My Cretan adventure

Keeping with the title of my blog, here's another holiday journal that I found in my old blog:

The hardest part of a vacation is writing about it afterwards and trying to remember every detail. I hope I won’t forget anything of all that happened and that I’ve seen during last week. So I’m gonna start with the beginning…

Day 1 – August 31st

As I predicted in my previous post, we were at the airport at 5:30. We spent some time outside talking to my friend, then dad left and we went inside for the formalities. At 7 a.m. we had already done the check-in and passport control. Our plane was supposed to take off at 8:15 but they announced it will leave an hour later, due to intense traffic on the airport in Heraklion. Eventually at 9:30 we were taking off… We passed over Bucharest, Sofia and also above what I think were Limnos, Evia and Athens. At 11 we landed at Nikos Kazantzakis Airport in Heraklion and after we got our luggage a cab took us to Ilios Hotel in Hersonissos. Of course it was all arranged by the travel agency in Crete. The guy at the hotel’s reception was very nice and friendly and in five minutes we were already settling in our room. We got ready for the beach and went out to “look for it” and also for a place to eat at. Soon we found both: a tavern called Hollywood Bar, by the beach. Right next to New York Bar. (And I thought I had gone to Crete, not the United States…) As we soon discovered, all the locals there had an inside bar and a terrace by the sea. And it was full of Irish pubs and Dutch bars, where everyday there were several football games on TV, most of them from the Premier League. So, we had lunch at Hollywood Bar then descended on the beach. It was rather small, with fine sand and chaises longues that were 4 Euro / day. There were also no waves (and that I liked a lot) due to the location: a small bay by the harbor. There was though something interesting about that beach: a goose. I think it was the mascot or something, because it was there from dusk till dawn… in the evening we went to check out the resort, which proved to be rather big. There was tavern near tavern, near Irish pub, near tavern, near Irish pub and so on… And at every tavern, pub, bar or restaurant there were people inviting you to have a drink or eat something. Everyone was friendly, something I was kind of used to from my previous trips to Greece, but Cretans are not like the other Greeks…

Day 2 – September 1st

We woke up in the morning and had breakfast, then went to the hotel’s swimming pool, which was on the roof. There was no time to go to the beach, as we were meeting our guide at 11. At first there was nobody at the pool except us, then a few Russians arrived. I forgot to mention the hotel was full of Russians. The guide was a really nice guy from Chisinau (the Republic of Moldova) and he presented us the optional trips and activities we had. We chose Santorini, Knossos and Heraklion (both in one day) and the Cretan evening. After he left we did the same things as the day before: lunch, beach and then out and about. Oh, and we went to this Irish pub, called Shenanigan’s, where we watched a football game (only the second half): Manchester United vs. Sunderland. Man UTD won .

Day 3 – September 2nd – Santorini

The bus picked us up at 6 a.m. (ok, 6:15, it was late…) and took us to the harbor of Heraklion, where we embarked on the cruise ship MTS Golden Prince . We had breakfast there, then relaxed on the upper deck until we met the Romanian-speaking guide. There were actually two Romanian groups and we chose to go with the bigger one, with a Greek guide called Yannis, who spoke Romanian very well (as we found out later, he had attended university in Bucharest). During the meeting with Yannis we made two friends, two women from Bucharest who stayed at a resort close to us, Gouves. Just like me and my friend, they worked together. We arrived at the port of Athinios at 11:30, where we took the bus to Oia and then to Thira, the capital city of Santorini. At Oia we had three hours to visit and do some shopping. And, of course, take photos, which we did… Plenty of them… I tried to see if I recognize some of the places from “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” but I didn’t. Except for the harbor, which unfortunately I didn’t have time to visit, I only watched it from above. Otherwise every house and every street looked the same. Ok, not every house, but definitely every street. I have no words to describe Oia (I think the photos speak for themselves) or how I felt there, because the feelings overwhelmed me. It was a place I always wanted to see and I couldn’t believe I was actually there... After Oia we went to Thira. We didn’t have much time to visit there as it was already 4 p.m. and we had to be down in the harbor by 5 p.m., in order to catch the last boat to take us to the ship. And there were 688 steps to the harbor… We didn’t take the cable car, nor the donkeys, instead we chose to walk. I had to “feel” I was in Santorini… Back on the ship we had dinner, watched the sunset, then relaxed in the main lounge, where the ship’s crew organized an artistic program, with Greek music and dances. At 21:30 we were back in Heraklion and at 10:15 in Hersonissos. No out and about that night, we were completely exhausted…

