Following Linda and Russ: Crete

We left the island of Naxos a few days ago, and were sad to go! It was definitely our favorite thus far, and we loved the kind owners of our hotel. We even got a fond farewell from grandma, who was always around, either sitting in the shade on the deck or puttering in the kitchen.

The Champion1 highspeed ferry which we took to Crete was an amazing boat....seemed more like a cruise ship, and it really motored along at 70km/hr. When it docked, it was there no longer than 10 minutes, so people had to be ready to get off and on, with no dillydallying. In fact, there was a fellow whose job it was to double check the destinations of all the people not heading downstairs to disembark, and he usually caught someone who hadn't paid attention to the announcements!

The main ferry terminal on Crete is in the city of Iraklio, which has a reputation of not being attractive, so most people stay long enough just to visit the Palace of Knossos, the capital of Minoan Crete and just 5 km out of town. The ruins were unearthed in 1900 by a British archaeologist, who then spent 35 years and L250,000 of his own money excavating and reconstructing sections of the palace. The Palace had an advanced drainage system, including a flush toilet adjacent to the Queen's bedroom! The ruins were not the most impressive we have seen in Greece, but the Archaeological Museum, which we saw afterwards, had an amazing Minoan collection, including pottery, jewelry, figurines and frescoes.

Our favorite thing in Iraklio was the fabulous Cretan restaurant recommended to us by our hotel front desk staff. Everything on the menu was different than we had seen before, and we devoured the "slow cooked young goat, boneless, with added yoghurt in the end", zucchini flowers stuffed wih Cretan soft cheese, and a large Cretan salad (tomato, cucumber, fresh onion, purslane or artichoke, rye rusk, sea fennel, olives, pepper, capers, Cretan cream cheese, and sea salt). Wow, what a meal...so good that we booked a table for the next night, and tried some other items! This restaurant is rated #2 in the city on Trip Advisor, and they deserve it.

Yesterday morning we donned our backpacks and headed for the bus station to make our way to the seaside town of Chania, which is a popular destination on this island. We spotted another couple about our age with similar backpacks (most backpackers are much younger than us), and they turned out to be from Vancouver BC. We seemed to have a lot in common, so visited on the bus trip, and then had an enjoyable dinner with them later.

Chania is lovely, with an attractive Venetian harbour and many little shops and restaurants. Our hotel is higher end than we have had up until now, so we are feeling pampered. We will stay here for a week, and will be hiking the famous Samaria Gorge on Wednesday. We booked it through a tour group, so will be dropped off at the start of the hike, then picked up at the end. The weather is hot right now, so we will be drinking lots of water and trying to get through the 16 km trail at a good pace, in order to avoid being out too long in the heat. Will report back on how it goes!

Yesterday we also made some necessary bookings for the rest of our trip, and we'll be flying to Athens next Sunday, then onto Izmir, Turkey. We have a hotel booked in Selcuk, the closest town to Ephesus. After two days there we will fly to Istanbul, where we have five days to sightsee before heading home.