Another Round From on the Seas

Some more "best of's" and "number of timeses" from recent travels:

Number of “Carden” houses stayed in: 1
- While looking for a place to sleep in Rethymno, we narrowly avoided the entreaties of a man waiting at the bus station for eager young travelers like ourselves. Instead, we forged on into the heart of the old town, all but in the shadow of the massive Venetian fortress (sadly unopened as it was Holy Saturday in the Greek Orthodox calendar). We bummed around tiny streets that were deathly silent except for the occasional violent whirr of a passing moto as an elderly man or young buck on two wheels tore down the tiny alleyways with impossible speed, chased by cloud of blue smoke. Our goal was to find the Garen House, a restored Venetian home of sprawling dimensions that had been converted into a pension by its current owners. Expecting the worst, I had my eyes peeled for gaudy signage and neon words declaring the entrance to our hopeful home. I couldn’t have been more wrong. There were no signs, no indicators of its existence, no evidence that there ever had been or would be a Garden House. We eventually had to track down the exact number of the pension as indicated in the guidebook and stare at a brown door, paint peeling, without any sign of commercial life. Looking closer, I discovered a buzzer, and above it, written in tiny scrawl, the word “carden.” That was it. Nothing more. Putting my faith in the phoneticism of the owners, I rang the buzzer and was rewarded by an unlocked door. We slowly entered a long hallway, the sides decorated by artfully arranged farming implements. Emerging from the dark entryway, our advance halted at the appearance of a woman, even more antique than the rusted plow I had rested my hand upon, at the top of the whitewashed stairs in front of us.

A combination of Greek, English, and German (oddly enough) allowed us to book a place to stay with three beds in two rooms. Granted, my place of rest was in the sitting room, and actually was an ancient predecessor to the pullout couch that unceremoniously dumped me onto the floor at two o’clock in the morning... but the room got the job done with weathered style and well-aged aplomb regardless. With the aid of our hostess, we got a narrow room with a small balcony overlooking the street, a balcony that proved particularly useful for observing the Good Friday (by the Greek calendar, of course) procession that occurred shortly after sunset.

The place was delightful, otherwise uninhabited, and had a pair of landings with small tables and chairs, perfect for a lunch of bread, cheese, salami and Nutella. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky nor a blot on our experience in the Carden House.

Ports of Call: 6 (on only three ferries)
- The trip back from Santorini, the ferry stopped in a number of other islands collecting what seemed like all of Athens as we glided closer and closer to the mainland. The last ferry, Naxos Blue Star, was the newest and sweetest ferry I’ve ever been on. It must have been commissioned in the past year; the interior is lots of wood paneling, mirrors, and clean carpeting. The top is brilliantly constructed to allow the maximum number of passengers in a variety of environments. Instead of the windswept benches, part of the sun deck is blocked off by overlapping clear plastic panels that allow passengers to sit in relative, unwindblown warmth while enjoying the outside. There’s also a pair of decks for just walking around and enjoying the view. The only failing? The superstructure blocks most of the view forward, so the sunset was off limits (we were traveling due west towards Piraeus).

In an odd twist of fate, they were sold out of all tickets with the exception of the “A Class Lounge.” We went ahead with the purchase and only remembered as we were boarding the ferry. The cost about double what deck seats cost and we soon discovered why. The A Class Lounge, dubbed the Seagulls Lounge, screens for lesser passengers at the door and features an upscale dining area, riddled with comfy couches and luxurious chairs around small tables and excellent service. The on-board cafe (there are several, but the best is only for Gulls, as we like to call ourselves) is actually quite reasonable in price (a beer can be had for two euros, though we did not indulge -- ice cream ran one seventy per generous scoop... we definitely indulged). Even the floor wasn’t uncomfortable... I took the time to lie on it and determine its worth. An excellent ferry, but a ferry that betrayed its intrinsic Greek-ness. Brilliantly designed, the Seagulls Lounge features broad windows looking forward, a view to the fore worth paying for, unavailable to any else on the boat. The one downside? No one washes the windows. The streaks of many days of dirt begrimed our view. It would have been a ten minute job to clean them off, but there they were, long brilliant streaks. It couldn’t hinder our enjoyment of the view, but it did evince a collective chuckle... they just couldn’t quite go the distance, even for the Gulls. Ah well.

Lamest Underwater “Almost Like Atlantis” Ruins: Elounda Beach, just north of Agios Nikolaos, Crete
- According to the guidebook, there was a spot, on the northern end of the island of Crete, where one could see the tops of walls and hints of columns in the water, just by looking. With the aid of a snorkel or scuba equipment, a ruined Dorian town would become visible to curious submarine eye. Sounds fascinating. So, we braved storm clouds and gale force winds to prowl around a barren stretch of land where said ruins ought to have been. After long searching, and nearly destroying our rental car (the thing had no clearance) we found the site. It was a silty backwater just off the bay, a foot or two deep, with eighteen inches of wall sticking out of the water. That was it. Maybe in the months since the giddy guidebook writer had passed that way, silt had miraculously ended this taste of Atlantis. I just think someone was sucking down raki for all he was worth and ended up on the sloshy side. Evidence? “Atlantis.”