Day 14

Today was a holiday defining day for us. We had to get a Covid test in order to get home, and it had to be negative! With Greece’s disregard to all things Covid so far in terms of social distancing etc, it would be hit and miss. Another 2 weeks in Crete, meh…could be worse.

The cheapest and fastest results for a test were from Dr Vittorakis, a family doctor in Platanias, nowhere where we were staying. However, a €1.90 bus ticket there and back would still beat the extortionist prices for PCR testing here. We were booked for 11.15am so we grabbed breakfast on the go on the way to the bus station. When in Europe, buses are ALWAYS late so we planned to get an earlier one. Thank God we did, as it was running 15 minutes late already.

Finally our bus arrived and we were entertained by a full on shouting argument from an elderly man and the bus driver and staff. Although we can’t speak Greek, it got heated and the staff kept saying Taxi. I can only assume they said ‘If you aren’t happy then get a F***ing taxi’. He stayed on the bus in the end.

With the delays and arguments behind us, we arrived just in time for our test and by golly it was the worst one I’ve ever had. Anna’s was fine but my doctor went right up the nose and nearly up to the brain. I had a runny nose and crying eye for 10 minutes afterwards. At least if I had Covid, they definitely wouldn’t miss it I thought.

As we waited for our results, we celebrated with a Breezer and Aperol – no guesses who got which – before we got our results as negative. What a relief. Now all we had to do was wait for the bus again. Easier said than done. As we waited for the bus, time had passed and some people even just waived down taxi’s. After 20-25 minutes, we were finally rescued by the bus and on the way back to Chania. Anna the Good Samaritan she is also saved a granny from falling over in the bus as the driver stopped suddenly and sent the Greek lady flying. Good deed done for the day.

After their day off yesterday, the Agora was open for business. The old market had been modernised with tourist trap shops (magnets, ouzo, chopping boards, scarfs and the like) and cheese and meat shops. Some of the meat still had animal fur on so they must have been fresh today. We also needed to stop by another shop to get our refreshments for the boat trip coming up.

Booked in for a 3pm sail, we grabbed lunch below the apartment at Mikro’s Cafe, the owner of which owns our apartment as well. Although we have been a couple of times before, she had spotted us and paid for all of our food and drinks that we had for lunch. What a cutie and a great host!

After I took the wrong turn towards the far bay, we both arrived at our boat dripping. All we wanted to do was jump into the water now and cool off but even the water was hot today. The boat manager said that the water temperature was 29 degrees, and he was gobsmacked by it. After a brief tutorial on how to drive this boat, we headed off out of the port and into the open sea. We even got the smallest glimpse of a huge tortoise but it dived back into the water before we could get a picture.

For the next 4 hours we listened to music, drove around the various bays and sunbathed on our boat, sipping on a few drinks and eating our snacks. We even visited a nudist beach but not many people were swimming naked or skinny dipping. Just us then I guess… The time flew by and we probably had the most relaxing few hours on our trip so far. The breeze kept us from overheating and sweating, the water was all around us that we could just jump in at any point, but mainly, there was silence. No bloody crickets for once! Heaven.

After our sweaty walk home, we were both happy for a shower and to wash the sea salt and sweat off us before getting ready for an evening in town. Unfortunately, this time we did actually lose Anna’s card. But not to worry parents, it’s really easy to freeze, cancel and order a new card with no repercussions at all! The new one might even be at home before we get back! Despite that, we were still annoyed that we had let this one slip away, and still can’t quite understand where it would be!

During our first couple of nights here, we thought that Chania town was quite quiet and the harbour was very reserved and traditional, but we still just can’t get over how buzzing the old port area is. Every restaurant, bar, shop and street is packed full of tourists, street sellers and even those annoying PR people that ask you where you are from and if you want to come and eat here. Away from the hustle and bustle of the seafront, we found an old soap factory turned restaurant. Our last meal had to be Greek of course, so we ordered a meze of greek food, most of which I can’t even spell, and finished with some Raki.

As is tradition, we normally try to buy matching bracelets from each of our trips. Anna usually breaks hers but I’ve managed to keep hold of a few, even our first ever bracelet from Sorrento during Interrailing. It had been a struggle to find any Greek bracelet that we we liked until now so we snapped it up, just after we had bought two greek wine stoppers as a souvenir – we needed at least something to take home from our honeymoon! Stuffed from greek food and memorabilia bought, off home for our last sleep in Crete.