This year we went on holiday to Crete. A fine time was had by all.
We kept a travel journal - a notebook in which we would scribble or doodle something of our experiences.
I wondered what ChatGPT would make of it, now that one can easily add images for it to process.
The ChatGPT app can only handle four images at a time. The journal entries for Crete consist of a dozen or so pages, so I had to transcribe in four batches.
In fact it made quite a good job of it, considering the highly variable quality of the text. Here is the complete transcript. Note that references to page numbers refer to the number within an aforementioned batch.
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[First Image]
CRETE JULY 2023
9th (Sunday)
- Very early start - up at 1:30am ~ airport at 5:30 ~ arrive at Heraklion c. 3pm local time ~ drive to Makrigialos ~ kind of apartment.
- Much palaver with electricity & wifi ~ solved
- Very very windy ~ weird as it’s such a hot wind.
- Much quieter than remembered. Fewer tourists. Very few Brits
- Decompressed ~ walked the harbour ~ sleeeeeeeeeeep…
10th (Monday)
- First swim ~ very very windy ~ got sandblasted by sand ~ lovely swim although blown around a lot
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[Second Image]
- W M
- Had a sandwich, got warm and then snorkeling. We moved on and went for cross the gorge to Pefki went the bar was closed. We then went to a restaurant and
List of things to do:
- Butterfly gorge
- Botanical Gardens - too far away
- Agios Nikolaos … … … THURS
- Boat trip - steal 15th July
- Chapel
- Dragon’s cove snorkeling
- Caves
- Diaskari Beach taverna Alluring
- Vrai
- Diaskari baker(?) …
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[Third Image]
After swimming in the morning & a brief siesta it was time for … Pefki Gorge. Wow! Incredibly hard ~ just under 2km each way. Very steep, rocky & very very hot! …
Well done to everyone … Nick was powered by the idea of a beer in Pefki - so compared he minded … particularly since the only bar was closed so all we got was some very warm tap water…
Gorge nearly killed Nick & me ~ boys were excellent. Felt unburnt, cheerful.
Terrifying stars though - story condensed using artistic license overleaf…
[Image 1]
- Phew! There I am. Pop.
- Now… Now I have to go back down the stairs of tremble & terror… AGAIN!
- Later… [Drawing of people sitting at a table] “Hooray! We are all fine!” (Cold beer. Cats.)
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[Image 2]
- 11th Tuesday
- The next day… The splash bar.
- Swim! Beer and mocktails.
- Previously this day: @sugarpee Beach Bar [Drawing of a beach setting]
- Previously then: Lovely snorkel in Diaskar. Beach then meal at Diaskar Tavern with free dessert :)
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[Image 3]
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Itinerary
- Mon 16: Pefki - to Pefki & back.
- Tues 11: Diaskari.
- Wed 12: Sofá. Pefki walk (Round)
- Thurs 13: Agios Nikolaos
- Fri 14: Market - bean day.
- Sat 15: Mount & boat. Snorkelling in Dragons cove. Boat trip?
- Sun 16: Swim at MG. Walking butterfly cove. Boat trip?
- Mon 17: Vai Beach & Ruins
- Tue 18: Pefki - folklore museum, church, Vreiko Cave. Diaskari beach
- Wed 19: …
- Thurs 20: Walk to Miyoun Villa & other beach to left
- Fri 21: Splash bar, Pefki: round walk. New beach det katha
- Sat 22: Splash bar.
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As Nic Itinerary (followed by a list of attractions with some symbols, like cafe, lake, and folklore museum)
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[Image 4]
- Wednesday involved the Sofa in the morning - then the circular Pefki walk of doom. Excellent walk - we went left up the mountain rather than through the gorge - very zig-zaggy. Climb up the mountain into lovely pine and thyme-smelling badlands - prickly, prickly bushes and thyme - cicadas in every tree. Then rejoined the gorge path at the top of the gorge & …
[Note: Some sketches of mountain and pathways]
[Page 1] … our plan failed, and rather than going shopping we had a cocktail then went to Pavos (Faros) taverna. But it turned out (lucky) as our fridge seems to have stopped working, so just as well we hadn’t filled it with food…
Sunday
- Swim, walk, swim, stop off at Makri Galos beach. Try to fix fridge.
