WEEK 27-28

I know what you're thinking. "Finn! This post is a week late!" My excuse is that our whole family has been away since Tuesday on a trip in Crete! We took a 45  minute flight from Athens to Heraklion and stayed there for two nights. We hired a car just outside the surprisingly busy airport and drove quickly to the town. The food was excellent! Greek salad, Souvlaki, Lamb chops, pizza, chips, all topped off with Halva (cakey, ricey, kind of stuff) and  a shot glass of Ouzo or Raki (Greek alcoholic drinks). We visited the Minoan palace of Knossos, which, in my opinion is slightly overrated since about 60% of what you see is actually fake reconstructions (including the red columns). Next, we drove for 2 hours west along Crete to the beautiful town of Chania (pronounced 'Hania') with it's amazing Old Town from the 1500s and 1600s in the Venetian period. The narrow cobbled streets are such fun to walk through! Just outside the town itself is an enormous water park with many slides, pools, and facilities. Just next to it is a Go-Kart driving track with Karts for hire to race around. We stayed the two nights at a bed 'n' breakfast that was very cool with its higglety pigglety interior and parts of the building from every period since the Venetians. Beaches in Crete certainly live up to their name and have crystal clear water and sometimes just pebbles instead of sand! On Saturday, we drove back to Heraklion via a beach and Souda bay, finally dropping off the rental car and leaving on a plane to Athens that took forever to board, even though the attendant said it was boarding when the same two people were at the front of the line. We arrived home at 9 pm after taking two buses to get home and quickly ate a small dinner and flopped into bed. It had been an excellent holiday.