- Flew from Rome to Chania, a charming port town in northwest Crete with strong Venetian and Ottoman influences. We stayed for five nights.
- This was the tenth week of our pan-European trip so we were quite happy to relax and enjoy swims at the town beach, ambles around the harbour, and wanders through the backstreets and lanes. Plus great meals in the tavernas which were always finished off with fresh fruit and raki. Philoxenia Cretan-style…
- One day I did a day walk through Samaria Gorge which was just spectacular.
- From Chania we caught the bus to Heraklion for a three night stay. Our main aim was to see the famous Minoan Palace of Knossos and the museum that holds its treasures. The museum was undergoing major renovation but we were able to see some of the iconic holdings in an annexe.
- Heraklion is a no fuss, workaday place. It grows on you the longer you stay. The Venetian port is striking, and walking the old walls is fun. On a high point of the old walls there is a beautifully sited grave of Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ. If you haven’t read him, take the time to do so. He is irrepressible. His epitath reads “I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free“.
- Heraklion also has excellent seafood tavernas on the waterfront.
