The first part of our trip to Greece was to Athens for three nights, then Crete for three. We landed in Athens on Saturday, Oct 10 just in time for a brief exploratory walk & dinner. The city is a huge, dirty, vibrant place. People were crowded into cafes, restaurants & on squares just enjoying the evening. We thought it was so alive because it was a Saturday night, but no, every subsequent evening we spent in Athens was the same. Sunday we spent the morning at the first of many archeological museums, lunched with Peggy & Mike Lowe (which was delightful), then proceeded to the first of many ancient ruins in the city. On the first full day, pillars & stones still seemed at least mildly interesting. We saw the Agora, the Acropolis & walked all over ancient Greece. By this time it was about 4.30 in the afternoon, it had been warm all day & I was ready to just sit down at a cafe & enjoy a beverage. However, as we were heading to the metro, we walked past the Acropolis Museum. It was newly constructed before the Athens Olympics & it's a gorgeous, expansive space. They built it in part because the Greeks want to get the Elgin Marbles back from England, which are currently housed in the British Museum. Makes sense to have friezes from the Acropolis in the British Museum, no? If you are interested in a bit more information about this controversy, you can get a brief low-down here. Right, back to us, much more important. We were just admiring the museum, when one of us happened to look at the hours. Turns out they are closed on Monday! Monday was our last day in Athens & we had planned to hit up the Acropolis Museum then. Luckily, it was open until 8pm, so instead of a cafe, we entered the museum for just a bit more. The place was pure & utter chaos; it was by far the most crowded place we'd been all day. Joe was anxious to get inside & see everything. But, Liz needed a minute to herself & quickly found a museum cafe where we had a snack & a cafe frappe (thank God for those things whilst in Greece!, more than enough cool caffeine refreshment to bring a jolt of energy into looking at more stones). Turns out the Acropolis Museum is as gorgeous on the inside as it looks from the outside. There are 360 degree views of the city through floor to ceiling plate glass windows. Most of the pieces inside are friezes from the Acropolis that wouldn't last if left outside in the elements.
Monday in Athens we strolled around, did some shopping (only Joe got anything though;), and hiked up to a castle on a hill which has some (polluted) views of the city. It was hazy & warm, but the hike was still enjoyable. I would say we ate the best in Athens, but I think that was just because Greek food was still fresh & exciting to us. After my 4th Greek salad (all of which have the EXACT same set-up and I mean all down to the way the feta is cut), I was ready to be done with the Greek food. The food variety in Greece is just about as bad as it is here in Zurich, although I'll talk souvlaka, kebap & greek salad any day over wurst, cordon blue and wurst.
Tuesday we headed for the airport for our quick flight to Crete. Of course, the metro system was beyond seamless (minus the 35+ elderly Greek people who piled into our metro car so tight, it was ridiculous. There was no need to hang on to anything as there was no where to go. Just bodies on bodies on stinky bodies) and we knew how it worked by that point, so we were super early to the airport. Our flight was delayed and then delayed. Funny thing about it was before the delays began, they made flight announcements in Greek & English. Once the delays began, just Greek. So, after the 3rd announcement or so, Joe asked another man sitting by us what was happening. Turns out the mild rain in Athens was not the culprit, but rather strong winds in Crete. After about an hour and a half delay, we were finally off, although the landing was a bit rough for my comfort.
We didn't really have a set agenda for Crete, so we walked around Heraklion, the town we were staying in & scouted things out. As I said about pretty much everything in Crete from our hotel, to the archaeological museums, to the town, to the countryside; 'this is nice-ish.' There was nothing very interesting about any of it. It just sort of felt like more of the same from Athens, a museum, some stones where people lived 4500 years ago, some more barren, desert-like landscape. Neither of us were particularly impressed. So, Wednesday we rented a car and drove around to some more 'nice-ish' stuff, had lunch in a beach town, dipped our feets in the ocean, ate McDonald's drive through (so luxurious, a. to be in a car b. to not have to leave said car while eating food). Then, Joe decided to sign us up for the ambitious/crazy town way to spend our Thursday. A four hour bus ride each way to the Samaria Gorge for a 10 mile one way hike. We had to be at the meeting point at 6am Thursday morning, ah, what a way to spend vacation. We arrived there in utter darkness, waiting for a bus. About 6.10 a man walks up to us, says Samaria Gorge, we sleepily say yes, then he leads us to his van (or what the guide later called mini-bus). It was one of those surreal, should we really get in this random dudes van moments. So, we clamored in, he said nothing to us, then about 10 minutes later we pulled over on the side of the highway & he said this is the meeting point, the bus will be here soon. The side of the highway. I shit you not. So, a few moments later a larger bus pulls up, we got on & attempted to fall back asleep. Four hours, and one stop too many later, we arrived to the Samaria Gorge. The first 3km were pretty much straight down on a trail that had a lot of loose stones, gravel & sharp descents. There were tourists doing the walk in sandals. It was a crowded trail as everyone gets dropped off at the starting point, and exits at the end. It was hard to get used to all the people around us because most of the time when we hike in Switzerland, we only pass a handful of people. This was madness, and the hike wasn’t even as nice! I expected something like the Areuse Gorge, and although the Samaria Gorge was nice, I’m not sure it was worth the 8 hour roundtrip.
All in all, the first two parts of the Greece trip were good, but we were going in expecting greatness. We headed to Santorini via ferry Friday morning, our hopes high that it was worth the hype.
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