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Last couple of days in Greece

 

View from little apartment in Stavros (near airport)

Rocks and dead foliage

And some more of that...with some red earth

After the luxury of our accommodation (and hosts!) of Vergis Epavlis, we chose a fairly modest, family-friendly apartment on the peninsular near the airport. It was away from the bustle of Chania and gave us the chance to experience yet another type of geography – the sea battering the rocks, the wind howling and pretty much nothing else around. We had the opportunity to catch up on some blogging and reading and just chill before the start of our long journey home.

A different view of the Parthenon 

It so looks like a pose, but really was just hanging, looking at the view that is shown in previous photo!

The next day we slowly gathered ourselves and drove the whole 10 minutes to the airport! We took the metro into Athens after arriving ahead of schedule and began to wonder why we had bothered to stay another night in Athens when we could’ve had one more on Crete or even an overnight stop over in Dubai. Originally, the plan was to give us a bit of leeway if we were at all delayed from Crete so as not to miss our flight home. I guess that kind of margin is more suited to ferry travel, rather than flights.

It was quite a giggle to be helping the English-speaking tourists on their first trip into Athens – answer one question and then you are beset with hundreds! Helped Aussies, Canadians, Americans and a couple of Brits (like staying in Athens for 3 nights, 4 weeks ago, makes us experts!!).

Returned to our little budget hotel in the middle of the Plaka and did a couple of things we didn’t know about the first time. One was to climb to the top of Philipapou Hill where there is a monument commemorating a benefactor of Athens (112AD), with absolutely gorgeous views of the Parthenon, the gate and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. Stunning! Only a relatively short uphill stroll too. The park was a popular spot for homeless people, and their dogs.

Brettos wine bar

We visited Brettos, a tasting bar with 95 different wines and a countless number of ouzos and koniaks. Boring us had a dry, white sparkling (have missed it!), then had a light meal at Taverna Thespis before strolling to the Hotel Grande Bretagne for hot chocolate and dessert. And WHAT a dessert! We shared a crème brulee (which was actually 3 different crème brulee cups, of a variety of flavours, and an orange sorbet), and a soft chocolate cake (which was more like a delicious, warm, soft, self-saucing pudding). Both were “close-your-eyes-curl-your-toes” kind of desserts! The environment was beyond decadent and lush, so sumptuous. And to top the evening off, an operatic soprano who happened to be staying there, sang an impromptu aria for all in the ‘Winter Garden Lounge’. Ahhh.

Inside the Hotel Grande Bretagne, Athens

The next day was just generally wandering around Athens. What followed was staying awake for pretty much 36 hours, which was not pleasant, but we arrived home safe and sound, ready for another trip! Or, rather….going back to work!

Nic enjoying the ambience

Vergis Epavlis

Inside our suite 'the House of Flowers' at Vergis Epavlis

Nic and lunch (maybe a big belch is behind that hand!)

Our pool

After our afternoon sleep in Rethymnon, Nic decided to search the net for possible accommodation in central Crete, with no definite plan of where, just seeing what popped up. And something quite special did. ‘Vergis Epavlis’ are 4 luxury suites on the outskirts of a town called Agios Myronas, south of Heraklion. They are very classic, upmarket Cretan in design, and the location is simply superb. We rang a day ahead and they had availability for 2 nights and gave us a big discount on the rack rate. This accommodation would have to be one of the most memorable of any we have had on any holiday, and this was entirely due to the hosts. They were incredibly personable – hugely talented with people and loving it! We were greeted with a sumptuous lunch whipped up by Mrs Vergis (Stella) – a Greek salad and potato omelette, all made with fresh local organic ingredients, and they tasted better than anything we had eaten before! The flavours so rich and tantalising! We also had a bottle of their own white wine (commissioned from the vintner, but labelled for them). Knowing that we were celebrating our wedding anniversary, Stella also threw in her own recipe chocolate, cream and cherry ice cream dessert creation….and some home brew raki! What a lunch! Fit for a king! Needless to say, we didn’t need any dinner that night, but made sure we went for a walk up a stupidly steep hill to get to the village to have a little explore (and nod and say ‘kalespera’ to all the men sitting in their groups in places that looked like combinations of cafés and TABs!).

Breakfast room and magnificent view

Nic and resident dog of Vergis Epavlis, Dalmatian, Sara

Slept well! Had the most extravagant breakfast of our lives the next morning. It was a buffet, but Stella and Stellois insisted we try many of their Cretan specialties, so pretty soon we were as full as googs! THEN Stella brought out a DESSERT!! FOR BREAKFAST!!! A little ramekin of vanilla cream each. Now, we couldn’t say ‘no’ and insult her, could we? So we waddled out of the breakfast room and set off on our day of exploring, suggested by our trusty Ioannis (the manager).

