Heraklion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is one of the largest cities in Greece. According to the results of the 2011 census, the population of the city was 173,993 inhabitants while the Heraklion urban area has a population of 225,574 and it extends over an area of 684.3 km2(264.2 sq mi). From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
After so much wet weather in our first week on board, we finally came into beautiful sunshine while on our sea day travelling from Naples to the island of Crete, our first stop in Greece. Our ship berthed around 7:00am and over 2,000 guests disembarked to take excursions to various parts of the island. We chose (unwisely) to take the guided tour to the town of Heraklion. Our guide told us that we were to meet her at the bus at 2:45pm and if you have a problem, I will be ‘there’ in that coffee shop, all for $US19.95 each. We could have taken the free shuttle bus to the hop on-hop off bus, and seen the whole town with a guide for just E15.00. Bummer.
What was impressive about the town is that the pavements were smooth, not like most of Europe with the traditional cobblestones. After completing our internet requirements, we found out where to meet the hop on-hop off bus anyway, and toured the city for an hour or so. That made us back to the ship early to allow us to sit on the sun drenched deck for a few hours before departure and the evening entertainment.
There was a comedienne doing his thing in the main Princess Theatre, which I slept through most of. Following that dismal performance we walked to the rear of the deck for a piano-man show. I think if I hadn’t of slept through the previous show, I would have slept through that one. But anyway, an early night is always beneficial on a cruise.
We found out something rather funny today, which some of our group had already worked out would happen. Our garden club has a raffle where a member’s name is drawn each monthly meeting for a $50 cash prize. This jackpots if the person is not in attendance. I had sent an email to the acting secretary with our “and the winner is —– in Europe” notice. The email was read out just before Monday night’s draw, and my name came out. I missed out on jackpot of $250. I could have used it towards the purchase plants for the next year. You don’t always have to be in it to win it but you have to be there also. What a coincidence. Oh well, when we return home, we are sure one of us will win one draw; probably the first draw after the jackpot goes off, and we will win just $50.
Tomorrow, we stop at our first of two Turkey stops, Kusadasi. This is the port where excursions take you to the well-known tourist spot of Ephesus.
“Until you’ve travelled, you’ve never lived.”
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