Space Coast Eaters Guide, Volume 3

I know this makes quite a jarring break from the Greece vacation talk in the last post, but we just booked a spring break trip back to the Space Coast, so I thought I'd update my Space Coast Eaters Guide.

Before we begin, I invite you to go back and read Part I, which features my discussion of "Floridity" as a concept, and the follow it up with Part II.

Ok, back from that? Here's part three. Happy eating!

Rising Tides

This is the new kid out at the port area, It's set off the water, though, back by the building that looks like a giant sail boat. It's large and loud and shiny, kind of an upscale Chili's. They've built a nice outdoor dining deck above the drainage basin, which is a lovely place to enjoy a meal if there isn't a massive fish die off (as there was when we visited). Service can be slow if it's crowded, and the beer selection is waaaay too huge and nuanced to be authentically Floridian. Only come here if you're freshly showered.
Floridity Factor:🐊🐊 A sort of anodyne version of a traditional Florida B & G. More swank than dank.

Longboards Tiki Beach Grill/Castaways Beach Bar

Imagine a poolside bar that turned into a...larger version of itself, and that's Longboards. Not particularly "tiki," per se, but if you're looking for a place with loud music, well drinks, and a clientele of dripping wet people wrapped in beach towels, it hits the spot real nice. Eating here feels a bit odd if you're not staying at the hotel, since the pool is like right there (and you’re definitely not allowed to swim in it). But they're happy to take your money, so if you can overlook the vague sense you're gatecrashing, don't let this review stop you. In addition to the main restaurant, Longboards has a secret weapon called "Castaways," a bitchin little tiki idyll built on the dune along the wooden boardwalk that connects the hotel pool and the beach. Partially hidden by the beach grass and sea grapes, I happened upon it on a beach walk and popped in for quick rum tipple. You'll almost forget you're at a Hilton!

Floridity Factor:🐊🐊🐊 Earns the third gator because of Castaways, and the location can't be beat, but the well-healed clientele and hotel lobby prices make it decidedly mid from a Floridity standpoint.

Seafood Atlantic

Is it a restaurant? A seafood market? It's both! With a primo spot along the cruise port canal, The ol' S n' A, runs a fresh caught fish and shellfish counter and dips its toe in the restaurant biz on the side. The decor is fairly spartan, and the wait times can be brutal when a cruise ship is in dock, but you can't beat the freshness without going fishing yourself. I mean, there just not much of a dining experience to be had here. Ideal for a lunchtime pop in, though I’d I’d opt for one of it’s neighbors for supper if wait times permit.

Floridity Factor:🐊🐊🐊 The seafood is top notch, and you're literally watching dolphins and salty deckhands pass by, but they're trying to be two things and are caught between hitner nor yon.

Joanne's Beachside Cafe

Joanne's is a classic breakfast joint at heart, rather than a Bar &Grill(e), but it's got a number of classic Florida B&G attributes, particularly the mothering service and A WHOLE BUNCH of crazy crap on the walls. The theme is actually less "beachside" and more "slightly snarkier Cracker Barrel," with old timey lamps and farm paraphenalia strewn around, plus lots of signage, ranging from funny ("We Have No Wifi - Talk to Each Other") to maudlin ("We may not have it all together, but together we have it all), to downright MAGA. Fare is classic breakfast diner food, as delicious as it is unhealthy--and served in heaping portions. This is where you want to come if you miss home and need some mothering, because the waitresses are definitely going to mother you.

Floridity Factor:🐊🐊🐊 Handicapped by not being it's not a true bar & grill(e), ol' Joanne's certainly lets you know you're somewhere in the south. 

Crete

Today caps the first full day on Crete, the world's 88th largest island. 

