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A trip into the neonatal ward of Western civilization

A trip into the neonatal ward of Western civilization

Old Oct 21st, 2014, 11:46 AM
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Florida1, you should! Others here can probably advise on the best time of year--but this timing worked pretty well for me. The temps were comfortable and the islands were lively enough but generally not too crowded (with one exception on Santorini, which we'll get to soon). I've been to Athens in June and probably wouldn't repeat that--way too hot for me. Hopefully, we can discuss in Boston next year!
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Old Oct 21st, 2014, 12:07 PM
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ms_go, you have a good eye for photo composition! I've only just gotten thru the Chania bit, but now I want to go!
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Old Oct 21st, 2014, 12:41 PM
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...now I want to go!

Tell me about it. I was there 2 weeks ago, and I want to go back already!
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Old Oct 21st, 2014, 01:59 PM
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Eating and drinking in Chania

As noted above, the breakfasts at Hanim Lounge were one of the culinary highlights of the trip. Four courses: First breads with homemade marmalade and other spreads. Then a salad with some kind of local cheese and/or meat, arugula and other greens, and local olive oil of course. Then an egg-based dish (ever have an omelette with a bit of mint in it? it actually can be quite good!). Finally, something interesting composed of yogurt and fruit and maybe something else. All with fresh local ingredients. All different every day (except the bread). All artfully presented—with every detail and element described. We’d expect this in some restaurants, but for breakfast (certainly a hotel breakfast) it was a first! And very much enjoyed—so much so that we rarely had more than a snack, if that, for lunch. Accordingly, our dining out was limited to four dinners.

Well of the Turk
A blend of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, this small restaurant came recommended from our hotel (where they clearly take their food seriously). It was a little hard to find, back in the alleyways of the old Turkish area of the city. It has a very nice setting in a quiet courtyard with a lot of candles. We ate here twice—once planned and the second time after arriving back late from the Samaria Gorge without having made any firm dinner plans (and by now, we knew how to find it!).

We stuck to the mezedes and tried different things each time. All were very good, with the roasted peppers and anchovies, meatballs, vegetarian mousaka, and falafel standing out.
http://www.welloftheturk.com/index.html

Portes
Popular and busy, but for a good reason. Our dinner—chicken with figs, lamb meatballs, and an appetizer of grilled eggplant with green tahini sauce)—was very good. The Irish owner and her staff were great hosts, particularly as a rainstorm moved in and they quickly had to re-accommodate everyone inside. We left full and happy, and armed with specific directions for making that green tahini sauce (which we intend to do sometime).

Thallasino Ageri
Another recommendation from the hotel, and this didn’t disappoint either—particularly the setting. This fish tavern is located on the beach—quite literally, the tables are on the sand. Excellent fresh seafood and mezedes; the octopus cooked in wine vinegar was a particular stand out. We went at sunset as recommended and were treated to this view:
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/c...0864#h21220864

It’s about a 15-20 minute walk from the main harbor of Chania. We took a cab there and walked back.
http://www.thalasino-ageri.gr/english/

The restaurants tend to serve a little something complimentary for dessert (fresh fruit, baklava or something entirely different), along with raki. We first tried raki in Turkey and were pleased to get reacquainted. We bought a bottle of homemade raki (literally poured into a plastic water bottle) in Chania and finished that off before leaving Santorini. We bought another sealed bottle to bring home, which fortunately made it intact through four flights in my checked bag.

The Cretan wines we tried (generally dry whites) were pretty good overall. I can’t find my notes on bottles we ordered at Well of the Turk, but we tended to have house wine other places.
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Old Oct 21st, 2014, 02:09 PM
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Publius asked above about hotel rates. I don't know how these compare to high season, but here are our nightly rates:

Hanim Lounge, Chania: €120, breakfast is extra (and very much worth it)

Lato Boutique Hotel, Heraklion: €123.50 for a junior suite with sea view and breakfast; note here, we had to leave before the breakfast room opened, but knowing that, the hotel invited us to go in anyway while they were setting up and had set a simple continental breakfast for us--very nice and well appreciated!

Oia Suites, Santorini: €185 for a jacuzzi suite with caldera view, breakfast included

Sofitel Athens Airport: €148.57, booked through Aegean Airlines in coordination with our flight; I don't think breakfast was included, but we had to leave too early anyway
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Old Oct 21st, 2014, 02:45 PM
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I love the title of your trip report. Thanks for sharing your amazing adventure.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 04:36 AM
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Very much looking forward to your Santorini report. Gorgeous place but I found it almost overwhelming.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 05:26 AM
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marigross, sorry we missed you in Greece. I don't think we missed by much! Looking forward to reading about your trip, as well.

