Fair Haven

Before I left for my trip, my friend Jenny reminded me that the Apostle Paul was on a ship to Rome for trial when they had to stop an bunker to avoid a storm. Kalio Limenes or Fair Haven was a natural harbor where they stopped.

I headed west to the site and retraced some of my previous drives and then veered further south. The terrain was alternatively arid with goat grazing among rocks or this with orange trees full of fruit. I crossed a mountain to begin my descent to Fair Havens when the pavement stopped abruptly. My gps had lost signal, so I didn’t have much choice but to proceed down very slowly this rutted, remote road which was sometimes paved. It’s only 7 km, how bad could it be?

Well… I proceeded at a snails pace and 30 minutes into it, I was a little over halfway and I had to pee like a racehorse. I pulled over as I hadn’t seen a car, and right before I got out of the car, here comes a van crawling up the hill. It looked like the van with the Libyan terrorists from Back to the Future.

I waited for them to pass and then crouched between my car and the mountain for cover and I took care of business. Squatting every day as a part of my yoga practice sure comes in handy.

I finally reached the harbor and consistent pavement. There were a few ships there; whether they were bunkering or using the island refueling station, I wasn’t sure. Some sailors in a small motor boat were heading out to the island and this tiny dog ran to the beach and began eagerly swimming out to them. Soon out paced, the dog gave up and returned to land.

I proceeded up a hill to a small chapel built near the cave where Paul is supposed to have stayed. The church was not open, but the cave was. There were mementos left there and booklets and an icon of St Paul.

From there it was back to Moirés where there is a huge market on Saturdays. The previous week, I got tangled up in side streets just trying to get through the town. This time I had a plan to park away from the market and walk to it. I ended up driving across it and then parking and walking back.

I wandered up and down the market street where there were lots of fruit and vegetable vendors, one cheese truck, and lot of kitchen wares and cheap brand knock offs. They seem to particularly like sweat pants. I got some fresh fruits and vegetables, some bread and a pastry, and a handmade basket from a woman who spoke zero English. She was very talented but very poor. I asked her how much, and she pulled a ten euro bill out of her waistband. I only had four and change by now. She took the four and wanted all the small change too!

I went into a store because there were icons of different people from the Bible. Turns out they are magnets. I got St. Paul for my friend Jenny who had reminded me about his stay on Crete, Jesus for my daughter Amy, and the Mother Mary for myself. I went in strong with my Greek -- good morning, how are you, and then I could not converse any further with the shop keeper. She was very nice, and put a sweet in the bag with my purchases.

No one had watermelons that I had seen in Tymbaki the week before, but it was on my way home. I stopped at a mini market there and got one. My host told me later that they are grown in the greenhouses and are not good. I just wanted to say karpouzi, I told him. But he was right, it wasn’t very good. I juiced it and it was very bland. I also went into a pet store and I bought some motion activated noisy mice for my cats because the girl was being so nice.

Then it was back to the villa for sunset.