Crete, Greece – Chania, Heraklion, Knossos

From Santorini, we took a ferry to Crete.  We got in late, ate a yummy dinner at a hip restaurant and stayed at a little dinky hotel in a really sketchy area for the night.  The next morning we got up and picked up our rental car and headed west.  We were supposed to have GPS but of course when we picked up the car, the guy was like “oh sorry”…..yes well screw you.  It took us as long to find our hotel outside of Chania as it did to drive there from the port city, Heraklion, which took 2 hours by the way.  And at 7 euros a gallon for gas, you can imagine our frustration.  Once we settled into our hotel, we set out for the beach.  Then that evening we took a bus into Chania to poke around and have dinner.  Here are some views of its Venetian Harbor.

We were again successful at picking out a wonderful restaurant.  We again got the oven baked feta and then I had lamb in a tomato sauce surrounded by a cheesy aubergine puree.  It was freaking phenomenal, might even rise up to my favorite meal actually!  They even gave us free dessert and a shot of some liquor that I just couldn’t get down.

The next day we drove even further west through the mountains, checking out all the little towns along the way.  We decided that Crete is an outdoorsy island.  There’s a huge gorge where you can do an all day hike.  Something Id like to do – but not in 95 degrees and flip flops.

We kept seeing signs on the road for ancient cities or ruins so we tried to follow them.  But they were basically rock paths through what seemed someone’s farm or olive orchard.  We either only got a small pile of stones or nothing at all.  You can read more about that on the travel blog because Martin writes a lot funnier than I do.

That evening we had to hunt down an internet cafe because of course the internet at our hotel wasn’t working.  Our couchsurfing hosts in Instanbul and Sofia baled on us last minute so we had to make other plans quickly and plan the next few stops on our trip.  After that it was late, so we just grabbed a quick gyro in our little town and ate in on the beach.

Day 3 in Crete, we returned to the port city of Heraklion and went to Knossos, the Minoan Palace.

On the left is the grand staircase and on the right is the Throne Room.

These are copies of frescoes – all originals are kept in a museum in the city.

Then we strolled around the city until it was time to board our overnight ferry to Athens.

This is the Venetian Port and theres this castle fort thing.  Im sure when Martin has his blog up to date he will have all the fancy historical information and names for you! So check there!

We are now sitting in the airport in Athens, spending the night here, yuck! We are catching a super early flight to Instanbul, I can hardly wait to get there, Ive only heard amazing things about this city!!!  Cant wait to show you pictures!