Crete

I am finally updating with our Crete trip, I will mostly let the pictures speak to make it easier to catch up.

Crete was amazing: the sea, the mountains, the Creta Maris Resort, the food, the people and so much more. You can tell the island was affected by the economic downturn though, as you drive through, you see many abandoned buildings, including large number of construction sites at various stages of completion left to deteriorate. Hopefully it will turn around again soon, the island deserves to thrive.

We went there to accompany Karel at a conference, since we were already in Europe, it was much easier and we jumped at the opportunity. The engineers certainly know how to pick a conference venue! The resort was beautiful and large enough,  with its sandy and rocky beaches, many pools, multiple restaurants and bars, so you would not need to take a step outside, but we did anyway, because there is a lot more to see. But when Karel was working, it was easy to keep ourselves busy too. Here are some pictures from the resort.

The weather was nice and were lucky to enjoy some quiet sea for snorkeling, as well as some waves for jumping in them or facing them on floaties, and of course some beach time.

Karel kept telling the kids the ocean is the best and biggest pool, but we could not deny them the smaller ones completely, especially since there were water slides. We mostly went to the pools when Karel was attending the conference. Sylvia even made a little friend there who spoke english, we have not meet many of those in Europe, so she was thrilled.

To see more than just the resort, we went on a guided trip, that started with visit to the Knossos Archeological Site, where remains of the magnificent Knossos Palace have been unearthed and partially restored. The palace was build 3,700 years ago and there is evidence that it sits on two layers of older buildings, the oldest one dating to neolithic era, 6,000 BC. In Greece, the history is intertwined with the myths and legends and the Knossos Palace is at the center of both. It was home to king Minos, and maybe the legendary minotaurs (we were disappointed we did not get to see him:-). Phillip was especially excited to visit , as he has been studying the ancient Greek civilization, but it was a magnificent experience for all of us.

After the palace tour, the bus took us to the mountains, the drive itself was great for the spectacular views. We stopped at a 600-years-old monastery, turned convent of Kera Kardiotissa Convent (Our Lady of the Heart). It is a home of seven nuns, who maintain the old church and surrounding buildings. It is not allowed to take pictures inside, but the church is beautiful and so are the partially preserved frescos. The courtyard had beautiful flowers and you can admire the view.

After that we were almost at the entrance to the Lassithi Plato, which surrounded by mountains in the elevation of 2,750 feet undeserved as refuge in different times. It is unique because it has fertile ground at such hight. You can find small white windmills, local invention, that were used for pumping water from under the surface.

On the other side is entrance to the Diction Cave, which according to legend, is the birth place of Zeus himself. To enter the cave, you have o climb an elevation of one 100 meters and the locals offer a donkey taxi to take you there. The kids, especially Sylvia, really wanted to ride the donkey, so we hired one and they took turns on it. The walk was nice though and offered more of the beautiful views. The cave itself is very nice, with stalagmites and stalactites and to see it all you need to descend 200 steps, which you also have to climb back. No wonder my phone was showing we climbed 37 floors that day.

We really loved Crete and would like to come back. The people are friendly and wenxperinced a lot, but there is so much more we did not get to see and do. And the food and wine was pretty good too!