Athens, Greece to Turkey via Crete, Rhodes and Kos

November 1999

If someone had reminded me that I would be spending a week with Cretans (cretins), I may have changed the route. Crete in late November. The good news was that it was completely tourist free (I counted 6 in 6 days). The bad news was that the majority of the accommodation and tavernas were shut up. The good news was that those that were open were cheap. The bad news was that the bad weather forced ferries to be cancelled, therefore forcing you to fly out at extra expense.

Various people have raved on about Crete to me for years. But having now toured the island extensively (1000km in 5 days), I wonder what all the fuss is about. The beaches are very ordinary, except for Vai beach in the far east with palm groves.

The archeological ruins are nothing to write home about either. The Minoan culture may have been the most advanced around 3000BC, but there isn't a lot to see. The ruins are mostly foundations, which doesn't exactly stir the imagination. Knossos, the world famous Minoan ruins outside Heraklion have had any semblance of inspiration removed by the laying of ugly concrete walkways to cope with the summer crowds. They were very disappointing.

We also checked out Festos (nice view, bad ruins), Malia (a field), Gortys (a bigger field with Roman foundations), Kato Zakros (a field by the sea - great location) and Gournia (hey, these ruins were almost a metre high!). The Archeological Museum in Heraklion was worth a visit if only to see what the "advanced culture" was all about. Some stunning exhibits and presented very well. Maybe I have been spoilt for choice with all the other world famous historical ruins I have seen. I had the same problem in Cyprus.

Hania had a lovely harbour area, once you tackled the traffic congestion around it. If you don't like scooters, mopeds and motorbikes cutting you up in every town - avoid Crete! Heraklion just had congested traffic. Agios Nikolaos - on the north east coast was our favourite town. A lovely location by the sea and a laid back ambience.

Ag Nik was the centre for viewing the eastern peninsula - the last place in Crete not to be over commercialised. There were no massive resort areas, no endless "rooms for rent" signs. Not much of anything really, except marvellous rocky coastlines and (at this time of the year) ear sucking winds and crashing waves. The whole place had been battened down until Spring.

We made a half hearted attempt to visit Psiloritus, the highest mountain in Crete (2456m) in the middle of the island. Overcast skies clouded the summit, but not as much as the litter-strewn villages en route clouded our enthusiasm. It looked like trailer park country without the trailers. The tourist brochures would describe this as the "real Crete".

The Lasithi Plateau east of Ag Nik started with a lovely twisty mountain climb up to the major agricultural basin with old style Greek windmills, locals on donkeys, and olive trees. Olive trees are everywhere on the island and there were nets under every one of them to catch the forthcoming harvest.

The highlight for me were the White Mountains in the west and the gorges. Hours were spent tackling the twisting mountain roads, goatherds (all being fed supplementary maize on the roads for the winter), no traffic and deserted villages. The famous Sumarian Gorge in the south-west was inevitably closed because of the threat of falling rocks, flashfloods, or me taking my shirt off probably. We were able to get to the start and see the towering cliffs above, before the workmen told us to get lost and to put my shirt back on.

But just down the road, we found another Gorge (of Irini) and had a fabulous 14km round trek down to the bottom and back up again. Complete silence save for occasional goatbells. Sunshine on the face, a cool breeze, the rustle of trees, spectacular cliffs on either side, regular water taps, even a spotless toilet half way complete with toilet rolls. I was very impressed with this National Park trail.

There was another Gorge ("of the Dead") next to Kato Zakros in the far east. So called because of the ancient tombs once buried there. We strolled up the well-worn 6km return trail with bright orange cliffs looming on either side. With the Palace of Zakros ruins next to it and a lovely cove bordered by cliffs, it would be a nice place to escape for a couple of days in early summer before the crowds arrived.

The biggest disadvantage to visiting Crete in November is the weather. It rarely rained, but the wind was incessant all week, especially on the east side. The sea was so rough our ferry to Rhodes was cancelled and we were forced to fly out instead at 4x the cost and 1 tenth of the time (or hang around 4 more days for the next one with no guarantee of sailing).

As we sat on the bus back to Heraklion from Ag Nik, we noticed policemen everywhere standing to attention by the side of the road. I thought to myself - this is a nice farewell tribute for us. Then a motorcade zoomed past in the other direction. Blue lights flashing. It was the Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis on a visit to Crete. What I think I heard him shouting from the bus was "After what you did to that poor Fiat car rental on those mountain roads, I have been personally summoned to ensure that you are off this island by tonight." Which was nice.

After Crete the old city of Rhodes was a revelation. The well-preserved fortifications built by the Knights of St John 13-16th centuries are really impressive and entering the town at night you find it beautifully lit up by spotlight. Since it was the low season it was all very tranquil - 12 tourists in 3 days and most of the shops were shut up. As were the pensions. We stayed at Billys - excellent value at £5 each.

By day in glorious sunshine, we were able to explore the maze of narrow cobbled alleyways, picturesque plazas, stone mansions, relics of the past and castle walls for hours. Now protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, we found it as enjoyable as Jerusalem and Dubrovnik but in different ways.

The Palace of the Masters was free on Sunday. This fortified and solid looking structure was originally the Knights Palace. Rebuilt in the Twentieth Century for Mussolini, he never came, it remains an impressive monument with huge empty rooms full of Roman mosaics and woodwork panelling. We were the only visitors. Leading off the Palace was the Knights Way with its impressive facades in front of the former Knights Inns. The Knights were finally sent packing by the Turks in 1522 and fled to Malta where everyone knows of them. They seem to have been replaced by armies of cats (I counted 2 gangs of 20 each!) By the relaxing harbour, you can see a poor attempt to reconstruct the famous Colossus pillars, one of the ancient wonders of the world.

60km down the coast in a beautiful setting, lies Lindos, a former capital. The compact collection of clean whitewashed buildings nestles on a hillside between an Acropolis on top of the hill and a calm azure bay below with a fine beach. It was a very peaceful village to stroll round for half a day.

The only problem with Rhodes was getting off it. Ferries were few and far between and cancelled without notice. We arrived on Saturday night and by Tuesday just took whatever we could get which was a ferry to Kos and take our chances. We knew the old city of Rhodes so well by then, the locals thought we were locals.

Kos was another quiet island with harbour, castle walls and some Roman ruins. And two tourists. More importantly on Wednesday afternoon, there was a small boat sailing to Bodrum two hours away. Ten days and three islands later we had reached Turkey.

Travel - £152.55 (inc Athens-Crete, Crete-Rhodes airfares and 5 days car rental (£8 a day each)
Accommodation - £49.45
Food - £35.33
Other - £11.71
Total - £249.06