On our final evening in Kissamos, we went to the same restaurant and had exactly the same meal.
Yesterday morning we had breakfast on the balcony, got organized and checked out about 11:30. In about 10 or 15 minutes we were up at the little travel office and got tickets for the 12:30 bus to Hania. The hour long trip was uneventful but pretty along the coast. At the Hania bus station we got tickets for the 2:00 pm bus to the Hania airport. That too was an uneventful 1/2 hour trip.
We were there in plenty of time to check in. It seems like they're building a new terminal at the airport and it's none too soon. The old terminal is dark and grimy.
Our flight to Athens left more or less on time at 5:30 pm. It only takes 50 minutes. By 7:00 pm we had collected our luggage and went to an information desk to figure out how to get to our hotel. From the online advertising, we thought that it was only 4 or 5 km from the airport. We considered getting a taxi but since we learned at the information desk that the X96 bus would be leaving soon and going right by our hotel, we opted for that.
It was a good thing we took the bus for 5 euros each. When we got on the bus we asked the driver to let us off at the right stop. He said he would. We left the airport at 7:23 pm (I keep track of this stuff for the return trip planning). After about 1/2 hour we were worried that the driver had forgotten us. I asked him and he said, " Twenty, thirty minutes". We wondered if there had been a translation problem but he turned out to be right. An hour and 5 minutes after we left the airport, we arrived at the stop in front of the Poseidon Hotel where we're staying. We were so glad we hadn't taken a taxi which would have cost us a fortune.
Our hotel is fine. It's right across the street from the ocean. I think we're only a few km from the port at Piraeus, so we're southeast of the center of Athens whereas the airport is northeast of the city center. Apparently there are no reasonably priced hotels right near the airport. As it is we're paying $88 US per night.The breakfast buffet was really good with lots of selection so I guess that's not bad. We ate in the hotel bar last night too. We were so tired we just shared a pizza.
This morning we went for a little walk along the sea. There's lots of beach areas and a nice promenade along the water, although, being Athens, everything looks a little shabby and grimy. It's not bad compared to downtown though.
Since we didn't find any attractive restaurants near here today, we'll probably just eat in the hotel again tonight. We're going to try to eat early and get to bed early. Tomorrow morning we have to get up at 4:45 am and get out the door by 5:30 or so. The X96 bus to the airport supposedly comes by every 20 to 25 minutes and should only take 45 minutes to get to the airport at that time. Our flight to London Heathrow leaves at 9:15 am. We change planes there and should arrive in Ottawa at 3:15 pm tomorrow afternoon, since we're gaining 7 hours due to the time change. Annie or Zack will be there to take us home to Beachburg for the night. No doubt we'll be tired since it promises to be a 22 or 23 hour day. On Wednesday morning, our friends Sarah and David arrive to drive us home to Combermere.
It's been another great trip and leaves us with a few random thoughts.
We could have seen all the sights that we saw in 6 weeks easily, rather than 8 but that's okay. Often we could cram in more sights or make the trip shorter but we like to float along taking our time and absorbing the local culture.
At the beginning of our trip, we would not want to have missed the Agya Sofia and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Those are must-see sights for us.
When traveling for this long, we can only look at so many 'old stones' without glazing over a bit. This becomes more evident after visiting sites like Ephesus in Turkey or the Athens Acropolis and ancient Agora. They were such highlights that we never even bothered to go to Troy or by boat on a day trip to the ancient city on Delos near Mykonos. And in Crete, the Palace of Knossos was a bit of a disappointment. On its own it would probably be fantastic but after having recently seen many other better and more interesting ruins, it just wasn't that striking. Maybe we're missing something from this attitude but we've never felt that we need to see every ancient site everywhere.
The same is true of museums. After visiting the archaeological museums in Antalya, Turkey and Athens, Greece, other museums just can't compare. We didn't bother with the museums in Hania or Kissamos recently for that reason. Some of the ancient marble and bronze sculptures especially that we saw in Athens were unbelievably beautiful. That spoiled us a bit.
We had to come to Athens because we really wanted to see the Acropolis and ancient Agora. However, the city of Athens is really big, grimy and covered in graffiti. It's just not that nice.
We spent 4 weeks wandering from Athens to Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini and Crete, plus we stopped at several other islands on the ferry. There are over 200 inhabited Greek islands so it would take years to see them all. However, they share similarities. They're usually mountainous and have pretty villages of white stucco houses on narrow pedestrian streets. The town of Mykonos is particularly striking as is the cliff setting of Santorini. Naxos didn't have such dramatic scenery but we had a great place to stay there and really enjoyed it. Crete has beautiful steep mountains and lots of little villages so we liked it too.
Almost without exception, we have been very well treated by the people of both Greece and Turkey. There seem to be very few scam artists and everyone has been very honest, polite and helpful to us. In some places it was hard to leave a small tip because the waiter would chase us to give it back, thinking that we had forgotten our change. That is definitely refreshing. Often when we would get out our map, someone would ask if they could help before we could even unfold it. In Hania recently, a lady took one look at our map and gave us a better one. In the smaller hotels, it's like they're opening up their home to us. We'll never forget Easter Sunday dinner with Dina and her family in Naxos.
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