For those of you who may not shine in geography Crete is the largest, southern most Greek Isle. It is 169 miles long and 37 miles wide at its widest point. It is very mountainous and has been settled for at least 5000 years. Its main economy seems to be olives and grapes as well as tourism of course. Its tallest mountains are 7000 feet and there is skiing on them.
Today Rick had the day all planned out and we sought to go where the average traveler doesn't always go. That certainly turned out to be true. We headed to the south of the island. We stopped at some ancient ruins and saw original writing from 500 BC. It was on a wall and listed all the rules of the village and marriages. It was amazing as well as other ruins there. Also in that site was the purported grave of Titus from the Bible. There was a church built on the site to commemorate him in the 3rd century. Below is a picture of that church. Imagine that!
A little farther down the road from there were ruins of temples to Zeuss and Apollos.
From there we wove our way over mountains and valleys to the coast. There were olive groves everywhere and I mean everywhere. I'd never really seen an olive tree before and had to investigate it to see the olives. Very interesting. They aren't ripe yet. I don't know when they will be or how they pick all those trees.
We eventually landed in Matala an absolutely gorgeous spot on the ocean. Apparently at that spot we were closer to Libia than Athens. That's about as close as I would wish to be. Matala's claim to fame are the caves that surround it. Apparently the caves were used by the Romans to bury their dead. In more modern time they were used by the Germans to store munitions during World War II. And in the sixties they were used by hippies who thought Matala was a great place to live. Ricky was interested in the caves and that's why we went there. We looked inside them and got a real feel of the situation. After that, with the temperature by then, almost 100, we went in swimming. The water temperature was very refreshing and we spent a lot of time in the water. Rick came out before me and I lingered for awhile. While I was lingering something came up and bit me in my thigh just above my knee. The teeth marks were very visible and it drew blood. My leg hasn't fallen off and I'm alive and kicking 8 hours later so I guess I'm no worse for it. Believe me I'll be in the water at another beach tomorrow.
I guess that's it for now. Rick is in planning for tomorrow and watching some soccer on TV. He couldn't do his own laundry last night. They do it for you and then you pick it up. They even ironed all his clothes. He liked everything except the price.
And to my wonderful husband of 35 years, I love you and miss you.
4 comments:
Okay, so maybe I'm a little jealous, but are you watching this GAME??? The Celtics are up 116-81 with just 4 minutes left! I'm sure Crete is much more exciting than the game but this is what I have to go on for now. Hope your leg is okay. Enjoy the beaches and Happy Anniversary! ~Jovia
Boston rules! What a game--glad you are doing great, thought of you on your anniversary.
I wish you got a picture of that thing that bit you !!k and.....thank you for the geography lesson.
Wow, wish I was there swimming on the beach. The scenery breathtaking. You are having fun and here Iam working, went to see the parade today, green everywhere feel like st. patrick day.
Enjoy the weather and Happy belated Anniversary.
Last but not least, never mind spelling errors, remember me with the word desert!
Hope you'll enjoy the rest of your tour. Will be checking your blog again tomorrow -Grace
Post a Comment