A move day, instead of travel. Up we got and had a lovely breakfast at Agaze. J. had pancakes and scrambled eggs; I had the omelette with yogurt & fruit. It was my first time having real Greek yogurt and I have to say that what they produce in the US is NOTHING like what I had. It’s like Devon Cream it’s so thick and rich. I could eat it every day.

Back to our place and the inevitable negotiation of the time between the check out (noon) and check in (3pm). Fortuitously, our new host (Fay) was willing to meet us nearby and take our luggage to our new place for us. Problem solved!

While waiting for her, the wind was blowing so hard that J. was being pushed over. My (very expensive) sunglasses were snatched off my face and into the busy road. I watched as they skipped amongst the traffic to the other side and then down a street. Quickly — but safely — I followed, expecting to see a crunched pile. No! They were totally ok, blown up against a line of parked cars over to one side. Not even a scratch. Believe me, I offered up a heartfelt thank you to the local deity.

Then we headed (by bus) into Fira to swap our ferry tickets.

The line was about 20 deep, but moved quickly. Clearly the agency had called everyone in to help out and all station/desks were peopled. We chatted with several people around us, everyone sharing information about what we did, and didn’t know. When the time came, swapping our tickets was easy. And it turns out that our ferry, one of the big Blue Star type was the most likely to make it out. So we went ahead, hoped for the best, and re-booked for the next day.

Did you know that Thera is the same as Fira?

A note here: Google in Greece is drunk. It must be drinking the raki. We asked it for the Archeological Museum and it led us up and into the ‘shopping’ area (nothing but souvenir shops selling variations of the same things, jewelry stores — nice, but no — and restaurants) and then up almost to the cable car . . . to a sleepy little museum. A little bemused we wandered in, paid our 2eu and then discovered that it was literally two rooms and an exhibition of one man’s excavation. *sigh*

Back down to where we started and this time Google led us to the backside of a very closed looking building. Several of us tourists started walking around and finally found the entrance, which Google had led us right by.

The Thera Prehistoric Museum is great. Not very big, I hope it can be expanded as the uncover more of Akrotiri. Because the pieces they do have are lovely.

Where on earth did they find blue monkeys?

Also, I saw more Amazons and griffins on pottery. I think that’s evidence they existed. Right?

By then it was late afternoon and we took the bus back to Pyrgos. Right off the square was Kounani and we popped in for lunch. Zucchini croquettes and a shred meat platter with fried potatoes, tzatziki, pita bread, and grilled vegetables made for a delicious end to our out-of-room day. Off to our new place, I hopped into the pool and then right back out again — it was COLD! Still windy, too.

So we settled in for a night of reading, listening to music, and hanging out.

Have I mentioned that we haven’t watched TV once since arriving here? Even if our place had a unit, we haven’t been interested in consuming media. Just not worth it.

(9/14)

I wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to stay at our place and rest up (read, write, try to nap). It was quite windy, and a little overcast, but pleasant to sit on our deck and just enjoy being.

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

J. took the bus to Akrotiri, a fairly inexpensive (1.8eu) and easy matter of taking a bus into Fira, and then down to Akrotiri. The bus was air conditioned and he had a comfy seat, it was quite pleasant.

Akrotiri, he tells me, is magnificent and amazing. It’s an active site, so they’ve covered it to preserve the future findings. Apparently they’ve only uncovered 3%, so this is a site well worth visiting in the future. They need money to continue, and in the meantime they are doing a superlative job of making finds available at the Prehistoric Museum in Fira.

Just as he was leaving, about 2pm, he received a text message informing us that our ferry was cancelled due to the high winds!!!!

He headed to the Blue Star Ferry office to find out what to do about re-booking, and I commenced contacting our car and hotel in Naxos to change our reservation, and then our current place to see about staying another night. No problem in Naxos, not our fault, they’d make the change. Our host said they’d look, but when several hours passed with no reply, I made the decision to try and book a new place.

And found a GEM. Called White Orchid (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/22189221), this villa is actually best for a family or two couples. Its huge and airy and has an infinity pool. It was about $100 more than our current place, and just five minutes away. Tippity-tippity and I reserved it. Good thing, too, as our current place was not available for us (as we were told several hours later).