- Then a bit lazy
- George, hard climbing hill
- In walking over rocks my shoe broke. Griffin’s shoe broke
- Walked for about 1 hour there then headed back to taverna. Relaxing swim in Ms, meal at the castle taverna
- Bought G a new shoe & ice cream in Greta land ❤️
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[Page 2] Monday Heading out to Vai beach
- V. Instaworthy with the seas and palm forest. V. V. hot and a bit touristy. We had a big swim & snorkel ~ saw amazing fish & swam in a shoal of teeny, tiny ones
The page features several sketches, including figures swimming and snorkeling, a scene with palm trees, fish, and an illustration of people dancing and enjoying at what appears to be a bar.
- So now home at the splash bar!
Sketches include various beverages, people dancing, and scenes from the bar.
- Also: our fridge is working again!!
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[Page 3] Tuesday Early start. However, lots of bats so it took us a bit to get to Pefki.
- Pal cave
- Walk to folklore museum. It was still closed. No sign outside locked gates - looks pretty permanently closed.
- Walk up the hill, then up the windy, windy road to the church.
There’s a sketch of a road leading up to a church, labeled as a lovely view.
- Morgan did a flip.
- Then on to Vreiko cave… longer walk than…
[Page 1] Wednesday Lovely lazy morning. Lie in ~ nespresso coffee. Wander down to the nice taverna by the inflatables… 2 beers over about 4 hours, reading, lazy swim. In the PM, walk to Diskari beach – walk along the empty beach to the cave.
- [Sketch of a scene: mountain, buildings, beach, ocean waves, fish, and a lizard.]
Thursday Traditional espresso ice in 🙂 Hottest day so far, and still a much more humid than previously. Long (well, not that long but seemed long) walk up to the top of the harbour & beyond to the minoan villa. Atmospheric ruins. Hot hot ~ shade tree in the middle. Straggled back down to the beach at the west of the harbor - nice, quiet, very few people, just some holiday villas & one taverna. Nice taverna lunch then swim in the sea (pebbly, not many fish, lovely water). Back home for siesta & shopping. “Cake on Earth” then out for sunset swim, ice cream, long stroll along Dark beach with ice creams.
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[Page 2] Friday Unsettled day. Plan was to do Butterfly Gorge swim, but it’s so hot & we’re so tired (a few hours less to do to cooler than we’ll be trying to get back in the dark). Currently sitting in Splash bar, Nick & boys swimming.
- [Sketch of a scene: people at a bar, swimming, trees, glasses, umbrellas, and sun.]
AAAAH! OK - it was so hot with extremely weather warning that we decided to do walks.
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[Page 3] …rather than Butterfly Gorge… Hottest ever and probably most dangerous thing done so far.
- [Sketch of a scene: mountain paths, shadows of people, sun, and heat representation.]
Walking to road split: Hot hot uphill, no shelter. Morgan took off & was not seen again… Nick plodded on with the backpack of water. Griff & Iso plodded plodded far behind us. Then catching up, plod plod plod. Then again in front… No sign of Morgan. G was a chewed a leapt plodding but was an alarming shade of red with white patches. Dizzy, pins & needles, incredibly hot. Plod plod plod. Once in the Gorge at least we were in the shade, but still hard.
Finally plodding back down the long long bleak road to MG. Still no sign of Morgan. Finally arrive at Green Bar ~ pool. Griff sent home to see if Morgan is there while Nick & I sank into chairs and …
lovely lovely day sitting under the tree ~ reading “The Reading List” on kindle ~ occasional swim & drying off in the heat ~ wacky one more beer ~ now thinking about heading back to pack & one final tanama… 😊 Relaxed relaxed, but with lots of positive vibes for house, garden & field ideas.