Santorini

After an early breakfast, we called a taxi to get to the port for the ferry. The receptionist told us that we didn't need to be at the ferry too early as it would take no more than 10 minutes to get to the port. Given what we experienced, we insisted to allow more time for boarding. Just luck would have it, the taxi dropped us right next to the boat and a crowd already congregated at the entrance. We relaxed a bit and looked for signs that we  were lining up with the right boat. It was then we realized the departure time to Santorini was different than the one we booked (20 minutes later) and we may have been on the wrong spot. After looking for a staff person, we were told that our boat was at the other end of he port. The distance between the two ends would take at least 10 minutes to walk and by then, we were much too close to the final call for boarding. We all ran, along with the luggage and bags. As we ran near to the ferry, we could not find the entrance as we were blocked by a fence. Again, we had a glimpse of what those immigrants may have felt, so close to the destination, just a fence away but no way of entering in. We were directed to the very end and then had to run back to the middle to board the ferry. It was stressful but we did have a good workout. 

After boarding and settled in, we looked around and found the ferry was mostly empty.  Just then, the announcement came in and stated that the departure time would be delayed due to another ferry was malfunction. We waited for another 30 minutes and the ferry started to move. But it was not moving toward the sea. It went to the gate that we initially mistakely lined up. It dawned on us that our ferry was going back to pick up those passengers because their ferry was not working. We were on top of the deck at that time and took some pics of the huge crowd. So we ended up having an over crowded ferry where every seat wast taken. Once again we were glad that we did not have to catch anything so the delay was not much of consequences to us.

The famous and popular Santorini was indeed picturesque. However, it is also incredibly commercialized, particularly in the town of Oia where you see the signature blue top dooms and white washed houses built on the cliff rocks along the Aegean Sea. Most of the view points were bought by hotels and restaurants and tourists were restricted. Given its popularity, many people from mainland China hired professional photographers to occupy the view points to take pics and making the rest of the tourists frustrated. Most people had to wait for a long time to take pics at the view points. We were not impressed by the island at all as so many facilities and services were tailored to the rich and famous. Too commercialized for our liking. On the second day, we explored the rest of the island and focused on those less beaten tracks to experience the true islanders life and history. Sunset at the lighthouse was spectacular!!

I 

Minoan Archaeological Site

The Minoan civilization flourished from approxately 3650 to 1400 BC with their unique art and architecture. It's history could be traced far back as the Neolithic (Stone Age) from 7000 BC. The Minoan made a significant contribution to the development of Western European civilization.  No one knows for certainty what exactly caused the fall of the Minoan civilization. Some speculated volcanic explosion, earth quake while some recent scholars argued that it was due to internal strive that have led to the collapse world of Minoans.

The home of this once thriving civilization is located on the Crete Island. The palace at Knossos was the site that we visited. It was vast and elaborate, with Europe's first paved roads and running water. Some of the frescoes were well preserved, particularly those of the dolphins and bulls. 

After the site, we drove to a winery that is located 400 m above sea level. The roads leading to the winery was very narrow and uphill. I can't imagine how two cars can pass by each other. The owner gave us a personal tour on how his wines were made. He also produces extra virgin olive oil from the olive trees that have been growing for 4 generations on his vineyard. The red wine was really good. He also produces "sweet wine" like our ice wine. We bought a few bottles. He packaged for us so they should be secure and safe to put in the luggage. We will sip this nice wine in the summer on our wharf while reminient the trip. "Yamas" = cheers!!

Heraklion

It rained most of the day and our plan to visit the beaches had to be adjusted as a result of the weather. We visited a cave that is located in Topolia city at 400 metre high with many steps to get up. The cave is called "Wisdom of God" and many locals come to worship the many images of godly figures in the cave. 

There is an old port in each of the cities on Crete Island and many tourists tended to congregate there. Many restaurants also strategically located on the best locations at the old port. After arriving in Heraklion, we asked for a recommendation for a seafood restaurant and went there for dinner. It was one of the most tasty dinner we have had so far. We found the Greek cuisine heavy on meat and light on veggies. How many Greek salad or green salad can one have?  We also found that butter is not generally provided with bread; kalamari does not come with tzatziki sauce; French fries that come with most of the dishes but ketchup is not provided.   Most of the dishes tasted fine but the presentation is not the best. 

I don't know how people find places based on street names because spelling for street names or even city names are so different, e.g., Chania or Hania; Heraklion or Irankvlio; some words use "y" or "i". Very confusing. It had to do with using Classical Greek or modern Greek. 

Here are some of the sights and scenes of Rethymno and Heraklion we visited today. 

Chania, Crete

After arriving and picked up the car at the airport last night, we drove about 30 minutes to get to the hotel.  By the time we settled, it was pasted 1:30 pm and as much as I wanted to go to bed, I could not fall asleep. The hotel was renovated completely a few years ago and was quite comfortable. 

The breakfast this morning was full of local choices and like any buffet style, we tended to over eat. To compensate, we skipped lunch and had a leisure afternoon of cocktail and beer, just like the locals and tourists. 

We've spent a good portion of the day explored the old port. It is full of shops and many choices of restaurants. Lights strategically lit up at night time which provided a different ambient to the site. It is one of the central attractions to Chania, besides beaches and pubs. We hope to explore the beaches tomorrow before driving to another town. It rained a bit today with cloudy sky most of the day. The rain drops were large and cars were full of dust spots after the rain. Luckily the rain came but it also stopped quite fast.   Today was one of the more relaxing days we have had for a long time. We walked and checked out each shop that caught our attention without having to worry about the next destination. Commander Wu can only do this once in a while and I can see that he is antsy to get back to the road to continue his explorations. 

