Crete Trip July 2024 – Part 3

July 18

Thursday was the day we had booked for our big excursion. But when we woke up, Monki was still feeling the effects of her exciting night, so she decided she wasn’t up for a long bus ride and Rasa was going to stay with her. Fair enough. 

We all went to breakfast together and got our pre-packed box lunch from the resort to take with us (yup, all-inclusive means if you let them know you’re going to be away for lunch, they’ll send you along with a pre-packed meal). Then we said good-bye, asked for a ride down to the bottom of the hill and away we went. 

Our bus was supposed to arrive at 9am, but the instructions were a bit vague. For one, they didn’t tell us what side of the road we were supposed to wait on (we guessed wrong and had to quickly cross the busy street). Then, they explained that we needed to be there on time or the bus would leave without us, but that they might be as much as 20 minute late. In fact, they were late, and when we tried to call to find out what was happening, there was no response. 

Our instructions also said to make sure we had various amounts of cash on hand, since entrance fees were not included in the tour price (not a big deal) and everywhere was cash only. We were also requested to bring cash for something called “whisper” to be paid directly to the tour guide. 

As it turns out, two of the three places we visited took cards and the “whisper,” which I found out later was a tour headphone system, so everyone could easily hear the guide, was never even offered (and later, when the guide was asked about it, she dismissed it as a system they didn’t even use). 

Not off to a great start.

The tour guide was not very good. Yes, she repeated her talking points in multiple languages (English, German, and sometimes French) but for the most part, she repeated memorized information with no context. She would tell us we were looking at something but not why we were looking at it. 

Our first stop was at a monastery, which, except for being old and high in the mountains, didn’t seem to have any historical significance. But okay. That’s not what were there to see so we could put up with the slight detour and the nice view. 

Then we stopped at a pottery shop. 

Not a place where they made pottery, demonstrated, traditional ways of creating the Greek urns or anything like that. Nope, this was a shop. We had a nice 20-minute stop in order to go souvenir shopping. I was not happy about this. 

Our next stop was The Cave of Zeus. I’d been looking forward to this one. The itinerary said we would have a little more than 2 hours there. Not so. Upon arrival, we were told we had 90 minutes. And it was a rigorous 20-minute walk up the mountain just to get to the cave itself. 

Pa decided not to risk it and stayed in the little village with the bus. Bubby and I went for it, although she told me to go on without her as the grade got a bit steep. As I powered up, I thought to myself it would make sense to have a concession for helping people get to the top. 

That’s when I saw the donkeys. Yup, you could hire a donkey to carry you to the top. I knew that if Monki had come, we would have been buying a donkey ride for her. But I’m young (ish) and strong so I was going to hike. 

I did make it to the top. I was sweaty and out of breath, but I was there. I joined the queue to buy tickets for the cave itself and kept on the lookout for Bubby. There was the possibility she would have given up and gone back down but I figured I’d keep looking until I couldn’t anymore. 

Can you guess what happened? Yup. There she was, riding a donkey up. She knew if she was going to see this, that was the only way she’d get up the hill. So she did. We met up and bought our tickets (senior discounts but only if you’re an EU citizen – Americans pay full price!) and there was even more walking past the gate. 

The cave itself was a rather shallow example (I was expecting something like Meramec or Carlsbad Caverns), and it was a simple down and up the stairs to walk through the cave structures. I did the entire thing, but Bubby waited just inside the entrance. 

Bubby got a diet coke from the ice cream stand at the top of the mountain, then took a donkey back down. I walked behind her, carefully avoiding donkey droppings.

We weren’t the last ones back to the bus, but the guide was unpleasant about our missing her deadline. We shrugged our shoulders and climbed aboard, waiting for our next stop. 

Our next stop was lunch. We pulled into a rest stop with two buildings, a restaurant and a souvenir shop. We were told lunch was already being prepared and we had a few choices. But this wasn’t included, and it was never mentioned in any of the literature. Thankfully, we had our packed lunch and took a table outside the restaurant, on the patio, to eat. Our guide was none too happy about the fact that we weren’t spending money there, even going so far as to strongly suggest we buy some dessert or something. 

Can we say “kickbacks”?

Should take a moment to say the bus driver was amazing. The way he maneuvered that huge beast through tiny spaces and tight corners was really some excellent driving. And now, he was taking us back to Heraklion for the guided tour of the Palace of Knossos. 

The ruins were so impressive, it was a shame our guide didn’t speak loud enough to really be heard and could only give half the information since she had to repeat it all in German. She didn’t even do it all in one language and then the other so you could explore on your own while the other language was happening. Nope, she would do it paragraph by paragraph. 

Overall, the guide was not good. She might have been knowledgeable but honestly, she cared more about the tour and reciting her memorized information than the tourists. She repeated a lot of irrelevant information like an AI construct of a tour guide. It also felt rushed, not just because she was translating everything in English and German. She just seemed like she was reciting without any enthusiasm or real knowledge of what she was looking at.

Any questions asked of her seemed like impositions and threw her off her memorized talk. In the end, both mom and I bought books about the palace so we could understand what we were looking at. 

