SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010
KLMNO
greece continued from F4
way to Fira for the afternoon. The road swerves along steep
cliffs, reminding motorists that this island was once a powerful volcano that erupted 3,500 years ago, possibly destroying the Mi- noan civilization that once thrived around these waters. There’s no doubt, though, that Fi- ra is gorgeous. The whitewashed buildings planted in the cliffs are extraordinarily romantic, and as I lean in to kiss my wife, the mo- ment is ruined by the loud hotel- bashings of an irate American tourist in a T-shirt that incorrect- ly reads “Whose the Daddy?” After tasting some local wine in the center of town, we contin- ue on to Oia, on the north- ernmost point of the island, to catch a panoramic glimpse of Santorini, crescent-shaped after the fatal eruption submerged half the land. A popular spot for watching sunsets, Oia is quickly overrun by couples, so we leave to race the falling sun to the is- land’s far southern tip and the lighthouse at Faros. Thankfully, we arrive just in time to snag a spot at the farthest edge of the rocks. We’re pleased to see just a few others enjoying the view. The next morning, we walk
from Perissa to the nearby town of Emporio for coffee and to see our hosts’ home town at their suggestion. This is the part of Santorini that I loved the most and hate to share. Here, there are no English signs directing us to taverns or hotels. There are no tourists at all, in fact; just quaint houses, colorful doors and the tranquility on display in the wall calendars for sale in all the is- land’s shops. We spend the day alone ex- ploring the town and the nearby hills until we find a path that leads to ancient Thera on the hill. This was the island’s main settle- ment before the eruption, and the walk to it is empty and a joy. The way is steep, with wild on- ions growing along the path, but the views are rewarding. When we reach the top, though, we spot several cars and buses parked in a lot at the gate, so we turn and head down a different path that goes somewhere else. That night we return to Empo- rio to eat with the locals at a small restaurant along the main road. Against the far wall, be- yond the three tables in the din- ing room, we see several whole chickens, cuts of lamb and some- thing else I can’t make out all ro- tating on a spit over a fire. At first we’re concerned that all this meat will sit there for hours. But soon we’re watching as dozens of families come in and place or- ders for takeout, and we realize that the restaurant is barely keeping up with orders. We struggle to place ours with the little bits of Greek we’ve picked up along our journey. We feel gratified by how far we’ve come.
Finding our way in Kos
From Santorini, we catch a fer-
ry to the island of Kos in the Do- decanese, on Greece’s eastern edge, to explore the main town and the impressive Neratzia Cas- tle built by the Knights Hospital- ler in the 14th century to defend against Ottoman expansion. Kos town isn’t as pretty as many oth- er island centers, but the fortress is magnificent and the overall feeling is lively. We stroll along the top of the
fortress wall, taking in the views, before hitting the ruins of the nearby agora where we meet up with George, a bohemian couch- surfing host whom we’d found online. He takes us to the island’s Asclepieion, a healing temple amid cypress trees overlooking Kos town where the sick used to come to see a priest or an early physician and to swim in the baths and be healed. Hippocra- tes, the father of Western medi- cine, lived and worked here dur- ing the time when Kos was the center of medical learning, around 400 B.C. George then takes us into the hills to his home, a rundown se- ries of buildings that was once an important rural estate. We stay for a couple of days with him and his dog, Terror, hiking around the small hills, bathing in the sul- fur waters known as the Thermes and discovering hidden ruins all over the island. We sleep on the roof of the main building and de- cide that, apart from the biting ants, this is how we want to spend the rest of our trip, stretching our budget and our time — and pushing back our flight home.
travel@washpost.com
Guthrie is a Seattle-based freelance writer.
on washingtonpost.com
A Greek panorama For a
gallery of photos from Greece,
go to
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Finding a haven from reality in a corner of Crete
DETAILS
GETTING THERE
Beach season in Crete begins in June. Lufthansa, KLM and British Airways have one-stop flights from Washington Dulles to Athens, with fares starting at $928. Flights on Olympic Air or Aegean from Athens to Hania, Crete, start at about $90 round trip.
WHERE TO STAY
Hotel Plakures
Kissamos,
011-30-28220-41581
www.plakures.de
Double rooms start at about $110 per night.
WHERE TO EAT
Spilios Taverna
www.taverna-spilios.gr
Everything is made from scratch and generously portioned. Try the earthy moussaka and the boureki, a dish of layered potatoes, zucchini and local cheese. Dinner for two is about $30.
WHAT TO DO
Gramvousa Balos Cruises
Port of Kissamos, Hania, 011-30-28220-24344
www.gramvousa.com
About $27 per person for a
71
⁄2
-hour cruise (though we
were able to negotiate the price down to about $13).
