The distances are short, but the driving times are long here
on Crete. This morning we were out and about with the car, driving 30 kms to St.
Antonios Gorge and then returned. It felt the same as when we go 300 kms at
home in Canada. The roads are twisty with switchbacks for getting up and down
the mountains, and it seems we're always going up or down. When going up, the
most common gear is 2nd and when going down it's 3rd, but on the inside of the hairpin
turns my hand always has to be on the gearshift to drop down a gear if necessary. I
can't take my eyes off the road for more than a second, which is just long
enough for me to get a glance of the spectacular scenery I'm missing.
There are a few guardrails, very few in fact. So few that
when I see one, I don't dare take my eyes off the road to see what they were
protecting us from. And of course, I didn't ask Marlene, because I didn't want
to scare her.
We rented a Fiat Panda; it's about the size of a peanut. It
has a 1.2 litre engine and 5 speed manual transmission. When we picked it up at
the airport, I thought I should have reserved something bigger. Though, when driving in the mountain
villages, it turned out to be just the right size.
If the car was any bigger, we'd have to park a block away
from our villa. In particular, there's one turn 50 meters from the villa where the road rolls sharply down to
the left with hydro poles on both the inside and outside of the corner. So far, I've been lucky enough not
to kiss one of the poles. I tried driving the lane in the reverse direction like some of
locals, but it felt worse so I don't think I'll try it again.
Of course at home, we've driven vehicles with automatic
transmissions for years, so I have to admit, it's taken a little practice to
get back to the clutch and gear shift. Starting on an uphill grade with only 1.2
litres under the hood has been a challenge, and of course we're always on a
hill here. As a result, the little Panda has paid the price. I've had to polish up my very
rusty "emergency brake release to start on a hill" skill. I expect
that some of you reading this story have probably never even learned it, so I
feel fortunate.
While cruising along, our average speed is only 30 kms/hour,
so it's difficult to imagine what could go wrong. Well, often it's the other
guy rounding the blind curve on the wrong side of the road, the one lane bridge that
only the locals know in advance, or like this morning, we came upon 2 separate herds of
sheep blocking the road.
Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2015/07/power-for-people.html