Corinth

We had a busy day, driving from Delphi first thing in the morning, heading to Corinth Canal and Ancient Corinth for the archaeological site. The Corinth Canal started its construction project in 1881 and completed in 1893. Much of the funding was supported by the Hungarian government. The canal is 6.3 km length, 24.6 m width, 79 meter deep and 8 m underwater depth. 

The Ancient Corinth archaeological site is dominated by the Archaic temple of Apollo, a Doric peripteral temple with monolithic columns (6x15). It was also the place where apostle Paul spoke to the Corinthians in AD 52. 

Afterward we drove to the birthing place of marathon. The story was told that a soldier had to run to Athens to report about the victory of an import battle with Persia. He ran no-stop 26 miles to Athens and proclaimed the message "Niki = we won" and then clasped with exhaustion and died. In remembrance of this soldier, marathon was held every year and that was how the marathon started. There are mileage signs along the road marking the km to Althens. 

The next stop was another archaeological site of Sounion and the temple of Poseidon - God of the sea. The site is situated on the rocky peninsula that projects into the sea at the south-east tip of Attica. This is one of the more well preserved site we have seen so far. Very impressive. 

Our flight to Crete island was scheduled at 10:20 pm and we had quite a bit of time to return the rental car. This is when everything could go wrong, started to go wrong for us. 

The signage for rental return was very small and it took us a few tried before finding the entrance. We arrived at the place where all rental cars return but as hard as we looked, we could not find our rental company "Avance". The agents behind the counter were rude and not helpful at all. We had to call the rental company and was told that they do not have counter space. The car was supposed to be picked up at the arrival gate. No one told us the info and because we were early, no one was there to greet us. After a few calls, we finally were able to return the car. 

As we approach the Ryanair area at 8:10 pm, we looked for those self-served kiosks but found non and asked the agent at the counter to check us in. We heard (all four of us) her told us that it would cost $5 euro each to check in by her or we could use the computer provided by the airport to do so. Being self sufficient, we opted to use the computer. Unfortunately, the system was EXTREMELY slow and given that we only had 10 minutes to final check in (two hours before flight scheduled, ours was at 10:20 pm) before the check in closed for the flight, we went back to the counter and it was then she told us that it would cost $55 euro EACH for her to check us in. We were totally shocked. She said we should have checked in earlier on line. As it turned out, because all the communication from the airline was in Greek and when Richard looked at it initially, the message had to do with car rental or booking of hotel and as a result, he thought the email messages were advertisements and had ignored the subsequent ones. It was most unfortunate that each of the messages was in Greek only and therefore, we did not know the high costs of not checking on line. We had no choice and had to paid for the additional charges ( we also had to pay for the luggage charge of $30 euro each, this we knew but not the on-line check in charges). So the budget air that we had chosen turned out to be more expensive than what we had anticipated. All due to miscommunication.  We were also misdirected by our previous experience (first day arriving in Greece to Thessaloniki) with Ryanair in which we did not have to check in early but an agent did it for us free due to business class. Oh, well. Part of the experiences of traveling to foreign countries with different rules and policies. 

So we finally passed the security check and arrived at the gate. There was a huge crowd already lined up and there was very little space for us to squeez into the small waiting area. By then, we were emotionally and physically tired and just wanted to have a bit of space to relax, rather than fight and pushing with the crowd, We opted to anothe waiting area but kept an eye to the gate. After finding a spot to sit down and our adrenaline had subsided, our fatigue kicked in. We dozed off a bit and before we knew, it was 10:00 pm and the gate is supposed to close at 9:50 pm. We jumped and dashed to the gate. Luckily, the line had thinned out but there were still people waiting to check in. We did make it after all!  Wouldn't it be totally disastrous if we slept in and missed our flight, after all the drama and the high costs to check-in by a real person rather on-line?  What a day and what memories we had created. Never a dull moments travelling with the Wus. 

We still have to pick up a rental car after arriving and hope that this is a smooth ride to our hotel tonight. At close to midnight, I don't think we have more energy to deal with more dramas today. 

Stay tuned ... The journey continues ...

Delphi

It took 4 hours of driving on the snake roads from Meteora to Delphi. 

Delphi is most famous for the ancient sanctuary that housed the oracle who was consulted on important decisions throughout the ancient classical world by the rulers, explorers, philosophers, priests and orindary people.  According to tradition, Delphi was considered as the navel (or centre) of the world by the Greeks as represented by the Omphalos (navel), the meeting point of two eagles dispatched by Zeus from the ends of the universe to find the centre of the world. 

The Temple of Apollo, completed 330 BC, was the centrepiece at the archaeological site. Many pilgrims, such as Socrates, spent a good portion of their life time pondering the wisdom and riddles spoken by the oracle. The entire sanctuary is about 640 feet by 442 feet, twice as big as abfootball field. 

Not far from the archaeological site, there is the Santurary of Athena who was worshipped at Delphi along with Apollo. The star attraction is the tholos, a round structure that was built around 380 BC. Many of the artifacts are now housed in the museum which is situated next to the archaeological site. 

Because of the historical significance, the site attract visitors from the globe. Many tour buses dropped off and picked them up. Most people would do a day trip to Delphi and return back to Athens on the same day as Delphi is a very small town, only three streets. We stayed at Delphi for one night and walked around to discover that there are so many hotels here, virtually every house/apartment has a hotel sign. In its hay days, this town must be very busy. During our stay, we hardly saw tourists walking on he street. I don't know how they sustain their living here, even the restaurants are quite empty.