Rethymno, Crete -Easy Time in an Easy Place

The island of Crete is very large. So large, that we almost did not feel we were on an island. After the harrowing ferry ride, being on dry land was very welcome. We arrived late, and along with hordes of other backpackers, some headed in our direction, we caught the last bus at 11:30 PM, and arrived at our hostel shortly after 1 AM. We crashed, of course, and slept late the next day (we are on vacation, right?). We spent the next three days exploring the town and the local beach, as well as catching up on some much needed R&R time. We ate very well while on Crete, and our time here has perhaps been the most like a “traditional” honeymoon compared to the other places we have gone.

Rethymno,(the city where we stayed) along with much of the rest of Crete, was built by the Venetians. In fact, there still is a huge Venetian “Fortezza” (fortress) at the north end of the city, near the harbor. The streets are windy and cobble-stoned, and the buildings have been designed with the typical Venetian Architectural elements. We were surprised at how Italian the place seemed, with lots of crepes and pasta places, alongside traditional Greek foods, like savory pies and gyros. Crete is much more populated, and its cities are much more developed than the islands we were used to. This place definitely had much more of an urban culture and feel. The beach was nice, and you could see the Venetian harbor walls from the sand.

There was quite a selection of restaurants in town and we tried a few of the lower priced options. One of the best meals we had was around 2 PM when we slipped into a little restaurant stuffed with locals. Taking the cue from our guidebooks, we proceeded to ask the our waiter what the specials were. From there he took Laura by the hand into the kitchen to show her what was good. It was an amazing experience and some of the best Greek food we have had the pleasure to sample. Eric had bacon wrapped meatballs, which had been stuffed with feta cheese and green peppers and Laura had roasted chicken and potatoes, along with a greek salad. Our other favorite meals included a ham and cheese savory crepe, a mushroom and bacon pizza, mousakka, gryos and greek salads, of course.

Our hostel was very nice, and we met a lot of great people there from all over the globe, including one fellow American, Sy, a former software engineer from Atlanta, who had been on the road for 11 months. That was pretty impressive to us, and we had a good time hanging out with him and picking his brain about his travels. He had some great stories, including one about how he was robbed in Barcelona and chased down the thief until he gave up and returned to Sy his things. The greatest part of the story is that while our friend was chasing the thief, Sy lost a flip flop, so after catching up with the theif and getting back his camera and other possessions, Sy convinced the thief to give him his shoes so he could walk back to his hotel! Our friend Sy is a cool guy!

The night before we were set to leave, we decided to put on our best duds and take in the Rethymno’s night life. There was a small street lined with all sorts of clubs and bars ranging from full blown night clubs with women in their party dresses to rock and roll bars that held punk rockers. While we stopped into almost all of the establishments, we had the most fun in a small bar/dance club that was located in the midst of all the fun. The music there was something else with dance mixes that changed every minute or so with music ranging from Radiohead to Brittney Spears to authentic Greek ballads. We had a blast needless to say, and danced the night away. Just before sunrise we went to a local café with some friends we had met and proceeded to have the greatest omelets, which were of course served with French fries.

Since we were flying out of Crete on our last day at 8 PM, we had a day to enjoy before going to the airport. So we took a bus from Rethymno to the town of Herklion, where the island’s airport is located. Near Herklion is a ruin of an ancient Minoan palace, called Knossos, which was inhabited from 1900 to 1500 BC. So parts of the ruin were almost four THOUSAND years old. The palace was ruined in the volcanic explosion which blew up the island of Santorini that we were on only a week earlier. We spent part of the day exploring the ruins, and the rest exploring Herklion town, including the town‘s center fountain, harbor fortress, and other old Venetian buildings and churches. After a fun day exploring Crete’s capital, we headed back to the airport via taxi to catch our flight to Rhodes, the last stop on our Euro-tour.

We flew out that night to Rhodes, which is where our journey will continue. .

Eric outside of the Cathedral of Rethymno

Laura agt the beach, in front of the Venetian Harbor

Laura enjoying a Gyro, on the way to the beach

Eric, with a Gyro from Donald

Eric on the beach

Eric and Laura on the beach at Rethymno

Eric, before giving away the Lonely Planet: Europe on a Shoestring Guidebook. This was our map, directions, information, translation book, and general saving grace for the past two months. It was like an old friend and really hard to part with, but it was also like 5 pounds.