Neither of us freaked out — what can you do about weather?

J. spent a lot of time at the ferry office, and ultimately couldn’t make any changes because he didn’t have the physical tickets. That was a bummer, but he was philosophical about it and just came home.

A quick shower and change and out we went for dinner. Didn’t go far, back to Rosemary Restaurant. Again we had the androgynous Iris as our server and were kept company by the black cat.

We started with the green salad (so good!) and an appetizer of small cheese balls made of four different local cheeses over a thick pesto sauce. Delicious. For my main I had steamed mussels in white wine and onion and J. had a tagliatelle with grilled vegetables in a light cream sauce. My wine was an 2010 vintage — Chateau Porto Carras — a red blend. Superb.

(9/13)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

We were so grateful our place was so close to the port, it meant we could sleep until 6 and not rush for our 8am ferry departure. Having booked our tickets in advance, we walked right up to the kiosk and got our tickets in just a few minutes, even better we got our tickets to Naxos as well.

Greek ferries are kind of amazing. Huge, practical, and very comfortable. We were on SeaJets’ Caldera Vista which, I gotta say, hauls ass across the water. It was impressive. We’d paid extra for ‘club class’ and I’m not sure it was worth it because our seats were the WORST. Everyone else had forward facing seats, our faced one another. So we were knee to knee for 2+ hours. That said, I found the MAD music tv channel fascinating as I read my book and munched my fresh croissant.

Debarking in Santorini, we made our way past the crush of tour bus goers and found our taxi driver (arranged through our accommodation). He was picking up several other couples, so we waited a bit, and then were taken about 30 mins up into the hills.

We stayed at Luna Suites (http://lunasantorinisuites.com/), booked through Airbnb. We were met on the road by Fortis and walked up . . . up . . and further up into the hills above the village of Pyrgos. Our place is lovely, with traditional architecture, sun beds, an outdoor jacuzzi, and neatly laid out kitchen.

After a quick change, we popped down to the village for a breakfast at Agaze (agazesantorini.com). We shared an omelet and enjoyed the local orange juice. Perfect! If thsi seems rushed, it was. We had a 2pm pickup for our Sunset Boat Tour with Spirodakos Sailing Cruises (santorini-yachts.com) arranged by our accommodation.

The cruise was lovely. We were ‘upgraded’ to a motor launch because the winds were a bit uncooperative, I guess. We didn’t love that — it was pretty rough getting into and out of the harbors. But the first swim spot was special: sapphire blue water and a ton of fish to snokel with. We skipped the hot springs, and the third swim spot was too cold (not the company’s fault of course!). They fed us a huge meal of fried fish, sauteed chicken, grilled shrimp, bread, pasta, and the inevitable greek salad. There were nectarines for dessert. During the tour we were given bits of info about the island and what we were seeing. The downsides were that we were one boat of MANY and there was always a sense of being rushed. Our first driver (pickup and drop off is included) was a self-indulgent, rude, boor and I was glad to hear he’d be moving on to a new company. Our second driver was so silent we thought he was driving past our location and had to call out for him to stop — turns out he was just going a little further to be able to turn around. The price was 170eu ea, and I’m not completely sure it was worth it.

We were tired after the trip, but also hungry. So we trekked back up to our room, changed and refreshed, then went along the top of the hill to Rosemary Restaurant (http://www.rosemarysantorini.gr/en/). This is a small and elegant restaurant we were thrilled to discover. J. tried the local specialty of Tomato Balls (a kind of a fritter which J did not enjoy, but not the kitchen’s fault) and then we both shared the lettuce salad with avocado and a pomegranate balsamic vinaigrette. (YUM.) My main was a fish burek — a phyllo wrapped concoction of fish, carrots, pine nuts, and raisins; J. had grilled meatballs (keftedes) with rice and grilled veg. Our dishes were sublimely wonderful. We were given watermelon as a ‘dessert’ and happily meandered back to our place to read for a bit and enjoy the night air.

