Saturday, August 20, 2011

Days 36, 37, 38 Amsterdam

Day 36 - Amsterdam

Our flight left a little late at 7:40am, so we got in at 9:30. A little time to wander the mall at Shiphol airport. After the mall/airport, we went to weterringstraat, a neighborhood north of the harbor. It was everything that I expected of Amsterdam, the canals, the buildings, the people on bikes and the smell that is synonymous with Amsterdam. We passed Cafes and "coffeeshops" daring each other to go in. 

We went to our room, checked in, had a nap then went out for Thai food at Bird, the best Thai restaurant in Amsterdam. Located right in the edge of the redlight district, has the sights right in front of you while you eat. After Bird, we walked around the town a little more, then headed off back to the room about 12am. 

Day 37 -

We slept in til 11, then went to Anne Frank house. It took us 2 hours waiting in line before we got into the building. Reading excerpts from her diary as we looked into restored rooms, made you both laugh and cry. The family plus 4 others lived in that 500 sq ft home for 3 years, until someone betrayed them and they were shipped to Auschwitz. Only the father lived. With the Anne Frank house done, we decided to do a canal cruise. In an hour we drank back some Heinekens and meandered the canals of Amsterdam, completely encircling the town. We learned that the houses are so small that they have to move everything into the windows. Every place has a bell tower where a pulley is connected and the furniture is hauled up. We learned a lot about the town, by just cruising and listening to the captain's stories. Some warehouses penetrate up to 30 metres below the street, they close off the slough to the canals nightly to clean the waters and Amsterdam has a housing shortage, that's why the have all the houseboats. 

Fun fact: the Dutch eat everything with a knife and fork, even hamburgers! 

The canal cruise and Heinekens whetted the palate for more booze and food. So, off to Burger Meester we went!! 100% Organic burgers freshly made and brought out to you, eventhough the shake was great, it cost almost as much as a burger did. We scarfed down our burgers and bought some beer and wine to do some pre drinking before we explored the red light district. We drank some liquid courage and headed off. Holy crap, the best window shopping in the world! We spent a few hours poppin in and out of a few bars and then it was closing time! They close up the red light district at 1am, and the funniest thing is seeing the girls, who were advertising their assets moments before, leaving "work" in their street clothes. It was time for more food!! A little sauced by this point, we bought some shoarma and trudged home. 

Day 38

Last day of vacation. :(

We woke up and went out for coffee, then walked to the Van Goh museum. It contains over 200 original paintings, 300 sketches and 700 letters of correspondence between himself and his brother. The highlight was the "Potato Eaters", his only attempt at painting a masterpiece. Some surprises included a few Gaugan pieces and a few Monet pieces. We walked around, and just took in the markets, squares and shops. We went out for coffee to refuel and ate some pannenkoeks then continued on back to the apartment. We had to eat our last meal at a Surinamese restaurant called Kam Yin and we walked the redlight district for the last time...on this trip. 

I just like to say that out of all of our travels (Mexico, USA, Belize, Turkey, Greece, Czech Republic, Amsterdam was the only place where we didn't feel like dumb tourists. Everyone was super friendly, as long as you were friendly and no one gave a crap what you looked like, who you were etc. Everyone in Amsterdam is concerned with their own lives, not yours. Oh yeah, and everyone in Amsterdam is beautiful and fit, you'd have to be to ride your bike everywhere!!          

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Days 32, 33, 34, 35 Prague

Day 32 - Prague 

We made it to Prague around 6am the plane stunk and the seats sucked but I think I'm just sick of travel days. When we got into Prague we hit up a cab and drove into the city. It was beautiful!!! As it dropped us off at our apartment, we decided that we should take the opportunity to explore the old town in peace and quiet. Only the joggers were out at this time!! We crossed Charles Bridge into the lesser town and explored. Charles Bridge is fantastic when there is no one around!! You actually have room to explore, take photos and soak it all in. After wandering, we had breakfast and checked in to the apartment. After this one, there is no need to ever purchase a hotel room ever again! The price and the room we have to move around in was incomparable.  Big bathroom, kitchen, living room and a huge queen size bedroom with 500 year old frescoes above us. We napped and after we went to see the old town square, passing by some great buildings as we did so. The clock tower was one of them. So fantastic, every hour on the hour, little religious figures march through the peepholes at the front while a bugler sounds off some tunes. 

