June 15, 2011 – Heraklion

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2011, 06 (June) 15 - Heraklion

Daniel and I woke up after a night of pretty solid sleep, geared up for our day, and enjoyed a breakfast that included another beautiful view of the Venetian fortress and port of Heraklion. After breakfast we headed down to the bus station to buy tickets to take a bus to see the ruins of the palace of Knossos... I should mention that this was the absolute primary reason we were going to Crete instead of some of the other Greek Isles…and I was psyched about seeing the frescoes among many other things… our goal was to visit the palace of Knossos, walk along the Venetian fortress, and then check out some of the churches and other squares through the center of Heraklion.

There was a strike/protests today and everything around the Knossos ruins is closed. No Knossos. I was devastated. Honestly, I still am. so…while I was fighting back tears of aching disappointment (not really how I wanted to start off the trip), Daniel led the way to the fortress so we could try to find other things to do for the day. He kept apologizing, but it made my disappointment even worse and I finally convinced him that I would cheer up in a bit (and I did…but I needed my time of mourning first).

The Venetian fortress is really cool looking – and very picturesque against the blue water. There is a very long stone boardwalk/jetty of sorts that is really quite long, so we spent a while walking out on it, enjoying the view and the breeze. After that we picked a walking route and set out to hit the major landmarks of the town – multiple churches and squares, as well as a market that sold everything from cheesy souvenirs to whole skinned livestock. We also witnessed some kind of strike/protest parade and then later stumbled upon a square that contained groups of people holding signs, hanging banners, shouting on microphones, and standing around clusters of pitched tents.

Eventually we decided to cave and grab a bite to eat and chose a restaurant along the main road over looking the fortress- so there was a great view and breeze again. And then Daniel decided he was very interested in going for a swim, so the receptionist gave us some tips and he asked the right questions of the right people at the bus station…and eventually we found ourselves at a bus stop waiting for bus 6 to Amouri Beach.

The beach had coarser sand than back home – very odd thermo-layers in the water…the last foot of water at the bottom was quite warm, but everything above it was quite cold. We slowly worked our way in…very slowly, but ultimately it was refreshing . The view was also extremely pretty as the mountainous coast curved in and created a great backdrop for our swim. After that we enjoyed a few beers at a restaurant on the edge of the beach and then began our adventure home – the bus we knew would take us back just wouldn’t show…so after forty minutes we hopped on whichever one came by and jumped off at a stop in the center of town we knew we could navigate to our hotel from. It was a little crazy, but worked.

We came back and showered before dinner and then enjoyed another meal overlooking the fortress as night fell – and now we are headed to bed! We are absolutely exhausted!

We head to Santorini in the morning – it was a fun day here, but I am still disappointed about Knossos. We also looked into trading our “Mega Jet” tickets to Santorini in for a later ferry (we leave first thing in the morning)…but were sad to discover there isn’t one.

The food today has continued to be amazing :) and we really enjoyed exploring at our own pace today (especially since our last trip involved a group of twenty high school students). And! I am super uber psyched about Santorini!

Cheers!