A History Nerd In DC: My Big Fat Greek Adventure (Part 2)

On Sunday the 3rd we flew from Athens to Crete (turns out it's like a 10 hour boat ride, so we opted to fly). We decided to rent a car there, because it's a big island and there isn't much in the way of public transportation. Driving in Greece was an adventure, to say the least.

Here's me with the keys.

Basically, the Greeks are crazy drivers. It was very nerve-wracking being behind the wheel. People don't stay in their designated lane. Ever. People drive on the shoulder of the highway and use the middle for passing, and sometimes there will be a car passing in each direction at the same time. I have never been so scared in my life.

We made it to our hotel in the resort town of Hersonissos. Which would've been ok if the weather hadn't been cold and rainy.

And if our hotel room hadn't been worse than a Motel 6. Seriously, it was horrible. The beds were so hard that we all woke up with joint/back pain.

We had heard that there was a region nearby that was famous for its linens. So after arriving at the hotel, we took a drive up into the mountains, which was another adventure. Thank God I grew up in the central valley and know how to drive in the fog. The further up the mountain we went, the foggier it got. But the countryside is pretty!

We came upon a little village and stopped for lunch in the village square.

Even the simplest churches were ornate on the inside.

We continued driving but didn't get as far as we liked, on account of the dense fog. We managed to do some linen shopping in another small village, then we headed back down the mountain.

The next morning we checked out as soon as we could, even though we were booked for two more nights. We just couldn't stay at that hotel anymore. Plus there was nothing to do around there but go to the beach. So we decided to head west to the city of Rethymno and find our own lodgings.

But first, we stopped in the capital city of Heraklion and visited the Archaeological Museum, only to find out that the museum is closed for renovations. There was only a small exhibit space open.

Some artifacts from Knossos Palace.

Here's Kara with the famous Phaistos Disk. I got yelled at after taking this picture. Apparently you can only take pictures of objects but not of people (??). I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Then we drove about five miles south to Knossos Palace, which was pretty impressive. It was built by the Minoan civilization around 1900 BC. Some of it is original, but it has also been reconstructed in some areas.

The throne room, with reportedly the oldest throne in Europe.

While we were there, we kept hearing these insanely loud bird calls, like nothing I'd ever heard before. Then we realized there were peacocks in the trees!!

I didn't know peacocks could fly!

From there we drove on to Rethymno about an hour and a half west. We didn't arrive until fairly late, and we made quite a spectacle as we were dragging our luggage through the cobblestone streets. All the locals were laughing at us. (The streets are too narrow to drive on, so we had to park quite a distance from our hotel.) Then we had trouble opening the ancient hotel door (the proprieter had already left for the evening), and the manager of the taverna next door had to help us.

We stayed at this cute little bed and breakfast in the heart of Old Town. Rethymno was occupied by the Venetians during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the Old Town section reflects the city's heritage.

Our hotel with the taverna next door.