Crete

The final leg of the honeymoon, was a stop off on the island of Crete. We decided, admittedly at my behest, that it would be fun to take a high-speed hydrofoil from Santorini to Crete... but it wasn't that fun. It was more like riding on a cattle car, everyone packed in, traveling on the cheap, from island to island, rather than flying. Well, at least it meant less time in the airport, though Jessica and I were situated several seats away from one another. At least there was this dude, rockin' a sweet Euro-mullet, kinda going for the Phil Collins look;

Anyway... Crete was pretty cool. I knew it was mountainous, but I didn't think the mountains were quite so tall, over 2400 meters! Rising up, very nearly right from the sea. Our hotel was very cool, and sticking to the pattern, was a totally different style than the other two we had stayed at so far. The Minoa Palace was HUGE, and very "resort-ish". It reminded me of a cruise ship or something - a place where you wouldn't ever have to leave the hotel if you didn't want to. It had something like 6 restaurants and 2000sq meters of swimming pools!

And a trendy interior;

The hotel was located right on the beach, just a nice short walk from the room. It was the first sand beach of our trip. The water here was even warmer, still very clear, and pretty calm most of the time.

We spent a good portion of one day exploring downtown Chania. There were a good number of historic locations, including this Venetian lighthouse protecting the harbor.

The small harbor in the old(est) part of Chania;

Jessica stormed the Byzantine fort!

But mostly we were happy to get back and relax on the beaches, or swim around at the pools. Most nights we had a great view while eating dinner.

Including the night I named my lobster friend, Fred... and then ate him while sitting next to the sea where he used to live. The top of the food chain is a pretty comfy spot.

Other than that, we spent a ton of time on the beach, at the pool, or just plain relaxing. And who could blame us with the views?


Entirely too soon, it was time to return to reality, and jump on the plane for the long ride back to Colorado. It's good to be home... but it's always better to be on vacation.