Jon's Hols
I'm sitting here thinking what to write about my holidays. Suddenly inspiration comes to me as I see a postcard from Gouves on my desk (one I pinned to the fridge before I went away to give myself inspiration for the marathon). I pick it up and see the beach I was lying on for the last two weeks and my gut feeling is simple: why can't I still be there?
Yep, I had a great time. And a big part of me wishes I were still there.
The first thing I will say is I think it was a very prescient move to book a two-week holiday instead of the usual 7 nights. I couldn't have come home after a week. I hadn't recharged my batteries by then.
So what did I get up to, you may ask? What did I do with my two weeks in Crete? The answer is very little. Verging on naff-all in fact.
I just chilled out completely. With one exception every day followed the same routine. I would get up very late, do any washing I needed to do (I took as few clothes as possible to make room for books), re-hydrate, and then stroll to the Blue Sky beach bar where I enjoyed a full English breakfast, usually washed down with a pint of ice cold "Mythos" beer. Then I would either go for a stroll or head to the beach and swim in the sea or lie on the sand and read my book.
Usually I would start to feel peckish around 4-5pm and so had a snack, washed down with a couple more beers. Time then for a stroll or lying on the beach before repairing to my hotel, where I would sit for a while on my balcony with a bottle of wine and my music, until I could be bothered to shower and head to the hotel bar for a couple of beers. At the Klio apartments they keep the glasses in a freezer so the beer stays cold for longer. They know a few things, the Greeks.
Remy did a fine job of looking after his guests in the main bar, as did Faye at the pool bar and Sophie in reception. The Klio is not the greatest hotel in the world but it is clean, and things get sorted out pretty quickly. I managed to pull the handle off the door to my balcony one day and that got taken care of soon enough.
Then I would head to the "Pella" restaurant on the seafront for my dinner. I would go there for two reasons; one is that it was arguably the best place to eat in Gouves, the other is that an old friend of mine, Stavros, works there now. I met him the first time I went to Gouves in 2001, when he ran a bar with his wife. They are divorced now, and he works in this family-run business.
Some evenings I would head to the "Booze" bar where I would partake of either more beer or some cocktails. I spent one evening there pretty much on my own with Yiannis and the lovely Jenny (a 23-year old Jennifer Love Hewitt look-alike from Portsmouth) for company. I stayed until 5am that night. Other evenings I would just go back to the Klio bar for a nightcap, depending how tired I was.
The one day I was slightly adventurous was when I got up early and went on a boat cruise to the nearby Dia Island. There wasn't a lot there but it was worth it for the boat ride (a bit too choppy on the way back for my liking!) and lunch on the boat.
I also spent one afternoon at the local aquarium which was pretty cool. Other than that, probably the best thing happened on the penultimate day, when a pretty foreign rep from one of the large five-star hotels invited me to play water polo in the hotel pool. "Come on, you're not too old," she urged me in her broken English. Thanks a bunch, I thought, I've run a marathon, I'll have you know.
So I thought why not, I'll have a go. Nothing to lose at all. As it turned out it was good fun and once I figured out exactly what I was supposed to do, I surprised myself by not being too bad at it, scoring a few goals in a losing cause. I snuck into the hotel on the last day and played as well. Why couldn't I have found out about water polo on the first day? Oh well.
After water polo I finished the holiday with a meal at the Pella and said goodbye to Stavros and the rest of the staff. Stavros gave me a bottle of his own homemade raki as a gift - how nice is that? As I was leaving a guest arrived, an older man, who I found out had stayed there no less than six times this season. It's easy to see why.
But I can't go back this year. Holiday season is nearly over there. And I have lots to look forward to here: more races, the new James Bond film, Christina Aguilera at Wembley and of course, the Ashes.
There are lots of opportunities - I need to sort out my writing and get myself published. I need to rent out my house fully. And I need to do my best at work - I have a job I enjoy and a boss I think a lot of. That hasn't always happened. And there's running - plenty of room for improvement there.
