The last stop in Greece: Crete

Our last stop in Greece was the island of Crete. We took an evening ferry from Santorini and arrived in Crete quite late. Crete is actually quite a big island, so BK and I decided to rent a car and drive from the port city of Heraklion to Rethymno, which takes about an hour. Surprising, our navigation went pretty well, outside of a little trouble getting out of the port city.

I cannot say enough about the hotel we stayed at in Crete, the AVLI. It is a suite-only boutique hotel in the center of Old Town Rethymno. It has about 12 apartment-type suites in three old buildings in the city. It is also owned and operated by a chef and her family, so it also has an amazing restaurant attached to the hotel. When we arrived late that night, they happily welcomed us and provided a delicious meal. A traditional Cretian breakfast was served in the garden of the restaurant every morning as well.

Restaurant garden

Crete was a very relaxing island as well, and I really wish we would have dedicated at least another day or so to being on the island. I don't think we realized just how big Crete was when we decided to visit. We spent nearly almost all of our time in the city of Rethymno, which was only about 2 full days.

Old town alley

We wandered around the Old Town of Rethymno the first morning and afternoon on the island, as well as exploring a little bit of the coastline in the city. There are many shops and small restaurants you can visit, with many offering only local products and cuisine. Old town Rethymno is really nice and has lots of small streets and alley to wander down. Additionally, most of old town is pedestrian only, making it really easy to get around.

Cretian coastline

After BK and I walked around for a bit, we enjoyed some relaxation and then went to a cooking class hosted by the owner of the hotel and restaurant. It was only BK and I in the lesson, which made for a really unique experience. We started with the chef telling us about the history of Cretian food and gave us an overview of what types of food were native to Crete. As a fairly large and distanced island, Crete has to be fairly self-sufficient in relying on others for food. We cooked in the restaurant kitchen, making dishes native to Crete with local ingredients, including some from the restaurant garden.

BK in the kitchen

After we made a couple of appetizers, a goat main dish and an orange dessert, we enjoyed our creations in the garden. After our appetizers we took a break, then came back a later and enjoyed our main course and dessert.

Our appetizers

The next day we got up and enjoyed another breakfast at the hotel, then headed out to explore the island before catching an overnight ferry from Heraklion. During the afternoon we went through a number of small towns between Rethymno and Heraklion, stopping at an old olive mill, military museum and a traditional Cretian house.

Old olive mill

Our last stop before dinner and boarding our overnight ferry, was ancient Knossos. The ruins are really interesting. They are nothing like the ancient ruins in Athens, but mostly because in the 1800s an English archaeologist discovered the ruins then began to rebuild them the way he thought the would have been. None of the other ruins in Greece are like this, primarily because the Greeks want people to see them how they are now, not replicas. So when you visit Knossos, some of the ruins are rebuilt and some are not.

Knossos

We departed from Crete later that night and arrived back in Athens the next morning. We spent the morning in a harbor and had breakfast at was essentially a yacht parking lot. We spent the day wandering around, had a massage and enjoyed lunch poolside. We then headed back to Basel via Geneva to come home for a week before departing for our surprise visit to the US.

Yacht parking

Back to the Grecian Isles for a bit

I thought I would take you on a little vacation today and go back to Greece. I left off when we were in Mykonos for the day, then apparently really got into the island mode and didn't post again while we were on the trip. Santorini was my favorite island we visited. When you think about the Grecian Isles, with the whitewashed buildings built into the cliff, beautiful blue water and stunning views all around, Santorini is what you're picturing. And I can tell you, it looks just like that and does not disappoint.

Santorini at dusk

We were there at the end of September, which I thought was a great time to go. The weather is still pretty warm, with highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. The nights on the caldera side of the island can be a little chilly, but only because of the breeze coming off of the ocean. On the island you can choose either the Caldera side, which is the cliff side, or the beach side of the island. We stayed on the caldera side in Fira at a great hotel, Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites, just on the edge of Old Town. The only disappointing thing was that there was not a view off the caldera, but otherwise the hotel had great service and the location was ideal.

