People at home think that we are on holiday all the time and though the weather is hot and the scenery spectacular, we have quite a lot to occupy us day by day. Today on our return home, our post included an electricity bill which used to be easily settled at the local post office. Sadly this is closed until someone else takes up the responsibility, so we have been teaching ourselves to pay things on line. This is not easy on a Greek Website but it worked last time! This morning the light bulb had fused overhead and I was squinting over the laptop to do the transaction. The website refused our payment and said that I should report back to my bank. Sighing and fearing the worst that Bank bureaucracy could throw at me and preparing for a row, I packed the Electricity File, all my ID, tax documents, marriage certificate (with translation) in a large bag and set off seven miles or so across country to the bank to work out what could be wrong, since I knew there were sufficient funds in the bank to cover it. Preparing myself for explaining the problem in Greek, I spoke to a nice lady who looked at my bank book and my card and then phoned somebody at the Electricity Board. Stupidly, I had put in a faulty code from the back of the card, so apologising profusely set off home again, stopping at the Electrical Shop to buy a few new light bulbs! Grrrr. Got home, found a torch, did the transaction again, ... worked perfectly, ... printed off a receipt and wondered where the day had gone as I filed all the documentation away again. Anyway, less about silly mistakes and more about jolly holidays ...
K had been for horrid scans and tests and there was lots of noise and irritations nearer home in the village, so we were glad to have booked some time off for a significant wedding anniversary as the summer began to tail off.
We drove at a leisurely pace to Sissi, just beyond Malia and stayed at one of those all inclusive places that K and I have always been so disparaging about. We always think that the people who stay there never eat locally, never interact with the locals and could be anywhere in the world. Never having taken a package holiday before, we were learning anew how to survive cafeteria dining and holiday camp style beds. We ended up taking a teapot, our own butter, Marmite and fresh fruit with us because (amazingly in Crete) there was only tinned fruit salad available, only margarine (no butter or olive oil) and the worst coffee I have ever had. I have also never stayed in a hotel in Greece where the management keep both passports for the whole duration of your stay until the bill is paid. We are used to more 'Philotimo' in our neck of the woods. The aspect of the place was lovely surrounded by fabulous palm trees and blue sky, but the regime did not appeal too much. K had lots of trouble with accessibility as none of the many flights of steps on the campus had any handrails and the pool was not accessible unless he accidentally fell and waited for onlookers to fish him out. He passed on that one! Water hoses for the shady gardens crisscrossed the footpaths all day every day, so it was not disabled friendly. We both had a good time though and I explored Sissi from every direction on foot!
Sissi is a very short distance from the grand Minoan Palace of Malia and I got myself breakfasted and out in the car one morning to find the archaeological site as early as possible and before it got too hot. Getting lost and turning round three times on a busy road, I eventually found the turning and took the first place in the car park. Since no Minoan Palace is complete with its "lustral basin" ... nobody is quite certain what they were used for and as they form a sort of right angled staircase down to a lower level with possibly water at the bottom and always seem to be placed near to large open gathering areas, it is anyone's guess what their purpose was. Bathing and so on in such a spot seems to have been discounted. It was difficult to obey the signs not to climb over the stones because I was hard put to distinguish which stones made up the walkway and which were not included - it was a bit of a maze in places. Anyway, I turned my map this way and that, tramped around the very large area admiring enormous storage pots, walls and stairs and persuading myself that I knew all about archaeology by identifying a lustral basin all by myself. Annoyingly, one of the few signs on the site said "lustral basin", so I could not take any credit for finding it. I took a photo and looked for a nice, cool drink. There is also this large round stone with a circle of dipped indentations in it. Hypotheses and guesses are that it was a sort of dish to place offerings to a deity. Pondering over it and feeling hot and thirsty, I looked for a little stall or cafeteria for a lemonade or glass of water. No refreshments were available on the site, so retraced my steps back to the entrance gate. Just as I pulled out of the car park about six coaches arrived and I was glad to escape! Honour was satisfied.
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| This is it! Lustral Basin !!! |
We had hoped to cross over to Spinalonga but had a bit of a awkward time in Plaka where we tried to sit down and have a coffee overlooking the island and gongoozle the boats going back and forth but kept being shunted from pillar to post by busy tavern keepers who were preparing for the arrival of huge coach parties and getting scores of tables ready. I got the hump and decided to drive back to Elounda, but even there, one coach after another drove past and struggled to find anywhere to stop once the coach park was full up. Choking on diesel fumes and drinking up, we went back to our "luxury suite" and ordered a club sandwich to get a bit of peace.
Stopping briefly in Bali, we took a slow drive back and noticed straight away that everywhere seems different without lots of children around because schools went back a week or two ago
