A maybe much more pleasant entry

May 22, 2010
15:37
Plakias, Crete, Greece

I actually meant to write this post the day after my last, more unpleasant post, because that day was actually a really good day. In fact, the last couple of days have been so good and filled with such little unpleasantness (back distress aside) that I've actually been a bit too busy to write about it. I'll try now to recall all the day's adventures.

I wrote that depressed post on May 19, so let's pretend that it's

May 20, 2010
19:54
Plakias, Crete, Greece

Today was a really fun day. I woke up in the morning and actually felt much better than normal (pain-wise). I was still in pain, but it was definitely a good day. I started off with my exercises, which usually limber me up and make me feel even better. After a cold shower (for some reason, I never wake up before all the hot water is gone--if I were to shower in the evening, or wake up much earlier, the showers are nice and hot), I decided I was going to go for one of the walks that are posted on the wall in the main hostel building.

There are several walks posted, but most of them involve walking up the hill to "The Old Mill". By "the hill", I mean the road that's directly behind the hostel that heads up a hill. The Old Mill is the ruins of a 400 year old Venitian mill that was based on Mesopotamian designs. There's actually two of them, and they're both right on the edge of the canyon/river.

As I was about to head up for my walk, one of the guys in my hostel room, Robert, mentioned he was going to go to One Rock. One Rock is an amazingly beautiful beach (the coastline looks shockingly like some of Maui's coastline) that is maybe an hour walk away (two hours for a gimp like me), and requires hiking over some rocks. There's actually three beaches in succession there, a big one with a resort right on top (the name of which I don't know):



the nude beach which is the next one down (if you look really closely you can see naked people):



and then One Rock, which is a tiny little beach, but very pretty, and a great nice hike:





I wasn't 100% sure I was ready to commit to that long of a hike, plus, hiking with others is a bit dodgy for me at the moment since I tend to go slow and have to stop every so often to take the pressure off my right leg. But as it turned out, Robert had a car. So he was planning on driving there. That worked out perfectly, in my opinion. I could drive there, spend maybe twenty minutes, take some pictures, and head back.

Oh, what I failed to mention was that I had made an appointment with what I thought was a masseuse (but turned out to be more like a licensed physical therapist) who spoke surprisingly good English for her opinion on my back. At the time I was just sort of expecting a massage, thinking maybe that would help relax all the rest of my muscles around the herniated disc, and at the very least would relax me. But I'm jumping ahead.

So I had this appointment at 5pm, and we were leaving around 2pm. Three hours isn't a ton of time--especially since I knew I'd have to walk back (I assumed they'd all want to stay longer than just an hour or two), but I thought I'd give it a go. On the way, we all stopped for a quick lunch in town.



I had heard One Rock was nice, and I was not disappointed.



I particularly liked the sand--it wasn't sand so much as tiny colorful pebbles.



I didn't end up staying long, but I did hang out a bit, then it was off for me to try to find the hike back. The hike back wasn't the same way as the drive--you're expected to find and follow goat trails, and things like this that will take you over the hill instead of around it like the drive does. Supposedly if you walk the way the cars go it will take you an hour and a half, whereas the shortcut over the hill only takes 45 minutes.

I was pretty sure because I had gotten such a late start that I wasn't going to make my appointment, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. The walk was amazingly beautiful. Took you through a series of olive trees with great views of both Plakias and the surrounding hillside.







Well, I ended up being at the Physical Therapist about a half an hour late, but it all worked out. She ended up massaging the inflamed area of my back where my disc was herniated, and she gave me some pilates-esque exercises to do that I've added to my routine of crunches and leg lifts.

All in all, it was an excellent day!