Travel Days

I forgot to mention that yesterday my shoe lace broke on my shoe. I was prepared with new shoe laces to put in today which I did. That's pretty exciting I know. I spent the morning getting ready and packing and then hanging out by the harbor in Chania (picture 1). I went to the grocery store to get some snacks for the day and for the ferry ride tonight. Guess who I ran into in the store? Ben. Haha. He said, "Stop stalking me." I replied, "Likewise." I can't believe I ran into him again. I walked back to the harbor and watched some fish eat bread. People walked by and watched them as well (picture 2). Catherine and I met up and walked around. We sat and snacked and talked. We sat by a fountain and we sat by the harbor and we walked out to the lighthouse. Lots of sitting and waiting going on. Time goes by much faster when you have someone to talk to though, that's for sure. We talked about our families and friends. We discussed what traveling is like (likes and dislikes about it). She said something about how pictures are cool but don't capture the whole experience. Like while we were sitting by the lighthouse, there was a slight breeze, the sun was shining, some accordian music drifted over the harbor. All that stuff is not in that picture of the guy who was fishing right by us (picture 3). Anyway, it was fun to talk with her because we had even things in common to connect but enough things different to make it interesting.

Now we are at an internet cafe. I don't think I will have access again until later tomorrow so I figured I would do my post now. This morning I was woken up to the sound of jack hammers, that was nice. Later tonight, at nine, we are getting on an overnight ferry to Pireaus, the port of Athens. From there, I am going to go to the bus station and ride a bus to Nafplion which is a small town on the Peloponnese Peninsula. I am staying there for two or three nights. So there you go.

Sorry I don't have a more interesting day to speak of but this is one of those "travel days" where I am just sitting and waiting to get to the next phase of my trip. I realized today that I am exactly half way done with my trip (my trip being when I left London for Istanbul). That's insane. It seems like it has been shorter than that and longer at the same time. I can't believe I still have 18 more days left. Crazy.

Bye!

Three's Company

Today I woke up, ate a croissant for breakfast and went to the bus station. I waited for a while and the bus finally came (most things in Greece are a little late it seems, except stupid buses on Santorini, haha). While I waited I ran into a guy named Ben (he's that speck in the middle of picture 4). He's from Chicago and we actually met while waiting for a ferry from Mykonos to Santorini. He's 22 and a physical therapist. He has been all around the world and is touring Greece right now before going to wedding in Cyprus. We have run into each other on Mykonos, Santorini (twice), Heraklion, yesterday in Chania, and then today to go to the Gorge. I think God wanted the two of us to hang out, haha. He was traveling with a girl he met on the ferry from Santorini to Heraklion. Her name is Catherine and she's from Quebec. Super cute and really nice (that's her in the bottom left of picture 3 which was right by where we ate lunch). She has a sort of French accented English. The three of us rode the bus together up to the top of the Gorge. We had to pass through some extremely twisty roads that were one lane wide for two lanes of traffic. Insane. The mountains and little towns were beautiful.

We arrived at the top of the Gorge and proceeded on our way down. The whole hike was downhill. Samaria Gorge is the longest gorge in Europe. Don't ask me what the difference between a gorge and a canyon is because I have no clue. The scenery was wonderful and I love hiking. It was a very pleasant hike. I would rate it as moderately difficult. Like I said, the whole thing was downhill and it was only (only being relative here) about 14 or 15 km long or 9 miles. That might sound like a lot to some people but after hiking Half Dome with my mom last summer, this hike was a walk in the park. Ever since that hike I think I have had a different attitude about life. I feel like I can do just about anything I put my mind to (with some help from friends and family). I guess I felt that way before that hike as well but after it, I really adopted that mentality. It has been very successful. For those that don't know, that hike was 17 miles long had over 5000 feet elevation gain. It is probably the hardest day hike in the US, if not the world so accomplishing that was awesome. I am getting WAYYYYY off subject so I will hope back on that subject now, sorry. I just wanted to make sure I said that stuff.

Yeah, so the hike was all downhill and pretty easy but still super beautiful. The wind was blowing lightly most of the hike, the temperature was not too bad, there was a lot of shade from the walls of the gorge and from trees along the path. There weren't too many people hiking it either. Just the bus load that got dropped off at the top basically. Catherine and I talked most of the hike. About family, traveling, school, a bunch of stuff. Ben and I talked about national parks and traveling as well. There was one point where the gorge came to be only about 6 feet wide and about 900 feet high on each side. Super awesome. It reminded me of the Narrows at Zion but we never walked in the water (it was pretty dry) and the gorge for the most part was pretty wide apart. The hike ended at a town called Agia Roumeli which is on the coast of the southern part of Crete. We hung out at the beach for a couple hours waiting for the ferry (picture 6). Ben and Catherine went swimming but I did not. The beach was very pretty. We got on the ferry which stopped in Loutro (picture 7). That's the place that that Canadian family in Florence told me about. The ferry continued on to Hora Sfakion and we took the bus back from there. The sun was setting and all the towns in the mountains were great. The roads were soooo twisty and turny and skinny. Some were under construction as well. The countryside reminded me of California but I can't totally place way. When we got back to Chania, the three of us went to a pasty shop and Catherine and I got this honey wafer thing. It was fantastic. Ben got bakalava which he devoured.

All in all, one of the best days of my time abroad, partly due to the hike (absolutely wonderful) and partly due to the company (really awesome). Tomorrow, Catherine and I are meeting up to hang out during the day while we wait for our ferry to Athens. We happened to be on the same overnight ferry. The coincidences never stop.

Au revoir!

PS I forgot my camera cord so I will try to post some pictures sometime soon. I don't know when but some of my pictures were spectacular. Not too many flowers but loads of pine trees and exposed rock.