Knossos

Dolphin fresco in Queen's apartments, Knossos (although historians say this was actually on the floor, not the wall)

Another room in the Queen's apartment, Knossos

John, happily leaning against tree in Knossos

But wait! Forgot to mention stopping at Knossos on our way from Rethymnon to Agios Myronas. This is the largest Minoan palace in the world and it was destroyed by the tsunami caused by an early eruption on Santorini. In the early 20th century, Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist, set about excavating and rebuilding these ruins. His reconstruction is now frowned upon by historians and archaeologists, but I guess he thought he was doing the right thing at the time. There is a definite feeling of the site being “Disneyed” – built over with concrete and coloured beautifully to make us all go ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at the wonder of the excesses of the Minoans. Big 20th century frescoes abounded. There is now huge debate about whether what Evans said ‘was’ actually ‘was’. But they can’t exactly tear it all down, can they?

Basilica of Ayios Titos at Gortys

Odeon at Gortys

So our day trip from ‘Vergis Epavlis’ began late morning (that ginormous breakfast slowed us down a tad!), with our first stop being Gortys. This is not a ‘numerous star’ site on the list for the guide books, but we enjoyed it. It had a lovely church (or half of a church remaining!) – the Basilica of Ayios Titos – in the name of the saint that converted the island to Christianity. Quite lovely There was also a little Odeon theatre. The impressive thing about the Odeon was the full inscription of the ancient city’s laws on the walls of the audience corridors. Largest inscription of it’s kind in Greek. 

Praying mantis at Phaestos

John at Phaestos

We went from there to Phaestos (or Festos, or Phaistos, or…the list goes on!). This spoke to us more than Knossos. It wasn’t quite as large, but it was still very impressive. The supposition is that these people built their palace in this location (on the side of a hill) for the sheer beauty of the view, rather than for any defensive advantage. Nice. And the view was spectacular!

Ruins at Phaestos

We had lunch at Taverna Sofia in a village called Sivas. The owner was witty, friendly and wanted to call the police because we didn’t want bread with our lunch. They still rewarded us with more raki than we could drink and an apple for dessert that looked like it had been bred on steroids, it was so huge. We left them very relaxed – John more so than Nic, cause she was driving! We then headed south past the Odigitrias Monastery down a dirt road, driving as far as we could go before parking and walking to the coast. Because we listened to the advice of the our trusty Ioannis, we only had about a 15 minute walk down the gorge to the coast, rather than the 45 minutes or more for those who left their cars way too early!

Musical goat

It was quite surreal walking down this gorge with the orchestra of goat bells jingling as we walked – the goats were wandering through the oleander along the gorge and clambering over the sides of the cliffs surrounding us. The buzz of the bees in the oleanders made for a nice cello effect under the bells. Bizarre, but perfect. We also stumbled across an old church (Ayio Farango) in the middle of nowhere with some cute kittens playing near the water pump along side it. Loved the marble inscription near the door of the church, warning people about nudity when visiting! Maybe that was aimed at the hippy population who camp on the pebble beach and in the nearby caves. We joined the hippies in our changing into swimmers on the beach and splashing about in the so very clear aqua water. Only spent about an hour at this pebble beach, but had such a delightful time.

No nudity in church!

Camping hippies and goat on cliff

Drove back to our abode after our hippy experience, arriving about 7pm. Just about time for a quick change and a trek (rather than a stroll) up to the village for dinner. We went to the taverna with some sort of connection to the suites where we were staying and ordered what we thought was a small meal – one salad and one appetizer between us. Well, as our order was placed on an order slip for ease of the non-English speaking staff, we didn’t think to ask for ‘no bread’. So a huge basket of yummy brown bread arrived (a few varieties), and our meal was, of course, followed by a complimentary dessert and raki. The dessert was like nothing we had experienced before. It was true glaced local fruits – oranges, figs and grapes. Sweet and so very delicious. This meant yet another waddle home for the night.

Billy goat - check out those horns!

Beautiful place for a swim

On the way back to our suite, we met two dogs. One, a sweet little medium sized mutt who was just so eager to play and chat, and a larger black male, who was only interested in coming along cause he was trying to get lucky with our friendly mutt. We thought after we had gone a few blocks, that they would run off again, but she was determined to keep us company. The property where we were staying had huge automated gates. We managed to get in without her following, but then she discovered that she could slip through the bars! After some leaping at her excitement of not being separated from us, she trotted off straight to the door of our suite (must have been able to smell us there). We squeezed through the front door without her (even though she was sitting expectantly right at the opening!), and started to make ourselves comfortable for the evening. She whined and barked a couple of times and then was silent.

Our dog

Final breakfast at Vergis Epavlis

"Take me with you!!"