I like to think of myself as a positive person, so I should see all these areas as opportunities. And next time I go away I will make sure I've earned it.
Maybe being back isn't so bad after all.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, October 2006
Yep, I had a great time. And a big part of me wishes I were still there.
The first thing I will say is I think it was a very prescient move to book a two-week holiday instead of the usual 7 nights. I couldn't have come home after a week. I hadn't recharged my batteries by then.
So what did I get up to, you may ask? What did I do with my two weeks in Crete? The answer is very little. Verging on naff-all in fact.
I just chilled out completely. With one exception every day followed the same routine. I would get up very late, do any washing I needed to do (I took as few clothes as possible to make room for books), re-hydrate, and then stroll to the Blue Sky beach bar where I enjoyed a full English breakfast, usually washed down with a pint of ice cold "Mythos" beer. Then I would either go for a stroll or head to the beach and swim in the sea or lie on the sand and read my book.
Usually I would start to feel peckish around 4-5pm and so had a snack, washed down with a couple more beers. Time then for a stroll or lying on the beach before repairing to my hotel, where I would sit for a while on my balcony with a bottle of wine and my music, until I could be bothered to shower and head to the hotel bar for a couple of beers. At the Klio apartments they keep the glasses in a freezer so the beer stays cold for longer. They know a few things, the Greeks.
Remy did a fine job of looking after his guests in the main bar, as did Faye at the pool bar and Sophie in reception. The Klio is not the greatest hotel in the world but it is clean, and things get sorted out pretty quickly. I managed to pull the handle off the door to my balcony one day and that got taken care of soon enough.
Then I would head to the "Pella" restaurant on the seafront for my dinner. I would go there for two reasons; one is that it was arguably the best place to eat in Gouves, the other is that an old friend of mine, Stavros, works there now. I met him the first time I went to Gouves in 2001, when he ran a bar with his wife. They are divorced now, and he works in this family-run business.
Some evenings I would head to the "Booze" bar where I would partake of either more beer or some cocktails. I spent one evening there pretty much on my own with Yiannis and the lovely Jenny (a 23-year old Jennifer Love Hewitt look-alike from Portsmouth) for company. I stayed until 5am that night. Other evenings I would just go back to the Klio bar for a nightcap, depending how tired I was.
The one day I was slightly adventurous was when I got up early and went on a boat cruise to the nearby Dia Island. There wasn't a lot there but it was worth it for the boat ride (a bit too choppy on the way back for my liking!) and lunch on the boat.
I also spent one afternoon at the local aquarium which was pretty cool. Other than that, probably the best thing happened on the penultimate day, when a pretty foreign rep from one of the large five-star hotels invited me to play water polo in the hotel pool. "Come on, you're not too old," she urged me in her broken English. Thanks a bunch, I thought, I've run a marathon, I'll have you know.
So I thought why not, I'll have a go. Nothing to lose at all. As it turned out it was good fun and once I figured out exactly what I was supposed to do, I surprised myself by not being too bad at it, scoring a few goals in a losing cause. I snuck into the hotel on the last day and played as well. Why couldn't I have found out about water polo on the first day? Oh well.
After water polo I finished the holiday with a meal at the Pella and said goodbye to Stavros and the rest of the staff. Stavros gave me a bottle of his own homemade raki as a gift - how nice is that? As I was leaving a guest arrived, an older man, who I found out had stayed there no less than six times this season. It's easy to see why.
But I can't go back this year. Holiday season is nearly over there. And I have lots to look forward to here: more races, the new James Bond film, Christina Aguilera at Wembley and of course, the Ashes.
There are lots of opportunities - I need to sort out my writing and get myself published. I need to rent out my house fully. And I need to do my best at work - I have a job I enjoy and a boss I think a lot of. That hasn't always happened. And there's running - plenty of room for improvement there.
I like to think of myself as a positive person, so I should see all these areas as opportunities. And next time I go away I will make sure I've earned it.
Maybe being back isn't so bad after all.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, October 2006
posted by Jon | 7:37 pm
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