Long overdue trip report – Napflion, Crete and Athens (long)

To start, I want to thank all the Greece experts that answered my questions and helped me to craft a fabulous vacation. Special thanks to travelerjan, stanbr, roger1x, Ramblinmann and others. Whether your know it or not, you were extremely helpful in my travel preparation. When I first started planning our trip, I had us traveling all over Greece and going to a couple islands, all within two weeks. I listened to your advice and now know that it would have been crazy to cram everything into one trip.

Our trip was in early to mid-September. We ended up spending two nights in Napflion, then flying to Crete for seven nights, and then back to Athens for our final two nights. For our Crete segment, we flew into Chania and out of Heraklion on Aegean Air, who were marvelous. I think they’re planes are more plush than any of the ones we’ve been on for our international flights.

We are more into wandering and serendipity than historic sightseeing and we could only visit so many ruins; so all in all, I thought this itinerary suited us. If I went back, though, I would be happy to spend my entire trip in western Crete.

The photos from my trip are posted at http://greeceandparis2009.shutterfly.com/26

I’ve reviewed all of the hotels we stayed in on Trip Advisor (screen name dragonfly 727) so I won’t go into any details here. I am also not going to go into any detail about the ruins. There are so many other great reviewers that what I say would not hold a candle to what they write. I would have more information about the restaurants we visited, but all that information was lost, a casualty that I’ll talk about toward the end of this report.

Day 1 – Arrive in Athens
Our flight arrived around 5pm and we got in on time. Initially I had asked about getting a connection to Crete or driving straight to Napflion when we arrived. As it turned out, we could have done either, but we stayed at St. Thomas B&B in Peania and it was nice to just relax by the pool, walk down the block for dinner and succumb to jet lag.

Day 2 – Travel to Napflion
We were a little worried about the Greek drivers, but once we got out of the Athens suburbs, the drive got less frenetic and more scenic. We made the requisite stop at the Corinth Canal, and although it was touristy, it was quite beautiful. We heard bungee jumpers on the bridge beneath us, but did not see any of them jump. From there we stopped at Isthmia in hopes of seeing the sunken bridge, but it was sunk and after hanging around for a while, it didn’t seem like it was going to be raised any time soon so headed toward Epidavros. By the time we arrived there, it was mid-afternoon and very hot. The plus side was it wasn’t very crowded so we could enjoy the relative quiet and take pictures without hoards of people in them.

We headed to Napflion and armed with a very limited map, proceeded to try to find Hotel Leto. In the process of getting lost, we managed to visit Akronafplia Fortress, before we finally found the street to get to the hotel. We had a lovely triple first floor room with two balconies. Let the vacation begin!

Day 3 – Napflion
We spent the morning wandering around Palamidi Fortress, then wandered around town. Don’t miss the opportunity to have gelato at Antica Gelateria di Roma. In the late afternoon we went to Asine Beach, which was lovely, in that it was quiet, but the afternoon is probably not the greatest time to go to the beach since the water was rough. We had a wonderful dinner at O Pseiras, which was a challenge to find, but a fun experience as we were the only patrons there on a Sunday night, and the owner gave us his full attention and humored us throughout the evening.

Day 4 – Napflion, fly to Chania
For our last day on the Peloponnese, we spent our trip back to Athens visiting the ruins in the area – Tiryns, Mycenae and Nemea. There are others that provide much better detail that I could, but it would have been fun to spend some time in visiting some wineries in the area (maybe next time). We had a late flight into Chania and arrived at Pension Nora without any difficulty. [As a side note: our room, at the end of the short alley, was lovely and quiet. It was clean and no signs of bugs, bed or otherwise. I saw an earlier poster’s comment about the bugs and wanted to assure everyone that I would not worry about any sort of infestation. Eftihis and Natalie went out of their way to make us feel comfortable while we were there.] We had dinner at Tamam. I loved the place itself, the atmosphere (we ate inside). I wasn’t crazy about what I ordered (some sort of stew), but I think there are things on the menu that may have been better choices, and their Cretan salad was very good.

Day 5 – Chania
This was maybe my favorite day of our whole vacation. We drove through the mountains, through Elos, to Elafonisi Beach. It is as beautiful as you see in the pictures and the water is so shallow, you can walk to the island that is maybe a quarter of a mile away. We took the coastal road going back. Both roads – the inland mountain and the coastal road -- are windy with fabulous views and I loved driving through the charming Cretan villages. After Falasama, we stopped at a small family owned store which sold olive wood products. After buying a couple of things (wish I bought more), the owner presented us with a huge bag of grapes, picked from one her arbors we had admired. We were thrilled by her generous gesture. For dinner we went to Achilles, which is past the beach, and is the last restaurant past the fishing boats. They took us into the kitchen to see the fresh fish of the day. This was a good local restaurant, off the beaten path, which we returned to a couple times while we were in Chania.

Day 6 – Chania
This was our day to explore Chania, beginning with the Central Market. We wondered around the town, walking to the fortress, mosque and Venetian quarter.


Day 7 – Chania
We set out early for a cruise to Gramvousa Island and Balos lagoon, with a quick stop at the weekly farmer’s market (NOTE: this is a much better place to stock up on produce than the Central Market. It’s cheaper and the fruit I bought was delicious). I’m not sure what kind of boat I was expecting, but I was surprised to find we were going on a big boat with 400 of our closest friends. The trip to Gramvousa was sunny and beautiful. When we got there, we had a quick picnic and then my son and I hike up to the fortress at the top. I’m sorry we didn’t have time to spend at the beach there as it was pretty and by the time we got to Balos, the sky started to get cloudy. I’m sure the lagoon would have been beautiful if the weather was better, but we spent about a half hour at the beach and then headed back to the boat to warm up. Shortly it started to rain, which continued through the night.

