Crete (so far)

Well, setting out from Santorini was not difficult. There is a ferry everyday at 5:40, a highspeed catamaran. Man, these boats are big (no cars, only people), but they fly. The seas were rough ("that day my friends, like an old man trying to return soup at a deli"), and the boat felt more like a roller coaster at times. I am sure that we were airborn on more than one occasion. You could also feel the sea drop away from the craft, giving you that weird feeling in your gut you get on rides. At other times, one side of the cat would lunge down into the sea, and the whole boat would lurch to the side, sea spray hitting the windows (windows that are a good 25+ feet off the water in harbour). Thank god for my Sea Bands (wristbands that use accupressure to ward off sea sickness). It was all they could do to hold that Gyro on a pita down. People all around me were tossing their cookies, and I had a close call myself when i bent down and "swooned" as the ship lurched to the side. Luckily, I was able to listen to my Ipod and sit with my seat back and snooze a bit. I can't believe I made it, actually, without barfing...
We got into Heraklion (Iraklion, depending on the translation). It is a large, bustling port, Greece's 5th largest city. We got there at 9ish, and had no idea where to go. Ports are intimidating places at night. We asked a few cabbies where our hostel was, but they were all looking to rip us off, so we had no luck there. After wandering around for a while, we made it to the city centre, and found another hotel Lonely Planet recommended. Not as cheap as the one we were trying to find (it was 55 euros for the 2 of us), but it was clean, safe, and available to a couple of worn out travellers. Besides, it included a buffet breaky, so it was not too bad off a price.
In the morning, after stuffing ourselves on hardboiled eggs, luncheon meat, toast, and plain yogurt (mixed with raisins and fresh honey, it is awesome), we hit the road. Originally, we had thought to stay 2 nights in Heraklion, and see the famous site of Knossos, home to the Minoan civilization (although its reconstruction has been criticized by the archaology world as gaudy and innaccurate), but decided to push on to the much smaller Sitia, on the East coast, where the boats to Rhodes depart from. Heraklion had a pop. of 150 000, while Sitia has 8500. Besides, Sitia was a beach town, and we still felt a little tired of all the ruins. They are dead places where memory dominates. We felt the urge to go to a place that was "living".
The bus ride was unremarkable, as Crete appears to be the same as the rest of Greece: dry, barren, rocky slopes covered in coarse, thorny plant life. (Of course, there are also places that are overrun with Oleander, or bougainvillia, or hibiscus, and such locales are without equal in beauty. Like the rest of Greece, it creates quite a paradox.)
Sitia, like many other towns, is a collection of poured concrete buildings, all stacked up on top of each other. The slopes around town are bare and dry, making it not the prettiest town I have seen. It does have an amazing deep water harbour, however, easily over 20 feet close to the pier, deeper a short ways out, which makes it a great place to swim. Today, we found a great cove, where the prisitne aqua sea washes up onto these great boulders. The water is deep and crisp, and endlessly clear.
Another treat is the variety of Cretean food. In Greece, there is very little in the way of regiuonal diversity (I had Mousaka 5 times, in 5 different regions). Yesterday, however, I had chicken and mushrooms, cooked in a creamy mustard sauce. It was good, but so rich I had trouble finishing it. Too rich. I think that I will try the fish, instead next time. They are all locally caught.
There is a large fishing fleet here, but unlike home, they still use small 17ft boats, and haul nets by hand. This might explain why the Med. has been so heavily fished for so many eons, and yet still has so many fish. It would take these boats 6 months to equal the haul of a huge commercial boat takes in 1 day, and the fishing industry is run in this manner all over the Med.
We are now in a forced exile here, as the next boat does not leave till Saturday for Rhodes. It is a pleasant place, with a great beach, good restaurants on the water, and we have a nice pension (run by Miguel, a 62 yr old former math professor, and his wife maria, who is 55, and their daughter, miguella, who is 6...I can't figure it out, and their English is not good, so it is a mystery), but there is not a lot to do other than the beach. I guess we will have to make the most of it (darn, stuck at a beautiful beach). Actually, today we are going to be so far under budget, that we may try a beach side bar for a drink or two, the "Paradise Beach Bar", which is 50m up the road on the water. Maybe we can meet some other travellers, who knows?