Travel Day - Rethymnon to Sitia (Crete)

Had a glorious sleep-in this morning, then went to the imposing Venetian Fortress where we explored the crumbling barracks, old churches, and so forth. There were nice views out over the water. On the way, we stopped at the cool lion fountain. In the fortress, it looked like they were busy making a replacement onion dome for their church.

From Rethymnon

From Rethymnon

From Rethymnon

We tried to go to the Folk Museum next, but it was closed. So we had some gyros back at the hostel, picked up the remainder of our laundry, and got on a bus to Iraklion. We'd intended to go from Iraklion up to the western plateau and see the cave where Zeus was born, but by the time we got there, the next bus was not until midday tomorrow, which doesn't work since we need to be on a morning ferry from Sitia to Rhodes (which only runs a few days per week) the next day. So instead we hopped a bus directly to Sitia, which the Rough Guide assured us was a nice beach resort town.

We showed up a bit before sundown and found ourselves a room in the home of a cute elderly couple. Our room opened out onto a big shared balcony with a small slice to sea view. And out on the balcony, we were able to snipe some WiFi from a nearby unsecured network. Internet access is expensive in Europe, like 3 Euros per hour or more, and free WiFi provided by your hotel seems to be unheard of in Greece. So we were pretty excited about it.

For dinner we wandered about until we found a good-looking gyro guy. He seemed a bit... I don't know, patronizing at first. But he was also friendly, talkative, and good natured. He was also clearly very proud of the food he served, which turned out to be superb.

After dinner we walked down to the beach. Along the way, walking through the square by the waterfront was a man and an enormous tame pelican. The pelican didn't seem all that friendly and would occasionally take a moment away from following its master to frighten the children, whom it was bigger than. It was a little unreal. And, of course, both cameras were locked away in the hotel room.