I got up uber early and cabbed it to the airport to pick up our rental car (an Audi, ooh la la!), which uses diesel.  That's not really noteworthy except for that it's kind of weird and to my knowledge the first time I've ever driven a diesel vehicle.  I drove back to the hotel and picked up the clan, and within 15 minutes we were touring the excavations of Knossos (but not before Juliet banged the car next to us with her door as she was getting out.)  For those not in the know(ssos), this was the royal residence and central administrative complex of Europe's first advanced society, the Minoans.  Two basic misconceptions about Knossos persist; 

    1.) Yes, the legend of the minotaur is based here, but no there is no labyrinth (or such a thing as a minotaur, for that matter).  It turns out that the architectural complexity of the site gave rise to the idea it was a maze, and that eventually spiraled into the legend of a dangerous labyrinth housing a princling man-eating man-beast.  

    2.) The most famous bit of the ruins with the red columns and frescoes are (speculative) reconstructions of what that part of the palace looked like, not what was really unearthed.  The 19th century British aristocrat and archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, who looks just exactly like you'd expect him to, did all that.  That kind of tampering is today considered a major no-no.  It seems clear he felt it was at least partly necessary to avoid the eventual degradation of the site, but we're not talking about setting a few columns back up where they once stood.  This dude poured hundreds of thousands of pounds of concrete everywhere, then painted much of it to "recreate" what he believed the original structure looked like (today's archaeologists doubt many of his certainties). While you'll still see plenty of authentic Minoan ruined walls and walkways and the like, the most famous stuff is all Evans (and all the famous artifacts and frescoes he recovered are actually down in the museum in Heraklion.)

Lest you think we thought it a total drag, it was actually very cool.  There were peacocks roaming around, which the kids enjoyed, and some decent signage which adequately communicated the sheer historical heft of the place.  I mean, not that there is really a "first" anything--even the Minoans had a predecessor culture--but this is the most obvious place to point to and say, "this is the birth of Western civilization."  And that is kind of rattling around in your head at you stroll the complex.  Trippy.  Anyway, here's that reconstructed famous bit:

Last thing I'll say about this: as is the case with the Elgin marbles (which aren't) on the Acropolis, Evans' meddling with Knossos is easy to hate on.  But as was the case in Evans' day as with Elgin's, it was a choice made in context, and that context was, "man, if we don't do this, this might not survive."  And it has survived.  Today, Evans' reconstruction has become, ineluctably, part of the site, and it's gained its own kind of historical gravitas of the sort that graffiti on an important monument from hundreds of years ago has which graffiti from today doesn't  Like it or not, it's now Knossos.

James surveys some ruins, but mostly the peacock

After Knossos, we got back into our car and headed west to Rythmno, a beautifully-preserved 16th-century Venetian port city about halfway to our hotel in Chania.  We strolled the old city for a bit looking for a bite, and since it was still before noon, we settled for a bunch place just off the harbor that is definitely, come nighttime, a dance club.  Like, it functioned fine as a restaurant, but was clearly made to appeal to the club set.  For a club, though, the brunch was pretty good--the kids got some pancakes absolutely doused in comical amounts of Nutella.  I got a tasty Greek omelet, and Erica had some kind of wrap--I dunno probably chicken souvlaki-flavored.  And cheap.  Everything here is cheap, particularly food and bev.  Giant stack o' Nutella cakes? 6 euros.  Big-ass, feta-rich omelet?  6 euros.  Beers, even at a restaurant? 3 euros.  I'm not lying.  After the meal, we walked around town, looking at souvenir shops.  James is addicted to the ones that sell little statuettes of the Greek gods, and that's most of them.  Erica bought some new sunglasses.  It was just lovely.