We hit up a shopping mall after, bought some jeans (not used to 19 degrees after all the plus 30 days) at hit up U Vejvodu, a huge beerhall serving cheap beer and meat dishes. We started with some half litre pints of pilsner (Czech pilsner), sausages, and finished with a fully baked pork knuckle. We drank and ate til our bellies were expanded and headed back to the apartment. At this time, we had been up for 36 straight hours thanks to our 4am flight. 

Day 33 

Still in Prague we started our morning with homemade coffee, tea, and a full English breakfast. We then walked back to Old Town Square, past the clock tower and visited the Salvador Dali exhibit. It contained several pieces of originals including a series of prints that left your mouth agape. He was a sick genius. Strange sexual, violent, and religious art expanding through all the mediums like sketches, oil painting, sculptures and silkscreens decorated the hall. One of the highlights was a woven tapestry depicting a civil war battle. After we avoided a downpour by visiting a sex museum which housed the first 2 movies ever commissioned as well as     old toys and bondage gear. Then we hit up U Vejvodu for more pints.   

We made it to St. Georges basilica by Prague castle and watched a 6 piece orchestra perform 60 minutes of pacheabel, Mozart and Vivaldi. It was my first time exposed to  classical music and I couldn't help but to love the fact that here I was, in Prague, at a church built in 950 listening to Mozart!! It was great! After it was time for more beer and meat, we walked in search of the fabled u Fleku, but found it closed for renovations :( . Rolling with the punches, we found yet another famous beer hall called U Medvidku, where we ate traditional beef/pork dishes and washed it down with budvu budweiser. The original budweiser. We stumbled home, full of meat, beer and scenery. 

Day 34 - Prague Castle

We walked up the stairs to the Castle grounds. As you walk up these stairs, you can look over the city, it's amazing. Baroque churches dot the cityline, punctuated by gothic towers. We reached the top and were spat out into the square. The rich families that weren't royalty, built their own palaces here, the Schwarzenburg Palace is a beautiful example of renaissance architecture. But as you see the towering minarets if St. Vitus Cathedral, you are quickly hypnotized to go into it's direction being swallowed by it's doors. Built over a period of 600 years it has many different styles of design but the gothic overpowers the baroque and renaissance styles. With gargoyles and saints peering down at you as you enter, you can't help but to feel the history as you enter. Words cannot describe the interior of the cathedral. Frescoes, stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings fill the room, and everywhere you look there is something new to take in. 

After the church we spent time in the picture gallery which houses over 300 original canvas paintings spanning the dark ages and the renaissance. In the basement of the actual palace  you can learn the history of the castle, it's inhabitants and even feast your eyes on crown jewels, crystal and old manuscripts. Walk the golden lane and pop your head into the various shops and even see where Kafka spent his time penning the "metamorphosis". We went into the basement of St. Georges Basilica and looked at the crypts and tombs. The powder tower is a watch tower that was added onto later and now holds the various years if weaponry and attire worn by the Czech Army. We spent a total of 5 hours exploring the grounds and then it was time for a beer. We bought a beer and drank it on our way to the Jewish quarter. We passed synagogues and the Jewish cemetery, all the while looking at the crystals offered in the shops aligned on the street. 

All this sightseeing built up a huge appetite for more beer and meats!! Back to U Vejvodu we go to drink a few pints and I ate a huge rack of ribs. My favorite place by far in Prague is U Vejvodu.  We bought some more absinthe and went back to the apartment to end the night. To drink real absinthe, you place a spoon over a glass with a sugar cube upon it, pour the absinthe over it slowly until it's soaked. When the cube has finished dripping the excess off, you light it and burn it until the cube is caramelized and has started to drip into the glass. When done, pour fresh water in drops over the cube until it mostly has dissolved into the glass below, drop the cube, stir and enjoy! Within a minute, you will feel a heightened sense of euphoria which develops into a mild drunk. The green fairy!!

