Saturday, June 1, 2013

Kato Zakros, Vai, and Agios Nicholas

Lost in Vai, Crete
As we circumnavigate Crete we head to the far south (east) to Kato Zakros http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakros, an ancient Minoan settlement. Read the Wiki info for more detail. The roads to get here are difficult and in some cases amount to goat trails, or 1 lane shared paved sections, but the scenery at the end was worth it. Here we stayed at Stella’s Apts. which was very nice.
Kato Zakros

In the morning we headed off to Vai, a palm grove,


Vai

the only one on Crete, and it is believed it was brought there by the Minoan’s from Egypt many centuries ago. Apparently it is now made popular by an English commercial with it’s Palm trees, sand beach, and beach bunnies. I’ve tried to re-create the scene as best I could. (Laugh)
Beach Bunnies in Vai







From here we headed to Sitia, another port town on the eastern side of Crete, one can catch a ferry infrequently to Rhodes from here. As we ate lunch on the quay in Sitia we found an old statue of Romeo and Juliet. We’ll have to look up its connection to Sitia.
Romeo and Juliet Statue

Agios Nicholas
Then onto Agios Nicholas, a larger port town some 64 kms north from Sitia and a pretty place in its own right. We are staying at the Creta hotel, run by a family who she  Bernadette emigrated from Canada to Greece 21 years ago from the Magdelana Islands ( a Quebec island in the St Lawrence Seaway). She was so happy to see fellow Canadians she immediately said ( I love your flag!). Apparently she goes back (home) every year but owns and operates the hotel ( which is nice).




The last entry is about the Statue of “The Kidnapping of Europa”. It is associated to Greek mythology, but the name Europa from Zeus, is ultimately how Europe came to get its name. Now though, the statue erected here is a joke, because Greece with its finances has kidnapped the economic power of Europe with its problems.
The Kidnapping of Europa

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