Crete

Heraklion harbour

After a couple of hours of relatively smooth sailing, we crept into Heraklion harbour.

The view from the roof

I’d chosen the Megaron hotel because it was near the harbour and I’d read good reviews about their service. It was only about a ten minute stroll from where we disembarked the ferry, so it was easy enough to drag my bags there. The hotel was lovely, with beautiful rooms. Mine had a view out to the harbour, which was fabulous!

The view from the roof

My main reason for visiting Crete was to visit Knossos, which is a shortish bus ride out of town. Luckily, the bus terminal was right outside the Megaron, so I wandered down there after a sumptuous breakfast to head out there.

Setting foot on Knossos

I’ve been intrigued by the Minoan civilisation since I studied Ancient History at school and at uni, so this was a bit of a fangirl moment. Seeing all the frescoes and partially restored sections was pretty amazing.

Fresco

Fresco

There were heaps of tourists, but since it’s quite a big area, there was enough space to get away from the crowds and enjoy.

Fangirl moment!

Restored room

After exploring enough to get sore feet and sunburn, I headed back to Heraklion to visit the museum. This was a gorgeously arranged, spacious and informative place, which drew almost as many visitors as Knossos itself.

Statues in the Heraklion museum

Snake goddesses

No bull?

After a very busy day, I had an early night and then spent my last morning Heraklion exploring and shopping in the city and then walking out along the sea wall/western pier.

The Venetian Fortress and pier

There’s a Venetian fortress part of the way out, and then the pier extends out a few kilometres to surround the harbour. It’s a nice walk, but there are a few spots where the swell breaking on the rocks will spray the unwary!

The western pier

Windy!

A lot of the walls have graffiti, but there are some which look like they’ve been professionally done, which helped to break up the walk.

Graffiti

Graffiti

I caught an Aegean Airlines flight out of Heraklion up to Athens. I was pretty amazed when I turned up an hour early to the airport and the check in agent asked me “Do you want to leave now? Then run!” They offered to fit me on a flight that was leaving in five minutes, rather than having me wait at the airport for the next hour and a half…  So I ran! What great service.

Taking off at Heraklion, as I’d observed during my walk along the pier, involved a steep climb while banking sharply to the right, an experience I didn’t particularly relish, especially in a bouncy twin-prop plane! But we landed safe and sound in Athens, of course.