 35 - Prague

The only thing we really wanted to do today, was to go see the dancing house. That's exactly what we did. Then it rained, a lot! So we had to take refuge and what better place to take refuge than in another beer hall. We had a few pilsners, soups and of course, sausages!! After,  we decided to go shopping, but the weird thing about Prague is the money. 300 Czech Koruna or crowns is about $17, but the 300 amount I just can't get over, I don't feel like I'm getting a deal. We picked up a few things, trinkets mostly but I don't think Prague has much to offer for men's shopping, not stuff I like anyways, although I did pick up a pair of jeans. After we were bored of shopping, we got soaked in the rain went home and dried off for our last dinner in Prague. We decided on a Cafe right across the street from us called Cafe Atmosphere. It was great! Hoegaarden on tap for 38 Kc ($2.20) and  pork ribs for 120 Kc ($6.50). We enjoyed our food and headed home to pack up for our trip to Amsterdam at 7am. 


Friday, August 12, 2011

Days 28, 29, 30 & 31

Day 28 - Travel day to Athens

Our first leg started in Naxos where our ferry was to leave at 11:20am. We arrived just on time and boarded. It was a short 40 min trip to Paros and we only had an hour to spend there. We went for coffee and dips at a seaside cafe. Paros looked quiet and peaceful, if we ever decided to come back to Greece, I think Paros would be on the list. We boarded our 2nd leg in Paros bound for Mykonos, where we had 3 hours to take in the town. Mykonos has the stigma of being the party capital of the Greek islands and because of this, we decided that a pass through was all we wanted. I think it was a bad call. It looked like a great little town but you can never tell until it gets late. We ate some Gyros at a small local shop inside the town steps away from the sea. We then boarded a taxi to the airport where we would take the 3rd leg and eventually winding up in Athens. When we arrived in Athens, we quickly snagged a cab and made our way to the Acropol. Oh oh oh, but when we got to our hotel the cabbie told us to be really careful, this was a bad part of town at night, lots of muggings, thefts, violence and robberies. Yes Omonia square at night is supposed to be a bad place. And to top it off, the Classical Acropol Hotel was CLOSED!! There we were, in the middle of the night, bags in hand, tourist clothes on our backs, stranded. We crossed the street, phoned the other Acropol, thinking we might've screwed up but nope..we were at the right place (wrong place). We asked a couple of cabbies to take us to a hotel, once they figured out what we needed, one happily took us to Novotel. We checked in, unpacked our things and headed for the bar, we needed a drink. 

Day 29 - sightseeing in Athens

We woke up, ate our included breakfast (best coffee since Turkey) and headed for the Acropolis. As we twisted ourselves up and around to the top, we passed sights like the theatre of Dionysus (closed for a concert) and  the odeum of Herodes. When getting to the top the first ruin to your right is the temple if Athena Nike, a beautiful building, it once housed a wooden statue of the goddess of victory. Once we passed that we got to the Parthenon! In the middle of being restored, it was the most spectacular building I've seen (except for the AyaSofia) and we spent a hour encircling it. Built as an homage to Athena, the myth goes to empress the people Athena and Poseidon engaged in competition, she grew an olive tree which provided food, oil and shade. Poseidon created a salt water spring that flowed from the earth, the people gave the victory to Athena, named the city after her and built the Parthenon to  honor her.  Another building on Acropolis is Propylaea, adorned with carvings and statues it completed the top of the city. 

Going down from the Parthenon, you walk the Pananthaic way to the Agora passing by the cemetery and stoa of Attalus. Stoas are large roofed buildings with columns that provide shade from the heat, as well as places to do business and house sculptures. Completing our wander of the ancient city of Acropolis, we wound our way to the Temple of Hephaestus. 

We walked away from the site famished and sought out lunch at a cafe below. After lunch we went in search of Hadrians Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, they are located right beside each other. The temple is huge and if you look at it from the right angle you can see the Acropolis and Hadrians arch. You can just imagine what people saw for the first time arriving to Athens thousands of years ago. 

