Crete

Heraklion

The ferry from Santorini to Heraklion (or Iraklio, as it's known in Greece) was over an hour late, so by the time we arrived it was dark. We took a taxi to the rather uninteresting Lato (Boutique !) Hotel and called it a day.

Next morning, we went exploring, starting with the port, where our ferry from the previous day was still docked. 

 Heraklion was badly damaged during WWII and most of the buildings are modern and ugly as you can see from the pictures. The most interesting building still standing (and heavily restored) is the fortress which protected the original harbor.

 The exterior of the Venetian Fortress built in the 16th Century

The interior of the Fortress, known as Rocca Al Mare

 The other major attraction is the Archeological Museum, which is supposed to be second only to the Athens Museum, but we discovered the Museum is closed for renovation and seems to have been closed for at least two years. However, there is a small "highlights" museum, which features some of the most important finds fom Knossos, which is just outside Heraklion.

Next day, on our way to Chania, we stopped at Knossos, the second most visited site in Greece, after the Parthenon in Athens. This was a Royal Palace which was started in 1900 BC and rebuilt again in 1700 BC. This was the legendary home of the Minotaur and was probably the basis of the myth of the Labyrinth. It was excavated in the late 1800's and early 1900's by Sir Arthur Evans, a british amateur archaeologist. He also partially reconstructed the palace, but his reconstructions (mostly in concrete) are very controversial and probably less than historically accurate.

The site at Knossos and some of Sir Arthur Evans rather fanciful reconstructions, usually in concrete

 Perhaps we had visited one too many sites during the previous weeks, or perhaps it was just a hot day and we still had a long drive ahead of us, but we couldn't work up a lot of enthusiasm for Knossos, even though it is a legendary location. So after about an hour, we decided we had had enough and headed off to Chania. 

Chania

Chania (pronounced Hania and sometimes spelt that way) is the second largest city in Crete and unlike Heraklion, was not destroyed during the war. The old town and port retain much of their original Venetian charm. We stayed in an original Venetian home in the old town, now converted into "apartments" - rooms with some catering facilities.

 The Madonna Studios and the small courtyard from our balcony 

Breakfast on our small balcony every morning and our room at the Madonna Studios  

 Two of the great meals we enjoyed in Chania - no  shortage of choice 

 Other than exploring Chania, which we did on our first day and then in the evenings, our last three days in Greece were spent enjoying various beaches around the South and West of Crete. Every one was different, some small and private, some large and very public. Some had coarse sand, some had rocks. Some were sheltered, some were not, but all of them had wonderful clear water and great swimming, if you didn't mind being knocked over by waves from time to time. 

But the beaches are really something when you get there. Our first beach was Elafonisi Island on the west coast.

 And on our last full day in Crete, we drove to another beach on the south coast, this time at Plakias. Plakias is a large, well known beach and looked very nice, but we drove to a small beach just a short distance from Plakias which was more private.

  Mikro Amoudi Beach, just east of Plakias Beach

So after three days of hitting the beaches, Paul at least developed something of a tan. Kristine stayed deliberately pale !

And so the next day, we left sunny Crete and headed for the Yorkshire Dales, our last stop before returning to the U.S.