Greece: Exploring Crete

 

Exploring  Crete

Wednesday

We decided to travel down the eastern coast of Crete today heading for Agio Nicholas and Plaka.  We headed out with a Canadian driving(Sandra) on the highway (a real highway) and then got into a smaller coastal road at Neapoli.  Actually we got onto the smaller coastal road after heading down a few (very) narrow streets that resembled tiny alleyways.  Once on the road again we headed to Agio Nicholas which was a pretty seaside town with a "lake" connected to the harbour and a bustling shopping area for Trish.  We had a lovely drink on the patio at a spot on the lake and meandered through the shops for a bit. 

 

 

 

 We came home via Plaka where the other half (the rich ones) stay and stopped to look at the island of Spinalonga. Spinalonga was a Venetian fortress that was later used  as a leper colony.

 

On the way home we stopped to eat in Amoudra at Taverna Mitato.  

After dinner we headed home to our lovely villa in the tiny village of Palaiocastro.

 

 

Thursday

We all were up a tad earlier today as we had agreed to head tow Konossos earliesh to avoid the heat and the crowds.

Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archeological site on Crete and is considered Europes oldest city. On the ruins of the Neolithic settlement was built the first Minoan palace (1900BC) where the dynasty of Minans ruled. The site was discovered in 1878 and excavations began in 1900AD.

 

Cathy & Sandy S participated in a guided tour which they found very informative, although a certain person in their tour did ask a LOT of questions and appears to think Cathy needed him to translate the majority of what the guide was saying. One of the more famous symbols was the two headed axe.

 

 One of the surprises was that the Queen had a working toilet in the palace even so long ago...with water coming in and waste going out.

 

 

 

After navigating their way through Gazi to locate a local bakery Cathy and the Sandy's headed back to the villa where Trish had been resting up her sore hip. They chilled for a while and then headed down to the local beach for an afternoon dip and followed this with dinner at the local taverna. 

 

With probing questions from Sandy C the waiter  disclosed that he was a local and that they opened the taverna for about 7 months each year. In the winter months there is only about 20 people in the small village of Paliokastro and that the war from the sea comes up into the taverna.

On the drive to the taverna from the villa the travel buddies decided to video the drive and share the uniqueness of the village.