Rythmno's old quarter

We finally got to Chania about 2:30, and checked in to our hotel.  It's good.  It's fine.  It's...kinda deserted?  Not bad, just weirdly empty?  There wasn't anyone at the desk, and the back patio/lawn around the pool was unmowed and unkempt.  A cleaning lady happened to be there, and she let us in to the room.  The room is itself amazing--two bedrooms, a decent kitchen area.  Love it.  Just kinda desolate around these parts.  Luckily, it's just a stone's throw from the beach.  We pooled it in the afternoon, then went to a local place for...Greek food.  Or rather, Cretan food (tbh, there's not a ton separating these cuisines, as far as we can tell).  All in all, a very good intro to Crete.  I would be remiss if I didn't comment on how amazing the drive was here.  Like, Pacific coast highway amazing.  Driving in Greece, as I've said, is insane, but here on Crete, where there's way more open space than Naxos or Athens, and the roads ascend and descend legit mountains, it's all the more crazy.  More on that later.  But, woah, the beauty.  Mountains crashing right down into the sea.  Lots of picturesque beaches.  Lots of little memorials where people died on the roadside.

Dinner, night 1 on Crete.

I'll leave it there.  More in a bit. 

Good Ol' Naxos

 I'm writing from aboard SeaJet's Champions League Jet 1-- a massive hydrofoil ferry headed to Crete.  We just stopped by Santorini to drop off/pick up passengers, and we're now bouncing along with the wind to Heraklion, the gritty capital of Crete.  None of us wanted to leave our now-beloved Naxos, though admittedly the parting was made easier by a bungled ferry situation at the port which saw us standing for almost two hours in a bunker-type tunnel building at the business end of the island waiting for our ferry to depart.  Given that our car was due back to the rental agency at 10am, and we were finished with brunch by 11 (and it's now 5 and we're not yet to Crete), this day is falling far short of the excellent standard set by our previous two days, about which I will tell you right now.

On Thursday, we drove our rental car way up the slopes of the 5,000+ ft. Mt. Zas, the Cyclaic Islands' highest point.  As I've alluded to before, driving in Greece is for either the insane or the despondent who no longer care what life hands them.  Roads have few barriers, even along cliffsides, there aren't really sidewalks anywhere,  livestock just wander about willy-nilly, and fellow drivers don't really heed signs or speed limits.  We passed through several decidedly non-touristy villages on the way up the mountain, my amateurish driving on full display to the locals.  At about 4,000ft. we parked the car and took a mountain trail that first passed a lively spring, then headed up into exposed scrublands and boulder fields.  After about half an hour of hiking (during which time the kids complained zero--our hard work is playing off!), we reached "Zeus' Cave."  Naxians claim this cave gave rise to the Greek myth surrounding Zeus' hidden upbringing in a secret cave away from his murderous father.  Everyone else in the world not from Naxos places this cave on Crete.  The cave was pretty shallow and filled with garbage, though apparently they've dragged lots of interesting Neolithic artifacts out of it.  The kids were most pleased to find a few hoary billy goats wandering around the cave mouth, to which they of course gave names.  Erica and I enjoyed the views, which stretched all the way down the valley to the sea, about 15 miles.

Smelly old cave

Goats!

After the hike, we piled, sweaty, back into the car, and headed downward to a small village called Filoti, where we enjoyed cool drinks at a café shaded by a massive sycamore tree.  We were soon joined by a few other tourist families.  Directly across the street, however, was a very non-touristy café, patronized by about 10 or so beefy old Greek men drinking coffee and not really talking to one another, but mostly staring at the tourists.  This went on for quite some time, the staring.  Eventually, we wandered back to our car and drove to another small village, an artists' colony called Chalkio.  There we ate lunch under a canopy of grape vines at a restaurant featuring an open air spit oven.  We then bought a few hand-woven items from an old lady and sampled some locally-produced "kitron" liqueur, before driving a short distance to a crumbling, seventh-century (!) Byzantine church (Panagia Drossiani).  This church, which of course had an old lady sitting in the back of it to guilt you into leaving a few drachmas for the upkeep, is home to fading, 1,400 year old frescos that are absolutely not preserved in any way.  No climate control, not even plastic barriers--they're just right there for you to interact with, or accidentally brush against, or maybe careen into if you're fighting with your brother (this didn't happen, but its COULD have very easily happened, and surely HAS happened, probably hundreds of times.)  Anyway, I loved it, and Erica and the kids were even impressed.  When the Turks held the island for many centuries, they kind of half-heartedly tried to stamp out Christianity, but probably weren't bothered to come up this far into the mountainous interior of the island and enforce their edicts, so the villagers just kept on worshipping Jesus in places like this until they went away.  