(9/12)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

We slept until after 11am, and I just couldn’t face another day in the car, so this turned into a quiet day. Mostly, I caught up on my travel blog posts and we both read.

Our host had stocked our ‘fridge with fruit, so we snacked on that through the afternoon, and made a conscious decision to have an early dinner since we needed to be up and out fairly early the next morning. Although I’d done a lot of research about places to eat prior to getting here, I wasn’t completely in agreement with what I’d found, so I looked again.

We ended up at Oinoa Wine restaurant (no website), about 5 minutes walk from our place. It was a perfect choice in so many ways. Since we were so early (6:30pm) we were able to snag a table (there were none available by 7pm) without a reservation and we happily began to peruse the menu. After a bit of consultation with our server, we chose to start by sharing the salad with gravieta and prosciutto, then the grilled vegetable bruschetta. For our mains I had the beef tenderloin and J. had the sea bass. J. tried ‘green cola’ for his drink, and I asked the server to choose wines for me. It was PERFECT. The salad had bits of walnut and tiny cherries mixed in and the combination of flavors made for a bright combination of sweet, salty, and earthy all at once. The vegetables were grilled perfectly, creating a silky texture that contrasted beautifully with the grilled bread. My beef was supremely tender and flavorful and J’s fish was divine. My wines complemented the food exquisitely. The one I want to tell you about was the red: A blend that was most similar to a ‘super Tuscan’ in its flavor profile. But instead of $80, it was more like $18. And Cretan. SO GOOD.

We then walked home, and J. went out for gelato. Truly a perfect way to end our sojourn in Chania.

(Sep 10)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

Looking back, it’s a bit astonishing that it took us so long to get to the beach. Typical for us, it wasn’t one nearby — we went to the village of Aphrata about 30 km north of Chania on the eastern side of the peninsula. It’s a tiny, rocky (!!!) beach with a taverna and free sunbeds. Gorgeous.

I actually don’t have a lot of pictures from here — I didn’t take out my camera at all. I think J. got a few pics with his phone. I was too busy getting in the salt water (yay for water-ready sneakers!) … sheer bliss. We stayed for a few hours and just did nothing.

Lunch was in the local resort town of Kalymyra in a place off the tourist track: Ionnais Kafenagogeio. A superb ‘greek’ salad with added peppers, olives, mini croutons and balsamic vinegar; (pork) souvlaki accompanied by the best fries we’ve had so far, cabbage salad (SO GOOD); and a unexpected ‘starter’ of grilled bread drizzled with olive oil and oregano along with tzatziki and hummus. The bread in particular had me in raptures, although the whole meal was one of the best we’ve had in a taverna. J. went to pay and they insisted that we have ice cream, which came in the form of a mini ‘sicle of vanilla covered with a truly scrumptious milk chocolate.

We had an evening tour planned, so we headed back to Chania, had showers, and met our guide at the Central Market right before 6:30.

A group of seven from Milwaukee, the Channel Islands, Montreal, and Seattle (/me waves) we joined Anotinis of Urban Adventures for their Bohemian Sunset Tour (https://www.urbanadventures.com/Crete-tour-bohemian-sunset-tour). This four hour walk and dinner with curated local wines was great fun. We meandered all through Old Town learning about the history, how to tell a Venetian wall from Byzantine, why the Egyptians are so well liked even they were only here for 20 years, and seeing the remaining devastation of WWII. We also learned about the local food, why the knife is almost sacred to Cretans, and were given tons of recommendations for where to get various kinds of food. I should say that a perfect start was the glass of fresh squeezed orange juice we were given in a tiny shop around the bend from the Market.

Antonis is an electrical engineer by day, designing security systems and occasionally installing them. He also manages several Airbnb units in town while doing these tours. I got the sense that he is earning money to travel, as he was passionate about where he’d been and what he still wanted to see.

