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AT
THREE IN THE MORNING I was woken up by loud, lively drunken Greek
banter in the outdoor taverna directly under our balcony. By the time
the revelers turned in for the night I was wide awake. While Joy was
blissfully snoozing I made coffee in the room and settled in to read my
Urantia Book, and as the sun rose up over the harbor and I caught it on
videotape.
When
Joy got up we sat on the balcony with our coffee and wound the tape back
to see what we had shot so far. We got to somewhere in Amsterdam then
decided to look at the rest later. This was an unfortunate episode as I
forgot to fast-forward the tape and, as I discovered later, wiped out
everything I’d taped between Amsterdam and our arrival in Hania,
including my nostalgic trip back to Corinth!
After
getting dressed we sought a travel agent to inquire about the “Nissos
Kypros” situation, as our tickets had been fully paid for and we were
still determined to take the three-day “cruise” if the customs
strike should end. We were told the strike could end at any moment and
to call the shipping company at four, to see if the ship would sail the
next day. This caused a dilemma as we didn’t know whether to stay on
Crete another night or return to Pireaus, so we packed up our things and
left them downstairs, just in case the boat was given the green light to
sail.
At
ten we picked up our laundry, having dropped it off at a small
mom-and-pop operation the day before, then went around to see Joan and
Kostas in the carpet shop. Joan let us use her computer in a small
upstairs office to catch up on our email, which we hadn’t been able to
do for a week. Her daughter came around to meet us and we took some
pictures.
Joy, Kostas, Joan's daughter, and Joan in front of the carpet shop
All
day we were in limbo on the relaxing waterfront, going from one place to
another for food and drink, and exploring every inch of the small town
of Hania. We had wanted to “walk about the island,” as Jesus had
done, but settled for “walking about Hania” instead. One of our
major goals was to shop for wheeled luggage carts, hoping this would
make it easier to haul our stuff around.
At
four we called the shipping office and were told the boat would not sail
until November 25—the following Wednesday. What should we do? One
option was to return to Athens immediately from where we could fly to
Cairo, thereby doing our planned trip in reverse. We could apply our
boat tickets for same trip, but from Israel to Athens instead, when the
strike was over. We both agreed that this was the smartest thing to do.
The
daily ferry to Pireaus was scheduled to leave Hania at 8 p.m., but the
ticket office informed us that due to bad weather it would not sail on
time. We bought tickets anyway, for a first class cabin. We boarded, had
a great dinner in the comfortable dining room, read our books, slept
soundly, and when we woke up at sunrise the boat was still docked in
Hania! *
* *
CLICK
HERE TO RETURN TO CALENDAR
or
read on by clicking on any of the following
links:
1.
From Los Angeles to Amsterdam
2. The Flight to Greece
3. Ancient
Corinth
4. The
Citadel
5. To Piraeus
6. Hania on
Crete
7. A
Day in Limbothis
page
8. Back
to Athens
9. From
Athens to Cairo
10. Cairo
11. The Pyramids
12. The Bus to Israel
13. Jerusalem
14. Bethany and Bethpage
15. An Old Palestinian Hotel
16. The Drive to Galilee
17. Capernaum and Environs
18. The Ancient Boat and Nazareth
19. The Golan Heights and Mt. Hermon
20. The Eastern Shore and Scythiopolis
21. Mount of the Beatitudes
22. Ptolemais and Caesarea
23. A Day in Piraeus
24. Santorini
25. A Rainy Day
26. An Eventful Day in Athens
27. Return to Amsterdam
28. Going Home
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