We did successfully get Jordan awake for some star gazing and meteor viewing. We probably pulled the trigger a little early for the best meteors, but Emily was threatening to fall asleep on the balcony lounger. This would have been fine except that the cats would have subsequently used Emily as a bed. So we got Jordan and climbed up the hill behind the villa a bit to get the best field of view and escape the lights from the buildings. And it paid off, as we saw a couple of big meteors and a handful of smaller ones. Even without the meteors, the stars themselves were very good, though Heraklion produced more light pollution than I would have expected. Oh well, at least Jordan got right back to sleep.
Morning followed the now-familiar pattern of grabbing breakfast with a view and then heading out for the day. Kieran fell asleep in the car on the way to the Minoan Palace, but the drive was only 19 minutes, so he only slept for about 15 minutes which is much shorter than his normal naps. Hopefully that doesn’t cause any problems. The parking situation at the Minoan Palace is crazy. Fortunately, I have “suburban dad at Costco on the weekend” training and we caught on to someone leaving and timed it perfectly. Who said car dependant suburban development never helped anyone? (So many people because walkable urban environments with non-car transportation options are great, as we have seen in this trip so far)
As might be expected based on the parking lot situation, the line to buy tickets was crazy. Luckily, we learned our lesson in Athens at the Agora and Emily jumped on her phone to buy tickets online and we jumped the whole queue. The palace was from 1900BC originally, though was destroyed and reconstructed in 1700BC then was used for many years after that. Unfortunately, when it was uncovered in the 1900s, the archaeologist in charge decided that he would fill in the missing pieces with concrete, so it is awkward to tell what is original and what is his hatchet job surgery. He also came up with names for all the rooms based on what he thought happened there. But then as they uncovered more, it turns out that he was just wrong. But because the only figured it out years later, the original name stuck, so all the signs are very fun to untangle (is it a theater or the royal road? It is the road, so obviously, but they still call it the theater because of Evans).
Unfortunately, both kids had some fun temper tantrums here. Jordan dropped her camera which is now malfunctioning and non-responsive. Hopefully draining the battery and recharging it will help. And to add fuel to the fire, her hand fan also broke (no one’s fault except for the €3 hand fan making it serval weeks longer than expected. Kieran got super angry about his nap ending early and was super warm. So we got him out of the stroller, but he wouldn’t eat then I had him in the barrier, but he screamed bloody murder every time a had came within 3 inches of his head, which only exacerbated the heat and sun problem. So we ended up a little rushed through the palace and missed out on several of the labyrinthine paths through the compound. At least what we saw was cool!
Both kids did calm down as we left the palace, which was helpful for everyone’s sanity. We were most of the way to Heraklion, so continued onwards towards the mostly pedestrianized old town. Much like at the palace, parking was a nightmare and we were turned away from the first two parking lots we tried. But third time as the charm and we got a great (and cheaper!) spot just near the Venetian Fort on the water.
Heraklion’s shopping streets were pretty similar to the ones in Athens, but that didn’t stop us from hitting up all of the stores. It is a bit tricky finding the gems through the garbage, but we certainly did find some gems (and near-gems, like the lava stone and pearl necklace for €12 that Emily didn’t get only because it was too tight). By now, it was about 1:30pm and we hadn’t had lunch, so we stopped in at a cafe for coffees and pastries. Kieran fell asleep here and was successfully transferred to the stroller to continue his noa. Great success.
Next stop was the Holy Temple of Sant Titus, Liam’s first Greek Orthodox church of the trip. It was as well-adorned as almost any of the others we have seem, so was a great introduction. Though as good Catholics, Emily and Liam did avoid venerating the icons, including the skull of Saint Titus which is on display (in an very ornate box such that you don’t actually see any skull) in the side chapel.
Just in the next plaza is the Venetian Loggio, which was basically City Hall. There are still some municipal functions there, including the traffic violations office, which seems like a very underutilized staff given the traffic violations we have witnessed (Stop signs? Never heard of ’em). The little courtyard we could go to was very beautiful though, with great carvings.
The final stop of the trio to hit in Heraklion was the Basilica of Saint Mark. Fortunately, this did not have Mark’s skull or any other body part, but had actually been decommissioned and turned into a free art gallery owned by the municipality with rotating displays. The one today was a local artist showing his development over 5 decades if painting. Spoiler alert, he had a very sexually active phase, but that seemed to die out early.
What was next? More shops of course! Liam found a new hat and we picked up a few new things. We got to the square where there is a headless statue of Poseidon which signaled the end of the shopping area. As we headed to go find a place to grab a beer and avoid the sun, it should be noted that Kieran was still asleep. His nap ended up being an hour and twenty minutes. Sleepy boy!
We stopped at a random taverna on a little pedestrian square. We almost ended up at a cool looking “Ethnic Restaurant” with very peculiar decorations, but more people than usual were smoking there and there didn’t seem to be any tables. But the place we ended up was perfectly fine and just like all of the other Greek restaurants we have been to. We got beers (7-up for Jordan) and a plate of fries. My beer was advertised as hoppy, which I can assure you it was not; Greece only seems to have Lagers, which is why I have mostly been drinking wine. Noting wrong with a lager, but the price difference between wine and beer is crazy, so couldn’t justify spending more to get a beer I only kinda like.
Just as Emily was investigating the best ice cream options, they brought out a free plate of chocolate cake and ice cream. Success! Definitely takes the sting out of a €5 beer. They also brought Raki. Great success! Emily definitely likes Raki more when she can chase it down with chocolate cake.
From there, we headed back towards the car. On the way, we stumbled upon the first Catholic Church that we had seen in Greece so popped in for a stop. It was still nice with a beautiful painting behind the altar, but was more simple than the Greek Orthodox chirches around. My theory as to its existence is that it was quite close to the Venetian port and Loggio, so was a holdover from the period of Venetian control.
Back at the villa, we took some time to cool down and then head for a pre-dinner swim. Jordan got to play with her Greek friend Irina again and she taught me some words in Greek. Though she needs to work on her delivery, since she was just saying Greek words at me and having me repeat them. Only when her dad yelled “twenty!” After the last one was it clear that she was teaching me to count. I did learn the word for shark, though, as I had turned Kieran into a shark with a fin and the Jaws theme. Though she probably knows the tune from baby shark (or at least I hope she hasn’t seen Jaws!).
Dinner was a simple matter of pasta Bolognese. It tasted pretty good given that my seasoning was “none” (not even salt and pepper here!) and the pasta sauce was the cheapest from Lidl and was tomato, onion and carrot. We then did a call with Laura to see my new niece, Amelia Rose (everyone is happy and healthy, though newborn sleep patterns are definitely fun). Jordan also gave me a rematch at cribbage, which I squeaked out a victory in, so all is now right in the world with her beginner’s luck out of the way.
Not sure what the plan is tomorrow. Saturday is some big religious festival, but it sounds like some of the festivities start Friday night, so maybe we get to crash a party that isn’t for a 3 year old.
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