We ended up at Boheme (https://www.boheme-chania.gr)– a restaurant with a strong interest in showcasing local wines. Let me stop right now and tell you that Crete is going to be world famous for its wines in not too long a time. We started with a kind of brushetta of thinly sliced local bread, toasted with an avocado-yogurt creme and ‘cherry’ tomatoes accompanied by a white wine. Our second was a salad of fresh greens and lettuce, walnuts, with a light dressing and a local cheese tasted somewhat like manchego but was a bit softer. It was accompanied by a rose which was nothing like the ones from France. Our main was a smoked pork with local mushrooms and fried potatoes accompanied by a red that was full and a bit jammy, but not sweet or thin. Yannis, our sommelier, opened each course with a description of the wine and why it was chosen.

We left Boheme, crossed the street and had some of the best gelato I’ve ever had at Delizia (Halidon St). Made from goat’s milk, my nocchia was truly superb. Cones in hand, we wandered just a little ways to Pastelaria de Dana (https://www.facebook.com/sketiglika), a patisserie, where we were given a tiny tart of marscapone cheese covered with salted caramel — magnificent! The evening ended with a glass of local raki blended with honey and a secret herb in a tiny bar who’s owner thematically redecorates every couple of weeks. (For us it was a Frida Kahlo/ Dios de los Muertes theme — apparently the Frida on the bar is the permanent fixture.)

I have to say that this one one of the best food-based tours we’ve done and I highly recommend it for anyone visiting Chania — make it your first night so you can get a feel for Old Town and get a ton of recommendations for places to eat and spend your time the rest of the trip.

Swimming was lovely, but I need to find a sandy beach . . .

(Sep 9)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

We left our place in Skalani, after one more lovely breakfast, and made our way to Gortyna.

“Gortyna was first inhabited at the end of the Neolithic period (3000 BC) and by the Late Minoan period (1600-1100 BC) it became a flourishing settlement. Remains of the Archaic period (7th century BC) were located in the area of the Acropolis, while the large inscription, the Gortyn Law Code, dated to the 5th century BC, attests the prosperity of the city, which continued throughout the historical times. However, Gortyna reached its peak during the Roman era (1st – 5th centuries AD), as an ally of Rome and the capital of the Roman provinces of Crete and Cyrene. The city remained an important center of Crete in the following Early Byzantine period and, according to tradition, it was the first Cretan city which espoused Christianity. Gortyna became the seat of the first bishop of Crete, Apostle Titus, to whom was dedicated a monumental temple. The conquest of Crete by the Arabs put an end to the history of the ancient Gortyna, which was destroyed in 824 AD.”

It was lovely. We got a tad lost along the way, but not too badly. The Odeion (ancient theater) was great, and the Law Code amazing. We had a lot of fun wandering around.

From there we drove to Phaistos. “Phaistos was one of the most important centers of Minoan civilization, and the most wealthy and powerful city in southern Crete. It was inhabited from the Neolithic period until the foundation and development of the Minoan palaces in the 15th century B.C.”

In some ways, Phaistos puts Knossos to shame. There are a ton of inscriptions, all in linear A, which remains unsolved. (How can that be in this modern age???) This is one of the best ancient sites we’ve seen.

We were feeling like we’d had enough, though, so we headed to Kokinos Pirgos Harbour where we had lunch at Taverna Pelagos. A very family run (cash only!) place with good, simple food.

And then, on to Chania. Our host had requested that we SMS her to give her at least an hour’s notice, so we tried . . . and then realized that although we’d specified that service when we bought the SIM card (in Frankfurt) it wasn’t working. ARGH. So we sent an email, and prayed. And sure enough, all sorts of things went wrong.

We ended up at a total tourist trap of a restaurant at 6pm and basically bought a meal so we could beg the manager to please make a call to our host on our behalf. He did (only cost us a 60eu meal), and we figured out where we’d gone wrong, and then met our host.

I have to say that this was the best host we’ve had at Airbnb, and one of the nicest locations (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13671184) ever. Well thought out, with clever touches, we had everything we needed for our stay. Including huge amounts of food in the fridge (eggs, bread, juices, fruit), all we needed to do was add yogurt and we had breakfast all ready to go. And — oh heaven! — the shower stall was legitimately useful for a person J’s height.

