Rob and Danielle's Excellent Adventure: January 2013

After leaving Santorini at 3:00am, we took a 6hr ferry ride to the largest of all the Greek Islands, Crete. Crete's capital city, Heraklion (AKA Iraklio), is the fifth largest in Greece, and by the time we arrived, we hadn't seen a large city in quite a while; so it was nice to be back in one for the few days we were there. While in the city, we mostly just toured around looking at the buildings, and checking out stores and such. We also visited two museums; the Archaeological Museum, and the Natural History Museum. The Archaeological Museum of Iraklio was, at the time, under renovations, so on display were the highlights only. According to The Lonely Planet, the museum "is second in size and importance only to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens because of its unique and extensive Minoan collection," which we didn't visit, so perhaps this visit made up for that. The Natural History Museum (which is housed in an old American Military Base) was really cool because it focused on the flora and fauna of various European ecosystems, and had many stuffed, and live animals on display. Additionally, it had a earthquake simulator, which was pretty fun. Just outside of Heraklion, is the ancient Palace of Knossos ruins, which was pretty interesting. Overall, Heraklion was pretty cool and a good mix of a beautiful with a grimier city.

Our Hotel and View From Balcony (Six Images)