Ierapetra translates into 'Holy Rock'. We will not discuss or question the name as there is quite a story behind it. It has changed, its name, quite a few times and some of them, were given to it by mistake. It is one of the biggest towns in Crete and it brings a lot of tourists during the summer. Also, it has kept its theatre traditions as it keeps alive the 'Kirvia'. It is popular for drinks and sea food by the coast but that's the stereotypical description and some mere information about it... so who cares?
Hoping off the car we find a street full of shops. More like a modern city. As we walk around, we find the old town. Full of small roads and full of old looking like shops; others touristic, some taverns, bars and souvenir shops. Exploring this 'Dream land', we come face to face with its most popular churches. Walking through all those buildings under the beautiful but stunning hot sun, we get exposed to this famous gyros smell. There are some houses that look like in most Greek islands whitewashed with blue door and windows. Some of them have standard town colours and style but there some others rather unique.
Furthermore, we can see the contrast of the sun and the clouds, 'wearing their angry mask'. They dress dark grey with different levels. Starting from the highest hill and heading to the clear sky. We are just in the middle observing... Who wants to be involved in such madness? Speaking of a fierce weather, which is something that pushes away birds and animals away from it. We get quite a lot of them on the other side by the coast. Here we can enjoy them. They are seagulls. Not the pretiest and not the smartest of its spieces. We see the details on the pictures though. How fascinating!
History stand strong in every part of crete. We can find and visit the venetian castle of Ierapetra and we walk on the tight roads of the old port, we bump onto Napoleon's residence. Still with its wooden door and windows. Of course keeping the tradition with the white walls. It is not for decoration though. You will notice in many islands, most of the houses are white. During the Summer season and especially in August, we can find high tempratures, reaching 45 celsius. White does not 'absorb' the heat but reflects it. That's the main reason of its dominance.
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