(Sep 8)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

We woke up to another excellent (huge) breakfast from our host and then set off for a day of traveling back in time.

First stop Agio Nikolous, which I’d described in the book I made as: “. . . a medium-size town with a small-town feel, one that has lots to offer. You can walk and enjoy walking here, you have several distinct waterfronts – you can get to know it quickly and feel familiar with the place, like an old friend. The town has three faces to the sea: The Lake and port, Kitroplatia beach and the Marina. Its unique features start with the lake (“Voulismeni”), a folklore-inspiringly deep body of water which is connected to the sea by a narrow inlet. It is surrounded and overlooked by cafes and restaurants – a busy gathering place for local residents and visitors alike. The lake Voulismeni is where the goddesses Athena and Artemis bathed.”

We made our way there with no problem, parked in a tiny lot for 3eu, and walked up the hill to The Archaeological Museum, which I’d described as, “small, easy to navigate museum, exhibiting finds from the whole of Eastern Crete, like the early Minoan cemetery of Mochlos, the Zakros palace, Lato and Elounda.” Very much in our interests. . . but it was CLOSED. Not just for the day, but for two years while they renovate. Which was sort of funny, but also annoying, because I had checked all of the museum websites just a couple of weeks prior to make sure I had the right days for our itinerary.

We shrugged, walked down the hill and looked at the lake. Nice enough, but not as much a lake as a large pond. (Maybe 75m in diameter?) Way to early for a meal, and the town looked very …. touristy. Too much so for our tastes.

So, off to Kritsa we went! Kritsa is a traditional village with old houses and narrow streets on the Lassithi (Dikti) mountains. I had a lovely looking walk through the backstreets from a blog I’d found, complete with pictures. We were a little concerned when the parking lot had room for four tour buses, one of which was just leaving, but gamely pressed on.

We got completely lost. A LOT. Frustratingly so. And there were a ton of tourist-based shops, all selling the exact same ‘handmade’ goods. Ugh.

Feeling a little peckish, we had a meal at a local taverna. (It was fine, I had garlic pizza ’nuff said.) Imagine our surprise when — right through the square — came a veritable train of tourists being driven by a tractor. I mean, literally (http://www.littletraintours.gr/). We got the heck out.

And headed to Lato! “Ancient Lato is one of the most important city-states of Dorians in Crete, and is considered the most well-preserved city of the classical Hellenistic period. Built between two hills, in a strategic location, offers defensive coverage to the entire city. It is rumored that its name derived from Leto (Doric type of Lato), who was the mother of Apollo and Artemis.”

We arrived about 2pm, made sure we had water, and started to climb. And climb. And climb. This site was lovely, and tough to get to, although you won’t get lost. Just steep. We made it, and it was indeed lovely. Lato is a windswept saddle between two rugged and rocky peaks overlooking a deep blue bay far below and valleys filled with olive trees. All over this area ancient walls built of massive stones can be seen, some well-preserved, others crumbling, some excavated to their foundations, others barely sticking out of the ground between the roots of gnarled olive trees. It was incredible.

The locals call those trees ‘feral’ just in case you needed a different view of that word.

By the time we were done, we were DONE for the day. (We’d hoped to get to Ancient Malia, but it just wasn’t happening.) I was definitely struggling with the heat and sun and borderline not feeling well. So we headed home.

(Sep 7)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

The Minoan Palace at Knossos is incredible. Partly because it’s old (and we like old things) but more than that it is *complex* and well-designed. The signage is clear and even a little funny, as it calls out Evans’ failings in so many ways. The ‘good stuff’ is in the Archeological Museum, but the site itself is well worth a visit.

As with so many tourist places, the wisdom to go early is truly wise: we managed to get there about 9am and sort of slid between a couple of tour groups. By the time we left a few hours later there were five huge tour buses onsite, and the local bus (arriving every 15 mins) was bringing groups of 25 or more at a time. It was sort of amazing.

By the time we finished walking around, I was feeling the sun a wee bit too much, so we paused at the onsite cafe for a glass of orange juice. (After olives, oranges are the most common crop on the island I believe.) So refreshing.

