Similar ..... Or Maybe Not?

Here in Wales I woke to a silver sky above a pewter coloured sea. A sure sign that rain is on its way. I spent most of the day working in the garden filling sack after sack with hedge trimmings and old flower stems.

And now for more holiday snaps-

Something that struck me while I was there was how many things were similar to home but with enough differences to make the holiday fascinating and enjoyable. 

To start with was the location. Plaka is a coastal village with an economy based on tourism. As is Borth. But while in Borth the tourists camp, stay in chalets (mobile homes) in the holiday parks or to a lesser extent in air B&B accommodation in Plaka people stay in apartments ranging from basic (that was us) to vast luxury developments with separate swimming pools or on the waters edge. Both villages are surrounded by mountains but the ones behand Borth are a lot smaller (and greener).

Both villages have a shingle beach that becomes sandy further out but the sea felt and looked very different. The Cretan waters were warm and clear while the Welsh waters are cold and murky. (Not selling Wales am I ?)

Wind is also a feature of both places. Here in Borth storms create waves that delight adventurous surfers while in Plaka the light sea breeze could suddenly pick up causing cats' paws (Pete tells me this is the official term) to dance across the surface and then whole areas of spray swirling around out at sea. At times the wind gusts would be so strong they could almost blow you off your feet.

Both villages started off as fishing villages but while in Borth there is no commercial fishing at all and fishing from a variety of boats and SUPs is popular in Plaka there are still a few fishing boats which tend to go out at night. There are more tourist boats that offer excursions or take the many visitors across to Spinalonga island.

Both villages consist of a single through road with a few side streets and not much in the way of pavement (sidewalk) on either side. Sorry, I didn't take a better picture of the road which was prettier nearer the centre of the village. This one was mainly to show the bus that went to Elounda and beyond. As in Borth the bus goes to the end of the road, turns and heads back to the town and does this every two hours. I don't know what the bus fare here is as we have our free bus passes but the fare to Elounda on the luxury coach was 2E / £1.80 and £2 to the nearby city of Agios Nikolaos.

Something that was very different was the number and quality of the gift/ souvenir shops. These ones lined a path down to the waterfront restaurants and were filled with tasteful glass, ceramics and jewellery aimed at the big spenders going for a special night out. So many shades of blue that fit right in with our décor. In Borth the few gift shops are few and spread out. 

My choice of souvenir was one of the blue glass 'Eye of Plaka' to add to my collection of cobalt glass items in my study. (Our apartment building can be seen on the other side of the car park.0

And of course there were the warm evenings perfect for evening dining or strolling. Most evenings we walked across the road to sit and watch the lights turn on to light up the buildings on Spinalonga. I can't imagine anyone going for an evening stroll along Borth High St though some people come up on the cliff to watch the sunset.