Crete, day 3

I set my alarm for 10am, but I was awake at 9.30. I ate my cereal bar and an apple, and got dressed.

By the time I was ready, I’d missed the 10.45 bus to Heraklion, and so I went the long way around the fortress, and ended up nearly missing the 11.45 as well. I was taking a chance, because I didn’t know exactly how to get to either Knossos or the archaeological museum, but Ivan the hostel guy had just told me to find the tourist office. As luck would have it, I spotted a Knossos bus ticket office at the bus station almost immediately, and bought a return ticket. I missed the first number 2 bus, because the guy forgot to tell me when it was leaving, but I got another after only five minutes. The driver told me where to get off (though it was fairly obvious), and I sat and ate the remainder of my olives and bread before paying my €6 and going inside.

It was a fairly big site, and quite well explained in Greek and English. The sad part is that an archaeologist from Oxford, Arthur someone, took it upon himself to categorise everything, and even to irreversibly reconstruct how he saw things, in concrete! So some frescoes were copied, and some stairs, and sometimes even whole buildings were built out of modern materials.

I managed to see all there was to see, and waited for a bus back to Heraklion. As luck would have it (again) the number 20 bus stopped right near the archaeological museum, and I even managed to find it a little way down the hill by following the signs to it and the bus station. It cost €4 to go in, and was clearly only a tiny part of the whole collection (the museum was being renovated), but it was still interesting, and good to see so many of the items that had been removed from Knossos, and the Phaistos disc.

I kept going down the hill, and found the bus station with a minimum of fuss, and some more (cold) water and some chocolate. The trip back to Rethymno was fairly uneventful, though the driver was rather nice to look at. (Why do I have a thing for Greek men who can drive buses?! Apa, John, this guy. . .)

Anyway, back in Rethymno, I called in at the hostel, established that Andy was doing his own thing, and headed into town to take some photos and eat. The sunset was stunning, and I got some good harbour and moon shots too. I chose to get some calamari, rice, and Greek salad from the first restaurant on the west side, and it was good, but the service was very slow and the wine was awful. It was cheap, though, and the people were friendly. I even got some watermelon and some raki. I got an ice cream (stracciella – mmmm) and a postcard for Andrew on the way back. I had a shower and didn’t do a great deal else – beyond writing this. Bed around 12am I think.