To finish our day, we marched up the hill, past parliament  and found the Pananthanaikan Stadium. The only stadium completely made out of marble, dates back to the original Olympics but only a few original pieces remain. You can hike up to the top of row 21 and see a 360 degree view of Athens including the Acroplis and Lycabetta hill. Krista even ran a lap around the track!!

We returned to Novotel, locked ourselves in our room and had room service. 

Day 30 - Delphi

Reluctantly we joined a tour and went to Delphi. They picked us up at 7:45 and started the journey to Delphi where our tour guide blabbed the entire two hours up to the site.   When we reached the site, we ditched and wandered on our own, we passed a theatre, bath houses an agora and the remains of ancient houses. Built on the side of a hill (like all other fortified ancient cities) you could see for miles. It's said that Apollo swam to the people in the form of a dolphin, hence the name. In the middle of ancient Delphi is the temple of Apollo where the oracle of Delphi lived. The oracle spoke the words of the gods and politicians and priests translated to the seekers of information. At the top of Delphi is a huge theatre which was used as a precursor to the Olympic games. Athletes competed in the nude and it was better if you weren't well endowed, and if you notice, most statues still preserved depict this. At the bottom of Delphi is a circular temple built to Athena and a huge gymnasium. After the site, we visited the museum of Delphi which houses artifacts pulled from it. Highlights include the two brothers and some Mycenaean gold. 

We returned home late after purusing a few villages and decided to dine at the top of our restaurant. The eatery had yet another 360 view of Athens but it also had a fully lit view of the Acropolis. A picture perfect end to a day. 

Day 31 - the national Archeological museum of Athens. 

We made it to the museum at 1pm expecting it to be open for hours but it was only open til 4!! We thought we had to be quick, afterall we spent 5 hours in Istanbul's museum. But it was spectacular. I'm sorry to say that athens' was a complete let down. It did have a lot of significant  items, but after seeing Istanbul's I guess I was a little let down. Highlights included a bronze statue of Poseidon/Zeus and a marble statue of Aphrodite, Pan and Eros.  

Days 26 & 27 - Naxos

Days 26 & 27 - Naxos. 

These days are so chill all we did was wander up and down St. George beach and into the town at night. We ate Greek food, drank Greek beer and wine and toasted ourselves on the beach. Our modest pansiyon called Mavromatis Studios was 200 metres from the beach and was very basic. Family owned and operated, it provided free tomatoes and that's about it, but with the beach closeby, what else do you need? Just a couple of blips: the supermarket wouldn't  accept a 5 euro bill and upon checkout, the pansiyon wanted cash. Would I go back to Naxos? Maybe... But maybe not. 

Monday, August 8, 2011

Day 25

Day 25 - Santorini to Naxos

Our ferry to Naxos departed at noon, but first we had to get down the switchbacks to the port. Hitting the Santorini bus station for the last time, we shouldered our way onto the bus, sat our butts in the seats and made the final trip. It was a lot quicker and a lot less nerve wracking going down, until we arrived at the ferry port. A thicket of tourists were pushing this way and that trying to find their boat. With no signs directing you where to go, the port police had their hands full fielding a myriad of questions from a thousand tourists in different languages. Finally, after asking 3 different officers, I found out where our departure was; gate 4. Too bad it was full. We waited for our boat to come in, watched the others disembark, then boarded. It was a pleasant ride, especially after the 2 hours of pushing, waiting and pushing some more. 

We arrived at Naxos port, grabbed our luggage and a bus was waiting right there for us. Maybe this day would turn out afterall? Nope! I thought the directions to our studio were flawless: take the bus to agia Anna, pass the cinema and bam, Mavromatis studios! Not that easy. We wound up looking this way and that, never finding the cinema and rode the bus to the end of the line. Good thing was we got to your the huge stretch of white sandy beaches, but the bad thing was we had no idea where we were! We asked the bus driver who didn't speak English at all, he dropped us off 3 km from our studio. We flagged down a cab, they just started back to work, and he delivered us to our studio. 

