Day 3 we climbed up a hill to Archanes, a burial
ground with Minoan and Mycenaean tombs...
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After the monastery, we drove for a good three
hours, and while no one else seemed to feel that this was particularly
noteworthy (choosing instead to sleep and, in some cases, pulling
the curtains and obscuring my view!), I thought the bus ride was absolutely
amazing, and spent it all sitting straight up staring almost hungrily out the
windows, eating up the
incredible landscapes that were flashing past us. The fact that I managed to stay awake, despite being as exhausted as I was and being conditioned to falling straight asleep on long drives, was testament to its beauty. Rolling hills like those in
Napa, covered in olive groves and grape vines; then higher mountains with pine
forest like the Pacific Northwest; then dramatic coastlines with jutting cliffs
and brilliant, sparkling blue sea beneath. The bus ride ended up being an
extra hour because of a forest fire on the side of the road, reminding me of
home (in a depressing way).
We arrived in Xania and sat for the next hour as
various people discussed with us every possible danger of our hike the next
morning (we were actually told not to yell or whistle too loudly lest we cause
loose rock to fall. We were also warned that falling rocks were a danger but
that there was really no way to avoid them...so we should try not to take rests
under cliffs, at least. But as you will notice from the pictures, once in the
gorge, there was no area not under cliff). I found it funny that Pomona had happily sent
me off to Yosemite to climb Half Dome with little to no information and
preparation, but that we were getting an extensive briefing for a well-marked
and smoothed down, not-very-strenuous downhill 10-mile hike.
We then had dinner along the harbor of
Xania, and I had my first moussaka of the semester, which was absolutely
delicious.
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