Day 4 – September 3rd – Knossos, Heraklion and Cretan Evening

On Monday we left Hersonissos a bit later in the morning, at 9:30. Our guide met us at the hotel and then the bus came and took us and the other Romanians in Hersonissos and also our friends in Gouves, to Knossos, just 5 km from the center of Heraklion, where we visited the ruins of the Minoan palace. Then on the way to the center of the city we learned a few things about the history of Crete, among which the fact that for a while they were under Spartan occupation. Yes, the Spartans were following me here too… Once in Heraklion we visited the Lion’s Square, the town hall and a catholic church the name of which I forgot, then we had a couple of hours to go about the places… We went to the Venetian fortress in the harbor then we got hungry and looked for a tavern. We found one in a small square, with a huge sycamore tree in the center. Very picturesque… Afterwards we started heading back to the bus, not before stopping in a silver shop, where I bought a nice pair of earrings with the Greek symbol of the labyrinth. We got back to the hotel where we had two hours to take a shower and get ready for the Cretan evening. A taxi came and picked us up at 7:30 p.m. then we passed by Gouves and picked up our friends. The event was held at a restaurant in the village of Anopolis. When we got there we were welcomed with raki, which, as much as I don’t like, I had to drink. Fortunately it was like a shot, so I didn’t feel the taste of it for long, but my stomach did feel it… It was an open air restaurant, with a stage arranged just like the ruins at Knossos (the famous columns with the bull fresco). We were 9 Romanians at our table: me and my friend, our two friends, two couple who also stayed in Hersonissos, and our guide. The show started right after dinner. Men and women in traditional costumes started dancing on the stage, accompanied by a band. The guys at our table soon found a favorite among the women dancers, and so did us, the girls… There was this dark haired Cretan, with beautiful eyes, and a beard, reason for which one of the guys nicknamed him Leonidas. And that couldn’t suit him better… He was no Gerard Butler, but was quite a sight! Of course we laughed a lot at this, actually I think we were the happiest table there. The guys were always making comments about “Leonidas” and the girls (me included) were all gooey whenever he was on stage or came to take us dancing. The dancing part happened twice and the second time I asked if I could take a photo with him. Of course he said yes and put both his arms around me… I was melting with pleasure and the girls were green with envy. I didn’t see why, actually, as they had their boyfriends with them… Unfortunately the night ended pretty soon and we had to get back to the hotel…

Days 5-8 – September 4-7

The remaining days we spent sunbathing, swimming and going out in the evening. Well, it was actually sunbathing while swimming, as we spent most time on the beach under the umbrella, as the sun was way too hot… On Wednesday our friends from Gouves visited us and on Thursday we returned the visit. While we were there we also went to see the Cretaquarium . Built in a former American military base , supposedly only 30% of it it’s finished and it is said that in the end it will be the biggest in the world.

On Friday we left for the airport at 8:40 a.m. The taxi was supposed to pick us up at 8:10 but it came half an hour later. And also the plane left half an hour later than it was supposed to. What can I say, that happens when flying with a low cost company… But on the way back we flew over Santorini so I also got to see the island from above. I got home in one piece and I can say I really enjoyed flying, especially the moment before take off, when the plane has to catch the necessary speed to lift up from the ground. The speed maniac in me… Oh, right before landing we were announced the temperature in Bucharest: 15 degrees Celsius… Nobody could believe their ears. We were coming from a temperature of over 30 degrees to one of 15 degrees… And most of us were wearing flip-flops (yeah, my feet froze during the flight…). After we landed it proved there were not quite 15, but more like 20. Or maybe it felt like 20 to me, because of the low temperature during the flight…

Now I’m already thinking of my next destination. Will it be Athens, Rhodes, Paris, Rome or some place else? Guess I’ll just have to wait and see…

It turned out to be Rome :)