Mom and I were forced to move to Iraklion because our hotel near Rethymno closed for the season. This was fine with us because we found a nice hotel in Iraklion that would give us a good deal due to the timing, I convinced our closing hotel to pay for a taxi to Iraklion, and there was a festival in Iraklion on one of the two days we would be there.
Also, this put us closer to more of the Minoan sites on the island. So as soon as we arrived (by cushy, free taxi) we got on a bus to Pheostos.
Pheostos is the second most important Minoan palace on Crete (the first is Knossos). It has not been rebuilt, so you get to see it in all of its ruinous glory. But possibly the best part of the site is the view...
One frustrating thing about Pheostos is that they have several sections blocked off so we couldn't get close. I guess I should just be happy they were letting me crawl on the ruins at all. There was no explanation for what it was or why we weren't allowed near it...
This section was closed too. Somewhere down there is the only piece of neolithic remains at the site.
We were going to hit another site on bus ride back to Iraklion, but this being the off-season, the bus did not follow the schedule we were told when we bought our tickets. Thus, we had to just return to town. As it was we had to switch buses twice on the way back. It was pretty funny -- Mom and I were completely lost to what was happening. Our first bus pulled off to the side of the road and we just sat there. Then we were told to get off; another bus drove up, we crossed the highway and got on that bus. That bus dropped us off in a smallish town and said the next bus would be by any minute. We waited about 30 minutes. Meanwhile my schedule had us at the next Minoan palace an hour ago. The site was closing when we pulled past it. We didn't bother to get off and this confused the bus driver since our tickets were only to there. But we had the ticket for the next leg in our bag and although still confused, he punched them. It is hard to believe he didn't know the site was closed by then.
Also, this put us closer to more of the Minoan sites on the island. So as soon as we arrived (by cushy, free taxi) we got on a bus to Pheostos.
Pheostos is the second most important Minoan palace on Crete (the first is Knossos). It has not been rebuilt, so you get to see it in all of its ruinous glory. But possibly the best part of the site is the view...
One frustrating thing about Pheostos is that they have several sections blocked off so we couldn't get close. I guess I should just be happy they were letting me crawl on the ruins at all. There was no explanation for what it was or why we weren't allowed near it...
This section was closed too. Somewhere down there is the only piece of neolithic remains at the site.
We were going to hit another site on bus ride back to Iraklion, but this being the off-season, the bus did not follow the schedule we were told when we bought our tickets. Thus, we had to just return to town. As it was we had to switch buses twice on the way back. It was pretty funny -- Mom and I were completely lost to what was happening. Our first bus pulled off to the side of the road and we just sat there. Then we were told to get off; another bus drove up, we crossed the highway and got on that bus. That bus dropped us off in a smallish town and said the next bus would be by any minute. We waited about 30 minutes. Meanwhile my schedule had us at the next Minoan palace an hour ago. The site was closing when we pulled past it. We didn't bother to get off and this confused the bus driver since our tickets were only to there. But we had the ticket for the next leg in our bag and although still confused, he punched them. It is hard to believe he didn't know the site was closed by then.
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