Crete

Our first stop in Crete was Heraklion the modern, bustling capital of Crete. We stayed close to the old Venetian fort and harbour, within walking distance of a busy cafe and restaurant strip.

About 5km from Heraklion lies Knosses the capital of Minoan Crete, with the most famous of Minoan ruins - the palace of King Minos of Knosses. This site is the inspiration to the myth of the Minotaur. The half man half bull being that lived in the labyrinth below the King's palace. We visited the ruins which are set on a hill and include a huge palace with courtyards, private rooms, baths, fresh water irrigation system, sewerage system and decorative wall paintings & frescos. We even saw archaeologists excavating certain parts of the ruins that were cordoned off to the public.

After a day or so in Heralion we took a bus to Hania. The way to Hania was very picturesque with the bus going through mountains and valleys to end up hugging the beautiful coast line passing small seaside towns along the way. Crete has a lot of scenic variety packed into a small area and I think hiring a car is probably the best way to explore all its beauty.

In Hania we stayed at pretty little pension - a restored Venetian building converted to accommodation on top of a tourist gift shop. If you ever come to Hania you have to stay in the old town filled with small characteristic buildings in amongst snug cobbled paths. We were walking distance from the waterfront and old harbour lined with restaurants where we saw great sunsets on the back drop of the Venetian light house. The food was also better than we've had in all the places to we had been in Greece.

While we were in Hania we also did a day trip to the Samaria Gorge and trekked the 16.7kms downhill to the coast. Samaria gorge is Europe's largest and most spectacular. It is a national park and as no one is allowed to stay in the gorge overnight once you start the trek you have to finish it in about 5-6 hours so you can catch the boat to the next town.

The day began very early as we lighted a bus at 6:15am for a 45 min ride to the south coast of Crete and the head of the gorge at 1230m above sea level. We started the trek at about 7:45am and the first part was very steep, rocky & downhill and we descended 900m in the first 4kms. The rest of the trek was flatter than this and the scenery was breathtaking as we followed the path of the mostly dried up river bed to the sea. There were three rest stops but we kept a very good pace all the way down. Our guide started half an hour after us and ensured that everyone made it to the end where we had a catch a boat to the next town to get our bus back to Hania. As the day wore on and the sun got higher it became very hard to walk on the rocky path down hill. It was a real workout for the legs; especially the knees. Towards the end of the trek we passed through the narrowest part of the gorge which is 3m wide and 300m high. I felt a great sense of achievement to finish the trek especially with my dodgy knee. It was definitely the hardest thing I've even done. I think it was really worthwhile to do even though we were sore for a couple of days after it.

All in all I really enjoyed our time in Hania.