We flew back to Athens on Friday morning and spent the rest of the day puttering around buying gifts for people and then walking up Philopappou hill. Regretfully, we did not take the camera, for when we arrived at the top, the views of the acropolis and the city of Athens in all directions were unparalleled by anything we had seen. There are some nice photos taken from this hill here: http://www.vgreece.com/index.php?category=1121
Friday night we had a delicious dinner (complete with begging cat) at a restaurant also recommended by our friends at the hotel (Antonis & Giota). Saturday morning we had a harrowing time getting to the airport as the taxi did not show up when scheduled, in spite of Hal making several phone calls. Then the taxi driver decided to take surface streets instead of the state highway and I was about to have a stroke. At the airport, they checked everything I carried multiple times, possibly because I had a temporary passport. But finally we got on a plane to Newark and headed back to the USA. The fun wasn't over, however, as once we had moved to our connecting gate, I realized that my travel journal with all my postcards was still on the plane. In spite of waiting an hour to talk to a Continental agent, the journal was not retrieved and I lost my detailed account of our trip along with the postcards I had purchased at each place we stopped. It was almost as upsetting as having my purse stolen. Then there were mechanical problems with our flight so we waited and waited. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as Hal took off to find a sandwich, they started boarding the flight. I was frantically trying to find him so we wouldn't miss the flight home. Obviously we made it and Anne retrieved us, good friend that she is. It's been really good reconstructing the trip through the blog--getting to relive it in a small way. I'm really glad we went, since it's been on my "to do" list for over 40 years :-) Next...we will be taking Hal's trip of a lifetime--New Zealand.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tues-Thurs, July 6-8--downtime on Crete
We did spend one day going into town (Hersonissos) on the bus and wandering around and then buying groceries to last us for the remainder of our time at the condo. We didn't go swimming, but obviously lots of people braved the water at the beaches there.
Having been on the go for well over two weeks, we were pretty lazy, although we did try to start our morning with a swim in the resort's pool before it got crowded. Often we were the only ones there at 8:30 in morning and it was really pleasant to have the water to ourselves. We raided the communal library for books, fixed our meals in the condo, rented a couple of movies. Hal was ambitious and went for a couple of walks, but I mostly read. You can see my book blog for reports on reading choices.
(http://paulamc-randomreading.blogspot.com/ )
Having been on the go for well over two weeks, we were pretty lazy, although we did try to start our morning with a swim in the resort's pool before it got crowded. Often we were the only ones there at 8:30 in morning and it was really pleasant to have the water to ourselves. We raided the communal library for books, fixed our meals in the condo, rented a couple of movies. Hal was ambitious and went for a couple of walks, but I mostly read. You can see my book blog for reports on reading choices.
(http://paulamc-randomreading.blogspot.com/ )
Monday, July 5--Crete, Day 4
We planned to explore the museums at Irakleio (Heraklion) today and, once again, Brian bravely took the wheel to chauffeur us into the heart of town and somehow find parking with lots of back-seat driving advice on offer. We first found our way to the harbor, where the remains of a Venetian fort still predominate.
We visited two museums. The main archaeological museum was closed for rennovation but they had opened an annex with many of their best artifacts on display. We had a nice lunch--fresh Greek salad of course--and then wandered through the main shopping district until we reached the fountain of the lions-- this Venetian fountain near the center of town was completed in 1628 under the auspices of Francesco Morasini who wanted to bring water from the hilltown area of Archanes (15 km away) to the town's citizens.
This evening, we were the dinner guests of Di & Brian at their lovely resort.
It was so amazing to see them again after too many years and still effortlessly enjoy one another's company. It was sad to say goodbye when we finally took a taxi back to our resort.
We visited two museums. The main archaeological museum was closed for rennovation but they had opened an annex with many of their best artifacts on display. We had a nice lunch--fresh Greek salad of course--and then wandered through the main shopping district until we reached the fountain of the lions-- this Venetian fountain near the center of town was completed in 1628 under the auspices of Francesco Morasini who wanted to bring water from the hilltown area of Archanes (15 km away) to the town's citizens.
This evening, we were the dinner guests of Di & Brian at their lovely resort.
It was so amazing to see them again after too many years and still effortlessly enjoy one another's company. It was sad to say goodbye when we finally took a taxi back to our resort.
