Heraklion, Crete, Greece, Stop 3

June 20 We pack up our things and say farewell to our little cave house. We have some time to kill before we take the ferry so we first hang out at a café and then go back to our meatless souvlaki place for a cheap lunch. Then transport to the port, where we board the ferry to Heraklion/Iraklion, where we will be two nights. The ferry ride is uneventful and we are happy about that. When we arrive and find our Airbnb, which is wonderful and large enough that the kids each have their own room, we are all very hungry. The group decides to take a break from gyro/tzatziki/souvlaki/pita/etc and find a Chinese restaurant a few minutes away. It is delicious and we even have a view of the water. We walk around the Old Town area which is lively. We think we will return the next day for dinner.

Wow, what a shirt!

June 21 Today is our only full day in Heraklion so we wake up and visit a little café for our daily freddo cappuccino. On the way, we see two women chatting from balconies across the street from each other. Love that!

We are off to Knossos today. Knossos is a Minoan palace (some controversy about this: https://travelhelix.com/2019/02/09/the-minoan-palace-of-knossos-controversial-past-reflections- on-the- present/#:~:text=The%20Knossos%20controversy%20is%20many,infighting%20between%20C hristians%20and%20Muslims.) and the largest archaeological site in Crete. In Greek mythology, Knossos is ruled by King Minos, and the Minotaur is kept in a labyrinth beneath the palace. Theseus and the Minotaur myth: https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/myth-of- theseus-and-minotaur/

Wow, it’s rare that after we visit a place, we feel more confused. That is what Knossos has done to us. It was discovered by a guy named Arthur Evans and he basically culturally appropriated the place. It’s like if a British dude went to Pompeii and was like, hey, I think this is xyz and so he names it that. Then says oh, I think there was a staircase over there. So builds one. Huge eye rolls going on. There are a lot of signs around the site that say Arthur Evans said this area is for rubbish removal but we don’t really know for sure. And he built columns in a few places that people think are literally upside down. I’m not going to write a whole blog on it because this travel writer summed it up pretty well in this blog: https://travelhelix.com/2019/02/09/the- minoan-palace-of-knossos-controversial-past-reflections-on-the-present/

Luckily, we were able to walk right up and get our tickets without any waiting. It was hot but manageable. After Knossos, we hopped in a cab and headed back to the downtown area for some lunch. Mia had seen a place the previous night she wanted to try so we went there. It’s called Utopia. I had a Cretan salad with “whole wheat screw nuts.” Turns out that means croutons. It was delicious. I am making my way through Greece by eating lots and lots of salads and it is WONDERFUL!!! Minus the cheese. For those of you who know me well, I don’t do cheese. Not even in Greece.

After lunch, the kids decide to head back to the Airbnb while Dmitri and I go to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. In addition to it being air conditioned, we are happy to report that we got a lot more information than we did at Knossos in the morning. Knowing what I know now, I would skip Knossos and head straight for the museum. No matter. Live and learn.

Tonight we pack up again as we plan to leave Heraklion in the morning. We will rent a car first thing and make a few stops along the way on the road trip to Chania.

While I pack and sort, Dmitri and the kids head out to find food.

***Mia: Dad and I were happy to take a short break from Greek food and we ate some stir fry from a take-away stall while Jack had gyro from the place next store. We ate on a park bench about 500ft from the central pedestrian/eating area in attempt to escape the noisiness of the restaurants, but instead found ourselves across from two men blasting music out of large amp. After we ate, we decided on getting Jack a Nutella crepe from a dessert stall called “Yummy at George’s.” We met George himself, who was very kind and successfully convinced Dad and me to split a chimney cake.***

***Dmitri: Heraklion was, eh, fine but not an exciting stop. When the most important cultural site is basically totally messed up by a foreigner and you can’t even know what is real, well, I don’t know if it even makes sense to see it. Well, the people were nice, which has been very consistent in Greece.***

No matter where we go, Jack always manages to find a cat!