Crete

Part two of our vacation was Crete. We took the ferry from Athens to Crete--which was more like a miniature cruise ship, btw, SO HUGE! We thought that we'd be able to see more islands that way, but in hindsight, I think I'd have rather taken a plane because it's a shorter trip and we didn't really see anything from the boat. We did get a small taste for what a cruise might be like, and I have to say, I liked it! Maybe someday I'll get to go on a cruise...sigh...

We arrived at the Port in Heraklion around 11pm and when we got off the boat we were a bit shocked by how crazy and unorganized everything was. There were people all over the place--we felt like we were in a zoo! We finally found a cab that would take us to the car rental place (btw, all Taxis in Greece are brand new mercedes. Must be a good gig!) but when we got there we discovered we had to have international driver's licenses to rent cars there. WHAT? Who ever heard of that?? Lucky for us, the guys at Budget didn't say anything about international DL's for THEIR rentals so we quickly signed a few papers and grabbed the keys before they could realize what had happened.

After spending tons of money on Europe maps for the Garmin, we couldn't get the thing to recognize our hotel on the nav. Crap. So we're driving through Crete with no idea what the signs say at 12 at night praying we're on the right path. Daddy was more nervous out than I've ever seen him

Thankfully we got there with no problems (minus when Robert almost drove us straight into the side of a mountain)

Pulling into our hotel, we got giddy. MAN this place was nice! (Shoulda taken more pics)Plus they upgraded all our rooms to private infinity pools. Yes please!
We had lots of optimistic plans for when we were in Crete--all sorts of sightseeing and day trips.

But when you wake up to this
All your sightseeing plans go out the window.

So basically, the whole time all we did was lie around drinking frozen pinapple daquiri'sWe did go scuba diving a few times though, which was awesome. Especially the night dive. Loved that!

With our Dive Masters Juan and Kostos

Getting to the beach from the hotel was a bit of an adventure. We had to take a glass elevator from the reception area down to the beach. I'm sure there's some deep metaphor in that somewhere...
And, thanks to the recession, we were able to get the lounge chairs right at the waterfront without waking up at 6am (anyone who's been to Hawaii knows that is a major success)
As you all know, vacation is about ULTIMATE relaxation, AKA reading about the glory days of wrestling while wearing a bath robe and laying in bed all afternoon.

My favorite pic of the trip. He is so dang cute!

In case you still don't get how great this place was, here's proof that EVERYONE loved it.

*The last post will be on our day trip to Santorini. Expect it in about 2 months