The church at the Arkadi monastery, a place of deep significance. It was the location of the last Crete resistance to the Ottomans. Instead of just giving in, the Cretes fought long and hard, killing 1,500 Turks in the process. Of the 900 people at the monastery, only just over 100 survived. Instead of surrendering,the abbot waited until they were surrounded at the end, and then blew up the gunpowder room (killing all nearby in the process).
Arkadi Monastery
hey Google Maps! These rocks and my undercarriage were never supposed to meet!
I had never thought of this size of car being large (especially given the descriptor “compact”) until I had to drive and park it in Crete. Oh my. Panda, I miss you!
A not-so-delectable option on the menu at a cafe in Chania
Chania, with its Venetian fortifications
An incredible Greek/Turkish meal in Chania
My new friend at the outdoor restaurant. A strong attempt on the Cat’s part…but no food from me!
Early in the 8 mile downhill hike at the Samaria Gorge, which is apparently the longest gorge in Europe.
There was a sign at entry stating that rock fall is always a problem, but even more so now because of the earthquake the prior Saturday. The sign continued…”Let us rejoice in stable step.” Uhh, not encouraging. Nor was this rock shield.
These signs appeared throughout the park (as did tourists doing odd things like scratching their bellies). :) I was relieved to see that walking quickly would protect me from rock fall. As if…
Walking through the gorge was quite cool in the end, with the many rock fields and steep walls surrounding us.
And we had a lovely beautifully-named restaurant to relax at the end.
The view from our balcony in Chania. You can see the roof of the Turkish restaurant to the right, complete with six half domes.
These Fish Spas were all over Chania. Um, gross. I can’t imagine that is hygienic. And really, what is wrong with a good pumice stone or foot file?
I couldn’t help but think of a priceless SNL skit that featured something else in a box when I saw this. Giggle.
This place was bombed out in WW2, amazingly. You can also spy a touch of the rather less stunning Crete architecture by checking out the buildings above the ruins.
Surprise! This beauty is in a random neighborhood on our way to a winery.
And here is a closer look! The neighbors must love the garden decor!
An 800 year old olive tree at a winery, but long since gifted to the Catholic Church.
We found an awesome little beach bar en route back to Heraklion, complete with delicious cappuccino
It was super windy at the beach, but beautiful and clear. (If you look closely, you can see a lovely rash near my ankles likely thanks to dipping my feet in the Libyan Sea. Oh well..still totally worth it!)
The outdoor restaurant had cats AND chickens running around. One of the cats was missing an eye. Whatcha think? The cat try to eat the chicken and get punished? (Admittedly, after a while, the whole barnyard scene got a little unappetizing, even though we were eating different animals..calamari and pig.)
Our last dinner in Crete, overlooking the old fort in Heraklion on a rainy night…with a bottle of surprisingly good Crete wine (especially at $14 a bottle) and delicious saganaki (fried cheese). A wonderful end to a great week.
Ok, I should probably admit that I didn’t really have specific expectations for Crete. My friend and I chose it due to a combination of proximity to Turkey and a friend’s recommendation, after we decided with sadness to forgo our planned trip to Israel. Israel sounded amazing and fascinating…but was also the potential target of Syria around the time we were finalizing our plans. and while I can be rather open to seemingly risky travel situations, even I have my limits. So Crete it was! Some people of the historical bent said it would be incredible to be able to visit the ancient Minoan sites (dating back to 1450 B.C.); one guidebook stated that Crete (or at least its capital) was “not pretty in a conventional way”. From my perspective, the guidebook’s commentary was the more accurate. Don’t get me wrong…my friend and I had a fantastic five days; we met some wonderful friendly people, and we found places of great beauty. But, other than the Venetian old town in Chania which was quite picturesque,the Cretan architecture left more than a little to be desired. Think 1960’s block housing, with some boring block balconies, all in white with a touch of decrepit thrown in. As for the Minoan sites, well, I guess I wasn’t inspired enough to take a photo. Sorry about that. it was basically a village of stone buildings and walkways mostly in ruin. Guess the archaeologist who discovered it was deemed to be alittle overly creative in his re-imagining and reconstruction, doing things like creating entirely new paintings on walls (as if he knew what had been there)… Which made it a bit odd since it was tough to know what was real and what was mere theater. a few more random highlights and observations:
1. Apparently Crete is a hot spot for Swedes, as was readily apparent. My favorite Swede moment was seeing a cyclist pick up the bottle of olive oil from the table at a winery and use it as suntan oil on his legs (yes, at the table)!
2. Cats. They are everywhere around restaurants and quite healthy looking. Must be hell for people with cat allergies.
3. Most Greek places give you free dessert at the end the Meal, and bread with the meal. So very different from Italy where they charge you something (like a cover) just to sit down.
4. Pita bread in Greece is amazing, but surprisingly not that prevalent vs. plain white bread. Where did US pita go wrong?
5. Dear Google: Sending me off of a wonderful asphalt road onto a rocky 4wdrive adventure road was not appreciated by me or my rental car. I am still perplexed as to why we took asphalt going one direction and yet not the other (returning to the exact same place). I still love you, Google Maps, most of the time.
6. Crete has the longest gorge in Europe (filled with a LOT of rocks). To hike it also required one of the more ridiculous series of modes of transit. Somehow they made it sound like a walk in the park, as evidenced by the thousands of daily hikers. Yet, after a surprisingly long bus ride to the mountain top, an 8 mile rocky hike, to a bus (to shave off the next and final rocky mile), to a 3 hour wait, to a ferry, and then back to a bus…to a walk back home…we were a little over it. Go figure.
7. In Crete, many traffic lights were simply turned off. Made it a little tricky to drive, since even the ones that were on were not that bright. We are guessing this is a money-saving initiative given Greece’s financial challenges. Not a bad idea (for areas with comparatively minimal traffic).
