CHAPTER SIX
Sea, Road & Rail
The next 8 days of my life were very hard indeed, but I never complained. If it was hard for me it must have been worse for David? There was the same urgency and energy in his behaviour that I remembered from when we left for Chrissi - that kept me going.
The trip from Chrissi to Ierapetra was spent in complete silence. David and I just looked at each other the whole time. I do not remember how we traveled to Iraklion, on the north coast of Crete. We must have found a bus that was willing to take us inside. I do remember the first of 2 trips on enormous ferries that took us from Iraklion to mainland Greece. We spent the entire night huddled together trying to shelter from the wind on the topmost deck. I think I was supposed to have been shut away with the other dogs in a cage but I stayed out on deck with David.
In mainland Greece we spent 2 days and nights on the road trying to get lifts. It seemed that where we had got off the first ferry was not to be where we had to catch the second from. This one appeared to be even bigger and we stayed on it for 3 days!
When we finally stepped ashore again I heard a new language around me. I was impressed to hear David speaking a few words of it occasionally. That night I had my first ever ride on a train.
By now I was not feeling so good. I had not had enough time to recover from all the days at sea. I had hardly eaten anything for 3 days and it was getting colder with every kilometer we moved further north.
I do not think I would have enjoyed this particular train journey under the best of circumstances. The train was so full of humans that David could not find enough space even for himself, let alone the 2 bags and me! We ended up in an empty carriage that had no seats and no lights. Shortly after the train started moving a couple of young humans joined us with packs like ours. It was so cold and noisy, though, that no-one spoke much.
Occasionally the train would stop for a few minutes and David would lead me outside to pee. Mostly I would only feel the cold, wet air and try to get back on the train immediately! I could see David was worried about me but all I wanted to do was sleep until it was all over.
Finally the train stopped once more and this time we all got off with our bags. The air in this new place was as cold and wet as before but at least it was daytime and I was so happy to be off the train. A few minutes later and we were out of the train place. David stopped to rearrange the bags.
I took the opportunity to take in my surroundings. The first thing that caught my attention was hearing yet another new language. I soon recognized it to be German, and I can now add this to the list of human tongues that I understand perfectly! I looked around and saw how much traffic there was. I guessed we were in a city. I was pleased to see, however, that it moved so much more orderly and more quietly than the Greek traffic I had grown up with - and hated!
The sidewalks were nice and wide which made walking much easier for both of us. Although there were some other