Our trip from Rethymno on Crete to Naxos

We rose at 5 AM in our Rethymno apartment for our drive to Heraklion, to catch the 8 AM ferry to Naxos.  The original schedule had called for a slightly more manageable 8:40 departure, but when we went to the ticket office to get our tickets printed based on the original reservation, we learned about the time change.  We had scoped out where we would need to drop the bags and drop the cars on our trip to Heraklion a few days before, and had figured the timing accordingly. 

Happily, we encountered virtually no traffic on the lovely national road along the coast from Rethymno -- we did not get stuck behind any slow-moving trucks on the mountain grades or hairpin turns-- and  the office for our Hertz rental cars opened at 7 AM, not the 7:30 opening time for Enterprise, with whom we had made our original reservation.  Still, knowing we would have to drop the bags (that’s heavy bags for all of us, plus a two-seater stroller in a bag), plus two car seats in their own bags) and some adults at the ferry port, then drive to the car drop location and make contact with the Hertz office to be checked out, and THEN walk back to the ferry location and get the bags on board the ferry, I was plenty nervous about having only a small margin for error.  We decided to leave the stroller out of its bag to facilitate moving the children from the bag drop to the ferry.  A good choice for the most part.

In the end, we arrived at the port  in plenty of time, and Hertz was very efficient in waiting for us at the car drop location and letting us go on our way.  But.... the tickets had to be changed – the ferry boat was no longer going to Naxos by way of Santorini, but only to Santorini, where we would arrive at 10:20 and change boats for a noon departure for Naxos.  OK, I figured, so maybe there is silver lining – we would get 90 minutes on beautiful Santorini in between the ferries.  In the end, we made it onto the ferry with only 20 minutes to spare.  Just a bit too close for comfort.

The ferry was huge inside, big enough to carry cars, which drove on first and parked

The ferry departed; we passed the end of the Heraklion jetty,

passed other nearby islands

and then we were out in the open Aegean Sea until we started passing bare volcanic islands within the caldera created when a volcano blew and formed the island of Santorini

On arrival at Santorini, the silver lining of 90 minutes seeing Santorini disappeared.  I had seen many photos of pretty blue and white house running down steep slopes and assumed that they ran down to the sea – but the reality was that Santorini is an island with high cliffs towering over the seas

and our port was no more than a ferry slip, with rental car places, and ticket offices, from which a single clogged road ran up to the cliff tops and the various pretty cliff-top towns.  The ferry does not get to stay in the skip for long; we were hurried off so that the ferry could get out of the way for others, a hectic enterprise.  So we were going to be stuck in the little port area, choosing between two different cafes with boring menus whose only good feature was the ability to sit in the shade with our piles of luggage.  We ordered food for the children, but then turned it into takeaway when delivery was delayed and we were worried about catching our ferry

There were no signs announcing what loading areas were for what ferries, and it was hard to hear announcements; we kept asking where we should be, and eventually we got in right line where we waited, sweltering in the sun, for one ferry to arrive and depart, and then for our ferry to arrive and discharge its passengers

then we were rushed onto boat, a bit of a stampeded in which someoe trying to move too much luggage could get overwhelmed, then rushed to our luggage deposited in the right sectors based on where we would be unloading.  And unlike the first ferry, there were no ramps up to the sitting areas.  The stroller had to go up by elevator, to which the crew pointed us.  But at last we made it to our seat, and the ferry left for Naxos.  Aboug an hour later,, we passed the island of Paros in our left as we pulled into the dock on Naxos, in its main city of Chora.  When we arrived, it was another super-rush to get all passengers off so that the ferry could leave immediately.

The manager of the apartment building with whom I had made our reservation arrangements had assured me that they would meet our boat and take us to apartment, but he did not show up.  Nor had been given me his phone number to call if there was a screwup.  Luckily, after waiting on the dock we found someone who knew how to reach him; maybe a half-hour later, he came eventually with car inadequate to carry all of us.  He assigned Nancy and me a taxi, which also carries some of the others’ luggage. 

Finally, we made it to our apartment; someone from the reception office (located several blocks away) was waiting for us.  She let us in, and gave us one key for all of us.  At our request, a second was promised when the housekeeper came the following day (housekeeper??? we had no idea we would get housekeeping services).  She also gave us a rough map of Chora, the main town on Naxos (also the name for main towns on several other islands), and told us where we would have to come to use a credit card machine to pay the balance on our reservation.  There was no address, just as there were no street names on the corner near our apartment, and no address on the building. She just told us how to find it on Google maps, and she told us where me might look for a fast meal for the hungry children (and hungry adults).  (In the end, the key came by messenger that evening, and they agreed by telephone to run the card paperwork without my being there).