After all that excitement (I forgot that we also saw a HORSE and it licked the kids hands, omg they loved it), we drove back down the mountain to our beach town and chilled at the pool for the rest of the afternoon.  Dinner was at a lovely restaurant called Doukato (high recommend), then we headed out to the promontory beyond the main port to a 5th century BC temple of Apollo for sundown.  It was really cool, which explains why pretty much every visitor to the island was there as well.

The horse

Friday was a very different type of day, as we spent the whole of it on a "snorkel," cruise which had a lot less snorkeling that one might expect, but which was still tons of fun.  More jumping off things, than anything, really.  It was a very long day on a boat, but the kids did suuuuper well.  We left the port about 9:30am and took a two hour ride to a small, uninhabited island off Naxos, where a little snorkeling was done, but mostly just jumping off the sides of our old, wooden boat.  This was quite a big boat, mind you.  Not modern, and barely any interior to speak of, just a crowded outdoor section (maybe about 85-90 people in total, all crammed aboard).  Contrary to what we expected, James and Juliet were the only kids, so that kind of freaked us out at the beginning of the day.  But, again, they did great.  There was a Greek bachelorette party on board, plus some heavy drinking older brits, but our little family didn't seem as out of place as you'd expect for what kind of turned out to be a bit of a techno-heavy booze cruise.  

The real highlight came when we ended up at a giant sea cave on the remote southern coast of Naxos (Rina Cave).  You can climb up the rocks until you're above the cave mouth, then plunge about 20 feet or so down into the ocean.  We all did it (except poor, jealous Juju--she's just 6, people).  It was so fun.  I tried to hold a cannonball shape all the way down into the water, but my form fell apart.  James' was much better.  Erica cut her foot on the climb up, but didn't let it deter her.  Here's one of the jumps:

The voyage back was long and against the wind, but we did get back eventually, and ate again at our favorite place on the island, Giannoulis.  This is a family-run joint which serves up mounds of Greek comfort food with an ample helping of cornball bonhomie.  They kind of jack the prices up for stuff, then hand out tons of "free" portions to you, so you feel like you're someone special.  Plus they're endlessly hugging you, and shaking hands, and yelling "OPA!"  It's noisy and great, the kids love it, plus you just get doused in free booze.  (Again, it's not really free, but it FEELS free in the moment, so kudos to them for having an angle.)

So, we're back to today.  But here's the addendum: I'm now in our hotel in Heraklion.  Our dinner tonight was the best meal we've had so far on this trip.  Our restaurant was in the heart of the old city, near our hotel, and on the walk there we passed some parade of...I'm going to guess local parishes?  The various groups in the parade were decked out in traditional garb, but each was carrying a velvet banner with a different saint on it?  I'm not sure, anyway, after fighting through the parade, we ended up at Peskesi, a very modern restaurant serving only local ingredients, but using it to create traditional Cretan fare.  Y'all need to come to Crete to eat this stuff.  You'll thank me after you do.   

So that's that.  The kids are finally asleep and I'm headed off to sleep soon.  Tomorrow is Knossos and Chania!  To Crete!