One of the things the guide kept saying was that what we were looking at were recreations, with the originals in the museum in Heraklion. Now, when we booked this tour, I thought we were going to the museum. I’m not disappointed with what we saw (only the guide) but I still wanted to see the museum. Bubby and I discussed going there the next day. 

Back on the bus, they dropped the guide off first, as she lived in Heraklion (I guess) before taking the rest of us back to our various resorts. It took more than 90 minutes for us to get back to the hotel. 

Back in the room, we met up with Rasa and Monki, who had been taking it easy all day. We had dinner and then headed down to watch the mini disco (Monki still wasn’t up to being very active and didn’t want to dance). Our musical selection for the evening was an energetic rendition of Grease, after which we all headed up to bed. 

July 19

As I said, when we were walking around the ruins of the Palace at Knossos, I kept wondering where the museum part of the experience was. Turns out, it’s a completely different place. The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a two-story, climate-controlled building near the city center which houses all the artifacts they pulled out of the 4000-year-old ruins. Plus some other stuff. 

Anyway, Bubby and I had talked about wanting to see these things and the possibility of heading into town on Friday, via public transportation (a taxi would be too expensive). So at breakfast on Friday morning, our last full day here, I once again mentioned my desire to go. Bubby decided she didn’t want to spend an hour or so on a city bus and would rather stay at the resort and go swimming with Monki. 

Rasa said I should still go. So I went to the front desk and got the details and bus schedules and headed out. At the bus stop (the same one we thought was the one where we were supposed to meet the tour bus the day before) I waited. The time scheduled for the bus came and went until a big, luxury tour bus pulled up. There was some confusion before we realized that this was, indeed, the city bus. I got on, paid my €3.50 to take me all the way to the end of line (the bus station at Heraklion) and got comfy. The ride was pleasant, driving along the coast (to be fair, a lot of being on an island is along the coast, but this was closer to the water than the main highway). 

When we reached the station, I asked how to get back. The ticket taker (different from the driver) explained the bus would be right there and just to come back to the same spot later in the day. I figured this meant that the particular bay the bus had parked in (bay 1) was the slot for the shuttle between Hersonissos and Heraklion. This was not actually the case, but I wasn’t to discover that for another couple of hours. 

It wasn’t too difficult to find the museum (and grabbing the free Wi-Fi from the McDonald’s across the street certainly aided in that quest) and so I found myself buying a ticket and making my way inside. 

That’s where I found the QR code for the app. There was also an app I downloaded at the actual Palace of Knossos, but since I was on a tour, I didn’t have a chance to use that one. This one I could use. And I did. 

I’d like to take a moment to talk about museum apps. I am all in favor. I think back to that viral picture showing the school kids all sitting at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, studiously looking at their phones while a culturally important Rembrandt painting looms in the background. Of course, the picture was originally used to shame “kids today” for being not paying attention to art, when in reality, the kids were engrossed in an app, sponsored by the museum, which gave them information and provided much needed context so the kids could understand and appreciate the art around them. 

I’m a big fan of this. Whenever possible, I get an audio guide or pick up a tour book. There’s a shelf in my newly redone office devoted to the books I’ve picked up from various museums along my way. I even added to it on this trip. All of which is to say the app at this museum was pretty good (and the museum had Wi-Fi so I could make full use of it). 

Once open, as I wandered from room to room, the app would automatically tell me something to look at in the immediate area. Obviously, this is curated to show off the most important, significant, or interesting artifacts. You know, the things people are there to see. They can’t put detailed information about every single item… that would be overwhelming, but there’s enough to get a nice overview and there’s still supplemental information written around other relics to fill in any gaps you might want filled. 

The downside of this app, though, is you don’t always see when it sends you a message and you might not hit the right locale to get everything in a particular room. At the same time, you might miss something you’re looking for simply by dint of the fact you have no idea what it really looks like. For me, that was the Phaistos Disc. 

The Phaistos Disc is one of the symbols of old Crete and Minoan culture. It’s a 2^nd millennium BC discovery which has yet to be deciphered. You can find representations of it everywhere, on T-shirts and beach towels and jewelry pieces. There was even a painting of it on the wall of the lobby of our hotel. 

I thought it would be a fairly easy to spot item on display. And yet, as I walked up one side the museum and down the other (the way they designed it), I never saw the disk. Finally, at the end of the pre-planned route, I looked it up to see where it was supposed to be and headed straight there. 

I found it. 

Like the Rosetta Stone, it was not the size I was expecting. Instead of a massive disk, the size of the vault door into the Chamber of Secrets, the Phaistos Disc is about 16cm across (just over 6 inches or slightly longer than a $1 bill). It’s relatively tiny! It’s also incredibly cool and someone with more talent or skill than Don Brown should write a thriller involving deciphering it. 

With that box finally checked off, I headed upstairs. Most of the second floor was closed for renovations (makes no sense to do renovations in the height of the tourist season, but what do I know?) but the frescos and mosaics on display were certainly worth the stairs. 