It was a smallish apartment; bare in many respects; no microwave; no shampoo was provided, and the soaps were the tiny bars you get in a Days Inn or Super 8, the really cheap U.S. motels.  There were only two minisplit units in the whole apartment, one in the living/dining room and in one of the bedrooms, each of which was so small that there was little room to walk around the beds   IT was the least luxurious place we would stay on the vacation; but it would be fine, except....

As we headed out to find food, I found disconcerting the lack of street signs and street numbers disoriented, but Nafisa helped us get our bearings.  She said that, growing up in Stone Town on Zanzibar, which was similarly unsigned, she had learned to get her bearings in other ways, and really, by the following day, I had a good sense of how to get around.  (I also found a bookstore where I picked up an inexpensive and far more detailed map of both Chora and the entire island.  Apparently, unlike Athens and Crete, in the Cyclades, if you want a good street map you buy it.  Totally fair insted of getting handouts.) Over the course of the next few days, I was impressed by how easily she and Sam found their way around the small town without a map.

We had late  lunch / early dinner  at Nikos on Paparighopopoulou Street, a location recommended by the reception person where, she said, there were a few places making good, traditional food.  The food was not bad: I had chicken tigardia and  ariadne salad.

We looked a little bit around the immediate neighborhood

This mural marked the street where we had to turn from on of the car-traffic bearing streets back into the dwelling areas to reach our apartment

and this plant marked a key turn on the street leading up to our apartment

and went back to look at the waterfront area

and up at the Venetian castle rising above the main town (the older walls showing upper left in this photo)

Nancy and I went supermarket shopping to get breakfasts and other basics for the next few days. 

Then, we all went to sleep before dark. It had been a very long day

Last Two Days in Rethymno, including the Fortezza and Archeological Museum

After our trip to Heraklion and the Palace of Knossos, we Had another off day, walking around Rethymno in between meals.  Sam and Nafisa went down toward the beach and ended up at Mouragio, a restaurant along the waterfront.   The big attraction to them was that the restaurant had a free playroom that entertained the children while we ate.  We paid higher prices for this amenity, but the food was surprisingly not so bad considering both the location and the playroom.  I had a nice plate of grilled dorado, while Nancy had the grilled vegetables.  We stayed for dessert and had baklava with ice cream – it was a huge piece, with U.S style sweetness unlike what we had had at Taverna Knossos; and the ice cream was second rate.  even though we had dessert, we still got the customary “treat” from the house: a small cup with sour orange marmalade topped with yogurt.

While the children napped, we walked around town

along the waterfront further than we had before – I was foraging for a particular restaurant possibility.  We walked up toward the walls of the fortezza

It was windy day, and the surf was pounding the seawall, splashing high into the air

and onto cars parked behind it

The Palace of Knossos and Visiting Heraklion

This is a holding page for a post about our visit to Heraklion and Knossos

A hike in the Patsos Gorge of Agios Antonios

Our son Joe had been under the weather but was feeling better, and decided that he could use some exercise, to we headed off for s hike in one of the famous Cretan gorges.  Sam and Nafisa decided to join us, so we went for one of the closest gorges, the Patsos Gorge, a\so known as the Agios Antonios Gorge because the church of St, Anthony can be found high on a wall in the gorge along the way.

We got there a little more than a half hour after leaving Rethymno, but the children needed something to eat, so we headed to a restaurant situated near the entrance to the gorge: Drimos

There were grilling fires at the back of the dining area, with chickens and lamb sections lining the racks to be grilled

Heraklion Arrival and Relaxing in Rethymno

Rethymno in the late 17th century

Although we made it to our boarding gate in time, insufficiently fed, the flight was substantially delayed, without any information being supplied (in English, at least), as we stood in line for boarding.  We took off over the Aegean; out the window we could see several of the islands,







We arrived in Heraklion shortly before 6 PM; our luggage was the last to come off the plane, and we headed to Enterprise Rent-a-Car where a new surprise awaited us: the staff person told us that Enterprise will not rent cars to non-European Union drivers who do to have either an EU or international drivers license.  No exceptions, he said,  It’s the law, and if you are caught without a proper license, you get fined a thousand Euro’s and the cars are confiscated.  Just too risky, no exceptions.  Maybe some other companies will rent to you, he hinted.