Naxos and Santorini

We arrived on Naxos on Monday afternoon.  Naxos is the largest of the Cycladic islands, and the only one with high enough mountains to create any weather beyond "brilliantly blue and cloudless," so it's a bit greener than its fellows.  In the thirteenth century it was the seat of a Venetian duchy which ruled the Aegean Sea, and then in 1912 Strauss set an opera here (Ariadne auf Naxos), and that's about it in terms of the world stage.  Today, it's billed as a "family friendly vacation island," which is fair.  It's actually kind of perfect: great beaches and beach towns which are live enough to be fun and interesting, but not so tacky or overcrowded to be off-putting (Outer Banks, I'm looking in your direction).  As cool as it may sound, you don't actually want to go to some tiny backwater Greek island and sit every evening in its one taverna with a few surly old Greek dudes wondering why women are suddenly there.  Naxos isn't that.  But it's also not Mykonos, with its legions of oiled-up himbos drinking $25 Jagerbombs and grinding to Eurotechno (aka "boots and cats" music, lol) around the clock.  Naxos is kind of in the middle: it's for sure got something going on, but there's tons of families to balance out any extremes.  And those families seem to be from all over the world, which is interesting in itself.  James and Juliet made friends with some Scandinavian kids at the beach and some Italian ones at the hotel pool.  But it's also got lots of nature and history and ruins, and old churches and other cool stuff, too.  To Naxos!

Our arrival on Monday and car rental pickup went smoothly, and soon we were zipping, winding, haltingly jerking our way through the labyrinthine streets of Hora, the island's capital where we rented our car.  It seems pretty much every Greek island's main town is called "Hora," which turns out means "town."  Hora, like all Greek Horas, has no sidewalks, so you're dodging people as well as making tight turns, and it's all quite manic.  But we made it the 20 minutes without incident to our beachside village of Agios Prokopios where we're staying.  Our hotel is quaint, and the teenager working at the desk--surely the daughter of the owner (also working the desk)--was full of pride showing us to our room.  We have two bedrooms, one of which has a little kitchenette in it, and not one, but two little balconies, one of which overlooks the pool.  And all for like less than $150/night.  The kids even managed to squeeze in some time in the cold-ass pool before dinner (side note: the pools in Greece seem to be cold, as a rule.  Is this because for the Greeks they function as pools are intended?  As a cool-off from the endless burning sun, rather than as a field of athletic contest or a playplace?  It's my theory.)

The (cold) pool

On Tuesday, we got up early and boarded a boat for Santorini.  It wasn't ideal that we just ghosted Naxos pretty much as soon as we got there, but Tuesday was the only day the day trip was available.  It turns out, a day trip is really all you need to visit Santorini.  It is a place of unimaginable beauty.  Basically just the remnants of the caldera from one of the largest volcanic explosions in human history, the island's few towns sit teetering precariously on the edge of 1,000 foot sea cliffs, gleaming white against the dark reds and browns of the volcanic tuff.  There's a definite Grand Canyon, "am I really seeing this?" kind of surrealness.  At one point in Santorini's history, one imagines, its villages were actually Greek, and subsisted on fishing, agriculture and general handicraftsmenship.  Sadly, any trace of real actual Greece is long gone, replaced by an unending assault of alternatively expensive and cheap-ass souvenir shoppes and jewelry botiques.  The nature remains stunning, no notes.  But there is no culture, and almost no one doing real people things.  Indeed, almost literally every square inch of shade has been monetized (it doesn't help that Greek architecture universally eschews eaves), meaning that as you walk along baking in the relentless southern Mediterranean sun, you cannot hide yourself in any patch shade that isn't already claimed by someone who has set up in it a bar or bodega or rickety little costume jewelry stand.  We wandered mostly uphill  to a very pictureesque spot where we took some to-die-for snappers o one of those blue-roofed churches.  Have a gander:

We also got a look in both the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox cathedrals, which were rare spots of respite from the sun and relentless capitalist exploitation.  Walking back down, we jostled with the hundred-some-odd thousand waddling cruise ship passengers who'd taken long-enough breaks from their food troughs to be disgorged up into town.  I actually kind of loved coming to Santorini because the views were worth it, and I left secure in the knowledge that I never, ever want to come back.