KPZFOTO/ALAMY
The big view: The heights of Gramvousa Island, where the Venetians built a fortress in 1579, offer 360-degree views of the sea
crete continued from F1
I also had a bias. Previous trav- els to the Greek islands had taken me to picture-perfect blue-and- white villages decked with bou- gainvillea. Crete was more, well, real: The cities were modern; the beaches, many very beautiful, spoiled by tacky holiday devel- opments. As a traveler, I’m all for seeing the real world. Most of the time. On this trip to Greece, I was seeking escape. Crete’s northwest corner, which includes Balos Beach, fit the bill. For three days, we made our headquarters in Falassarna, a sleepy but functional town. There’s no town center per se, just a string of mid-priced hotels, a grocery/souvenir shop, a beach cafe and a restaurant. There are no high-end digs, no high-end anything, for that matter. (Luxu- ry hotel chains: If you are looking for a new European beachfront property, this is it.) We checked into the Plakures,
a compound of whitewashed condos, neatly trimmed in Tiffa- ny blue. Each room comes with a wrought-iron bed, a marble floor, functional Ikea-style furniture and a small, well-equipped kitch- enette. Though the area is dry, the hotel property is lush. Gravel pathways that connect the rooms to the pool and restaurant are lined with palm, fig and pome- granate trees. The hotel is Greece just as you imagine it . . . if you were German. Owned by a German family, Plakures caters almost exclusive- ly to middle-aged Teutonic cou- ples who want nothing more than to lie in the sun by day and drink beer — lots of it — at night. (The only other guests were my group and a few other young
American women who also had been seduced by the hotel’s sexy Web site.) The contrast between the cerulean sky and the pink, full-figured guests gave me a start at first. But we soon appre- ciated the bicultural aspect of the hotel, which seamlessly blends the good parts of Greece (the food, the weather) and Germany (intense efficiency and very large breakfast buffets). With the exception of one (ac- cidentally strenuous) hike, we spent most of our days lying on the beach. The approach is not
ming and dinners at the hotel, in- cluding generous meze platters of feta cheese, grape leaves, len- tils and garlicky tzatziki, pork souvlaki and a surprisingly deli- cious rendition of spaghetti Bolo- gnese. (I thought I would never tire of Greek salads, but that turned out not to be true.) On our last day in Falassarna, though, we decided to risk being tourists once again with a cruise to Gram- vousa Island and Balos Beach.
I’m skeptical of day cruises.
Previous travel to the Greek islands had taken me to picture-perfect villages decked with bougainvillea. Crete was more, well, real.
encouraging — a quarter-mile path down a scrubby hill — but the reward is a stretch of soft white sand and placid, jewel- colored water. The sea is cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough that even a tem- perature wimp like me can walk right in. On either side are rocky coves, with smooth gray boulders that look as if they have been placed specifically for a high- fashion shoot. At sunset, the sand begins to glow hot pink, a result of crushed pink shells that have washed ashore. Lounge chairs are available for about $7 per day, but never once did any- one come by to collect money. (The Greeks, not the Germans, are clearly in charge of the water- front.) It was easy to fall into a rhythm of sunbathing, swim-
Too often, what seems like an at- tractive itinerary turns out to be a string of third-rate “sights” and long stays at shops owned by the cruise operator’s cousin. Our trip to Gramvousa did not start out auspiciously. The Kissamos ferry terminal, a few miles from Falas- sarna, has several operators. Ticket agents told us that the price for the eight-hour cruise was 30 euros per person (about $41), three times the price listed in our guidebook. When we feigned to “think about it,” the price came down to 20, 15 and then, finally, 10 euros (about $13).
Once we were on the boat,
however, everything was as ad- vertised. The ferry cruises to the northwest tip of Crete, a lick of land called Cape Vouxa. The first stop is the island of Gramvousa.
It’s a forbidding-looking rock, though the “pirate” ship docked in front gives the place a slightly Disney feel. We considered a dip, but the thin strip of beach is rocky and there’s little shade. So we headed up to the island’s 16th-century ruined castle in- stead. Good decision. The 25-minute
hike is a little tricky in flip-flops but worth the effort. The fortress, built in 1579 by the Venetians, was used to fight the invading Turks until 1692, according to our Blue Guide. It was later used as a base for pirates (hence the pirate ship in the harbor). You can see why the spot was coveted. It offers 360-degree views of the sea and a prime view of ships crossing from Crete to the island of Antikythera. Today, the dis- tressed walls and tumbledown arches make an ideal place for holiday snapshots. Back on the ferry, there was just enough time for a quick lunch before arriving in Balos. Where an American ferry would serve unappealing hot dogs, chips and sodas at extortionate prices, the Greek equivalent of- fers a host of fresh, reasonably priced food: fresh Greek salads, chicken souvlaki with delicious roasted potatoes and bowls of fresh red grapes, which we wrapped up for a beachside snack. This is also the time when you can rent a beach umbrella for the upcoming three-hour stop at Balos. Don’t. They are available for less, about $4 for an umbrella and two chairs, at the beach. After such a successful day out, we decided to venture to a res- taurant beyond the hotel. There aren’t many to pick from, and most didn’t look like anything special. But we got lucky at Spi-
INFORMATION
www.visitgreece.gr www.explorecrete.com
— J.B.
