Last day in Greece

We flew from Crete to Athens on Saturday afternoon, spending the night at a hotel near the airport in order to catch our flight home early Sunday. Saturday morning before our flight we drove back into Heraklion, originally planning to do some shopping, but instead we spent the morning exploring the Venetian port in Heraklion. We also drove on the old National road along the coast rather than the new road, which is more of a freeway. Much slower, but a very nice drive with beautiful views. We arrived back at the airport well in time for our Aegean airlines flight to Athens. Great service on Aegean Air, although they do charge for checked bags, 30 Euros each. Upon arrival, we walked out the airport and walked right across the street to the Sofitel. lovely hotel, very nice room and incredibly convenient.

Since we got into Athens in mid afternoon and the Acropolis Museum is open until 8, we decided to head in for a visit. We took the train from the airport into Athens. I would recommend the train to any visitors. From the airport, the first few stops are considered to be "suburban rail", and once it gets closer into the city, it's considered light rail. So it takes a little while, the first stops being relatively far apart.  But it's inexpensive - 14 Euros round trip - and it's clean and easy. It does get crowded, even on a Saturday night.  

We got into the museum and spent a couple of hours looking at antiquities mostly coming from the Acropolis. It's a very nice space, the building itself is airy and light and with good views of the Acropolis itself. The rooms are large, which is important as the house lots of very large marble statues. You sort of feel like you're walking through a garden of these huge statues. My favorites were the Caryatid, very large statues of women that were taken from an entryway where they were holding up the roof. There were originally six of them, the Acropolis museum has 5, including one that has been damaged by a Turkish cannon ball.  Here's a couple of photos of them. 

After our time in the museum, we headed up to Syntagma Square in central Athens and the Plaka.  These are the lively areas in Athens, lots of activity, restaurants, street artists etc. also very easy to get to on the light rail. We ate dinner at a nice traditional place right off the Plaka, sitting outside enjoying watching people go by. The food was good, we somehow miscommunicated with our waiter and both ended up with the same lamb dish, but it was excellent. Gordon thinks the communication went wrong because the waiter was drunk. He could be right.  We then took the train back to our hotel, had a nightcap in the very nice lobby bar and headed up for a couple of hours sleep before our 4 a.m. wake up call.  

Our flight from Athens to Rome left at six a.m. And we had a three hour layover in Rome before the 13-hour long flight back to LA.  Alitalia's service was much better on the way back!  The flights left on time, and the experience at Rome was so much better. I think that's because all non- EU flights come in to one very busy terminal. Because we flew from Athens we came into a much quieter terminal, had an easy time at passport control and then got on the bus to the larger international terminal, where we just had to wait for our flight.  We had a nice breakfast and then flew back to the U.S.  It was a long tiring day.  

We had a great time in both Athens and Crete, and would recommend it to anyone. A couple of pieces of advice: driving is crazy, just try to pay attention.  Credit cards are not accepted in some places you would expect, so do have cash.  Athens is better for credit cards than Crete. Be prepared to walk on hilly and uneven surfaces. Take time for the museums and historical sites. Enjoy the food!  And take your time at meals. Island hopping is expensive, but so worth it.  Wine tasting on Crete and Santorini is unexpectedly good. 

Greece Day 6

On our last full day in Crete, we decided to head into the city of Heraklion to visit the museum and do other touristy things.  So we headed out early in the morning. This is the day that Gordon really learned to drive Crete-style. We headed in on the national road, but then we got into Heraklion, where we had to negotiate city driving and parking. I was not a good navigator finding it very hard to match up the street signs with the streets on the map!  But eventually we got parked and walked toward the museum, finding it with some help from very friendly local people.

The Heraklion Archaelogical Museum (http://www.heraklion.gr/en/ourplace/archeological-museum/archeological-museum.html) has a fabulous collection of Minoan antiquities, particularly from Knossos and other Minoan palaces on the island. The collection also includes pieces that represent Crete's Greek and even Venetian influence. My favorite, however, are the frescoes from the palace at Knossos including the famous Dolphins.

It is really a spectacular collection. The museum itself is not huge. We spent a couple of hours in there, although I am sure we could have spent more time. It's just a lot to take in all at once!