We have a few things to finish up re: Crete, hopefully today(ish), and then we'll get to Santorini. Agree that it is gorgeous and unique, and I'm glad we finally had the opportunity to visit--and to do so a little off of peak season. But I'd really love to go back to Crete...
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 05:53 AM
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If / when the chatter from my clients dies down a bit today, I'll add some bits on Rethymnon and Iraklio. And possibly the ferry ride over to Santorini as well...
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 06:52 AM
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Loved your report which brought back wonderful memories of our trip to Crete and Santorini. However our ferry to Santorini was basically a nightmare due to high seas. We did recover and think of Santorini as one of the most beautiful places on earth.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 07:19 AM
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Colleen: Yes, fortunately our ferry trip was uneventful. We'll talk about that briefly in just a moment, but first...

Rethymnon
When we originally decided to base ourselves in Crete for the first part of this trip, we looked at both Chania and Rethymnon as options (and thanks again to the Fodors community for your valuable input in this thread: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ly-october.cfm ). We finally decided on Chania, of course, but Rethymnon is certainly worthy of consideration as well.

Both towns are extremely similar, having been planned, laid out, built and defended by the Venetians and changing hands over the years with the Turks (and others). In many ways, Rethymnon is a 2/3-scale model of Chania. The same Venetian harbor, the same sort of Old Town area, the same cluster of restaurants, cafes and bars... just 30% smaller scale and 30% fewer people.

The greatest difference between the two, and probably the greatest reason to visit Rethymnon on a daytrip (as we did), is the huge and impressive fortress (Fortezza) which guards the entrance to the old harbor. This is one of the largest and most genuinely impressive ruined fortifications we have ever visited, and we were happy to explore the entire grounds without much touristic company. It also helps that it was a gorgeously sunny day, and the sky and sea never looked bluer. We took quite a few pictures, and while we’re happy with the results... they really don’t do the place justice.

Afterward, we strolled through the town and ended up with a light lunch and a few drinks at a waterfront table at one of the restaurants on the harbor. (And when I say waterfront, I mean don’t back your chair up too far.)

Overall, we enjoyed the town. It wouldn’t have been a bad place to stay. But I think we made the right choice for us.

Rethymnon photos: http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/rethymno

Irakilo / Heraklion
Our original plan was to spend 5 nights in Chania, but it soon became apparent that in order to make our early-morning ferry to Santorini we would need to spend the previous night in Irakilo (which is also spelled any number of ways). So we chose a well-regarded boutique hotel just a stone’s throw from the scenic Venetian harbor and the modern ferry port, as well as the central bus terminal.

Iraklio is not the same as Chania or Rethymnon; while it does have a substantial tourist infrastructure, it is definitely NOT a tourist town. It is a busy and prosperous port city, and the vast majority of people you run into on the street are locals going about their business. If you enjoy shopping, we saw more than a few upscale stores along and near the main drag.

Our plan for the day was a full one, and called for significant advance planning. We enjoyed early breakfast service, bid farewell to our Chania “home,” drove a couple hours to the Iraklio airport, dropped off the car, took a bus back into town, found and checked into our hotel, caught the bus to the Knossos Palace archeological site, toured it, bussed back to town, took in the acclaimed Archeological Museum, walked back to the hotel, cleaned up, went to dinner down the street, strolled through the streets and pedestrian walkways of the old town, came back and enjoyed raki nightcaps on our spacious balcony. And then we exhaled.

Highlights:
* The Palace of Knossos excavation is remarkable. It’s a vast complex, and much of the excavation work is still to come... but what’s here is notable because of its incredible age. It’s about 3,700 years old, which would have made it an ancient relic even to the Classical Greeks. It was also the source of some of their most enduring stories and myths, most notably those of King Minos, Daedalus and Icarus, Ariadne, Theseus, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur. I won’t attempt to describe the general features and overall story of the Palace and its subsequent excavation because, frankly, Wikipedia does a pretty good job of summarizing it. I’m just saying that, from a traveler’s perspective, this site is very much worth your while and easy to get to and from. Make the time for it!

* Just as worth your while and even easier to get to is the Archeological Museum. Most of the best relics, frescoes and artwork from the Knossos site (and other Minoan sites in Crete) are found here, and many of them are breathtakingly beautiful and nicely restored. There are few things that I like better in a museum than one that melds the history lesson with the art-appreciation experience, and this place succeeds at both. It is loaded with impressive finds, stopping just short of being overwhelming. Someone has done a really nice job of curating this place, and kudos to them!

* If we had more time in town, I would have liked to spend more time in the evening hours around the streetside cafes, restaurants and bars that wind their way through the old part of town. No one had told us about the outdoor café scene here, and it looked like a really enjoyable experience... especially on a clear and comfortable evening.

