Hello from Bahrain: Chapter 5

Our Trip To Greece

This all started out with my being asked by Naomi (she’s in the Air Force) to join her, Pam, and Mary (Naomi’s eighteen year old daughter) on a four day trip to Cyprus. It was being sponsored by the base’s MWR (Military Welfare & Recreation).

But our husbands got involved and the next thing I knew we were going to Crete, Greece for a week.  The Military just added Crete as one of their stops for the Mac Flight, so we will be flying for free. There are six of us, Bill, Pam, Naomi, Mary, Danny, and me.

April 3rd
 We left at 3:30 am for the Bahraini Airport.  The plane was scheduled to leave at 6:30 am. but as with anything pertaining to the government, you have to hurry up and wait.  I stayed up all night since I figured I would sleep on the plane.  I did. I was able to take the middle four seats and actually lay down.  We arrived around 10:30 am. and were escorted through customs by an MWR representative who put us on a bus to the Naval base. Naomi had a friend, Danny Cruse, drive us to our hotel in Chania.  We stay at the “Akali”. It’s a four star hotel.  It’s really nice but the rooms are small.  This is how most of the European rooms are, I’m told.  We rest! Later the group goes to a travel agent to book our Ferry to Athens.  I sleep while they are gone.  We go out to eat at a restaurant that Danny takes us to. I’m not impressed.

April 4th
Our second day in Crete and we shop most of the day and eat.  I love all the shops but I especially like the ones in the leather alley. I bought myself a purse.  It’s hand made in Greece.

 At 7:00 we left for our ferry ride.  Our room is so small and we have bunk beds.  I get seasick so I end up staying in my room (more like a walk in closet).  This ferry is definitely nothing like a cruise ship.

April 5th
We wake up and we are in Athens.  We take cabs to our hotel, the “Acropolis Select”.  This hotel is new and beautiful.  Our room is larger and we even have a king sized bed.  It also has a hairdryer and wash cloths.  You see, in Greece, Paris, Bahrain, and I’m sure most of the other places overseas, people don’t use wash cloths. The hotel has what it calls an “American breakfast”.  Pam said that they’re wrong because there’s no grits.  Naomi suggests three tours to take and we all agree.  My only problem so far is the weather.  It’s cooler than I expected and I brought more shorts than long pants.  Danny and I take a taxi downtown to buy me a couple pairs. With this accomplished we try to catch a taxi back to the hotel with no luck.  None of the drivers knew where the hotel was, or so they said.  We walk back!  At 3:00pm we take the first of our three tours. They are all by bus.  We travel for nearly 1 ½ hours to see “The Temple Of Poseidon” (God of the sea).  It’s on this high hill overlooking the sea.  My camera rewinds after only seven pictures and does it again later. Time for a new camera! Our next tour starts at 8pm and this one’s a party tour.  We first go to The Nionysos.  This is a restaurant where they serve us a variety of fish. Ugh. Next we are taken to this nightclub, “Lavabore”. We all enjoy this place. We are fed great food and are entertained.  We really like Athens and wish we had more days here.

April 6th
Our last tour starts at 8:15am and we are taken all over but the grand finale is our last stop, the “Akropolis”.   From this high hill you can see most all of Athens.  It’s beautiful.  We go to the ferry and this time our room is bigger (for 3 people).  We are able to move around.  I get seasick again.  I am thankful for Dramamine.  I sleep the whole trip.

April 7th
 We arrive in Heraklion, Crete.  We stay at the Olympic hotel. It’s okay but nothing to brag about.  The only thing it has to offer is the location since it’s in the heart of the city.  We go for breakfast at “Sammys” followed by more sight seeing.  We see this cathedral called St. Minas. It has a bomb next to it (about four feet) on a stand with the bomb slanting down.  Danny asks several people later about it and everyone acts as if they have never seen it.  We rent a car to drive back to Chania tomorrow. The others will be going by bus.

April 8th
 We leave early for Chania and when we arrive we find our hotel in the old shopping district.  It’s called “Doge”. We have a huge room. We go out to eat and of course, more shopping.

April 9th
Our last day.  We shop and then head out for some country side sights.  We locate the base and where to turn in the car then head up this mountain to see an old monastery.  I pick an olive bean off of a tree. They are everywhere. I also pick these things that look like pea pods, but find out later that they are carob beans.  We catch our flight out and arrive back at 2:00am.  We are taken (not through customs) but outside in a safe area. There are about a hundred or more of us waiting for our bags to be brought to us.  Before we can take them, they have dogs sniff them.  We are home at 3:30am. and boy is Winston happy to see us.  Greece was a great place to visit. The people were friendly (except those few cabbies in Athens), and most could speak English.  The weather was perfect.  Just right for a thin jacket.  I did eat too much and gained a few pounds.  I had baklava three times (twice with vanilla ice cream), and I loved the salads. The prices of hotels and souvenirs were reasonable.  The money is called Drachmas.  That reminds me, they have “slot machines” at the base rec. center. It’s a good thing we don’t in Bahrain..  I could write about ten more pages about this trip but I figured you would get the jest of it. Danny came home with the Flu but is better now.  Not so for me. I guess he shared it!

We paid Rom (the Indian all around handy man) to feed and walk Winston twice daily.  We asked Nancy, our friend to check in on him and she did. She also took him for walks.  I covered my bases and asked Charlotte our neighbor (and friend) to visit Winston occasionally.  She said that she also took him on walks, once or twice a day.  These are great ladies and we do appreciate them.  And because of them, we came home to DRY carpets.

Back in Bahrain……

Love,
Sylvia

(A note from the editor....I can't believe she ate Baklava. I buy it special every Christmas and she refuses to even taste it. I guess it tastes better when it's from another country! :o) LOL )