After our time exploring the Cyclades Islands, we spent two days in Crete, the last stop on our tour of Greek island. From there we flew back to Athens and spent one day in the city, and another on a great tour of the historic site Delphi. Midway through our journey home we spent the day in Paris, which is always a fun time, and the first time Jared and I have been there together. Pictures and an account of the remainder of our trip are below. 

Crete

Our next stop was Crete where we spent 2 days and nights. Crete is much different from the islands of the Cyclades, at 159 miles long and 37 miles wide, and you truly need a several days to explore. But, we made the most of it. We arrived in the evening again and headed for Old Town Rethmynon, located about an hour east of Heraklion port. It was a long, scary cab ride. Driving laws are more optional than enforced in Crete, and the route was along several very windy roads. We arrived at our hotel (Antica Dimore Suites) received a warm greeting from the staff then headed to get dinner. We followed the advise of the lady at our hotel to, "Eat where Greeks eat" which resulted in an 'eh' dinner. What we learned at dinner though is that spinach pie is different in Crete (small half moons as opposed to the large round and triangle ones we had been enjoying.)

We slept in the next day, and then spent a chunk of the morning to figure out a car rental. The folks at Loggia Travel were unbelievably helpful with this, and also assisted us in booking a sailing trip for later in the evening. We spent the afternoon at the beach, and enjoyed some time in the warm water. Here's a fun fact about Crete: the northern half of the island is on the Aegan Sea and the Southern half of the island is on the Libyan Sea. We had a late lunch, pretty forgettable lunch before heading out to sea. Jared is pretty experienced with sailing and I'm constantly suffering from motion sickness so we were curious where the evening might lead us. Because the water was so choppy, the boat captain left the sails down relying on the motor to shuttle us around the bay. After a bit Jared took over for the Captain and deckhand (his 10 year old grandson) and I tried my best to calm a stomach queezy on Ouzo. As the sun began to set Jared was relieved of steering duty, and we were able to enjoy the beautiful sunset. Later in the evening we had dinner at Avli, which Jared enjoyed but I didn’t (poor selection on my part.) On Wednesday we were up early and grabbed the bus into Heraklion. We grabbed our rental car, and headed to the Heraklion Archeological Museum. It was small (we walked through both sites in about an hour and a half) but had a varied and interesting display of artifacts. The stone heads were our favorites. From there we headed to the Palace of Knossos. Despite it being a UNESCO World Heritage site we were a bit disappointed with it. The site is large enough but staff did little to control visitor flow and things were not well marked. And as it was really busy, it meant waiting on several lines for areas of the palace we weren't that interested in seeing. We killed about an hour there before leaving. From Knossos, we head to the Southern part of the island, to an area called Matala. The hour plus ride was all through the Cretan countryside. We would climb high up a mountain (in our little standard car - nice job with all that gear shifting QBF) and look down on valleys of grape and olive vineyards. It was beautiful. We arrived in the late afternoon to a VERY windy beach day. Despite the bay being somewhat protected by two large mountains, the wind was strong, lifting the sand and water alike. We stuck it out for a couple of hours, and had a late lunch at one of the nearby beach cafes. Also located in Matala are ancient Roman tombs, carved into/out of the mountainside and dating back to 2 AD. We bought admissions tickets and spent a bit if time hiking the mountainside and exploring the tombs before departing.

Our ride back to Rethmynon was through the countryside again. One thing that Jared and I both noted was just how small some of the small towns are, and in some instances how old the infrastructure is and how different it was from the Cyclades. We enjoyed dinner at Castelo Taverna, packed and hit the hay, wrapping up out time in Crete.