We checked in and went in search if food and drink at a local taverna. We ate greedily and I kinda calmed us down, enough to get us to a supermarket where we bought the next 3 days of food and drink. We then hit the beach and watched the beautiful sunset from St. George Beach. After we walked into town, which was bustling with people, and walked to the temple of Apollo. It was quiet and peaceful. We snapped photos and enjoyed the view of the lit up town below us for a few minutes. We picked ourselves up and walked back through the town, and walked through the old market. A labyrinth of low, narrow streets houses a bunch of storefronts then spits you back into the town square. We walked the beach all the way back to our studio where it was time for a night cap. 

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Day 24 - Santorini

Day 24 - Santorini

Caldera cruise to the volcano, swimming in the hot springs and dining in Oia (ee-ah) 

We got to avoid the bus this morning and instead, rode the cable car down the steep cliffs of Fira to the port. It was a quick ride and my palms only sweated a little. We had some hot bevies  and waited for our boat to leave. Once we boarded we met a Californian who told us about his vacation and vice versa. He gave us tidbits of info on Prague, Amsterdam and a few places we haven't decided to visit yet. We made a quick trip to the volcano where we easily hiked the well packed trails to the top only stopping long enough to take pictures of our surroundings. As we reached the peak, we were made aware of the last time it fully erupted spewing smoke and ash over the surface. It's still active, parts were puffing smoke and you could see the sulfur leaking out between cracks. We stayed at the top long enough to take more pictures of each other and the beautiful panoramic views. Our next stop was the hot springs on the other side. On this portion of the tiny expedition, we met a young couple from Ottawa and New York who had met last year in Greece. They regaled us with tales of their trip and stories of New York.  I like New Yorkers, they are a no bullshit breed that stick their middle finger up at you if you don't take them for who they are. We all chatted, our New York friends, us and Mr. California, until it was time to plunge into the azure waters of the sea. We had to swim about 100 metres into the hot springs (lukewarm springs) where the water was a brownish colour that stained your clothes. I hit my shins 20 times on well hidden submerged rocks and thanked god I didn't decide to dive down head first. We spent a half an hour frolicking in the waters and returned to our ship to engage in more conversation with our new found friends. After pulling into the port of Fira, we saw that the cruise ship people had vacated the port and the cable car was readily available. We all entered, Mr. New York crossed himself as we were quickly pulled up the  rock face and we discussed plane crashes. We exited the car, said goodbye and went in our different directions, us to our apartment, Mr. California to the bus stop and New York in search of food. We got home, ate our homemade gyros, cleaned up and got ready for our dinner in Oia. 

We boarded yet another bus and wound our way along the side of Santorini to the beautiful town of Oia. We spent a few hours exploring the town, checking out the lovely art galleries and searching for our restaurant. While searching, we stumbled on a tiny cafe with a beautiful view of the caldera where we had a strudel and I had my first frappe. I'd seen everyone downing these in various locations around Greece but because I love my hot coffee, I never had the want or desire to try one. It was refreshing!! After our little break we went to our restaurant and started our dining experience (thanks I & J!!) at Ambrosia, a little restaurant nestled in the side of the cliffs. We had a lovely meal consisting of a mouth watering Santorini house white wine (a must try!) grilled octopus, sautéed shrimp, fillet of duck, accompanied by an almond and pistachio ice cream. The view was something out of a story book and the food was comparable to an Iron Chef episode, plated and cooked splendidly. We left our restaurant, purchased some local wine (again!) and took the bus back to our room where we enjoyed our last night on our balcony. Santorini is the most chill and gorgeous places on the face of the earth! Until you get the cruise ships and the hordes of people filling the streets, boo you. 

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Days 22 & 23 - Santorini

Day 22 - Rethymno to Santorini

We woke up at 5am to catch our 6:30 bus back to Heraklion. We were hoping we could go on a tour to Santorini straight from Rethymno but for 250 Euro... So we jumped on the bus and hit the ferry right on time. Since Rhodes everything has come up roses (cross fingers). We slept on the ferry and when we awoke, we were coming into the port of Santorini. We were then shuttled to the town of Fira, The bus hit switchback after switchback and ascended to the top. We got to the crowded bus station and left in search of Hotel Nemesis and without much problems, found it. It was perched overlooking the caldera and the people running it were super nice. She knew me right from the start, recognizing me from my twitter feed. She told us what not to miss, showed us to our room and gave us directions to a modest taverna called Ellis in Fira. We drank a litre of house white, ate some Greek tapas and met a couple who were here 25 years ago. We exchanged traveling stories and took photos of one another and told them our itinerary. They gave us tips in Prague and Amsterdam and went on their way. We finished our food, ordered more wine and took in the the panoramic view. After, we went back to our hotel and had a power nap...after only sleeping for 4 hours the previous night we needed this one. 

