In Search of Caesar

After seeing the Vatican Museum and other sights in Rome that morning, we had yet to do one of the top things on my Rome list: Finding the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15th, 44 BC.  Even with all the bad omens, and warnings of negative dreams from his wife Calpurnia, Caesar’s good friend Brutus- one of the 60 conspirators in the assassination- encouraged him to go forth to Senate that day. Shortly after addressing the senate, he fell dead at the foot of Pompey’s statue succumbing to multiple stab wounds.

After searching the surrounding streets of the Sacred Area for a solid two hours, and even asking multiple businesses in the area for assistance, we came up short and I was crushed. Instead we decided to head out for a beer further north.

I’m not one to wait for a light to tell me to cross the street when it’s clearly safe, so when I made move and Dylan stayed put I lost him in a sea of people. After a few mins. of scanning across the street I spotted him standing near a below-side-walk-level fenced-in area. Clearly we were both exhausted, and needed a break and so I crossed back over to where he decided to rest his legs- and there it was.

Located in the Largo di Argentina square along Via San Nicola de Cesarini were ruins of several buildings including the Statio Aquarum, remains of a latrine in Pompey’s portico, and the very site Caesar met his fate.

If Dylan hadn’t have stayed put when I walked back and forth across the busy streets foolishly, we wouldn’t have found the site we’d searched for hours for. How’s that for an oddity?

Meeting Walt & Natasha

Roaming around Venice in the afternoon we passed another couple, the girl sporting a jacket with Scotland scrolled across her back. It was memorable simply because it got Dylan and I discussing how we wouldn’t wear a jacket displaying we were Canadian, but we would wear a souvenir shirt from a country along our journey. Then again when eating our last Italian meal that night they came into the same restaurant, the Ae Oche (American-style decor, but to-die-for-pizza) at the same time and sat a mere few tables back.

When awaiting our night train to Munich, Germany that night, oddly enough they happened to sit directly beside us on the bench. Natasha and Walt were from South Africa, touring Europe for a couple of months, and as we speculated they had simply visited Scotland on a previous journey. We got to chatting and discovered they were also huge Metallica and Tenacious D fans, as well as catching the same train and going to Oktoberfest.

The next morning when we arrived at the Munich train station we ran into them and mentioned, even though we’d spoken very little, that we were meeting our American buddies at the church outside Oktoberfest Thursday morning and the invitation were open. Too many bizarre meetings here in Europe, it’s still a mystery to me how these things came together.

No offense to anyone else on the gorgeous isle of Crete, of course, as I have learned since traveling here that Cretans first take pride in their island, and then their country. But Heraklion is in desperate need of a face-lift. Luckily we were a good two hours away, in the remote village of Analipsi, Makrigialos.

We spent last Saturday in Berlin, Germany, checking out sites such as the remnants of the Berlin Wall, including the Topography of Terror which walks you right through the History of it exceptionally well. Then Saturday night we departed to the Heraklion airport on the southern Greek island of Crete. We may have landed at 11:00pm… But it was still a humid 25 degrees out, which gave us an idea of what to expect that week.

We then retrieved our luggage and left the terminal to a movie-like-moment of Dylan’s name displayed on a sign- and there waited our ride: an M&M-green, drop-top Chevy Matiz.

The drive from Heraklion (located on central-north Crete) to south-eastern Makrigialos took us just under 2 hours. We obviously couldn’t see too many sights in the dark, but we had the car all week to explore the amazing island.

We literally swam in the sea daily. We visited various beaches, each with their own character- from white to beige sand, rocky steep white cliffs, to multi-coloured pebbles. All located at the edge of the illustrious, clean and clear aquablue Aegean sea. I hate to have cheated on my beloved Pacific Ocean, but I truly fell in love.

The island of Crete is peppered with various small villages throughout the valleys beneath it’s multiple mountain ranges. Each area has at least half a dozen Medieval or Minoan sites, caves and gorges to explore.

One of the few we walked through was just north of Makrigialos, near Sitia, a Venetian Village from the early 1700′s called Etia. Most buildings including the church are still standing, it was incredible.

Villea Village Resort

Our hotel in Analipsi was an incredible last-minute find through work. Villea Village Resort was literally 100 meters from our favourite Cretan beach and had everything we could possibly need. We met the owner, Vasili, who takes groups out daily on gorge-walks, and samples local Cretan wines and olive oils at night.

We also got to know our bartender, Nikko, at Fisherman Jack’s Poolside Bar well, as they had a wide selection of board games, an array of available afternoon snacks, and a friendly team of staff to educate and entertain the guests. Amazing people and an amazing little village that I will definitely revisit in the future.

As for today, we found ourselves off Crete and exploring a few sites in Athens. At the moment we’re awaiting our (unfortunately delayed until 6pm) flight to Rome, Italy for a few days in the Ancient City. First thing tomorrow I’m hoping to check out the site of Caesar’s assassination, and the Colosseum, to name just a few spots. Until then… Here is hoping I’ll hold onto this tan I picked up in Greece!