We did much more relaxing in Santorini than we had done in Athens, but did get out and go the first day. We rented an ATV to get around the island, and yes, the Lentil and I rode on it too. But don't worry too much, there was no off-roading, ATVs are used just like cars in Santorini and BK and I wore helmets the whole time we were on it.  You can get around the entire island quickly, as it is pretty small in terms of area. My advice is to just jump on one of the main roads that go around the island, then when you see something that interests you venture off there. For example, the red sand beach is a great stop to make.

Red sand beach

A couple of our highlights from the drive around included stopping for lunch on the black sand beach, and just taking some time to chill out for a little while.

Our spot on the black sand beach

And venturing to a monastery at the highest point on the island which offers 360 degree views of Santorini. The monastery's grounds and buildings are really pretty as well.

Entrance to the monastery

Seem like we had a big first day traveling around the island? That was only the first part of the day. In the afternoon BK and I regrouped at the hotel then did the hike from Fira to Oia. It is a great hike right along the cliffside that allows you to discover some of the island that is not right on any road and not in any of the towns.

It took us between two-and-a-half and three hours, and even though BK did time us getting there, we stopped to take plenty of pictures and have water and snacks. The hike is pretty easy- you can take it at your own pace, and I would say unless you have serious health issues you should be able to do it with no problem. Our goal was to get to Oia by sunset so we could sit and enjoy the view from the west side of the island. It was relaxing after the hike, and we enjoyed talking to others who had come for the same thing.

Sunset in Oia

The next couple of days in Santorini weren't so packed with activity. We kept the ATV so we had an easy way to get around, but pretty much spent our whole next day on the black sand beach relaxing. We did make one other stop for lunch before we went there and did a little bit of driving around the island, but otherwise napped and read on the beach. We ended our day with a massage at the hotel spa and an easy dinner across the street from our hotel. I feel relaxed just thinking about it…

We had one last day on the island, with most of the day in Santorini before our ferry left for Crete that evening. We explored more of Fira's Old Town, which offers tons of shops and lots of easy places to stop and grab something to eat. Speaking of which, I haven't said much about the restaurants in Santorini. There are many restaurants on the island, most of which either offer traditional Greek food or seafood. All of the food we had was good, and you can easily find quality places by just asking around.

The other thing we decided we should do on our last day was walk down to the old port, which seems to be right below Fira. You can take an aerial cable car up and down, take a donkey, or walk the 800ish steps down. BK and I walked up and down.

Old Port

The worst thing about the walk is the donkeys. You're constantly competing with them for a place to walk, and when you start your descent the donkeys are lined up against the wall, and you have to walk behind them to get by- it's a little unsettling. It also smells like poo because of all the donkeys. There's not much to the Old Port, but I'm glad we walked down to explore a little bit more.

Donkeys on the way down

Like I mentioned before, Santorini was my favorite island and was incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. We were off to Crete after this, but I'll save that one and take you back there tomorrow. Time to get back to reality…time to finish laundry and practice German.

Athens day two- at our own pace

Our second day in Athens was taken at our own pace and not dictated by anyone else's schedule. With the general strike still going on, we knew we needed to get out relatively early to make it to various monuments before the deadline of 3pm. From our hotel we hopped on the Metro (subway) and headed back to the Acropolis area.

When you arrive in Monastiraki Square you are greeted with bustling activity. It's a lively place day and night, and at night seems to be a gathering place for young people. Always trying to make sure I have food available should hunger strike, I was pleased that there are also a number of vendors selling fresh fruit in the square. You can also go explore the Athens Flea Market, which apparently goes on all week long, but that's not really our thing.

We headed up to see the Roman and Athenian Agoras again, but up close this time, along with the National Observatory, which gives you another great view of the Acropolis and surrounding parts of the city. We also went to visit the Dionysus Theatre, which was okay, but nothing too exciting- you actually have a better view of it from the top of the Acropolis. 

