had to make my way across there. Jumped on the bus and within fifteen minutes I was cruising the harbour for cruise ticket.
There were several companies advertising their cruises and I did not spot any major differences between them. Even the prices did not differ much, if at all. Oh my, it was early. I could not make up my mind. All of them advertised that the cruises set out at 9am and return at sunset. I stopped for a little while at one of the ferries and almost bought a ticket, but instead, I grabbed several leaflets and with about 25 minutes to spare, went on a little walk to make up my mind.
As I was passing by this gorgeous wooden sail ship, a lady grabbed my attention (most probably seeing numerous leaflets in my hand) and invited me for a cruise. I never realised it would be open for the public. I actually thought it was a private yacht, not a cruise ship. This one, the lady said, was more enjoyable on this wicked wooden vessel, had a better crowd and offered better breakfast and lunch. It actually cost 3 MTL more, but I was thrilled by the sails. So, that a-single-word-repeating woman talked me into boarding Hera II, maybe 5 minutes before departure for just 15 MTL, including unlimited water and wine!!
I gladly threw away all the silly leaflets, bought the ticket and embarked the vessel. There were no seats available on this sailboat, and people hungrily grabbed the offered mats, which could be used for lying down or sitting on the deck. I took one as well, as I was browsing for a place to park.
I could not find any good spot on the deck, so I decided to sit on the right railing, by the side entrance. It wasn’t really a railing, like on the stairway or on carrousel, because it had a flat top that could be sat on. I was a bit uncomfortable sitting there as the ship was wobbly and I have never before done that on a ship. Later into the trip, I got used to it and really enjoyed it.
The cruise went clock-wise around the island, so we left Sliema and immediately turned east and then south, passing Valletta and the Three Cities on the right. I was therefore so glad I was sitting on the right side. Right and the correct one! There was a guide on the trip, who immediately apologised that he was not really a guide and that just because he liked people and loved to talk decided to do us the favour. He actually had a few things to say.
The southeastern coat of Malta is not really interesting. There were few towns on the way and the coast did not look enormously photogenic. We made a pass on Malta’s main trade harbour and water desalting machinery. That was actually amazing to see that Malta was relying heavily on this machinery, as I do not think there is much of fresh water on the island.
As we passed the village of Marsaxlokk, which looked completely different from the sea, the guide mentioned that the name of the village means ‘harbour’ and that although the Mediterranean nations had not had a similar word, some of other ‘by-the-sea’ cities had been given names starting from ‘Mars-‘, like Marseilles in France, or… Although, the village looked different from the sea and it was difficult to see its charm, the numbers of the colourful boats made it look truly intriguing.
Then, we passed by two other sites I already visited the previous day – the tourist trap Blue Grotto and the Megalithic monoliths. Soon after, the coast turned into steep white cliffs with no vegetation. Some of the cliffs were ‘decorated’ by series of wooden ladders used by fishermen and silly boys to get to the water’s edge. These ladders are said to be very, very dangerous. Nevertheless, the fishermen from the villages at the top of the cliffs prefer to risks this trip two hundred meters down to the water, rather than travelling few kilometres down for better access to the fish. Well, they want to provide their families with food as quickly as they can. For the silly boys using these ladders to jump into the sea, there is no excuse.
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May 03, 2003 02:00 PM Popeye (MT) - a village from the set
Maybe two fifths in to the cruise around Malta, all over sudden, the subject was changed to discuss the American film industry. The reason for that was Popeye Village, which was build by one of the Hollywood studios for one of their motion pictures. As the filming was finished, the people from the neighbouring village asked the producers not to dismantle the decorations. This is a real size village with a dozen of houses. The request was maybe peculiar, but the villagers knew what they were doing. Now, they are happy to cash on these decorations, selling tickets to curious tourists and organising short escapades. In addition, a few restaurants and hotels have been erected in the village, which provide for an extra income.
It is an extraordinary sight, because the architecture of Popeye Village stands out completely from the rest of the country. It is a picturesque, photogenic and colourful place with nothing to do but chilling. There is no beach there, so chilling options are somewhat limited.
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May 02, 2003 02:00 PM Mdina (MT) - Malta's former capital
Content and so proud of myself I set out to see more of the island. The direction was Rabat and Mdina, the previous capital of Malta. I made a brave decision to get there by one of the yellow buses. I had absolutely no idea what to do, which bus to take and where to pay for my ticket. I was glad to know where to catch a bus – just outside the gates of Valletta, by the Triton Fountain, almost exactly where Valletta becomes Floriana.
I found the correct bus and I was glad that I had made this decision. Thrilling ride on one of the Malta's yellow buses should be a high point of anyone’s visit to this country. The buses must come from the fifties of the last century, however there are a few newer ones. They allow for meeting the locals and are the cheaper option to explore the island. The drivers like it fast, or have very heavy feet, which actually worked for me.
I was not sure where to get off, as the bus was not terminating in Mdina or Rabat. I actually did not know at all. So, when I thought it would be a good idea to get off, I did. Fortunately, I did it in Rabat. Then, I took a half-an-hour stroll towards the medieval town of Mdina.
Mdina is a truly picturesque place. It is entirely walled on a hill and it makes an incredible impression. The sun was frying my neck but it did not stop me visiting absolutely everything. It had to be done by foot, as the narrowness of the streets prevents any traffic. The wall around this town was beginning to grow already one thousand years before Christ, and was strengthened by the Romans.
With the architecture like that and the layout of the town, it is not difficult at all to imagine how it was like in the medieval times, when the Maltese aristocracy called the town a Noble City. At that time, the Order of the Knights chose to rule the island from Valletta, as they wanted a sea base.
Just because the Knights wanted a base at the sea and made Valletta their capital, it did not prevent them to build a few palaces in Mdina. One of them, Palazzo de Vilhena, was the Grand Master’s summer residence. This is what I do not get. Why would the Grand Master move from the seaside to the very hot centre of the island in the summertime? This is so peculiar. I would do the opposite, and made Mdina my winter residence, so I could spend the longer nights with the aristocracy, discussing the politics and drinking wine. In the summertime, I would enjoy the cool breeze from the sea.
The actual Cathedral of Malta is based here. It is the St Paul’s Cathedral and it takes approximately 7% of the entire territory of the town.
Its façade is quite plain, but the interior is again quite eye-screwing. A definite must to see. Allegedly, the cathedral was built on the site where the Roman governor of Malta, Publius, had his residence. Mdina was then known as Melita, and the same governor shook hands with St Paul approximately 28 years after his bosses executed Jesus Christ.
Mdina is very clean and its yellow stone buildings reflect the sunrays blindingly, although the narrow streets provide plenty of shade. Even though I would not recommend going to see Mdina without sun glasses, because without them one would get very tired extra quickly and would not appreciate the magnificence of this place. Mdina is one of the places that I think UNESCO should include on their World Heritage List.
The nice walk from Rabat to Mdina and the excitement of the very first steps in this former capital made my stomach forget the previous night’s feast. The time came to fill it up a little. Well, it was far from intentions to fill it up with the exact same thing, but the mistake in the restaurant made it happen. I was not complaining about this dejavu, because the pasta was again delicious.
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