After six weeks spent in Greece, including about a month in Athens, visits to two islands, seeing some of the top sights on the Greek mainland, and wandering another top-five populous Greek city for more than a week, I am far from an expert on the country. But there are some things I noticed from…
Heraklion is the capital and largest city of the Greek island of Crete, and Greece’s fifth or so (depending on metric) most populous city at around 150,000. For tourists, however, the city is pretty much a blank spot. Yes, some will fly in and spend a day (or cruise in) and then head to Chania…
Lunch at Heraklion’s A Little Wine, A Little Sea on my first day here on the Greek island of Crete. It’s a cute restaurant facing the city’s Venetian harbor and fortress, serving up seafood and some Greek staples. After a fried fish platter for one that could easily have fed three, piled high with fried…
I love being surprised by a destination. When I planned out my itinerary for Greece, Crete - and Heraklion in particular - was on my radar for its Minoan history. (You can read about that here.) The palace-cities of Knossos and Phaistos marked the Golden Age of Crete way back in the Bronze Age. But…
Exploring cuisine while traveling is, if not the absolute best part, at least in the top few reasons I love my travel life. I always maintain that if one eats what the locals eat, food is good everywhere, even if it isn’t what one is particularly used to. And I stand by that. Greek food…
It is incredible just how much is here. It’s a warm day in late August, and the Knossos Palace archaeological site is rapidly getting crowded, even before 10am, thanks to a large cruise ship in port in nearby Heraklion, Crete. I do my best to stay away from the tour groups, winding up doing a…
When I told family and friends - and random blog followers - that I’d be spending a month in Athens, I was met with disbelief. Apparently, Athens is a place people go for a day or two on the way to/from somewhere they perceive as being better, probably one of the Greek islands. Or it’s…
As the myth goes, the ancient king of Athens held a competition between the gods as to whom to worship and name his city for. Poseidon and Athena entered, each tasked with giving a gift to the city that would help it, thereby proving their worthiness of worship. Poseidon, god of the sea, struck a…
It is apparent from the moment my tour bus begins the approach into Kalabaka, a small town at the foot of the Meteora rock formations. Photos and descriptions just cannot do this place justice. They can’t capture the beauty of the monasteries atop narrow rock pinnacles. They can’t give proper scale to the enormity of…
Greece is so very old. And yet, it is shockingly new. Nowhere can this be seen quite like Athens. Here, ruins of temples dating back 2500 years or more stand within a city and country that itself spans barely two centuries. How is this possible? If you’ve been following our Athens content here on The…