A view of Loutro and it's beach.
The day got off to a bad start as James continued his disregard for the team by being late yet again. This created a dilemma – we only had limited time to brief Alan on our plans and get the ferry tickets. Luckily Chris always comes up with excellent plans under pressure and took one for the team by getting the tickets for everybody, meaning that we could succeed. Aboard the vessel, our minds wondered as the fresh sea air entered our systems, this led to conversations of male breast implants, breeze porn and captain scarlet and the mysterons amongst others.
Upon disembarking the ferry we split into two groups based purely on gender. The boys walked to the far end of the settlement asking the restaurant owners important questions about local tourism based on their experience of Loutro and the way they feel the place has changed, whilst the girls sat around and talked about make up and reading cosmo magazine. After some encouragement they sparked conversation with a romanian waiter, however, he seemed more interested in finding out about the girls and obtaining a british work permit than divulging any information. All in all, we got a mixed response. Some gave us valuable insights into the differences between Loutro and Chora Sfakion as well as emphasising the dependence the place has on tourism. Others gave us blank looks and just repeated yes until we left.
After gathering the qualitative data the group reassembled for a catch up and a cheeky drink. Initially, this was a positive session where all of us learned valuable information. However, this initial burst of geographic enthusiasm tailed off and was soon replaced by talk of ships resting by rocks after stressful trips out at sea and the advantages of eyes with built in MRI scanning equipment. We realised we had hit a low point when James started singing along to the beegees whilst all of us struggled to find a suitable greek middle name for George Michael, finally settling on Stavros. After some research we found out it was Kyriacos. Although nobody said anything I could tell we were all disappointed.
After a morning of geographical tunnel vision, we decided to spend a bit of time taking a leisurely look at Loutro and all that Cretan hospitality had to offer. After a march around all the different restaurants we finally settled on one towards the right hand side of the harbour. This decision was heavily influenced by Harriet’s attraction to the spartan-like staff. Our enjoyable lunch was soon interrupted by uninvited guests. These came in the form of two inquisitive cats whom after flashing their overwhelmingly large nibbles decided to cement their desire for one another in physical form – right next to our table.
The day was capped off by a relaxing kayaking session out into the harbour. This soon turned to tragedy for the girls whose boat was commandeered by pirates (another geography group) and Harriet’s ‘beached Whale’ impression trying to get back onto the boat did little to alleviate any blushes.
An example of a business in Loutro.
