Aegean Odyssey S. Med Cruise Part 3of3: Crete & Athens

Chania Crete, out next port of call.

From Malta to Crete - Part 3 of our Voyage

(Link to part 1:Sicily               Link to part 2:Malta)

Easter Sunday at Sea

After 4 port days in a row in Sicily and Malta, we enjoyed a nice leisurely day at sea.  And it was Easter Sunday.  We had a lovely Easter Lunch with Ham and Turkey and all the trimmings with our new travel family.

Easter Bunny Fruit

 Delicious homemade Easter Breads

 oops, Happy Eastern (English not everyone's first language)

Ship Problems:  delays and denials

 It turned out that we had  an extra full day at sea since we were running on only one engine.  Our next port of call was Chania Crete and we  were to be in Chania at 8am on Easter Monday, but arrival time was continually postponed ...noon, then 1pm, then 5pm.    Never once did they blame it on the engine, only on the sea and winds 😠.  It was very obvious by the wake, smoke stack and speed of 6 knots, that only one engine was working -and very slowly.

    We finally arrived in Chania's port of Souda by 6 pm (10 hours late) where we had a tug help us dock.   The internet was on top of our situation, though.

CHANIA, CRETE

We did get an evening tour of this beautiful old Venetian Port, and the ship had dining rooms open for our late arrival back at the ship.

Patiently waiting to get docked in Crete.



Snowcapped Mountains in Crete - wow!

We then went through a maze of little streets to come out at the beautiful Venetian Harbour.

And back to our ship for the evening.  

The next port was Heraklion and just a short distance down the coast.  When we got up, we noticed we had not left the dock.  The ship was not allowed to leave until it had an inspection, so, not to miss our tours to Knossos,  we were all bused the 2.5 hrs. to Heraklion.

The bus ride to Heraklion turned out to be a good thing.  We saw the rugged countryside, snow-capped mountains and beach resorts; all of which would have been missed if we had sailed to Heraklion.

Knossos

Crete’s most famous historical attraction is the Palace of Knossos, the grand capital of Minoan Crete, located 5km south of Heraklion ( or Iraklion).    The ruins and  re-creations are impressive; incorporating an immense palace, courtyards, private apartments, baths,  frescoes and more. 

In the first palace period around 2,000 BC the urban area reached a size of as many as 18,000 people.   In its peak, the palace and surrounding city boasted a population of 100,000 people (shortly after 1700 BC).

Knossos may be best known for the Myths about King Minos, Daedalus and Icarus (who flew too close to the sun), and it's labyrinth that was home of the Minotaur.

Sir Arthur Evans began excavations in 1900.  There has been some controversy over the look and interpretations of the re-creations.

The entire complex was huge.  Here is a wooden representation.

The theatre steps seen in the model above, can also be seen in below when we were on-site.

People are no longer allowed in the lower levels as the foundation rock is much more fragile than the granite(?) of the palace.  You can see above that the rock is sinking.

These "bull horns", about 8-9' high,  decorated the top levels of the the complex (as seen in the wooden model)

The Throne Room - the walls are reproductions, but the floor is the the original 4000 year old floor.

Above is the painted mural representation, below is the actual remnants of the 3000 year old painting seen in the museum (the small chunks of plaster glued to the wall are the original).

After lunch we visited The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.  This is a must to visit in addition to the site of Knossos.

Amazing that they could do the entire mural based on the tiny bits and pieces of artifacts.

At the top of this display of artifacts are actual tweezers and razor blades used by the Minoans

Ha ha  - look at the octopus ...I think they had Sponge Bob cartoons 4000 years ago.

The intricately carved Bull's Head Vessel (about 1500 BC).  Made of soapstone, mother of pearl, gold and  jasper for the red eyes.

A beautiful Minoan bath tub ..... I think I want one.

Lunch at the  Arolithos Traditional Village

We were taken to lunch up in the hills to a traditional Cretan Village.  It is very quaint and picturesque and is now a hotel and banquet hall.  We had a fabulous traditional lunch.



This way up to the food!

The banquet hall was in this building

Our group was bused from our cruise ship ...probably about 200-250 people in total.

We had appetizers, wine, and above roasted potatoes, greek salad,  pork and chicken.  Special local Easter pastries were for dessert and of course some Raki to wash it all down.

Here are some more picturs of the property - it was hard to stop taking photos!

In the distance, olive groves and snow capped mountains.

A traditional olive oil press

Lemon Trees

On the drive back to Chania, we would play spot the goat - they were climbing hills all over the place.

No Santorini this trip, which was huge disappointment for all of us.  But we did get a nice relaxing day at sea, and a great last night dinner before we got to Athens.

Athens

We disembarked the Aegean Odyssey (which was then taken to dry-dock for 4 months for a much needed engine repair) and bused into Athens to stay at the  Grand Bretagne Hotel for 2 nights.  

Very happy to be back at the Grand Bretagne Hotel.  It was a palace in a former life and is now a lovely, elegant hotel.

View from the roof of the The Grand Bretagne Hotel.

The Athens Byzantine Museum - an incredible collection of art and icons from the Middle Ages.

 Outside the museum was just as beautiful as the inside with the incredible gardens of lavender, roses and wisteria.

The orange trees had fruit and were in blossom at the same time - and were incredibly fragrant.

A statue rolling her eyes at Norm on his phone.  Ha ha  ;-)

Our Byzantine tour concluded with a trip up into the mountains of the countryside to the Kaisariani Monastery.  

The scenery here was stunning and so peaceful - a lovely spot.

 

Athens

Our Hotel was located right at the front of the bus on the map.  A very handy location for exploring Athens

Ancient Agora area

A Walk through Monasteraki - a bustling square full of people, restaurants and shops.

A trip to the Athens Market

Since it was Easter weekend, many people were out buying their Easter Lamb.  Below the butcher is being interviewed for TV news.

Norm finds a Boat Store

The Flea Market in Monasteraki

 The University

 Plaka restaurants on the side of the Acropolis
        .......restaurants uphill

....and down

.....And  cats waiting at the back doors for snacktime.

.......and interesting little side streets to wonder down.

Ancient Marble Olympic Stadium - restored for the 2004 Olympics

CAUGHT!  (thanks Christina for the photo)

Our hotel had wonderful night views of Syntagma Square and the Acropolis

Last night in Athens - we had  a very memorable dinner with friends where we got the royal treatment ...a room to ourselves, a fantastic waiter and of course very fabulous food!  A very fun last night of our trip.

Since this was our 3rd trip to Athens, we did not go up to the Acropolis-  here are the photos from our 2015 trip    Mary& Norm Acropolis and Athens 2015

.....here's a glimpse of Santorini from our land tour in 2015 (I think a week, not an afternoon is a better option) Santorini 2015