Wow, my time for travelling is rapidly coming to an end... Less than a week before I head back to Minnesota. How sad.

But anyway, I've been on Crete for the past few days. I took the overnight ferry from Kalamata to Kastelli-Kissamos (they couldn't decide which was the name of the town so they just called it both) and then a bus right away to Hania (or Chania, depending on your Greek to English translation). And I've decided overnight ferries just aren't for me. I'm completely exhausted the next day - no good for anything. So I got into Hania fairly early in the morning and found a hotel with a really nice owner. The guy pulled out a map and started telling me where everything was in a mixture of English and German. I wandered around the old venetian town - seems like all towns in Greece have a venetian quarter. But you gotta admit they're fun to wander - lots of tiny streets and alley ways to get lost in. And the waterfront there is really pretty. I went to the various museums that sounded interesting but nothing spectacular. Didn't really do all that much as I felt like the walking dead. The next day I got up bright and early (we're talking 5:30am here!), caught the 6:15am bus to Omalos and from there began an 18km hike through the Samaria gorge. It was really beautiful - this gorge is supposedly the longest in Europe and actually narrows to about 3m (known as the Iron Gates) for a bit in the gorge. Took about 5 hrs to hike through and at the end there's a beautiful beach! So since I had about 3 hrs to wait for the ferry (yes, the only ways to reach this town/beach is via ferry or walking) I went for a swim and then had some lunch - the never-failing tzatziki and greek salad. After a 2hr ferry ride and then a 2hr bus ride I got back to Hania in the early evening. Went out to dinner and then collapsed thankfully into bed

The next morning I hoped on the bus to Rethymno and spent the day getting completely lost in the old section of town. Even got lost trying to find the hostel - ended up having to ask directions. The main problem is the Greek translation of street names into English is much different than the Lonely Planet's translations of street names into English. So I stare at the Greek and try to sound it out, then compare it to my map in the book. It works although much slower. I've never been so happy for studying math before! Actually knowing most of the greek letters is amazingly helpful! Anyway, Rethymno is a really nice town with a good beach (seems to be a lot of those around!). Didn't do all that much, went to the Cretan folklore museum which was kind of entertaining - described the local methods of making everything. That evening at the hostel I met an Aussie girl and we hung out for the evening again getting lost in the town.

The next morning I moved onwards to Iraklio. Can you tell I'm feeling the lack of time? Iraklio is not as nice of a city - a lot more crowded. But then it's bigger. Spent the day wandering around the city trying to orient myself, finding the various fountains,etc. Did spend a couple hours wandering around the archaeological museum - lots of frescos, statues, etc from the Minoan period. During the afternoon the hostel got overrun with a French school group so by the time I got back to take a shower I had to wait 2 hours for a free shower. The disadvantages of staying in hostels. Had a unexciting dinner and fell asleep fairly early. That brings us to today - got up in time to check out of the hostel and then headed out to Knossos - the Palace of Minos. Sir Evans discovered this site and instead of just doing the dig, he reconstructed several parts of it, trying to make it as it was. There's some controversy about this but I thought it looked pretty cool. Gives a good idea what the place looked like in it's prime. After I left Knossos I headed down to the fortezza in Iraklio - another Venetian fortezza but this one is completely restored. Felt really cool wandering around it - almost like being back in those times except for the electric lights....

Tonight I have yet another all-night ferry, this time to Pireaus which is nearby Athens. So will be in Athens by noon tomorrow. Hopefully it's worth seeing - I've heard it's really only good for a day as the archaeological museum is closed for rennovations. But I'll check out that rumor when I get there...