Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the 5th largest in the Mediterranean. It was the Minoan civilization (ca. 2600–1400 BC), the oldest Greek civilization, which was one of our main reasons for wanting to visit Crete. There are several cities, towns and villages and we chose Hersonissos to stay in.
Our hotel (Amazones Village Resort) was located in the hills about a mile from the downtown area in a neat little village area with several family run businesses and tavernas. The hotel specializes providing a friendly atmosphere and we enjoyed our stay. Because of the location, we had a great view of the sea without much traffic. The only downside was the hike into town, or more specifically the hike back. It was all downhill going in and uphill coming back. We certainly got our exercise! The family run tavernas in the area offered very good food and great service. Often, we were the only customers. The Greek salads were great! We also found a little pastry shop that specialized in pies and rolls, just hitting the spot in the mid afternoon.
One of the highlights of Crete was the visit to the Palace of Knossos. The Palace of Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture. It was built between 1700 and 1400 BC and was “discovered” by British archeologist Arthur Evans in 1900. He performed much of the excavation and restoration. Much of what we see today is based on an interpretation by Evans of what he believed. We spent nearly three hours exploring the grounds. Unfortunately the museum which holds many of the artifacts from the Palace is under renovation and most of the collection is not available for viewing.
Most of the rest of our stay on Crete was spent relaxing by the pool and strolling through the small villages near our hotel. Nearly all of the structures are stone, many of which are over a hundred years old. The pace in this area is much slower than in many tourist spots and it provided us with a very relaxing time. Both of us were able to get some reading done that we normally do not seem to have a much time for. I’m sure the pace picks up considerably during the summer months as Crete is one of the major tourist hotspots for Europeans. In fact a few of the shopkeepers and taverna owners were transplanted from other countries. We met a man who lived in Alexandria whose grandfather once owned Zypherion – our favorite fish restaurant! His grandfather owned it when Aristotle Onassias was a regular customer at Zypherion.
Our trip home was a real experience. We were scheduled to leave at 11:05 PM from Heraklion and 1:15 AM from Athens. When we checked in at the airport in Heraklion, we were told that our flight would be delayed until 12:30 AM, making it virtually impossible to make our connecting flight. Since there would be no flights the next day, it would be two days before we could fly into Alex – the airline told us we might be able to get on a flight to Cairo the following evening. After a “heated” discussion, we finally boarded the flight to Athens and hoped we could make our connecting flight. When we landed in Athens, we virtually sprinted to the other gate as we were told that our connecting flight to Athens still hadn’t taken off. We made it “barely” – thinking they had held the plane for us. Later, another Schutz couple who was on that flight told us the plane was delayed in taking off because many of the passengers had made several purchases at the “duty-free” shop and it cause a delay as they brought their items on board and tried to find storage space for them in the overhead compartments.
We arrived in Alexandria (after a shaky landing) and chaos ensued as we taxied to the airport. Egyptians are notorious for always being in a hurry to get off the plane. Even as we are still moving, they are up and pushing their way towards the exits. The flight attendants quickly give up and just try to get out of the way of the onrushing crowd! After we got through passport control, we headed for the baggage claim all the while have a feeling that maybe our luggage didn’t make the connecting flight. Guess the odds finally caught up with us and sure enough, our luggage was still in Athens. We filed a claim and by the time we got back home, it was nearly 4:00 AM. We got a call today and were told to come to the airport tonight at midnight and our luggage would be coming in. Hopefully all will be fine when we go pick it up.