Then we crossed the street and had lunch at Minotavros. This is a place that ‘breaks’ all of my rules about dining: there is a guy standing on the street barking for people to eat there; the menu is mostly pictures; its a tourist destination. However, the food was good. A little more expensive, yes, but not unreasonably so. J. had the greek salad and I had the Cretan pies. It was all very fresh and great quality. We ended up talking about languages and world views with the guy on the street.

With that it was back to our place where we had the pool to ourselves for a few hours. So we swam and read and generally relaxed until the sun went down.

That evening we walked into Skalani again and went to Taverna Marazakis Nikos. This is a ‘traditional’ style taverna with heavy wood tables and chairs and no menu in english. Our server did an excellent job of explaining what was available to us, however.

We started with salads: J. a more typical ‘greek’ and I with a lettuce version — huge portions, but so welcome. Then we shared a local dish. The meal took several hours and we were quite full by the end. She asked about dessert “no, no, thank you” we replied, “you want dessert,” she announced and then went away, returning in just a bit with a dish. “You will enjoy this,” she said then set out two small glasses of raki. I’ve later identified the dish as Galaktoboureko, a custard or semolina pudding wrapped in phyllo sheets and then drizzled with sweet syrup and cinnamon. FANTASTIC.

Taverna Marazakis blew Koulas’ Taste out of the water.

(Sep 6)

NOTE: My camera’s memory card glitched and we basically have no pictures from our trip until we hit Athens. I may try and find images online, just so you have a sense of what we saw/ are talking about. (And will credit if I do.) But keep that in mind as you read these next posts.

After a long, refreshing sleep, we got our morning started with a gorgeous breakfast (10eu) by Marina: toast with butter and jam, eggs (boiled for me, scrambled w/ feta for J.) from their own chickens, fresh fruit, juice, and a dish of cucumber and tomatoes drizzled with a little olive oil. Sublime and a great start to the day.

Marina offered to take us into Heraklion with her when she went in to do some shopping, and she dropped us off at the Koules Fortress.

Koules was lovely — thick walls and an elegant design that had me contemplating how humans endured the constant barrage of cannonballs and cannons firing. The view of the harbor from the battlements was terrific.

From there we wandered a little further up the harbor road to the Historical Museum. This tiny gem is worth going a little off the typical path to find, if only for the third floor where they have a curated collection of traditional crafts. There are musical instruments (with music playing), tools, textiles, and a recreated home. It was clear how the woman’s work (in the illustration, a loom) was the driver of the household income. Other than the loom, there was almost no storage and the kitchen was minimal. A very different way of living.

Parasties Urban Kitchen is where we went for lunch (https://parastiescrete.gr/). We started with a dish of boiled greens with olive oil and lemon. A bit like a mild spinach, but with a complex bitter taste, this was not at all to J.s liking. I didn’t love it, but appreciated the quality, if that makes sense. Our mains were Cretan Wedding Dish — sheep with a risotto-style rice in and a kind of pasta dish that was a tightly wound shape cooked in a goat gravy with local cheese. Both were outstanding. We were ready to leave and were brought dishes of watermelon and grapes to enjoy.

Let me pause a moment to say that if I drank wine I only ordered the ‘house white’ — every single one of which was different. All basically tasty, but nothing I needed to pay further attention to. At home I drink exclusively red (usually a well-rounded Cab Sauv), but Crete required something very cold, therefore white.

With that we walked to the Archeological Museum. This is an astoundingly good collection of Minoan pieces. Well-signed in Greek and English, there are also audio guides available in many languages. Frankly, one of the best museums we’ve been in.

Dinner was a little walk into Skalani itself, at Koulas’ Taste. This part of my writing is a little difficult, I’m trying to offer information without being rude, but the truth is that we were treated poorly.

In retrospect, it is clear we misunderstood our host who told us Koulas’ was open earlier than the other (Stavros’ BBQ) and though that meant it was a taverna, therefore open all day. So we trundled up at 7pm, to find the courtyard filled with tables, but no chairs. We walked up, prepared to be told to come later, but a local told us they’d just opened, So we sat down, a little bemused to have a young man come out and lay down a table cloth and then bring us a menu. He then went about setting up the other tables. No problem, we thought, we’ve been the first at many a dinner place.