Athens

We arrived in Athens early on Thursday morning, and headed to our hotel, the Amalia Hotel. After resting a bit, we headed out to explore Athens. We at lunch at O Platanos, another Fodor’s suggestion, that was really good. We hydrated up during lunch as well (it was hot in Athens without the breeze that the islands had) and made our way to the Acropolis. We spent a couple of hours walking around the site, viewing the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion. The structures are amazing. While you cannot get too close, you can see the amazing architecture. The sheer size of the structures, and the manpower that must have gone into the construction them, is enough to give you pause. Additionally, the carvings of the gods are full of detail and beautiful. After touring the Acropolis we stopped to hydrate (again) before heading to the Acropolis Museum. The museum houses many of the remains from the Acropolis site. But far from entire excavated collection, as we later learned. The United Kingdom still holds a significant portion of the ruins at museums throughout England, having claimed them many years ago under the pretense that Greece was not capable of properly caring for them. Despite the construction of the Acropolis Museum, a beautiful museum with excellent security (I was just barely able to evade the no photographs rule, snapping one lone picture) the ruins remain in England. We did a bit of souvenir shopping before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We ate at Café Boheme (good food but spotty service) and then in an odd twist of trying to make our way to a bar in the National Garden of Athens, ended up at an outdoor restaurant where a Greek pop concert was taking place. So we stayed for the last half  of the performance and enjoyed some dessert and wine. It was a bit weird but fun. After the concert let out we headed back to our hotel for the evening.

While we stayed in Athens through Saturday as well, we spent 75% of Friday on a tour to Delphi, which you can read about below. 

Delphi

When we arrived at our hotel in Athens, one of the first things we did was book a tour to visit Ancient Delphi. Delphi is the ancient site of Aristotle’s oracle, and was once considered the holiest place in Greece. We departed early Friday morning, for the three-hour trip northeast to the site, with a quick stop midway. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about Greece and this history of the country, sharing a full synopsis during the ride. When we arrived at the site, she led us through both the archeological site and the museum. The site is absolutely breathtaking, located high up on Mount Parnassos, off of the Gulf of Corinth. Different from the Acropolis, the restoration of the site does not include scaffolding and cranes, which helps with the maintenance of its beauty. Many of the original structures are still there, including some original columns and other parts of the site, which give you a sense of what the city center had looked like. We walked its entirety, all the way to stadium. It was a good hike, around an hour and a half. From there we headed to the sites museum, which houses and displays many of the carvings from the structures. The museum is small (our guide brought is through in about an hours time) but offered visitors a lot to look at. After we toured the museum we headed to the Amalia Hotel – Delphi where we enjoyed lunch before the drive back to Athens.

After a power nap and a couple of showers we headed out for dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant Jared proclaimed that we had “found the Brooklyn of Athens,” which was fitting. The restaurant we ate at, Prosopa, was a 15-minute cab ride from our hotel, in an area that was a mix of residential and commercial. The restaurant itself was small, so they offered al fresco dining across the street in a small park. The food was excellent, and never ended. Our last official honeymoon dinner, we both ordered an appetizer and entrée, and shared a dessert. In addition to this bread, an amuse bouche, a second appetizer to share, and a second dessert to share were all brought throughout the evening. All of the food was excellent, and despite us being a bit unsure of the restaurant when we arrived (we were one of just two couples) it was bustling when we departed, with all diners seeming very content. The best part of our dinner at Prosopas was when the waiter came to take our order. He immediately began to speak to us in Greek. Jared and I looked at each other confused, and then me to the waiter. He then realized we weren’t Greek and switched to English, commenting that he assumed we were Greek, as they very rarely have Americans visit their restaurant, which we found to be pretty cool.  After dinner it was back to the Amalia for a few hours of sleep, before a super early flight to Paris, ending our time in Greece.

paris

Our time in Paris was very brief. We landed early in the morning and took the train and metro into the city. We grabbed breakfast at the famous Cafe de Flore, before heading to the Musee d'Orsay where we spent a few hours viewing the famous impressionist art. We grabbed lunch before as well, at a Comptoir des Saints-Peres, before a frantic navigating of the metro (many of the lines were under construction) and a hot train ride back to to Charles de Gaulle for our flight home. Our time in Paris was fun, but not as much fun as I hoped (lugging around our carry-on bags, dealing with tourists such as ourselves, and having only about 8 hours to explore.) Hopefully we can plan a longer trip back there soon.

Our honeymoon was two weeks of excitement and adventure that we are not soon likely to forget. We hope you enjoyed reading about our trip and viewing all the pictures!