Highlights Sue and Jules  and Souda Bay

We did a very easy bag drop, then went back for breakfast. We then headed back with just cabin bags expecting a leisurely trip through the airport to the plane. Wrong. We were held up at security where most people seem to get defaulted to three extra checks. I sailed through then waited about 10 minutes for John. Then the duty free area meant a narrow space for people to walk and we needed gate 557 (from memory) which was some walk away. As the tickets were clear that the gates close 30 minutes before the flight and it was getting close to that time we moved at a far from leisurely pace. We didn’t stop in duty free and got to the gate with a couple of extra minutes to spare. The time it took for us to get to the next step was long enough for us to see lots of people arriving happily after the set time!! Grr!!

Then the flight departures was delayed for air traffic reasons, however the rest went well, with just a bit of turbulence. I had made a couple of croissants at breakfast and we had mandarins so that saw us through the flight. They even made up time with a strong tail wind. There were some great views from the window. We usually opt for an aisle seat but this was only a relatively short flight and the views made it worthwhile. The Alps were special and I even took a couple of photos but they are not great. We sailed through immigration in less than 5 minutes but waited 15 or more for our bags. We then waltzed through customs (we saw no sign of anyone or any desk) to find Sue and Jules waiting for us.

We all opted for a light meal to eat so they took us to Marathi Beach (on Akrotiri) and then found it was really busy because it is also a Bank Holiday here in Crete. There were people in the water nearby at the beach and a number of fishing boats also.

Their usual place was full with people waiting so we went next door and had no problems with a table. We ordered a mixture of food to share including Greek salad, Tzatziki, Dakos (a local specialty which is rusk soaked in olive oil with tomato) and cheese and shrimps. This with shared wine did us proud and was much more than a light snack. Sue and Jules were pleased that the food here was better than they had been expecting and the wine was nice, surprisingly so they said. To our surprise, but not theirs, a shared dessert of a sort of coconut pile with honey and nuts was served and then raki for us all. This is a traditional freebie at the end of a meal. They said that restaurants routinely give the customers a sweet something (small so it doesn’t compete with dessert restaurants) and a shot of something.

Our route to their home took us by Souda Bay, so we were keen on their suggestion to stop at the Memorial. The British Commonwealth War Memorial lies on a small plateau open just above sea-level on the eastern rim of Souda Bay. The memorial was described as a beautiful spot flanked by a steeply rising hillside to the north and only a few kilometers to the base of the white mountains to the south. It is the last resting place of 1527 of the known 2000 British Commonwealth war dead, the majority of whom who lost their lives in the Battle for Crete between May 20th and 31st, 1941. 446 were from New Zeland, the second highest number from any country except the UK.

It seems we got to see it at its best, although any day would be good. The recent rain had freshened the area and most of the flowers, especially roses, were in bloom. We looked for NZ graves with ‘known only unto god’ and then names that were familiar from home on headstones. Sue and Jules had alerted us to 2 groups of headstones that were side by side for aircrew who had perished in the same flight. We also spoke to people from Canada who were in the cemetery. The memorial in the middle had fresh wreaths on it, with 2 honouring 2 separate NZ battalions in the expeditionary force. We also found a cache, just outside the cemetery, as is standard, in Crete we were told.

We then went to our home for a week, via a series of roads of various sizes including the National Road. John was happy to sit and get back into thinking of driving on the right again later next week. We saw a couple of churches on private land next to houses and heard that you can’t build within 300m from a church so a good way to stop people blocking your view is to build your own church.

We put our bags away at Sue and Jules and had a tour of their home. They said they had bought it based on the site, and we could see why. There are great views of the hills, sea and local town in a peaceful spot with a lot of olive trees on the surrounding hillside. Then John and Sue had a snooze while Jules and I talked on the terrace.

Then it was weird. We were going into the nearby village/town, Georgioupolis, to have a meal. I went down to freshen up and felt dizzy. The dizziness lasted so I had to say I was feeling this way. We ended up in a bar for a drink and I had orange juice, which was lovely, but I couldn’t face it. I was sick, so the others had to come back to the house where I crawled into bed. I still don’t know what caused it but wondered about the juice I had had in the UK. We had made arrangements for tomorrow which I told the others to go ahead with if I was not able to.