Sick Saturday

We got back into town around 8 when I promptly went right back to sleep until around 4p.  It is no fun being sick.  I basically woke up, ate a little something, called Brother to wish him a happy birthday and then went back to bed.  Hopefully tomorrow I am feeling better!

Crete, Greece

Monday

The whole day was a blur – running around like crazy to get ready to leave.  We had class all day with quizzes (no fun) then we had to eat dinner and meet for the ferry at 7:30p.  The ferry was sooo nice.  A lot bigger than the others I have been on.  And we had cabins like a cruise ship so we could sleep.  We all stayed up pretty late dancing and having tons of fun on the ship of course but got some sleep.  We have a 7a meeting time tomorrow – thank god there were showers in our room!  But tomorrow is a SUPER busy day!!! 

Tuesday

We had to meet in the lobby of the ferry at 7a, which was very early, but since I am a morning person it wasn’t too bad!  We made our way to the Hotel Olympic in Herakleion but couldn’t check into our rooms; however, they let us eat breakfast so that was exciting and delicious.  We left from the hotel and were off to the Archaeological museum.  It was a great museum that was under renovation so only the best of the best was on display.  Here are some photos from the museum:

After the museum we were off to Knossos.  Knossos is a Greek Minoan site that I was very familiar with from my class back at PSU.  An archeologist that excavated the site took it upon himself to paint it as he believed it to be in antiquity, which I think just made it really cool looking.  Apparently a lot of the site has been closed off to the public but I still thought it was really interesting.  See for yourself!

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at a town called Archanes where I picked up some cheap perfume (it was only a matter of time).  We had an optional hike that I opted out of with a bunch of people and went back to the hotel and watched a movie instead – Love and Other Drugs.  I have been wanting to watch that forever so it was nice to finally do it.  Some awesome parents sent me an iTunes card which I used to rent movies from iTunes and then watch on the trip – thanks!  After movie and nap we hit up the town of Herakleion where I heard some of the best hot chocolate lived at a café called Utopia.  So there was the destination.  Amazing.  Sooooo good.  And they gave you a tower of cookies with your hot chocolate.

After dessert, Tyler and I went to dinner on the water – after watching the sunset of course.

Dinner was amazing.

We made our way back to the hotel for another early wake up!!

Wednesday

We checked out of the hotel and made our way to Malia – another Minoan site on Crete.  It was a very pretty site surrounded by mountains.

Then we went to the complete opposite – Lato, a very pretty site on top of a mountain.  We all got very excited because you could see the sea and it was in the direction of our next hotel!

We made our way through a town of Gournia to our hotel in Aghios Nikolaos and checked into our hotel.

We had an AMAZING view of the water literally 10 feet away.  We took advantage of this and actually went swimming.  It was amazing.

That evening, after an amazing game of chess, which I won, we all went to dinner together.  It was very nice.

Thursday

We woke up and started our day at the local archeological museum like always!  It was a nice one; however, I started feeling very sick so I didn’t enjoy myself too much.  I was looking to the future of the day, which I knew contained another beach and this time – the Mediterranean Sea.

After the museum we went to the ancient site of Gortyn which was pretty nice.

Some people went on a hike up the mountain while some of us slept on the grass.

Afterwards we were supposed to continue with the site but Marky Mark said something amazing “It’s just another pile of rocks” and we went to check into the hotel instead in Matala.Our hotel was great!

Then it was beach time.  The beach was next to caves that used to be tombs that hippies made into a hang out.  The place is actually referred to in a Joni Mitchell song which I will have to find.  We spent the afternoon swimming, exploring the caves, I bought jewelry from a hippie at the caves actually.

That evening, I watched the sunset and got dinner with Tyler.  It was a wonderful day.

Friday

Today was a busy busy busy day.  We began early checking out of the hotel and then going to Kommos.  It was a beautiful view and the site was pretty cool.  They came and opened it especially for us.

After that we went to our final Minoan Palace – Phaestos.  I really liked Phaestos.  A lot of it was open to the public to walk around so it was the first site where you kind of felt like you were there like the ancient people.

After Phaestos, we were treated to lunch at Vorri.  I got stuffed tomatoes and they were amazing.  I try to get them a lot but they normally do not have them at restaurants.

Then we made our last stop at the museum of Cretan Ethnography.  It was a pretty cool museum with some cool local stuff.

Outside of the museum we witnessed some amazingly strong ants pulling this bug to death.  Kind of cool.

Then we went back to Heraklion for some free time before getting back onto the ferry.  I was feeling pretty sick all day so I stopped taking pictures.  But once I got on the ferry I basically fell asleep until we had to meet to leave.  I for sure had a super high fever but did what I could do.  It was a great trip regardless.  Good food, good views, and actually really good history that I enjoy.