We headed out of the museum into the walking area in Heraklion, which is full of shopping and restaurants. There are also a couple of examples of the Venetian influence on Crete here. However, the signs of the crisis, graffiti in particular, are all over. Here's a picture of the Venetian Loggia in the center of town.  It is beautiful, but not in great shape and with much graffiti. We walked the town, did some touristy shopping and then also took time to have the fish pedicure. You put your feet in a tank of little fishes that eat the dead skin, leaving behind nice soft skin. Very weird. Very ticklish.  But my feet did feel softer!

We headed back to the Villa and the Gordon and I headed to the beach to swim and snorkel. The water felt great, although it was actually one of the cooler days. Gordon snorkeled, but unfortunately the Mediterranean and Aegean are pretty devoid of marine life, having been pretty much fished out. It is not like being in the Caribbean or even Hawaii. But the water is spectacularly clear and blue.  We finished the day with a meal cooked on the grill, using nice local ingredients picked up at the local market and butcher. Just a great spot here!  

Greece Day 5

The thing I had been most looking forward to was going to Santorini. So even though it would make for a fairly long day, we decided to do a day trip. It was great, but one piece of advice up front, try to set aside two or three days if you plan to go. We would have really loved more time!  We got up early and headed to the port where the high speed boat was due to leave at 9:30. We got there an hour in advance and the ticket guy said that the boat was sold out!  Oh no!  But he advised us to hang out until just before departure to see if there were cancellations. About a dozen people did so and it was no problem for all of us to get on the boat. From what I can tell, they make reservations with tour companies and estimate the number of seats needed based on the number of buses coming, and it's always somewhat less than that. The board from Heraklion to Santorini is not cheap, about 120 euros round trip. It's just good to know that island hopping in Greece is going to cost you.

The boat takes about two hours to get there. It's a pretty smooth ride.  It docks in a port called Athinios. There is not much in Athinios other than services for tourists, although the views of the Aegean and the three or four smaller islands off Santorini are spectacular. But you want to get out of the port and into the other towns to experience Santorini. It is possible to take a bus or taxi from Athinios, however, we chose to rent a car so we could have more flexibility. This is definitely more expensive than Crete. We paid 35 euros for the day, which is really only five hours. We would have liked to have rented a scooter, but the road out of the port is not considered safe for scooters, so you have to get up to Phira to do so.  So we settled on the car, another tiny car, and went up the very windy road toward Phira. 

The car rental guy had suggested to us that we park in a lot right outside of Phira and then walk in as it is very challenging to drive in Phira and not really possible to park.  This was absolutely the right call. So we parked and headed into the town. It was spectacular. Just beautiful - the white buildings built into the cliffs, the spectacular views.  It was simply amazing and indescribably beautiful.  We had lunch at a nice restaurant with a great view. The food was great, including a wonderful fava bean soup, but it was the setting that was so special. After lunch we walked around Phira a little more before heading out to Oia.

So one word of advice for future visitors.  The drive from Phira to Oia is short, it's only about 5K, but very windy so it is actually a fairly long drive, and beautiful, but there are no gas stations on the way.  Fill your car up in Phira!  We drove this magnificent and slightly scary route and then we got to the outskirts of Oia to notice our gas light come on.  Not a place to run out of gas!  But we stopped at a rental car company and the guy there got on his scooter, drove to a gas station and brought us back four liters of gas. Did I mention how nice the Greeks are? It was wonderful. 

We drove up to Oia, parked, and went into the village. It may be the most beautiful place in the world.  Simply stunning. Beautiful vistas, beautiful buildings. All we did was walk around and be simply awestruck. I've added some photos and you can find much better photos than these on Pinterest and other places, but trust me, none of them do it justice.  Amazing. 

A word to the wise about Phira and Oia. There are lots of steps. Lots of walking in narrow streets and I am sure in high season, it is crowded. So be prepared for exercise!  Unfortunately, it is not possible to navigate these towns with a wheelchair or stroller. It would just be too hard. 

We left Oia and headed back to Athinios, but we had some time so spare so we stopped to taste wine in a winery called Santos near the port. Another big hit. Great wines, great views. If we had had more time we would have gone to the beach with black sand or the ruins at Akrotiri, but overall it was a great day and we will go back!

The trip back was actually better than the trip over.  For some reason, it was a larger boat and way more comfortable, so we slept the whole way.  Here are just a couple of pictures of Santorini.