Month: May 2006

Well, the convention is here! There was a point, however, when I thought that I wouldn’t make it.

After an all night boat ride from Crete, we docked in Piraeus, the port of Athens. It was 7AM and was able to buy a ticket for the next hydrofoil to Ermione, where the convention is being held. 20 minutes in to the trip, the hydro engines shut down, and we bobbed on the water while the motor was being “repaired”. And so, we set off again, and soon docked in Antiporos, a scheduled stop. On our way out of the harbor, howeverm, the motor quit again, and we were informed that the boat would go back to the harbor, and other transport would be supplied,k free of charge, by the boat company. My little group of sober drunks (about 15 of us) were all piled into taxis and driven therest of the way. By boat it would have taken an hour, in the best circumstances. By land, in an E class Mercedes-Benz taxi with a Greek at the wheel, we made the hotel in 15 minutes!

The convention is stunning. The food, fun, and fellowship are great and I’ll write more, but I need to put some words on paper first.

More to come…

Johnnyboy

My last entry told of the craziness of Iraklion and the insanity of a big town. My current digs are much more to my liking, although I am leaving this place today. ‘This place’ is Hania, in the western end of Crete, 3 hours by bus from Iraklion. ‘Lovely’ is a good description, as well as ‘friendly’ and ‘comfortable’. But first, an update…

My day trip to the ruins of Phaestos and the Roman ruins of Gortyna on the south shore was wonderful and exhausting. On Sunday (14th) I took a bus early in the morning down to Phaestos and and the surrounding environs. ‘Bloody hot’ is also a good description, witht the southern Mediterranean sun beating down on me for about 6 hours while I scoured the two sites and negotiated bus-hops and an offered ride from another tourist. I returned to Iraklion around 3PM and headed straight to the magnificent Archeology Museum of Crete and allowed myself to be swept up in the grandeur and dizzy displays covering Greece from the Neolithic to the Classical eras. There was really too much to see and at about 4:30 my mind cried ‘Enough!’ and I gave up and went back to my hotel for a nap. My supper that night consisted of gyros and coffee, a simple and quick meal for the traveler.

The next morning, after scouting out bus schedules for my afternoon trip to Hania, I set off for the nearby palatial ruins of Knossos. Another mind-blowing experience for Johnnyboy. I was able to see the dig early, in the cooler part of the day and be on the bus to Hania by 10:30am, a few hours earlier than I had expected.

The trip was uneventful, as the bus wound its way along the coast. The few beaches, hotels, and resorts around Iraklion gave way to smaller towns and villages surrounded by olive, orange, fig, and lemon groves. The White Mountains loomed ahead, their peaks still covered with snow. Little did I know that I would soon be hiking through those rocky heights.

Hania arrived, a small, but bustling, litle seaport, ancient and well traveled. The town itself is still largely comprised of the Venetian influenced building from a previous occupation in the 14th and 15th centuries and also from the Ottoman Turk occupation following shortly thereafter. My hotel was a real treat, and I sheeled out the dough for a room well worth the money.

The Amphora Hotel is situated right on the old curved harbor, and my room, with its four tall windows looked out over the lively scene. Cafes, restaurants, and some touristy shops greeted my eyes, and the sun and mild sea breezes blew through the room. All the details had been attended to by the hotel staff. By this I mean that the towels were folded nicely on the bed, the the bathroom complete with soap, shampoo, shower cap, and ear-buds (Q-tips). Even the furniture in the room had small felt pads on the bottoms of the legs, so they were all but noiseless as I moved them around. Very posh. The restaurant downstairs was very good, with ‘reliable’ Greek fare and a pleasant and not-overly-attentive staff.

I was able to see much of Hania’s sites that afternoon, and decided, since I had a full day open the next morning, to take a hiking tour of the Samaria Gorge, Europes longest at just under 17 km. Amazing things happen, I was told, if you let your mind stay open, and they did.

The next morning, at 6AM, I was waiting for my bus and introduced myself to a couple from Australia, Graeme and Susie T., who were also going on the hike. No, they weren’t from the program, but they are very nice folks and we ended up hiking the gorge together and hanging out. He’s a barrister and she’s a surgeon. Very nice folks, and she quickly diagnosed my sneezy, sniffly, hacking cough condition as a chest infection resulting from the small virus I picked up somewhere. She has offered anti-biotics for acure and I will take the gift as it is offered. They are also sailing on the same boat as me tonight to Piraeus, and are willing to give me a lift to the dock. Amazing, this life and living, if only I am open to it.

Before I close this entry, let me say that I feel that I have grown from this experience. Only a few years ago, as a drunk and a wasted mind, I would have never been exposed to these experiences. I mean the friendship and fellowship of others, primarily, but also the ability to trek, keep schedules, etc…It’s the people that I am aware of, and the influence they have had on my life. This morning I thought of the AA joke about the guy in the flood, wanting god to help him out, and denying the rowboat and the helicopter, only to find out that those were the acts of his HP. In my case, both rowboat and helicopter have arrived to save me, and I taking them both.

Tomorrow…The 12th Annual Southeastern European International AA Convention begins!

Johnnyboy