We went to bed and had another great night’s sleep, then the next morning, after showers and pottering about, heard this cute little bark at the door. She hadn’t left! As the owners of the property had a dog of their own (a lovely Dalmatian, Sara), they tried to hunt her away numerous times, but she just kept coming back to our door and tried to impress us with a mixture of her submissiveness and her boisterous enthusiasm every time we went out the door. She was smart, too, and would’ve been easily trainable because of this and her desire to please. Nic so wanted to take her home and was particularly sad when it was time to leave a few hours later. This dog just wouldn’t give up. It was only as we were driving away that she stopped following us. It was far too heartbreaking for a holiday experience!

Tree blocking our exit - see, no one wanted us to go!

Rethymnon

Soldier statue at roundabout in Rethymnon

Many cafes squeezed into the very popular tourist spot of the Inner Harbour

Rethymnon was another delightful surprise on Crete. According to the guidebooks, only Chania rivals Rethymnon for the beauty of its architecture. Unfortunately for us, we only had one afternoon and evening there, but we certainly appreciated it in the short time we had.

Us shopping when the stores are closed!

Fancy flower topped bagel-looking things

We researched our hotel options before arrival, and were very grateful to the handy and wise TripAdvisor. A hotel high on its list for Rethymnon (at number 3?) was Hotel Leo, which was perfect. It was in an alley way, one street back from the harbour, and was in a tastefully and expertly renovated building that kept its old stone walls and dark wooden furniture, but complimented those with modern conveniences and great lighting and beautiful, plush textiles. The bathroom was a dream. AND…..it was SILENT AT NIGHT! VERY happy campers! One of the best things about travelling in the shoulder season and not booking is that if you turn up at the last minute, you get amazing discounts! (In fact, the savings in our hotels have easily covered the purchase of jewellery! Luckily!)

Nic enjoying the vitamin D on the walls of the Fortezza

More fortress wall in the fading sun

We found a great parking spot for our tiny, but underpowered, Fiat rental car, and unloaded our bags. We carried them up two flights (42 steps – John counted) and breathed a sigh of relief when we made it to the top. We went to a fairly new taverna, recommended by the trusty woman on reception, called ‘La Boheme’. The food was of a high quality and was reasonably priced. We spent the afternoon exploring (in not much detail!) the little back streets of the old town, as well as the very touristy harbour – complete with pirate ship (with bloody big skull motif) for evening meals and cruises.

Palm tree at the top of the Fortezza

John's self-portrait

We enjoyed an afternoon drink by the water at a low key place called ‘Samaria’ before climbing the Fortezza of the town in the evening. The Fortezza is the largest Venetian fortress ever built, but it wasn’t terribly effective in terms of being a stronghold and protecting its community!

More ice cream

A wonderful night’s sleep was had by us both, and we awoke refreshed, wishing we had more days in our holiday to spend in Rethymnon…and Crete in general!

Gorgeous taverna in the old part of Rethymnon

Samaria Gorge

The first treacherous steps (that went for a couple of kms) - slippery marble and loose rocks

Nic and John at the bottom of the gorge

One of the many stone towers walkers have built as they've passed

Samaria Gorge was a wonderful adventure. It’s the longest gorge in Europe so it felt like a great personal achievement to traverse the full 16kms (even if it was all downhill, it was still pretty rough going on those ankles and knees at times!).

Nic looking at very big mountain

John on dry river bed (still prone to flash flooding at certain times of year - not now though!)

Our journey began at 6:15am when we met the coach at our pick up point in Chania (many others had had to join the group far earlier when the coach drove past their hotels out of town). Nic survived the hour bus ride along winding hairpin bends with no upset stomach and was ready to tackle the hike when we arrived at 7:30am (after all necessary breakfast and toilet stops!)

Nic's back....and more amazing rock!

 Lots of shots of us at different points along walk (16km is a LONG way, plenty of time to snap off quite a few pics!)

The gorge is incredibly beautiful in its rock formations and strata, and to see the remains of the village of Samaria (which was occupied until 1962) was quite surreal. It was also a joy to see the only large wild animal of Greece, the kri kri (wild mountain goat) in this great national park. Some of them were quite used to people and approached at one of our rest stops (at the village of Samaria) to check if there was anything interesting on the menu – but there wasn’t! Only orange! – SO not interested!)

Wild (or not so wild!) kri kri looking for food

'The Iron Gates' - gorge is only 3m wide at this point

Again, from the other side

We made it to the bottom unscathed, which is unusual, both for us and, it seems, the majority! It seems incidental accidents are common place and donkeys are at the ready to spring into action on their rescue missions when called on (there are men with walkie talkies ready with donkeys when the call comes). At the end of the season there are only about 800 people walking the gorge daily, compared to about 2000 in the height of summer. So glad we travel in the shoulder period! We actually had the opportunity to enjoy the wonder of our surrounds without the constant press of people. Once the initial rush of everyone setting off had subsided, we were often alone, except at rest points (due to our swifter walking style!). Lovely really.

Old bridge on southern side of the gorge  

A just reward for completing Samaria Gorge walk!

View of southern Cretan coastline from ferry