In retrospect, I wish I had known what day the farmer’s market took place. I would have gone on the boat trip the day before so we could have spent some time wandering around the market. Hindsight is 20/20, but it’s something I know we would have enjoyed, had we had the time.

Day 8 – Drive to Plakius
It was still raining when we got up in the morning, so we bid adieu to Chania and headed out. This was the day we were supposed to hike the Imbros Gorge, but the weather was not conducive for hiking, let alone anything else. We made a quick stop in Frangokastello and arrived in Plakius in late afternoon. By the time we got settled in our room, the weather started to clear. We had appetizers at Gio-Ma (45 olives on our plate, travelerjan!), where we wished we had also eaten dinner.

Day 9 – Drive to Matala
We the sun back out, we headed out of town, driving through the beautiful Kourtaliotiko Canyon, which almost made up for missing Imbros the day before. We stopped in the cute town of Spili for lunch and continued through Agia Galini, arriving at Phaestos. From there, we arrived at our destination, Matala. Our hotel, Matala Valley Village was a short walk from the town of Matala but was quiet and our bungalow was extremely comfortable. I’ve included the URL since there are a couple of places baring similar names -- http://www.valleyvillage.gr/ or http://www.greekhotel.com. Once we settled in, we headed over to Komos Beach, another beautiful setting. In the evening we wandered around the town of Matala.

Day 13 – Drive to Heraklion
After breakfast, we wandered around the caves by Matala beach, which had been partially washed out by the rain of the previous couple days. Our drive took us through the lush agricultural valleys, where we stopped for lunch in a shaded plaza in Arhanes. We arrived at our hotel, which was on the outskirts of Heraklion. After relaxing by the pool, we headed into Heraklion and wandered around. We weren’t crazy about Heraklion and felt sorry for the cruise boat tourists, whose only exposure to Crete was their visit there. Ironically, though, we had our best meal of the trip at Loukoulos (http://www.loukoulos-restaurant.gr/en/space.htm)

Day 14 – Knossos, then fly to Athens
After getting lost a couple of times, we spent our last morning in Crete at Knossos. I was worried how it would compare to Phaestos, given the arguments I’d read about the authenticity of the restoration, etc. We actually liked Knossos better in that we could see a better visual representation of how things would have been back in the day. We had an early afternoon flight to Athens and were able to take the X95 bus and walk to our hotel without getting lost. We stayed at the Hotel Phaedra and the location cannot be beat, with a view of Hadrian’s Arch and the Acropolis, depending on where you are in the hotel. We had an enjoyable dinner at Damingos and wandered around Plaka. [A side note: originally we were waiting for a table at Scholario, which was recommended by some people on different forums. When my husband saw them take a plate of calamari, that had obviously been passed over by several tables, and throw it back in to be refried, we opted to leave. Caveat emptor.]

Day 15 – Athens
Getting my son up in the morning had been a challenge and this morning was no exception. I would have liked to arrive at the Acropolis earlier, but we got there at 9:30 before the crowds started in earnest. There was no line to buy tickets, but people, have cash with you! There was a couple in line ahead of us with no euros, asking whether they could pay in American dollars. Come on, would you take euros as payment in the states? Anyway, the Acropolis exceeded all expectations. There is scaffolding and yes, it got mobbed as the morning progressed, but it is an awesome landmark. I wish we had gone back for a second visit, maybe at night, but it didn’t happen. We continued our day, walking around Monastiraki. What was curious to me were streets tailored to certain item; one street had only spice stores, another fabric. We wandered through back alleys until we couldn’t walk any more. For dinner, we went to Filistron in Thissio. A fabulous way to end a fabulous day, with a great view of the Acropolis at night.

Day 16 – Athens
We got a relatively early start as I had bought tickets for the Acropolis Museum. When we got there, it was wonderfully quiet, peaceful and beautiful. The museum won’t disappoint, but get there early before the crowds converge. We wanted to get a feel for some of the Athens neighborhoods so we went to the Kolonaki district, which was disappointing. There was an M.C. Escher exhibit at the Herakleidon in Thissio, so we headed back over there. The exhibit will be there until November 15 and I would recommend going if you have a couple extra hours in your schedule. I would not, however, recommend getting on a crowded metro car. It was at this moment, that our vacation took a unfavorable turn, as my husband’s wallet was stolen from inside a velcroed pocket of his shorts. Of course, you get through this and all the hassle that comes along with a theft, but you never forget. We were lucky; our passports were elsewhere (but not the business cards from some of the restaurants we’d visited). We were able to use Skype to call the credit card company before anything was charged. But let me reiterate. Wait for a less crowded train. If you’re tired, get more alert before you’re in a crowded environment. Needless to say, after this ordeal we were mentally exhausted. We stumbled close by, to a decent, if not remarkable dinner at Byzantino for our last night in Athens.

Day 17 – Leaving Greece
Although the Athens metro was back in service to the airport, after the incident the day before, we opted to take the bus instead. Honestly, if Syntagma Square is convenient for you to get to, I think the bus would be easiest to get to the airport as it’s comfortable and a fairly quick trip.

We had mixed emotions leaving Greece. Obviously we were still feeling the sting of the Metro theft, but that could happen in any city. We loved the scenic beauty. We were disappointed by the variety of food. The Greek restaurants where we live have as good of food as any of the ones we visited (the tomatoes and feta were the exceptions). Would we go back? As I said earlier in my report, I would love to spend more time in western Crete. The beaches were exceptional and I think there were many more places we weren’t able to discover. Athens is just another big city. Once you hit the highlights, I’m not sure if it’s a place you’d want to return time and time again. I hope some of my report helps you in planning your upcoming trips. Thanks again for all of you that helped me.