Crete and a Peloponneseian round off

: Palestra at Olympia

Wed. 10^th, 22^rd day

"Ich werd' als Autostopper mitgenommen." (I'm picked up as a hitch-hiker) That was what Erich just said in his sleep, here in Heraklion, capital of Crete.
He was around 35 years old and earning money with power plants generating energy from biological gases. We went to an internet-caf� together. They were still playing Counterstrike.

Thur. 11^th, 23^rd day

My trousers were so dirty that I had to wash them. Since they were the only pants that I had with me, I decided to do it like I learned it from the TV commercials: I just took them off, put them in the washing maschine and sat down in the laundry to read the newspaper, just having my small bathing drawers on. Everything would have been nice if the owner wouldn't have chased me off:

"You can't sit here!! Come back in two hours!"

That was somewhat awkward, hanging around in Heraklion, just with bathing-trunks :-/

When I got back my trousers, I shot off to Knossos, "the Palace of Minos", one of the largest archaeological sites on Crete. Showing them my int'l student's ID, I could go in for free, that's a nice thing ;) Even though the site was interesting, I didn't like it much because they had made "mistakes", like using conrete to reconstruct the palace and ruined the spirit plus I took a guide who turned out to be not so good.

I also got to know Motoko from Japan :) who was hiking through Europe.

: Palace of Knossos

: Throne

: Hall of jurisdiction

: Dolphins mural art ;)

: huge Pithoi

: Reconstruction (sickening)

: Knossos ruins

: St. Titus' Basilica, Gortys

: Roman Odeon, Gortys

: Temple of Apollo Pythios

Fri. 12^th, 24^th day

Hu, my birthday!! I was 25!!

I left Heraklion behind and rode through the field area of Messara till Gortyn, which had a great site. It was possible to walk between the ruins and buildings. I liked a Roman Odeon best, which was used for musical performances.
The site is located on two sides of a street. When walking to the amphitheater on the other side, Roman(?) columns were just laying the the meadow, I touched their warm curves :) and came across the Temple of Apollo Pythios with a special stepped altar.

Festos: Again a very pleasant site, the royal rooms had been panelled with alabaster.

I rode another 50km to Plaki�s, through mountainious scenery and a canyon. The view of rocks and sea was so breathtaking, it couldn't be real.

Sat. 13^th, 25^th day
I slept under the open sky, pitching the tent was too laborious. Frangokastelo, and further on in the direction of Chora Sfakion. Then up north passing by Chania entering the tableland of Omalos.

This ride was marvellous, the best of the whole trip. The road in this stunning scenary was making sharp curves and when I was going uphill, all I could see was the road leading straight into the perfectly blue sky. I didn't know that the way to heaven is actually riding there with a motorcycle ;)

I stayed at the elevated plain near the canyon. This evening I tried a local delicacy consisting of sheep- and goatmeat with French fries that my travelguide (Marco Polo) had recommended ;) It was horrible. I could smell the stinky goats from my greasy plate, from the disgusting animal parts laying there. Yak :-/

So. 14^th, 26^th day
This day was dedicated to the famous Samari� Gorge, a 13km long canyon descending from 1200m down to sea level. The forces of nature have folded the layers of rock like a towel. Then the river had cut through it. It took much longer to walk it than I thought. At one spot people had made little towers by putting stones on top of each other. Thousands of little towers. I added one.

: map of west-crete

: Samaria Gorge

: Temple of Apollo, Corinth

: Canal of Corinth

: Peirene Fountain

: Temple of Zeus

: Olympia Stadion

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