Irakilo/Heraklion and Knossos photos: http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/heraklio

The Ferry to Santorini
Our plans had us taking the approximately 2.5 hour ferry from Iraklio to Santorini. In early October, there are only one or two morning ferries per day in this direction (Hellenic Seaways operates it six days per week @ 9:45am; Sea Jets operates it five days per week at 8:45am). We wanted to take the Hellenic Seaways ferry, as it allowed a less rushed departure from our hotel in the morning.

Somewhere along the line, we got the impression that it wasn’t essential to book the ferry too far in advance, so we mentally noted that as a to-do once we got to Chania. And then we got busy and went on a full-day excursion to the Samaria Gorge. So the last day in Chania (two days in advance), we finally got online to buy our ferry tickets, and guess what? It’s completely sold out—in both classes! So we go to plan B, Sea Jets, but because we’re now only two days out, that one’s not available online either (but it wasn’t clear whether it was sold out or not). Ultimately, we had to go to a travel agent in Chania to purchase the tickets, so all’s mostly well that ends well (that extra hour of sleep on Thursday morning would have been nice…)

For 4€ extra, we bought the “club class,” which entitled us to a slightly more spacious seating area on the upper level—in seats that we’re pretty certain used to be on a Lufthansa aircraft:
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/h...46af#h118d46af

The ride was fairly uneventful, except for the endless safety demonstration video delivered by three children in three different languages and some of the other passengers pounding Heinekens at 9am. The ride took a little longer than scheduled, and we arrived in port about 30 minutes late. Getting off the boat was a bit of a mad rush, but we were happy to see the driver holding the “Oia Suites” sign—a worthy 30€ investment in the grand scheme of things.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 01:37 PM
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Any questions so far?
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 01:54 PM
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No questions but have really enjoyed reading about your time in Chania, a favorite city of ours.
I wonder how you liked Santorini and will wait for the next segment. We recently returned from our second visit there as Akrotiri was closed when we visited last time.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 02:12 PM
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Yes, I have a question !

How come you get to travel so often to fabulous destinations?
You should be saving your $$$ to take care of your aging parents in their later years.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 02:37 PM
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HappyTrvlr, we loved Chania. Have you been to Rovinj? Our stay in Rovinj a couple of years ago was one of my all time faves, and when were planning this trip that was my benchmark for the experience I wanted--nice, old, historic small city on the water, providing a good base for the immediate area. Obviously they're different in some ways but do have some similarities. It didn't disappoint! I just wish we had a little more time there.
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 02:53 PM
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Didn't get past Pula in Istria but it sounds as if we should have gone to Rovinj. We spent two weeks near Chania and it wasn't enough. Looks like we share a favorite place!
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Old Oct 22nd, 2014, 03:23 PM
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Good question, bob. My folks are fairly well off, having saved much of their money by not taking me abroad in my youth. And ms_go's mother is... low maintenance.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2014, 05:17 AM
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I have a little time to kill and a wi-fi connection on my flight, so I'll do a short post on Santorini.

mr_go reviewed our hotel, Oia Suites, above. As mentioned, it's about a 15-minute walk from there into Oia--most of it on the walking path rather than the street. In addition, there's a bus stop right outside the property, which made it very convenient when we were heading towards Fira. And that is a good segue for....

The Fira to Oia walk

One of the popular things to do on Santorini is walk the approximately nine-kilometer path from Fira to Oia. For almost all the way, the path is separate from the road and follows the cliffs facing the caldera.

We took the bus to Fira and then walked back to Oia. Early on, the path is paved and runs through the towns of Firostefani and Imerovigli. Once past there, it turns more into a gravel (and at times, small stone) path. There are uphill and downhill parts regardless of whether you are walking Fira-Oia or Oia-Fira, but Fira-Oia is generally more of a downhill walk than the reverse. And if you do it in the morning, as we did, the sun is generally at your back.

In total, the walk took about three hours, with plenty of stops for photos. There's little shade--pack sunscreen and lots of water! Once past Imerovigli, we only saw one place to stop for refreshments.

By the way, while we liked our hotel and its location, we also both noted Imerovigli as a potentially nice area to stay, as it's a little more low-key without all the shops and crowds.

There will be more Santorini photos later (probably many more). These are just a few we took while doing this walk.

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/fira_to_oia
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Old Oct 23rd, 2014, 05:27 AM
  #39  
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>we also both noted Imerovigli as a potentially nice area to stay, as it's a little more low-key without all the shops and crowds.

Shhhh. Stop telling people because that is EXACTLY what is was. Fira gets the cruise crowds. Oia gets the sunset crowds. And Imerovigli gets NO crowds.

Ian
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Old Oct 23rd, 2014, 06:05 AM
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Wow !
Santorini is spectacular---I love it.
The #30 shot of the 3 bells is one of your best of all time. And, that is saying something.

You take me places I cannot go and that walk is one of them.

More.....
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