Sunday, July 4--Crete, Day 3
We had decided to explore Knossos today so got started mid-morning, but it was still extraordinarily hot walking around the site. Knossos is deceptive since it has been partially reconstructed by Sir Arthur Evans, who conducted the first extensive excavations in 1900. He had purchased the entire site and, although not a traditionally trained archaeologist, he undertook to recreate it as he imagined it would be. Later archaeologists have been vocally upset by the methods he used. Nevertheless, it is a popular tourist destination because it offers more concrete (all puns intended) representations of the previous structures than a lot of the other archaeological sites do.
There are replicas of some friezes found there; the originals have been moved to other museums--oftentimes out of the country.
Massive reconstructed storage jars are pictured here
as is the royal road that connected the palace to the coast. 
Hal, Di and Brian seek out some shade before we head out to find a hill town called Archanes, where we planned to get lunch. Notice the snazzy matching chapeaux worn by the Gowers!
We came back to our respective abodes for a rest, a shower and then we treated Di & Bri to dinner at the nice roof-top restaurant at our resort.
There are replicas of some friezes found there; the originals have been moved to other museums--oftentimes out of the country.
Massive reconstructed storage jars are pictured here
as is the royal road that connected the palace to the coast. Hal, Di and Brian seek out some shade before we head out to find a hill town called Archanes, where we planned to get lunch. Notice the snazzy matching chapeaux worn by the Gowers!
We came back to our respective abodes for a rest, a shower and then we treated Di & Bri to dinner at the nice roof-top restaurant at our resort.
Saturday, July 3--Crete, Day 2
Di & Bri showed up after lunch and we decided to head towards Agios Nikolaos eastward along the coast. The maps and directions turned out to be incredibly confusing so we did a fair amount of backtracking. Brian was an absolute brick about going where we directed, even when it meant we went through the same town several times trying to find our way. We did eventually get to the monastery of Agios Giorgios in the Selinari Gorge. We didn't go in, but did spend some time in the courtyard soaking up the relative peace and nice view of the sea.
The cliffs of the gorge are home to the Lammergeyer falcon, the largest birds of prey on the island with a wingspan of 7-9 feet. We actually got to see several soaring, although you can imagine that it was tricky getting a decent shot.
We did finally make it to Agios Nikolaos after a detour to do a hike into the hills--how Di ever covered the ground she did in her fashionable little shoes is beyond me! The town is right on the coast with a lake in center, connected to the harbor and sea by a narrow channel.
We wandered around, admired the windows of the jewelry stores, perused the menus of the restaurants along the lake, had some ice cream and found a pharmacy to get Brian some allergy tablets. We had a nice fish dinner, complete with begging cats, and then headed home.
The cliffs of the gorge are home to the Lammergeyer falcon, the largest birds of prey on the island with a wingspan of 7-9 feet. We actually got to see several soaring, although you can imagine that it was tricky getting a decent shot.
We did finally make it to Agios Nikolaos after a detour to do a hike into the hills--how Di ever covered the ground she did in her fashionable little shoes is beyond me! The town is right on the coast with a lake in center, connected to the harbor and sea by a narrow channel.
We wandered around, admired the windows of the jewelry stores, perused the menus of the restaurants along the lake, had some ice cream and found a pharmacy to get Brian some allergy tablets. We had a nice fish dinner, complete with begging cats, and then headed home.
Friday, July 1--On to Crete
With lots of advice from our two friends on the desk at the hotel, we decided to take the subway to the airport and it went really well. We were able to store one bag at the hotel, so each had a wheelie bag and a backpack--oh and Hal's boogie board. We arrived at Heraklion airport and took a cab to the resort, which turned out to be a good distance away, about a 40 minute ride. Our cab driver, it turns out, also owned olive trees on the island in addition to his taxi so didn't really care much about the proposed changes for government workers. Seems lots of people outside the cities didn't care that much about all the uproar. We drove toward the town of Hersonissos but turned away from the coast and into the hills. Not much else was in the vicinity. There was bus service from the resort to the town, but we decided to just hang out and explore the resort. Nice room with a deck and a bit of a view of the Mediterranean. Called Di & Brian and arranged to meet the following day. They were planning to get a rental car and would drive up to meet us.
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