Greek Islands

The islands in Greece were much more enjoyable than the big cities, although Crete has more than it's share of big, dirty cities with too much construction. We stayed in Heraklion because of it's proximity to the port, but took a couple of day trips. The first day trip was to Knossos where we enjoyed exploring more ruins. The Knossos Palace was once the center of Minoan civilization. Parts of it have been restored (I don't know how accurately), but it's pretty fun to explore! Rebecca was very enthusiastic because Knossos was very important in Indiana Jones' search for Atlantis!!! Brook, I hope my extremely brief description gets a better grade than Rebecca's. Another fun day trip was to a couple of coastal towns. We just really enjoyed getting out of the cities, walking along the coast, and and enjoying some fresh air!

We took an overnight ferry from Crete back to Athens, then transferred to a ferry going to Syros, one of the smaller islands. Again, the highlight was being out of the city. The people were nicer, more helpful, and the atmosphere was, in general, much more pleasant. We found a hotel that let us store our luggage while we took a bus to see more of the island. Late that night we caught another ferry that took us to Chios where we were greeted by a very kind man who runs a hotel about 7 kilometers outside of town. I had called to book with him because his prices were so good and he offered to come pick us up at 2:30 in the morning so we wouldn't have to look for a taxi. Not only that, but the hotel actually turned out to be apartments, so we had a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living room. It was great!!! The town was pretty small and out of the way (better in my opinion) so we walked around a bit, enjoying the scenery, the quiet, and the small market a short walk from our apartment. After two nights there, we caught a ferry from Chios to Tcesme, which is in Turkey. I have lots to say about Turkey, but that will have to wait for next time...

Pictures:

1. This is Knossos. Obviously, much of it has been reconstructed, so this isn't what it actually looked like...just what Arthur Evans thought it probably looked like...

2. This is me during our day trip away from Heraklion. I am sitting on rock on the coast in a town called Elounda.

3. This is an old Venetian Port in Heraklion that we walked by every day.

4-5 These pictures are from Syros. We only had an afternoon and evening in this lovely town, but we enjoyed every minute!

6. Here I am on the island of Chios where we spent a day prior to heading to Turkey!