I had chosen Rethymno for our week in Crete because, even though it was about \ an hour's drive west from Heraklion, and was further from the major archeological sites such as Phaistos, Knossos and Gortys, all of which I hoped to see, it was, at the same time, closer to some of the hill towns and natural sites that I also hoped to visit, and it looked to me to be a smaller and more accessible town.

But now, we had a crisis on our hands.  We had prepaid reservations for an apartment 75 minutes away by car, and no way to get there.

A Road Trip to Delphi and Housos Loukas

Over the past two days, we had a road trip to Delphi, staying overnight (our only night for this trip when we will not be staying in a private apartment), in the small village of Delphi, and ending at the Athens airport when we flew to Heraklion in Crete.  It was a great two days, although the final few hours, after our landing, were a bit more tense than any of us would have liked.

Due to a confusion in communications with Andrew Bridges, my best source of personalized travel advice for this trip, I ended up seeking proposals from two similarly named companies that provide private tours in Greece.  Greece Private Tours, and Private Greece Tours.  Both had excellent Trip Advisor reviews (to which I will add, eventually).  By the time Andrew claified which of the two he hasd used, I was well along in the selection process.  In the end, after taking offers from both into consideration, I split the difference, using for the former for our daytrip to Mycenae and Corinth,  and using the latter our current trip.  Both companies provided excellent drivers; I would recommend either without reservation.

Our driver introduced himself as Ellis, but on further inquiry, he said that he just used that name to make things easier for English-speaking customers too lazy to bother to pronounce “Vangelis,” his nickname derived from the common given name Evangelos.  Our vehicle was significantly larger, a 12-seater van (three rows of three seats, one row of two seats beside the sliding door, where there was also a jump seat, plus a seat for a passenger beside the driver).

Vangelis invited me to sit beside him, pointing out that the leg room would be less there, but I took up the invitation – not only better views, but the chance to chat with the driver – good for me and hopefully it was good for him to have some company.

We had had an 8 AM departure schedules, but it took us quite a while to get the whole family and our bags down to the street and out to the van – JUST enough delay that we did not get going until about 8:50 – so that it was barely 9 AM when we passed Media Markt, and electronics store that carried a significant line of cameras, to replace the one that had been brazenly slipped out of my camera bag two days before.   Ordinarily, I would have done a fair amount of consumer research before buying a new camera, but in the circumstances, I came in with only a hope to find a Nikon DSLR (because I have a second Nikon lens) somewhat similar to the one I had lost.  Within a few minutes, with the guidance of a salesman, I settled in on a Nikon D5300; it took much more time to process the paperwork for the sale, and especially to get the paperwork to recover the VAT portion of the price – some 24% on the base price.  It was worth waiting for, but we were not on the road until about 9:30.

Our first stop was the statue of a lion

that commemorated the 338 BC Battle of Chaeronea in which Philip II, the king of Macedonia, decisively defeated the Greek city-states near the city of Chaeronea in Boeotia, ending resistance to his control of the greater part of Greece.  I remarked to Vangelis the irony in the fact that Greece was objecting to the use of “Macedonia” in the name of a country to the north considering that the ancient ruler of that country.  His response was that, as he saw it, Philip was not a foreign conqueror; Macedonia, he asserted, was just one of the Greek city-states, but Philip had the vision to unite a collection of bickering city-states in the interest of a unified.  A unique perspective on history, to be sure, but one that could justify the current Greek claim to the name Macedonia. 

Benaki Museum in Athens, and Excavation under the Acropolis Museun

Today was a day of somewhat limited sightseeing.  Our group divided somewhat; son Joe and I headed off to see the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture, the principal one of several museums founded by the Benakis family of merchants and political figures.   The Benaki had an extensive collection of art and cultural artifacts running from pre-classical times up to the present day.  Some of it I found interesting, some less so.

At the National Archeological Museum I had enjoyed seeing many miniature Cycladic figures – Benaki had this one

and the Mycenaean miniatures, similar to these ones from around 100 to 1400 BC





These Persian bridle handles featuring facing griffins came from the 9th century

 Moving to the Greek classical period, I enjoyed this two-sided “herm” – images of Hermes that served as road posts