MAC. ALB.
Mt. Olympus
GRE ECE
Ionian Sea
0 MILES
Med. Sea
Detail
C
Gramvousa Island
Falassarna
Balos
Beach
0
Sea of Crete
Canea
MILES
Rethimno Candia
25
100
GREECE
Athens
TURKEY BULGARIA
F5
Mediterranean Sea
Moires
GENE THORP/THE WASHINGTON POST
lios, a taverna on a hill above Fa- lassarna. We had driven by sever- al times and rejected it because it looked like the kind of place that survived because of its panoram- ic views, not the food. How sorry we were that we had prejudged it. This was the best food we had on the island. Everything was homemade, from the phyllo pies stacked with greens and a little fennel for brightness to the rich, cinnamon-laced moussaka and the boureki, a homey layered dish of potatoes, creamy local cheese called mizithira, and zuc- chini. It was also one of the most reasonable meals. The bill for three, including two rounds of beer, was about $47. Yet another example of how the best of Crete is found in the most unexpected places.
blackj@washpost.com
BED CHECK
For its prime locale, MAve earns a rave
by K.C. Summers
When we got to New York, it was pouring rain and there were no cabs in sight. It was only an eight-block walk from Penn Sta- tion to our hotel, but it felt more like 80.
So we were very happy, trudg- ing down Madison Avenue, to see the cheery red walls of the MAve lobby appear out of the gloom. The 72-room, oddly capitalized hotel (rhymes with “wave,” stands for Madison Avenue) opened last summer, the latest addition to the Desires group of boutique hotels, and I was eager to check it out. For one thing, I was curious about the neighborhood. The MAve, at 27th and Madison, is in a formerly overlooked area that — to continue with the cutesy no- menclature peculiar to New York — some are calling NoMad, for north of Madison Square Park. It’s south of Midtown, north of Union
Square and the Village, east of Chelsea and west of . . . nothing. Truth to tell, the area doesn’t ex- actly bubble over with person- ality. But cafes, shops and restau- rants are moving in, and hipsters are already hanging out in the lobby of the funky Ace Hotel on 29th Street. Coming next year: the NoMad, a super-luxe, LEED- certified hotel at 28th and Broad- way.
At the MAve, my friend and I had opted for the smallest double room, knowing that it would be cramped but thrilled with the $120-per-night discount rate we’d found online. “It’s cozy,” the desk clerk euphemized, and that it was, measuring about 10 feet by 12. But with its polished wood floor, red headboard and colorful art print, it was as crisp and cheerful as the lobby. They’d even managed to fit a good-size bureau in there, topped with an iPod dock and a flat-screen TV. Other amenities: free WiFi, two multi-line phones,
K.C. SUMMERS
You can fault some of MAve’s amenities, but not its location.
terrycloth robes, a pillow-top mattress and Belgian cotton lin- ens. For a New York hotel room,
the bathroom was positively spa- cious, with plenty of storage space and a roomy shower. Good water pressure, too. But the water took a ridicu- lous amount of time to heat up — almost five minutes — and be- cause the tiled enclosure was de-
signed with only half a glass wall and no curtain, there was no way to take a shower without flood- ing the room. We would have liked to reuse our towels, but we needed them to mop up the floor. Other quibbles included a
rather skimpy complimentary breakfast of coffee and pastries — would setting out a couple of bananas or apples have killed you, MAve? — and no bedside
DETAILS
MAve Hotel
62 Madison Ave., New York 212-532-7373
www.themavehotel.com
Rooms from $169 a night.
reading lamps. There was, how- ever, a free daily New York Post (“Panic on Tracks Doomed Sub- way Victim!”). And the hip young staffers were professional and helpful, offering restaurant tips, umbrellas and good cheer. All in all, I’d stay there again, for the cleanliness, the non- chaininess, the winsome staff and, most of all, the location. During our two-day stay, we easily walked to the East Village, the Morgan Library, Chelsea, the awesome Stumptown Coffee out- let (in the Ace Hotel), Madison Square Park and assorted cute cafes and shops.
Such a prime locale makes up for a lot — even a leaky shower and no place to read.
travel@washpost.com
Summers is a Going Our Way and What’s the Deal? columnist for the Travel section.
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