Crete: Part I

In August we spent 2 glorious weeks in Crete. We did a ton of relaxing, a nice amount of sightseeing, and ate our weight in Greek salads and baklava. We had rented the top floor of a house/restaurant right on the water and had sea views on three sides of the master bedroom. It was amazing.

Here is the sunset from our main balcony (we had 3) on our first night and our first foray into the sun the next morning. We were by far the palest people around, having come from the land of no sun, and we were so good about sunscreen that not much had changed by the end of our trip.



Here we are eating lunch in our little village of Panormo. This was one of the best Greek salads that we had there, although they were all pretty darn good. Brennan's hair was caked with sweat and sunscreen and took on a personality of it's own. Despite drinking water almost continually, it took us a few days to acclimate to the heat. I think Crete finally thawed us out!



Here are some pictures of breakfast on our balcony, relaxing at the beach below our house, and dinner at the restaurant downstairs. We took the weekend to relax and for Brennan to fight a bug that he picked up on the plane. Patrick ended up running out to the nearest open pharmacy on a Sunday to procure more Ibuprofen for him.



This is what I saw each time I walked into our room.... sparkling blue sea. It made me smile every time. Here is Brennan watching a motorized pirate ship that stopped in at our harbor.



After one failed attempt to visit the city of Rythemno, (Brennan felt too sick and we had to turn around) we finally took a day trip and visited the ruins of the palace at Knossos. We were inland and it was very hot, which was a little tough on the kids. It was also very crowded because all the cruise ships send busloads of tourists here when they stop in at Heraklion. The palace dates from the Minoan period and was huge. We traipsed all over the site, but did not make it into the inner section of the palace. There was just no way the kids could stand in such a long line in the direct sun in 100 degrees. Here are the horns of consecration and some original columns (with modern yet historically accurate paint jobs.)



Here are reproductions of some of the wall frescoes at Knossos. Apparently the painted portions of the site are a bit controversial as modern materials were used.



Our overheated children were so relieved when we stopped for lunch across the street from the site. We were all pretty red and sweaty and the wait staff were kind enough to place us directly in front of the water fan. Nothing like a little evaporative cooling and some ice cream to put smiles back on these sweet faces!



Rythemno, take two. We took another day trip west to wander around the harbor and old town of Rythemno. It was really more of a ramble and we didn't end up at the fort as we had planned, but it was still fun. We parked by the water and a perfect entrance to Rythemno's 12km long beach, which we noted for future reference.



Crete has been under Minoan, Greek, Turkish & Venetian rule. The architecture reflects this and it was a lot of fun to wander through the alleys of Rythemno and explore. Here is our lunch and ice cream break. We may have had ice cream at least once daily, it's hard to say for sure.



We came back the next day to take advantage of Rythemno's beach. It was much cleaner than ours and we rented an umbrella and chairs which was also an improvement on how we had been operating. The kids loved playing in the sand and dipping in the water. Brennan got into paddle ball and liked to wear his swim goggles. They gave the impression that he might, at any moment, dive into the water.



Unfortunately the beach tuckered the kids out so much that by the time we got home for much-needed naps Brennan was tired and clumsy and fell on our balcony, hitting his forehead against a concrete corner. There was no blood but the resulting and immediate bump/horn was horrifying and necessitated a fast trip to a local clinic with a quick stop at the bar downstairs for ice. It was pretty traumatic but he was fine, and after the rest of his forehead swelled up to match the goose egg it was much less noticeable from the front. We had to observe him for two days and wake him up every two hours each night. He also had to stay out of the sun and heat, wasn't allowed to eat anything heavy and couldn't watch tv. So, after an exhausting night of checking on him every two hours with our bags packed in case we needed to speed to the hospital (an hour away), we decided to have a nice, cool, air conditioned aquarium day. The aquarium featured mostly local flora and fauna and was very soothing (they played Enya.) Isla was ecstatic and kept waving and yelling at the fish.





Here we are having dinner at another local village with another great view, and Brennan showing off his new Spiderman watch. Here is also our first attempt of many at a Hudock balcony sunset photo.