Crete - The End

We finished the Fiano on the terrace at WRC and proceeded to open another bottle of white, an award winning Greek white. While it may have won an award, we still thought the Fiano was superior. After polishing off the second bottle, we relaxed until early evening with a light snack and then walked halfway down to Makriogialos (a local gave us a lift the rest of the way) to have a final drink at a local beach bar, the Green Bar. We watched the sun set and the waves of the Libyan Sea wash the shore for some time, chatting with the bartender (trying to learn new Greek words) and then went down to the shore where we each tossed a rock into the water before heading back the 1km to WRC. Being somewhat inebriated, Lisa opted for a skinny dip in the pool! Finally we were back on the terrace and Christos prepared our last Horyatiki (Greek Salad) while we recounted the wonderful time we had spent in Crete. The next morning we said goodbye to the local cats (particularly our favourite, Queenie), checked out and drove the two hours to Knossos. Knossos, while interesting was a bit of a let down. Too many tourists and so much roped off. Places where Christos had been as a kid 30 years ago you could now just peer at from behind ropes or plastic. To see the throne room you had to get in a line and shuffle past two windows with only a few seconds to peer in whereas 30 years ago you could loiter in the room itself. Still, if you go to Crete it probably is worth a quick visit as it is so rich in historical significance.

We made it into Heraklion shortly thereafter in the early afternoon and after dropping of our rental car and checking in it was time for a stroll through the busy streets. Christos was not feeling 100 percent and so after the stroll he had a quick nap while Lisa watched an episode of the Wire (that she had slept through the previous night). Christos awoke around 7ish and realizing that the museum closed at 8pm we quickly hustled over to it to see the Minoan Frescoes and other objects from the ancient civilization. The highlight was the serpentine bull head and a lovely bull fresco, of which there were oddly no postcards available.  I guess sometimes you just have to see make the effort to visit the museum to see one's personal favourites! We wandered a bit more, visiting the old Venetian Loggia and basilica of St Mark (a stunning building) before it was back to the hotel for a yummy dinner on the rooftop patio. Finally we watched one more episode of the Wire (Stringer Bell finally gets killed by Omar and brother Mouzain!) before drifting off to sleep sometime after midnight.