Wednesday was the low-key beach we needed.  Longtime readers of the blog will undoubtedly remember my comprehensive beach rating system (which can be found here: https://gholsontravels.blogspot.com/2018/04/we-arrived-back-in-kailua-kona-monday.html).  How does our beach at Agios Prokopios stack up according to that scale?  Sand: 6 (certainly not Caribbean sand, not even Florida sand, but very good for Europe.  Golden, slightly course.  I've seen much worse).  Availability: 5.  It's a summer place, maybe into early fall, but the water would be far too cold for swimming earlier or later.  Accessibility: 8.  It's a short stroll from our hotel, and right off the main road, but sidewalk-averse Greece makes driving anywhere in these parts trepidatious.  Swimability: 5.  Almost no surf whatsoever.  Easy to swim in, but surprisingly cooold water.  69 degrees at the end of June?  Who knew?  Amenities: 7.  Lotsa great tavernas and restaurants right there.  They'll bring your drinks right to your rented beach chair (you have to rent a beach chair to be at the beach.)  Drinks are meh?  I mean, Greece does beer and ouzo well, not so much margaritas or pina coladas.  Ambiance: 9.  Just a stunner of a beach.  Crystal blue-green water almost rivals the Bahamas or BVI for sheer clarity.  Hoppin' bars and tavernas line the beach.  Folks having a great time, including the leathery octogenarian who,  being well beyond caring about social propriety, stripped off her top and went wading into the ocean to cool off for a spell.  Gross, but full points for gusto.

In the evening, we had a meh dinner at a tourist joint near the beach.  I'll be back shortly with a new report about our adventurous Thursday.  Toodleoo.

Hopelessly Devoted to You

We’re sitting in the economy deck of Blue Star Ferries’ Delos, cruising through the Aegean from Athens to Naxos, by way of Paros.  If you squint, the Delos looks a bit like a cruise ship, except there’s no casino and you have to pay for everything.  It’s a flawless day.  Hot.  The sky is clear and the sea is calm.  We apparently started a war with Iran.  The kids are lost in ipad land, unaware of the myriad ways the Boomers continue to destroy their future.  Has one generation ever extracted so much or paid fewer dues?  Malaka!

Yesterday was a huge vacation win of a day.  It begun inauspiciously, with James up for several hours in the night vomiting.  By some miracle of his youth he was 100% shipshape by morning and ready to go.  I got up and bought some takeout coffee and pastries from a café (my sludgy Greek coffee set my teeth on edge), and by 9am we were knee deep in junky antiques at the Sunday market at Monastraki Square.  The market is clearly more of a social activity than a serious business endeavor for most of the stall owners.  Getting there early means watching a bunch of haggard old hoarders unpack storage lockers of war memorabilia, tarnished jewelry, and other bits of flotsam and kitsch.  Then they sit around working their worry beads, chainsmoking over coffees, and watching tourists pick through it.  They can’t actually be selling much of this stuff. Surely it all goes right back into those lockers at night?   How many hundreds of times, for example, have those corroded World War II field radios been flogged unsuccessfully?  James and Juliet were more interested in the souvenir store section of the marketplace anyway, so we spent much time combing through dozens of stores all featuring the exact same tshirts, statuettes, and naughty keychains.  Erica bought a lovely sunhat.   

Hagglin'

Our next stop was the ancient agora of Athens, a place where Socrates once muckraked and the apostle Paul thundered against the local paganism. The Temple of Hephaestus, one of the best preserved Greek temples in existence, was a particular highlight, as was the reconstructed Stoa.  We also randomly saw a dried out-looking tortoise munching on a heel of bread and about a hundred stray cats, whom Juliet delighted in naming (“that one’s name is Boomerang!”)  Y'all should go, it was full of palm trees and ruins and various other orientalisms. 