About 10 mins later a man pulled up on a motorcycle, staring at us in disbelief and it occurred to me that he’d just been called at home to come in and take care of these darn tourists. We ordered a soft white cheese which had a slightly sour flavor — like thickened sour cream — tzatziki (no need to describe), Cretan traditional spinach pies, a cabbage salad and J. had a grilled pork chop. The cabbage salad never showed. The spinach pies were lovely — stuffed full of onion and spinach. The bread basket was nice for the cheese to be spread on. We were served briskly and without any interaction. And after the food and drinks were placed on the table we were left alone . . . even after another bottle of water and soda needed to be ordered . . . and then we realized the young man had disappeared and the other man had driven away. We were literally abandoned. Eventually the motorcycle guy came back, with a box from a store. I figured he’d run out of cabbage, but no. And no check in to get us more liquids.

We eventually got his attention and asked if there was some kind of dessert. He said ok and went away, leaving us wondering. When he returned it was with a plate of deep fried dough with honey and cinnamon. The food was fine, and I think normally I’d be a bit more enthusiastic — we certainly enjoyed watching the square come alive over the hours we were there. It’s just that if someone had said ‘hey we’re not ready yet’ we might have just asked for a drink and tzatziki and bread and been perfectly happy to hang out for an hour as they got set up. Instead, it was a bad experience.

(Sep 5)

After our flight was changed three times since we first booked it in late 2018 (a hazard for using points that doesn’t get talked about much), we had no problem going through security at SeaTac but were a more than a little nervous to see that the previous flight hadn’t left yet. (And no, C-my-sister, we weren’t *that* early). Apparently air traffic control was delaying planes all over the country because of storms on the East Coast(!) Apparently, if you don’t want planes stacking up over Chicago at 4PM, the best thing to do is stop them from taking off at noon in the first place; who knew? Fortunately, ours was not affected! We’d splurged a bit and upgraded to first class, and it was indulgent, but worth it. Even the meal they served (chicken risotto) was tasty, and both of us managed to get a bit of a nap on our way to Chicago.

Let me say right now that the Polaris lounge in Chicago is very very nice. Real food, an actual buffet of cheese, fruit, several pasta dishes, sliders, a beef dish, and several vegetarian options along with bar service, a drinks (juice and soda) station, and hot beverages on tap. Showers could be had for a fee and most seats had power plugs. Well done — a taste of what first class used to look like. Frankly,our time there was too short.

Our seats were, sadly, way too separated. It was like flying alone. Our flight was delayed about an hour because one of the waste tanks wasn’t flushing properly. With our long layover, we weren’t worried and eventually we took off. The dinner meal was adequate — I liked the cheese at the end the best. As usual, J.’s approval could be purchased with the signature made-to-order “Sundae”, even if it’s actually ice cream with a choice of about 4 toppings. With that it was the long wait for sleep to come (despite an ambien, I have a terrible time sleeping on these flights). In the meantime, I read and watched The Long Shot (fun!) as well as MIB: International (excellent!). And, miraculously, I did sleep for a few hours. Breakfast was not at all great — I only ate the yogurt. J. didn’t sleep much at all, so he finished the Simon Green book he’d been reading and watched… I don’t know, Endgame or something.

Frankfurt airport is one of the oddest we’ve been too. It’s huge — you walk a lot to get from place to place. J. says it reminded him of LAX or, more precisely, when he was in LAX earlier that year for a connecting flight he had thought that that airport reminded him of Frankfurt (we’d had a layover her on our honeymoon in 2012). Our plane de-boarded on the tarmac, and we took a bus to customs. Fortuitously, the line was quite reasonable and by noon we’d met up with Blair, our Frankfurt By Foot guide (https://www.frankfurtonfoot.com/layover-tours). He showed us where to get our bags stored (8eu for the day), and where to get a SIM card good for both Germany and Greece — a huge plus for our communications. Remember this bit – SIM card adventures feature later in our tale!

