Blogs from Crete, Greece, Europe - page 41

Woke early at the hostel in Iraklion after a pretty terrible night of sleep. Far more people snore than I had previously realized. We walked back in the direction we had travelled the previous evening to the bus station to catch a ride over to Hania. The bus took ride took maybe three hours and was very beautiful although I slept most of the time so didnt really get to see as much as I should have. When we arrived in Hania the plan was to find a car to rent so we started wandering the streets looking for places. After a wandering a bit we realized most of them were closed for siesta but we asked some locals and found one that seemed reasonable. It was 27 euro per day for a tiny little ... read more

WE are in Agios Nicholaos on the NE end of Crete. We heard about this place from a man sitting next to me on the plane and a woman in front of us. We had decided to leave Plakias because I felt there was nothing there for us. Last night, we checked the bus schedule and decided to leave on the first bus out this morning. It was worth the five hour bus tour and three bus transfer. This city is just large enough to explore and just small enough to be less aggressive. The people are much more polite than the other cities. they don't push you into eating their food and staying longer than you're comfortable. We've found out that that is just the greek culture... to eat ALL on your plate and ... read more

Crete and London Tripanonymous Lynda and I made it to Crete after a very difficult 24 hours worth of travelling. We are leaving Heraklion today to hop on a bus to Plakias in southern Crete. We plan to do some snorkeling and maybe some horseback riding. Heraklion is a big city, much like Rome was. Areas of buildings within reach are covered with graffiti using greek and english language. Constructions seems constant here as we have been woken up by someone "knocking" on our wall. Since the buildings here are farely old, the city must work hard to keep them up and renovations are at every corner. My favorite thing so far? The cheap tapestries in the market place, which we will buy when we return, and the street dogs and cats. Of course I favor ... read more

Hey everyone! Well, a lot has happened since we last spoke (I guess wrote) to you all. Where did we leave off? Oh right, so the Samaria Gorge was closed on account of rain. So that day was pretty low key, we just walked around the town, checked out the market, went to the museum (freeeeeeeeeeeee because it was International Museum day!) and then just ate dinner at a place with live Greek music. It was super fun, but because the Greeks are such heavy smokers, our eyes were burning and even the musicians were smoking while strumming their guitars! It was insane. The next day... this is where the fun started. We woke up to the sound of a knocking on our door. Hmmm, its our Pension owner, Lena, with news from my MOM? ... read more

Well, Dennis realllllly wanted to fight the Minotaur here at Knossos, so I said OK, and here we are in Crete! Certainly the biggest Greek island of them all, really long, really busy, and very Venetian! We arrived in Iraklio last night, and its very metropolitan. Much like Athens, but with less English speaking people. Graffiti, people everywhere, crazy drivers, and definitely a big city feel, over the low key atmosphere of the islands. The ferry ride here was quick (1 hour, 45 min) because we took the high speed ferry. Our last ferry! Ahhhh, I can't say I will miss them, Dennis doesn't mind them as much, but I just think I am a car or plane person. Even the buses here, whew, I do NOT like them, or at least, my stomach doesn't! ... read more