Walk from Mirsini to Sitia

Walk Crete in 50 days: Day 5 from Mirsini to Sitia

(today I changed my step length from 0.85 cm into 0.76 cm. It gives me a better rhythm)

Distance 25,67 km
Number of steps 33788
Walking time 4u46′
Burned calories 1282,5
Weather: cold, strong south wind and rain
At arrival time in Sitia, my pulse was 105

Wake up at 07.00. It was about 13.2 C in the room.. brrr and the bathroom was outside (I knew this from the evening before… but anyway..). Christina made coffee and we had some cake that she had baked the day before.

Katina, the neighbour came to say goodbye “sto kalo na pas..me ta podia..mama mia”. Difficult to understand if you are not used to these long walks..I know.

Christina drove me back to Mirsini where I started my walk to Sitia at about 09.30..in the rain… After a while rain stopped and heavy south wind came up (9 bft).. One could hardly stay on the road.. Sometimes I had to go against the wind…I needed a lot of courage and was talking to the wind… Why me, why now ? “Go on, it is for the animals” answered the wind.. And I did.

It was only 12 C and very cold… The road was boring and climbing all the time. Luckily there was not a lot of traffic. At 11.00 I was in Messa Mouliana and 30′ later in Exo Mouliana, two old villages where nothing happens.. only the local live. Young people go away from these places, looking for a better life in the big cities.. How long shall it take untill both will be abandoned, or transferred in holiday places ?

At 12.20 I reached the area where the Minoan House of Chamaizi was found. The ruins were too far away from the main road for me, so I walked on. The two old windmills were nice, one was even rebuilt in a small and cozy house. All the way people were working in the fields, planting potatoes and cutting branches in the wineyards. From time to time I took some wild Fennel which I found all along my way. Smelling it was like drinking an ouzo…

12.40 Hamezi. A small village where I stopped to drink my daily “elliniko sketto”. This time I met Maria (70 years old) in her small cafeneion on the main road. When I looked outside the window I spotted lots of modern windmill’s (turbines). They provide electricity for the Sitia area. Maria told me she had the place for over 30 years.. Few tourists, only with cars… Looking outside I was thinking of the book “The winds of Crete”… Terrible wind ! Maria doesn’t talk so much, but she is an “Hamezing” woman!

I left the cafenion at 13.10 on my way to Sitia. First I have to pass Skopi, a bigger village, laying in the valley. Passing Skopi, there is a new junction. One can go over the new highway to Sitia or follow the old road, which I did. Here I escaped by a second, and with a good reflex, to an accident ! A woman driver, supposed to stop at the junction, pushed the gas even harder… I jumped away, just in time ! Ade ! That moment I remembered I was blessed by the priest in Selinari…

The weather was getting a bit better now (18 C). A few hundred meters passing the junction, one can turn left towards the Monastery of Faneromeni. I walked into Sitia at 14.50 and passed the Wine Factory. Here one can visit and taste from 09.00 to 15.00.

Another 3 km to the center..which I reached at 15.20. The minute I arrived in the center I got a phone call from Maria..did she see me ? We made appointment at Aeraki taverna and walked to her shop (furniture). Maria and her husband Nikos offered me a room in the Hotel Elyssee, next door. Perfect room and great people too.

At 20.00 we will have dinner together with Kostas from the Sitia board (at the Sitia website). I am also expecting a call from Kriti Radio for a live interview…Tomorrow Toplou !

Day 6 : from Sitia to Palaikastro