Then we took the train (fare included) and — after a 15 min ride — we were in Frankfurt! It’s a city of contrasts. Old and new co-existing side by side. Blair was great about guiding our interests and answering questions, as well as finding us a classic German meal. I had a noodle dish with local cheese and herbs, J. a schnitzel and really appreciated the salads that came with. Three hours, including the ride back to the airport for 165eu — absolutely worth it, and highly recommended for anyone with a long layover in Frankfurt.

Finally we were on the last leg of our passage to Crete.

Aegean Airlines doesn’t allow bags over 8kg on-board, so ours were checked (quickly and efficiently). The actual boarding process was a bit chaotic, with the gate staff attempting to manage by group, but people just ignored that. Honestly, it’s always so hit-or-miss about whether a country’s societal norms do, or do not, include the orderly use of queues. Despite that, not having big bags meant that everyone was in their seats very quickly. We were in an exit row, and the attendants were quite serious about making sure we a) spoke English and b) understood how to open the exit doors should the need arise. I tell you this because the last people to fill an exit row was a group of young men — 18? — clearly on holiday, from somewhere in what we typically call the Middle East. (I say this because they had a number of items with a flowing script on them, but whether it was Arabic, or Farsi, or something related, I couldn’t tell.)

They, like most adolescent men, were brash and insular, borderline rude about keeping together and moving past ‘slower’ people. They were apparently in different rows originally — one was up and over a row — but he moved to the exit row. The first sign of trouble was when the attendant tried to get them to understand that they couldn’t have their bags out during takeoff and landing — they needed to be stored overhead. Clearly a language/ understanding issue was at play — they seemed to feel she was picking on them — but eventually they acquiesced. The next problem was when she asked if they understood they were responsible for opening the doors. One actually started to attempt to open the door next to him right then. She got that stopped. More back-and-forthing and repeating of questions until they seemed to understand and agreed that they’d be responsible.

The attendant left them looking worried and conversations happened between her and the other attendants. Then the lead stepped in. She walked past us a few rows and asked if the people sitting their spoke English; they said that they did. She then went to the three boys and made them switch rows with the three who did speak English. That was another language/ anger issue, but she stood firm in the face of their insolence and made them move. (I’m pretty sure she was ready to bring in security to eject them if they didn’t agree to switch.) It look more time, but they finally got it and all was well.

When we landed, by the way, all three young men pushed through people to get to their bags, then up to the front of the plane. Totally self-centered.

Our flight was smooth, we were served a meal of chicken with oregano that I’m sure was fine, but not to my taste. J. slept the whole time, lucky guy. [In fact, as I, “J”, skim through these articles for edits/the adding of any color I feel is missing, I turned to L. and said “they served a meal on that flight?!” I had no idea… ] I just endured, reading my book. Upon landing I was surprised to see that several other jets were de-boarding — 11pm seems so latefor that many arrivals… this was, perhaps, the first bit of foreshadowing that the “hours of operation” in Greece were going to take some getting used to. Sure enough, baggage claim was a mess: our carousel had three jets’ worth of baggage coming through. Fortunately, people were basically polite and helpful so although it was tough to see your bag coming, you could get to it. I ended up moving to where the bags came out so I could give J. warning that it was coming. For his part, he shmoozed with some Brits who had arrived at the same time, so when the time came for anyone’s bag to get pulled off the conveyor, everyone was all smiles and teamwork. What a jerk. All in all, were were meeting our driver by 11:30pm.

Let me tell you that Welcome Pickups (https://www.welcomepickups.com/) is a great service. Our driver met us where promised, got us and our bags navigated through the airport, and we were at our Airbnb in Skalani in 15 minutes.

Aris and Marina, our hosts (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4872552), are delightful. They met us and got us checked in. They’d just put cleaning chemicals into the pool so we couldn’t go for a swim, so instead they brought us some chilled white wine and fresh fruit to enjoy as we wound down. It was delightful and we went to bed, more than ready for sleep.

(Sept 3 and 4)