When I went back downstairs, I took a different staircase and discovered another room full of sculptures. Lots of great pieces, but my favorite was the three-part display of Persephone, Hades, and Cerberus. Just a gorgeous rendering of the rulers of the underworld and their good doggie!

Wrapping up the museum, I headed out to see some of the city sights. One of the things mentioned in the guidebooks was the Lion Fountain so off I went in search of it. Found it in the middle of a square of a bustling tourist area, surrounded on all sides by restaurants and bars. It was midafternoon so I grabbed a ham and cheese crepe from one place and a gelato (with free whipped cream and sprinkles) from another. 

Rasa had mentioned that the old port was something to see in the city, so I headed in that direction. It was a huge fortification built in the 1600s when the Venetians occupied the island. It was interesting to see the building, but, as opposed to the other museum, this one was filled with huge amounts of text and not a lot to keep the eye occupied. If they had had a book, I would have bought it. 

With all my touristing done, it was time to back to the bus station and the hotel. I went back to the station to the bay where I had been dropped off. I tried to get on and buy a ticket but the ticket taker was incredibly rude and yelled at me, telling me I couldn’t buy a ticket on the bus (I did on the way there and I saw people do it on the way back) and if I didn’t already have a ticket, tough, this bus was sold out! 

Okay then. I went inside and bought a ticket for the next bus, which was in a different bay and wasn’t a coach, but a proper city bus, what Monki likes to call an “expando bus” the kind with an accordion middle section. 

I made it back to Hersonissos in time to find everyone relaxing after having spent the whole day in the pool and having a great time. I shared my stories and the presents I got for Monki and then it was time for dinner and some Mini Disco action. 

Rasa had originally suggested going down to the beach to watch our final sunset in Greece, but when the time came, she decided she was tired so we stayed around for the evening’s entertainment, traditional Greek music and dancing. 

We left early, but Bubby and Pa stayed and had a good time. 

July 20

Our last morning. 

Rasa being Rasa had us all mostly packed up before bed the night before so we were good to go for breakfast fairly quickly. Bubby and Pa still needed time to get all of their stuff packed so after breakfast, they headed back to the room. 

Meanwhile, Monki wanted to enter the daily dart tournament, so we made our way down to that area. While we were there, the entertainment hosts had all gathered at the pool DJ booth for morning exercises and we were able to get Monki, now dressed in her own crew shirt (they were for sale, we didn’t mug someone) a picture with the entire gang. 

At the dart tournament, Monki and I both signed up. We tried our best but unfortunately were just not up to the standards represented by the other players. Didn’t matter! We had a great time with lots of laughing. 

With the end of the darts, it was time to check out, but we were told we could still make use of all the facilities until we left. So we did. We still had some ice cream and hung out a bit. I decided I wanted to go to the beach one last time and Monki and Rasa joined me. 

We all put our feet in the water and Monki and I even played a round of minigolf (which she had learned about with Bubby a week before). We took pictures and communed with the surf and then figured it was time to go back. Rather than wait for the shuttle or walk, we spotted a transport vehicle from our resort who had just dropped someone off and managed to catch a ride back, which was nice. 

We had a last lunch at the buffet then just kind of hung out in the lobby before hopping our travel agency provided coach to the airport. All easy as pie. 

At the airport, though, things got a little pear shaped. The day before there had been a world-wide Microsoft outage which caused delayed/canceled flights all around the globe. Flights here were affected just as much as anywhere, and almost all the flights on the board were delayed. We even heard boarding calls for flights which had been cancelled the day before. 

We had gotten to the airport early and, like in Bristol two years ago, this meant we couldn’t even check in for our flight for a while. We found a place to sit and just waited. We did a little last minute souvenir shopping and grabbed a snack, but really, it was just a matter of waiting. It looked like our flight was going to be delayed, but when I asked our initial travel group contact about what was happening, her response was “all I had to do was get you to the airport, I did that.” Great. Turns out the flight coming in from Vilnius had left late, which meant that yes, our flight would also be delayed. But hopefully not by much. 

When they finally announced a check in gate for us, it was another huge mess. The line was huge and blended with other check-ins. Eventually, I saw another tour operator contact and asked him if there were anything we could do since a member of our party (Pa) had a little trouble walking. This guy was much better and really on top of things. He contacted airport security who got dad a wheelchair and helped us through the security check and to our gate. 

Up in the gate waiting area things were overcrowded and hot. It was a miserable time, but we tried to keep the mood light. Monki told everyone riddles while we watched other flights change gates. Sure enough, our gate was also changed and as the rush of people headed to the new departure area, our security guy came back and took Bubby and Pa through to a specialized transport to get them on the plane. 

Even when we were finally on the plane things weren’t 100 percent settled. We still sat on the runway for 40 minutes before we were eventually cleared for take-off. Thankfully, Monki and Rasa both wore their acupressure bands and so, even though they felt pressure, no one got sick.

We landed back in Lithuania to a beautiful, almost full moon, and it was a relatively quick ride (no traffic and no rain) back to Kaunas and home. 

All in all, it was a great holiday, with many core memories created. 

The hard part now, is… what do we do next year?