Sunday Drive
July 6, 2014
Every Sunday the Kansas crew takes a trip outside of our tiny little beach town to other archaeological sites. Exploring the archaeological sites is interesting of course, especially since a crew of archaeologists tends to dissect the site and question all of the other archaeologists’ interpretations of buildings and settlement functions, but I think my favorite part of these Sunday adventures is the driving itself. Our professor has been navigating the Greek roads for longer than I have been alive, so I feel completely confident in both his driving capabilities (Greek driving has many strange rules that seem terrifying at first, but you get used to them), even though most of these drives involve speeding around tight corners at the edge of steep cliffs and passing cars with other vehicles coming at you. Such is the Greek way. Anyway, the car ride itself is the best part of these day trips because you get to see so much of the countryside and other tiny towns. We pass olive groves and grape terraces as we speed through valleys and past old towns as we listen to tinny Greek music, which complements the scenery nicely. Little old ladies wave us down as we breeze by their raki and honey stands, which we occasionally frequent and nearly buy out. How can you say no to all that delicious honey?
And speaking of food… the other amazing part of these trips is that our professor is a whiz at picking restaurants. Some places he’s discovered long ago and has been going to for years, so it is almost guaranteed that we will eat well on Sundays. Today for lunch I had artichokes cooked with lemon and dill and a hunk of fresh-from-the-garden watermelon for dessert. Yep. In addition, an added bonus of driving around, as opposed to bussing, is that when your prof asks if anyone wants ice cream he can immediately pull over and make a pit stop. Yes, this happens often. My fellow KU comrades inevitably pass out from food comas at some point after lunch on the ride home, but I always try to stay awake (although sometimes this is impossible given the combo of Sunday morning sleep deprivation and massive lunch portions). For me, the scenery is not something to be missed, especially since you never know if you will see it again. I’m fairly certain I will return to Crete at some point, so I’m not too terribly concerned about that, but for now it’s not in the immediate future. So for now I will appreciate the view from the backseat as we cruise Crete, the best part of every Sunday… well, I take that back – the second best, I suppose – the company comes first.