The temple of Hephaestus

Searching the Stoa for a WC

Lunch was back near our apartment at a delightful little neighborhood bistro called Glykis (“Sweet”).  We sat in dappled sunlight under trestles of bougainvillea and had immaculately spiced dolmades and souvlaki.  As I had a Nissos beer,  I’ve now tried all the main beers you find in Greece.  They’re essentially identical (maybe Nissos had a bit more of a citrus lilt?), but I’m going with a top three of Vergina, Mythos, and Nissos.  Mamos, Kaiser, Amstel (the diesel version unavailable in America), and Fix will all do the trick when served stinging cold, though. 

From lunch, we took the Metro to a rather grubby part of the city where the National Archaeological Museum is.  Like its neighborhood, the facility has been allowed to go to seed, but its collection of ancient Greek and Roman-era statuary and pottery are world class.  Juliet spun around a lot, even amid the statues (terrifying her poor parents and some of the guards), but held it together well enough to earn herself a “granita”--a fruit-based, icee-type drink--at the end of our visit.  James LOVED the museum, showing real growth of character.  It wasn’t long ago that he would never have been able to stomach 90 minutes of statues.  But he patently attempted to identify the statues by the iconography, and even graciously listened to Dad go on about the mysterious and fascinating Antikythera Mechanism that he, Dad, was very excited to have discovered was housed in the museum as well.  (Basically, the Antikythera Mechanism was an astrolabe from the 3^rd-century BC--essentially an analog computer--which proved just how extraordinarily deep was the ancient Greeks’ understanding of the cosmos.  It even factored in the subtle irregularities in planetary orbits!  The mechanism was dredged from a shipwreck in the early 20^th century and sat for years on a backroom shelf before someone recognized that the random lump of rotten, barnacle-encrusted wood and metal had a gear in it.  The rest is history.  Did you know the ancient Greeks had the mathematical and astronomical knowledge that they, had they had the requisite accompanying material science, could have gone to the moon by the 1^st century?  [head exploding emoji]).

A horse and his boy

The Antikythera Mechanism: it's so cool!

Were we done for the day?  No!  From the museum, we tacked across town through the Athens National Gardens—a huge city park featuring turtle ponds and a giant playground where the kids blew off some steam—to the Panathinaikos Stadium, the original Olympic stadium.  It was first constructed in the 4^th century BC, then refurbished by the Roman emperor Hadrian in the first century AD (Hadrian seems to have lavished Athens with a bunch of gifts, must have been a fan).   The stadium was excavated and again reconstructed in time for the first modern Olympic games in 1896.  And it was even used as venue for the 2004 games held in Athens.  James and Juliet got to run around the track, and we posed as a family on the winners stand.  High recommend.

Turtles upon turtles (all the way down)

Dinner was near our place, and was kinda meh.  Great location along a pedestrian street on the edge of the shopping district, but perhaps a little too catered to the touristic crowd. 

Morning came early.  No one puked in the night for a change, though Erica woke up at 1am and couldn’t go back to sleep.  We were packed and on the Metro bound for the port by 6am.  Naxos, here we come!

Those Summer Niiiights (and Days)

Geiá sou from Athens!  After a 10 hour flight, during which James and I did not sleep, and Juliet and Erica only did a little, we landed in Athens yesterday and immediately commenced to vacationing.  I've insisted on us bringing our gear in backpacks, mostly for aesthetic reasons, and we schlepped those bad boys through the Metro and then over to our rental apartment.  We arrived at about 2pm, dropped our bags, then headed out to a grotty souvlaki place I'd got a recommendation about.  The food was incredible, and the very sweaty owner who served us was charmed by our kids (he ended up giving us free shots of something and 4 bottles of water on the house).  Afterwards, we hoofed it back to the Metro and took it to the funicular station at the base of Lycavettis Hill, which promised 360 degree views of the Athens megapolis from the top.  

The funicular was not particularly fun, per se, being just a slow incline train up an unlit tunnel, but it got the job done of delivering us to the top of the steep hill, which would otherwise have been impossible in the 95 degree heat.  The views were indeed excellent, with smog only slightly obscuring the farthest away bits.  I didn't realize you could see the Aegean Sea from Athens, but there it was, shimmering away in the heat.  They've even built a small chapel up there dedicated to Saint George.  It looked well-used, though I'm not sure who's trudging all the way up to it for mass.

