Sunday – Heraklion, Crete
Today, we arrived in Heraklion, on the Greek island of Crete. It’s been a bit of a weird day, really; mostly because Tracey left the ship for home (we’re having to eek out her leave so that she can join me on the Marco Polo Amazon cruise in January – so it’s back to work for her tomorrow morning). We started the day by getting breakfast, then heading outside to see how much a taxi would be from the port to the airport, and how long it would take (12 euros – 10 minutes). Tracey finished some last minute packing, then we mulled away an hour or so up on deck. Her flight wasn’t until 2pm, but being an international flight, she needed to be at the airport for 12 noon, so there wasn’t a huge amount of time for us to do anything very creative.
It was hot.
Being Sunday, you’d expect it to be quiet, but just along from where the Black Watch was berthed was a racetrack; we heard the roaring sound of engines before we spotted the track – then we saw the smoke from the burning rubber. From a higher deck, we could see the activities quite clearly; what looked like high-powered sports cars (ala ‘Fast and Furious’) were hurtling around a track, four at a time, creating a hell of a racket and kicking up one heck of a puther. It was all quite exciting to watch, and whiled away a half hour or so.
At 10 minutes to 12, Tracey jumped into a taxi, and I then was alone; I’d suddenly lost my partner in crime.
Feeling at a bit of a loose end, I decided to get an early lunch of fish and chips in the Marquee Grill, then packed my laptop and camera into the rucksack and went for a walk.
It was no more than 15 or 20 minutes into town, at a leisurely stroll. Once there, I was impressed by quite how attractive the place is. I’d been here before, but a long time ago now, on my first ever cruise, on the Saga Ruby. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really remember it; all I do remember was that it was incredibly busy then – today, it wasn’t quite so busy, being a Sunday. There were still a lot of people about, though; mostly sat in the numerous amount of cafes and bars along the side streets leading to the centre of town. After walking to the fort in what they call the Venetian Harbour, then strolling through a part of the town, stopping to shoot a few bits of film occasionally, I finally settled into a harbour-side marina restaurant where they had free wi-fi, and caught up on a few emails and online jobs while supping a couple of nice long beers. At just gone 2pm, Tracey’s plane took off from the airport just over the hill and passed overhead; a 50-minute flight would bring her to Athens, then after a two hour wait, she would transfer to a plane to London. The last text I had from her was saying that she’d just realised that the plane was due to land at Heathrow and not at Gatwick where she’d thought, although, getting to Kings Cross shouldn’t be a problem…. I’m expecting a text from London, then a text from home, later…
Tonight was a Chinese themed night in the Garden Cafe; I HATE theme nights – because it means having to eat in the formal restaurant. As a tutor, I have to wait to be shown to a place vacated by someone who’s booked for the Chinese Night. To make matters worse, I’m now on my own, which means being plonked onto a table all by myself like a right old Billy-no-mates. On the plus side; I chose something off the menu that I’m not entirely sure whether I’ve eaten before (I must have done, but I can’r remember)…. roast pheasant, done in cider gravy… very nice!