We cleaned ourselves up and headed into town once again. We wondered the narrow, cobbled streets and window shopped until we came out to a viewing area. The town glistened in the night like an earthbound constellation, it was the most relaxing view in the world. We sat and stared in awe of this inspiring view we've on heard of in poems and seen in pictures. Traversing the serpentine corridors, we made it back to the hotel rather late and hit the hay. 

Day 23 - Santorini

Akrotiri - The red beach

Hitting the well run bus again, we journeyed to the southern tip of Santorini where the red beach is located. Scurrying up and around rock faces, we popped out onto the beach. The wind was strong, the water was cool and the sun beat down upon us as we basked on the most unique I've ever been to. There it was quiet, peaceful and we read our books and oiled our bodies. We spent the day sunning ourselves until we couldn't take it anymore. Our skin was getting used to the sun and I think I even started to develop a tan!! We plodded back along the rock cliffs, took pics as we went along and made it to the bus stop just as the bus arrived. We scored a seat, watched the world go by and pulled into Fira's station where we headed to the nearest Gyro shack. Luckys Souvalaki is a fast food haven packed with locals and budget travelers alike. We inhaled our snacks and made for the local supermarket to pick up dinner and more booze for under 9 Euro! After the long beach day with no sun burns we got our drink on, made food and enjoyed our balcony. After that the night got a little hazy...

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Days 20 & 21

Day 20 - Rethymno

We found our way to the Arkadi monastery 20 km outside of Rethymno. One of the most important sites in Crete or Greek history, was originally constructed in 500AD and later rebuilt in the 1500's. This was the site of a battle between the monks and their families against the Pashma of the Turkish Ottoman empire in 1866. The story goes the the Turks demanded surrender of the monastery on November 9, 1866 but the Greeks refused causing, what the Greeks call "the holocaust". Thousands of Turks besieged the monastery killing all but 150, but before the end of the battle the women, children and elderly locked themselves in the powdery. When the Turks penetrated the heavy Venetian doors, the Greeks lit the fuse igniting the powder killing over 1800 Turks. To this day one of the most celebrated holidays in Greece in November 9. 

After visiting the monastery, we perused a small cretan village where we purchased some lavender oils and visited the local museum. Everything in the museum was donated by the families of the village, an entrance fee of 1.50 Euro was charged and all money goes to the village. We arrived back home in the late afternoon and set out in search of a market to buy food for dinner. Everything was closed on Sundays, so it was a little difficult to find food but we managed. We went back to the apartment, cooked dinner, drank more local wine and stayed in for the night. The first time in our entire vacation that we did so. 

Day 21

This was the day that we were to take our cretan cooking workshop! We were picked up from a local cafe and taken to a part of Rethymno called Antsipopolous. We met with a family who owned a small taverna and the mother taught us how to cook a variety of authentic local cuisine. It was just us and a French woman who barely spoke English and Krista was able to translate in her broken French. After cooking a plethora of meals we sat down at 3pm and ate our accomplishments. It was a fun day, surrounded by a family of friendly Greek people. We were driven back to our apartment, cleaned ourselves up and headed for the beach. Still full from a very late lunch, we baked in the sun for an hour or so and retired to our room for another hour. The sun went down and we headed out to shop! Krista bought a beautiful dress, shoes and a local necklace while I hummed and hawed purchasing a Fred Perry windbreaker. Gotta love European clothes! 

Days 18 & 19

Day 18 - Heraklion

Today we went to the Palace of Knossos, home of the mythological Minotaur. We woke up late, after the lovely evening we had the night before, we wanted to take our time getting out and about. This place comes alive at night, but at around 3am gets eerily quiet. We slept with the window open last night and fell asleep to the sounds of the Heraklion nights: the chatter and laughter of the locals, the cars whizzing by on the streets below and music off in the distance. 

