Ouzo, Schnapps, Rosé & Prosecco

[Gem56]

Spectacular photos !!

Thank you

 

[Gem56]

Beautiful photos. Santorini must go on my list!

Thank you. I think it is definitely a bucket list place.

 

[Gem56]

A few more shots taken on a beautifully clear day.

One important thing I almost forgot to say is that it's not advisable to drink the tap water, even the locals don't drink it. Water is very cheap from the supermarkets.

 

[Gem56]

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of John the Baptist.










We both really like the message in this notice. It would be good to see the same tolerance everywhere.

 

[Gem56]

The Greek Orthodox Church

 

[tgh]

Great tr !
Great pics !
Santorini is stunning , need to go back...

 

[RB]

Looks like you have had some great weather & captured some fantastic photos. Our last visit to Santorini was on a day trip from Paros. We preferred the quieter times of Paros but Santorini sure has the visual highlights

 

[Gem56]

Down to the new port for a ferry ride to Crete,

The cars, buses and vans crowd in; traffic is stopped up the hill waiting for people at the bottom to move. The chaos at the bottom is surprisingly organised, however it really needs to be. Boats are waiting in the wings for boats to unload and reload cars, trucks, buses and passengers, so security and harbour staff move the crowd quickly.

When a boat arrives and the passengers are pouring down the road, there are drivers holding up name cards on one side of the road while on the other side there are the rental car, accommodation and transport people touting for business.

I made a comment to someone that it was really busy... "No madam, this is not busy, July and August are busy". Like I said before I would't want to be there then.

















3 boats heading to Crete in quick succession all within 15-20 mins. Our boat is on the left

 

[Gem56]

Time to sit back and relax and enjoy the view for a couple of hours before the mad scramble to get off.




The 2 boats that left before us also heading to Crete

 

[OZDUCK]

Amazing colours in these photos - talk about the blue sea!

 

[Susan Marks]

Magnificent photos Gem56. Just wondering, with the photo of the car reversing down the hill - why don’t they just drive down the hill as per normal?

 

[Gem56]

Magnificent photos Gem56. Just wondering, with the photo of the car reversing down the hill - why don’t they just drive down the hill as per normal?

Absolutely impossible to turn around at the bottom. So the alternatives are reverse down the hill or up the hill. They all do down hill. Guess that's the easiest. I found it fascinating as it's quite a distance.

 

[Gem56]

Crete

Approx 7.30pm, we disembarked in Heraklion and stayed the night at the Aquila Atlantis. Basic room however the bed was really comfortable and we were more than happy with it for an overnight stay.



At the port there is a hotel info map and although it doesn't include every single hotel, it's quite useful.

 

[Gem56]

The following morning we had a car booked and after a phone call to the hire car company they sent the car to us. Great service. Same as we usually choose - small!

Crete is very mountainous, lots more than we expected. Some of the mountains even had quite a lot of snow on them.

Our first couple of nights are at Elounda on the north east coast at another Domes resort. Very nice and the service was exceptional. We had a lovely tray of sweets and a bottle of red wine waiting for us.










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[Gem56]

A tour of the Domes Elounda resort

 

[RooFlyer]

Still going strong on this TR - thanks . Stuff like the traffic commentary is pure gold - you don't get that type of advice/warning in the travel brochures!

 

[RB]

Absolutely impossible to turn around at the bottom. So the alternatives are reverse down the hill or up the hill. They all do down hill. Guess that's the easiest. I found it fascinating as it's quite a distance.

Just an aside-I always understood that reverse was the strongest gear in old cars-my father told me of days they had to reverse uphill on dirt roads as it was the only way of getting up the hill

 

[Gem56]

Boat trip over to Spinalonga.

Boats go from Plaka and Elounda. Cost from Plaka is €10 per person each way + €8 per person for entry to the island. Boats go every half an hour. You can also have a private boat trip - €30 per person + entry - €8. The day we were there (Saturday) entry to the island was FOC. Don't know if Saturday is always free or if it was just that day.

History
Originally a fort during the Venetian period. According to Wikipedia "The Venetian cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli reports that Spinalonga was not always an island, but was once linked with the adjacent Peninsula Spinalonga. He mentions that in 1526, the Venetians cut down a portion of the peninsula and thus created the island. Because of its position the island was fortified from its earliest years in order to protect the entranceway of the port of Ancient Olous."

"In 1715, the Ottoman Turks captured Spinalonga taking over the last remaining Venetian fortress and removing the last trace of Venetian military presence from the island of Crete. "

In 1903 the Turks left the island and it was subsequently used as a leper colony from 1903 to 1957,

"There were two entrances to Spinalonga, one being the lepers' entrance, a tunnel known as "Dante's Gate". This was so named because the patients did not know what was going to happen to them once they arrived. However, once on the island they received food, water, medical attention and social security payments. Previously, such amenities had been unavailable to Crete's leprosy patients, as they mostly lived in the area's caves, away from civilization. "















Looking back at Elounda

 

[Gem56]

Absolutely impossible to turn around at the bottom. So the alternatives are reverse down the hill or up the hill. They all do down hill. Guess that's the easiest. I found it fascinating as it's quite a distance.

Need to clarify - it's only the delivery vans that are unable to turn, the cars don't have the same problem, well... small ones anyway.

 

[Gem56]

Just an aside-I always understood that reverse was the strongest gear in old cars-my father told me of days they had to reverse uphill on dirt roads as it was the only way of getting up the hill

Well, how amazing is that. Not that I'm any expert on MVs, but I would have thought that reversing uphill would have put an enormous strain on the motor.