Crete, Greece
Saturday, May 12th through May 17th 2007
We arrived in the city of Heraklion.  We were greeted by the rental car person and taken to our car.  We were given a map in English which was
nice.  However, this city only had signs in Greek.  We immediately got lost.  We could see our hotel, but darned if we could drive to it.  I even tried
going the wrong way on a couple of streets.  I got honked at needless to say.  I did finally get to our hotel in time to look out the window and take a
few pictures of our view of the bay and fort.  I was so mad at the driving, we went to the rooftop restaurant and had a late dinner.

Hotel Lato
The next morning we took a couple of pictures off of our deck.  We have a trip planned to go visit ruins of Knossos, the Island's most visited tourist
attraction.  The city was under construction everywhere.  It looked like we were at war.  Between the construction and the one-way streets and the
signs all being in Greek.  Very frustrating trying to get around!  We decided to leave the city immediately for Knossos and then go for a drive in the
country.  It took us an hour to find the correct street to get out of town and towards Knossos, good grief.  After Knossos we had to come back into
town to get to the next road out of town for our drive in the country.  That took another hour of getting lost!    
Link to our Knossos adventure
Once we finally got on our way.  We enjoyed some very nice views, a couple of monasteries, some sheep and a couple of resorts.  We drove
through several small towns on very windy roads.
On Monday morning on the 14th.   Before getting in the car for a drive to our next destination.  We decided to walk into the city of Heraklion.  I knew
that I was not going to drive into the city, that has been a disaster.  While walking we found that the city center was a very welcoming and nice place.
We drove west from Heraklion down the coast along the Sea of Crete to Hania.  We took our time and enjoyed the scenery.  We stopped at a cute
little beach for lunch.  We then stopped in the city of Rethymno to visit the massive Venetian fortress.
We made it to Hania, Crete on the afternoon of May 14th.  We struggled a little trying to drive to the hotel, until we gave up and parked at a park
near the sea.  We walked to our hotel only to find that we were right in the middle of old town and no cars are allowed  Good thing we only carry
backpacks with us.  Our travel agent out did themselves on this hotel called Casa Delfino.  Great location and a beautiful hotel and they had
arranged for us to have a suite with a nice balcony.     
Casa Delfino Hotel      We were glad to have such a nice place to stay and in a cute city like
Hania.  We were really ready to kick back and relax with some walks around the city.
This is the hotel.  Left is the foyer.  
Right entering the foyer and looking
down from the stairs.  Directly below
is our room and Sue on the balcony.  
Lower right is the view up and down
the street from the balcony.  We did
not have a room with a sea view from
the balcony.  You could almost see
the sea from the window in the
bedroom.
Now it is time to go exploring.  We walked
around the bay and out to the lighthouse
multiple times, with a couple of those
times in the dark.
After our first day, we had to walk out to the lighthouse.  We walked by this art and pottery shop.  We returned there the next day to make a
purchase.  The next morning we were ready for more casual city exploring.  
This is one of our favorite pictures.  Sue does have an eye for good shots.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Tamam.  It is housed in a converted Turkish bath house.  There are tables around the raised floor on the
outside of one of the baths and more tables in the sunken bath portion.     
Tamam Restaurant
On our final full day in Hania.  We took some time to enjoy the Naval and historical museum.  Pictures
were not allowed inside, but we did take one of the monument that is being constructed in the back
within the remains of an old fort.

On our last day, we set off very early to ensure that we would make it to the airport in time.  We got to
the airport too early.  So off we went in the car and we stumbled on to a very interesting monastery.
The monastery had a vineyard, olive
tree orchard, wine cellar and tasting
room.  
We went back to the airport to catch an
Aegean flight back to Athens.  From Athens
we spend a quick night near the airport and
get up early to catch our return flight to
Portland.