The best thing we did on our second day was, by far, the Acropolis Museum. Kudos to the planners and architects who designed and built it, because it is really interesting and a very cool concept.  Many sections and artifacts that used to be part of the Parthenon are now housed in the museum, and the top floor is actually laid out just like the Parthenon, with eight columns on each end and 17 columns down each side. The parts of the top around the roof and many of the sculptures are placed exactly as they would have been on the Parthenon, which gives you a really good idea of what it would actually be like if it was all still intact. You should also take time to watch the video on Floor 2, as it helps you understand the purpose of the structure and various types of buildings it has been transformed into (Christian church, mosque, etc). The other floors of the museum are dedicated to other structures within the Acropolis such as the Temple of Athena Nike. At only 5 Euro it's absolutely worth a visit.

When you walk around the entire area surrounding the Acropolis, on any side, there is tons of stuff to see and do. The Plaka area specifically is a neighborhood known for its shops and cafes, so BK and I had lunch in the area and spent the majority of the afternoon walking around looking at shops and people watching. Dinner was quite an experience, that deserves its own post- we went into foodie land and got some crazy gastro cuisine. At the same time we discovered that even though we like nice meals, foodies we are not.

I forgot to take pics with my iPhone during the day, so I didn't get any pics to post for this one. I've gotten better though and will put some in my post about Mykonos tomorrow!

It's all Greek to me

Our first day in Athens was really good. The night we arrived, we made it around 9ish and then had dinner at the rooftop restaurant at our hotel. The food was pretty good, the views of the Acropolis were amazing, but the service was terrible. Around midnight we were finally done with dinner and turned in for the night.

We started our first day with a visit to the National Archeological Museum. The museum has many statues, pottery and some ruins and also gives you a good outline of Athenian and Greek history. The best exhibit they have right now is one about a ship wreck. I thought it was really cool to see pieces that had been partially submerged in the sea floor, as the half that was submerged was preserved perfectly and the other half had all kinds of damage from being in the open sea. The museum is worth a trip if you like to look at relics from ancient civilizations and things like that. I personally can only handle so much of it, so it wasn't my favorite thing that we've done. We stopped for lunch at a great place called Alexandra that is traditional Greek food. I would definitely recommend if you're in the area.

The remainder of our day was spent on a private tour that I booked to take us around Athens and to Cape Sounio. When coming to Greece you do have to keep in mind that things can still be a little volatile, nothing major, but with an unemployment rate of over 27%, people generally have something to say about it. So, for our two full days in Athens all of the government managed monuments closed at 3pm due to a general strike by workers.

Parthenon

In Athens we hit a lot of the big sites and our driver took us around to many neighborhoods and local spots, always explaining the history and any significance. We started at the Acropolis, hiking up to see all of the various monuments, such as the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike and Temple of Rome and Augustus. It was pretty amazing, especially considering that it was built around 2500 years ago. At times it can be hard to tell what you're looking at without a map because the ruins- what's left of them- look like a pile of rocks. From the Acropolis you can also see many other sites such as Theatre of Dionysus, Temple of Zeus, and the Roman and Athenian Agoras.

Then we took a little time driving through Plaka, the neighborhood and markets just below the Acropolis. We also stopped at the first Olympic stadium, which happens to be the only stadium in the world made of marble; went to the Hill of Lycabettis, which has 360 degree views of the city, all the way to the coast; saw the changing of the guard at the Presidential House; then did a drive by of the Parliament  building and National Library. The Parliament building was disappointing and surprisingly ugly. You would think with all of the architecture and history in Athens they would have done something good with it, but it's just not so.

After hitting some of the highlights, we headed out toward Cape Sounio where Poseidon is located. It was about 7Okm outside of Athens, and on our way out we drove through many of the upscale suburbs and coastal towns. There are beautiful views of the Aegean Sea and many secluded beach areas and coves along the coast. 

 

We ended our day at Poseidon at sunset. We enjoyed a light snack at the restaurant just below the monument, then walked up just before sunset to enjoy the view. It was really beautiful and made me realize that I'm really looking forward to exploring and seeing the islands later in our trip.

We then headed back into the city and had our driver drop us off at a little restaurant called Kuzina. The food was very good and it was a nice relaxing way to end the day. We're wrapping up our second day now; much more to come!