Unable to get to the Samaria Gorge, I consoled myself with a bus ride to Lakki, a mountain village in the middle of the road from Hania to the Samaria Gorge, which the guidebook said was a spectacular route on Crete.
It was an enjoyable little excursion. I started out to take the bus very early in the morning. First getting there, I had a coffee (accompanied with a glass of tap water) at the modest village coffee house. It's interesting to see them make the simple coffee with traditional bronze-colored wares. The village was pretty quiet and I seemed to be the only tourist to visit there that morning. The few village women came across me on the road greeted me kalimera (good morning). I was overjoyed, 'cos so far in my trip it was the first time I was greeted kalimera by Greeks or Cretans outside guesthouses.
On village roads villagers were rare but sheep galore. As I walked on, I inadvertently frightened flocks after flocks of sheep. They just suddenly all stop chewing grass and gazed at a monster intently, as if in a freeze-frame. As I mostly counted sheep and rarely saw sheep, I was curious and enjoyed watching them close to me.
Most of the time I was alone on the village roads. Actually, as I went on with my journey, I often found myself alone on the road, with no one else in sight for quite some time. It could be pretty scary if I had thought too much. But then, I believed superstitiously that gods were everywhere to protect the curious (and lovely) travellers in Greece, and I would be safe, or at least be saved, at the end of the day.
I am always curious about countryside villages and love to walk into them and explore a little, if only there were no hypersensitive dogs, which lack the faculty to differentiate the good from the bad. Yes, I hate dogs…most of the time. They were often in my way and hence my enemies, not to mention their bad shitting habits, or their human counterparts.
I vaguely remember I just stayed there for an hour or so, for I had to catch the very infrequent bus back to Hania. At the bus stop a few old men were sitting and enjoying a cup of coffee or a glass of seemingly alcoholic drink. They told me it would take quite a few hours before the bus would come. It worried me that the bus waiting game of Cape Sounion would repeat. Fortunately, the bus did stop by at a reasonable time. Even better, it was amazing, as I was the only passenger on the bus throughout the bus trip back to Hania, which made me feel like a sudden VIP, and the extremely cheap fare for the private bus simply thrilled me with hardly-guilty pleasure.
Back to the guesthouse, it was still before checkout time. It was Sunday; while the others were still sleeping, I had already been there enjoying a morning excursion and back from it. I was blessed with two Sundays in one day.
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