Crete: May/June 2024
(continued)
After taking the ferry back to Plaka, we return to the same restaurant, this time for smoothies. We then go wrong when driving through
Agios Nikolaos and find ourselves driving east instead of west. We turn back to reach the hotel at 3:30pm for relaxation and Redbush.
Another excellent evening meal that features delicious mushroom soup and chicken with a filo pastry packet of vegetables.
Wednesday,
June 5th:
It's even hotter today as we drive to Heraklion once again. Our intention is to visit the Archeological Museum, using
our recently gained knowledge of the parking availability and the location of the museum.
We again park in the same area near the harbour and then repeat our previous practice of getting drinks at the same nearby restaurant.
After this refreshing pause, we follow our pre-planned route route through the pedestrianised area (left) to the museum (above).
Our planning pays off in that we easily locate the museum, only to find that it does not open until 1pm - just over an hour away.
We can see staff sitting in the cool inside, but our gestures to indicate we would like to join them in the shade are declined. We
decide to walk to St Mark's Basilica, but instead find an interesting souvenir shop, which we decide to return to later after talking
to the Liverpudlian lady who worked there. Just opposite the museum is a restaurant where we pass the time (and monitor the museum
queues) while Jeanette eats a crepe and David a Greek salad - both excellent and very filling meals.
We only join the museum's
queue when it appears to be modest in length. However, inside the museum there are two queues: one for the only two ticket offices
open; and another to actually get into the museum past the security arrangements.
Once inside the museum, we spend 2½-hours admiring
the amazing collection that it contains of the most important and complete collection of artefacts of the Minoan civilisation
of Crete.