We went back to the bus stop and found the Knossos bus, this place is so easy to get around in! The bus was marked "Knossos". We made the leisurely drive, stopping to pick up more passengers and had a brief tour of the city. It took us about 20 minutes to get there. We entered the palace and looked around, it was kinda cool. After seeing so many beautiful ruins, this was underwhelming. Although it was nice to be in a place that was over 5000 years old, the archeologist that uncovered this back in the late 1800's, restored it to his own imagination. You could still see the original stonework and layout of the building, but on top
he recreated it in pieces based on what he thought. He used concrete, wood and stone, he even recreated frescoes. The palace was huge and it was apparently situated between 2 streams and the sea was steps away. This made for a fertile growing area. We left Knossos, boarded the next bus and hit up the Fortezza. Crete been invaded by many different countries but they embrace this, unlike other islands. The Fortezza was built in the 1500's and was used to guard the port. It still stands as it were, buy we're unable to go inside. After the Fortezza it was time to hit the shops! We went up and down and around even finding a Fred Perry outlet, and
bought some things to take back home. Krista found some nice things while I went away empty handed (the Fred Perry outlet sizes were either too big or to small...boo!) and it was time to eat some mezes!

All that walking, bussing shopping and picture taking worked up an appetite! We were told that this place called Ippocambo (Seahorse) was the place to go, the other night we tried to find it, walked an hour in 2 directions only to see that it was just a block away from our hotel.
We took a seat across the busy road aand ordered our food. We had beets, calamari, meatballs, tzatziki, chick pea patties, bread and wine. It was great! I think the best thing about the experience was watching the servers play frogger with the food! Not one plate was dropped. They served us a complimentary desert of ice cream, strawberry cheesecake and chocolate. Mmmm! We paid our bill (to-la-gha-riaz-mo, para-kolo) the bill please, said thank you, that was delicious (ef-ha-ri-stow, i-tan-no-sti-mo-ta-to) and zig zagged back to our room at Kronos Hotel. We fell asleep soon after our heads hit the pillows, it was 11pm.  

Day 19 Heraklion to Rethymno

We had an early morning breakfast at our hotel and zipped to the bus station. This country has the best busses and they are cheap! We were planning on taking taxis everywhere and budgeted accordingly, but now were saving money and traveling in comfort. We found our bus, met a 60 year old Irish woman who married a 30 year old Moroccan man, who proceeded to tell us all her troubles on our 90 minute ride. Dammit! I just got a new book I wanted to read. We made it to the station, strapped on our packs and headed in the general direction of our Afroditi
apartment rental. It used to be the French Embassy. We found it easily, asking locals on the way and checked it. We met the owner who showed us to our room and gave us some white wine, it was fantastic! Sadly, we just missed the 2 week wine festival but were still reaping the benefits. We settled in, and went out for some booze and salads, gotta eat your greens. We found a quiet place and enjoyed an inexpensive meal right on the sea front, it's all about the sea front. After all, isn't that why you come to the Med? We had lunch and explored the town a bit. We found a little travel agent, booked our remanding ferries and a Cretan cooking class! More later! We went back to the room and had a nap. 

When we woke, we cleaned ourselves up and went out in search of dinner. We found a place, rather, the place found us. Maria's restaurant on the harbour. 10th best in Crete, so said a magazine article plastered on the outside podium. We were sold on it by it's charm and owner. I wanna call him peg leg the pirate Pete, but his name was Nico. The restaurant was picturesque. Located right on the Venetian harbour, they sat us on the second floor balcony overlooking everyone and the harbour. We ordered calamari, wine, prawns, white fish, seasonal greens, potatoes and......LOBSTER!!! The best (and most expensive)  meal so far. Musicians played on the harbour, fish were jumpin and people filled the seats below. Very romantic. 

We paid our bill and were off to stroll through the town, we found an outdoor cinema that was playing Transformers 3, said why not and enjoyed a movie under the stars. I love my wife and my life...what a superb night!