There's the Acropolis over my hat, and beyond that, the sea!

We downed some refreshers (i.e., ice cream and Aperol Spritz), and headed back to the condo, arriving around 5:30. That seems lame, ok, but we're talking about kids on no sleep.  We were all abed by 7:15 and, despite a 3:00 AM full family wake up, for reasons relating to body time and Juliet's frightening run-in with a cockroach in the bathroom, we all managed to get about 9 hours of shuteye.  (Cockroaches in your apartment aren't ever good, but apparently, like New Orleans, they're just here and you'll inevitably spot them occasionally even in the nicest places. Shrug emoji.)

This morning we high stepped it down to the Acropolis museum, where we met up with Effie, our lovely and knowledgeable tour guide for the day.  The tour is meant to capitalize on the Percy Jackson books, which, if you don't know, are a powerhouse YA series about a modern-day kid who discovers he's the son of Poseidon.  James is obsessed.  It turned out to be less about the Percy Jackson stories, and was mostly a regular tour, just with a guide who's good with kids and knows how to handle frequent bouts of inattentiveness, which Effie did with grace (she's a mom, she gets it).  James wowed her with his command of Greek mythology.  Juliet mostly spun in circles and drew in the dirt with her finger, but she did chime in with some Greek mythology knowledge of her own every once in awhile, proving she was paying more attention than she let on (she sometimes listens to the National Geographic podcast Greeking Out with her brother).  Despite getting there early, it was hot and bonkers crowded, but man, is it a stunner.  The walk up features a number of historical curios, like the world's first theater(!).  Once you're through the entrance portico at the top, everything opens up, revealing the full glory of the Parthenon. 

Christmas card front-runner

After heading down, Effie guided us through the excellent Acropolis museum, where many of the restored sculptures from up top now permanently reside.  Every guide here goes hard against the thieving British, who looted many of the finest treasures in the 19th Century and still display them in the British Museum. (The truth is somewhere in between.  Yes, the British stole a bunch of important artifacts from the Acropolis (and everywhere else they held sway), but in doing so, they preserved them at a time when many of those places couldn't or didn't care to.  So, without the furta sacra, we wouldn't have those artifacts today.  But it's also 2025 now.  Time to give them back.)

Effie recommended to us a local restaurant she likes, and after we parted we had a long, giant lunch dining on various meze (Greek tapas, basically).  We're now at the apartment, siesta-ing while a rare afternoon storm passes through.  I'll post more tonight if there's time.

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Ok, I'm back.  Kind of a bust, to be honest.  We were going to go tour the Panathinaikos Stadium--an ancient Greek stadium reconstructed for the first modern Olympics in 1896.  But then Juliet started experiencing a return of her erstwhile tummy troubles, necessitating a finding of pharmacies and various pharmaceutical products (James learned a new word today--"shart.")  Once procured, we set out again for the stadium, but then James' stomach started bothering him and...we just came back to the apartment.   Is this just a normal reaction to different food?  Is this the bug Juliet had the day before the day before we left, now rearing it's head?  Who can say?   Hopefully tomorrow everyone will be back on solid ground.  Until then!

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It's Time!

After loading up a hefty 100+ days on the ol' vacation countdown sign, we've finally reached Day 0.  Just a few more last packing tasks to see to, and Greece take off commences. 

It's on.

Here's the itinerary.  Who knows how close we'll stick to it, but it's important to at least have an outline, so's you don't end up wasting the day asking each other "what do you want to do?"  Build the trip and leave the rest to whim.

Gholson Family Vacations Presents 

Greece 2025!

Day 1 - Thur. June 19 - Chicago → Athens

2:00 PM - Arrive at O’Hare Airport Terminal 1.

4:15 PM - United Airlines flight departs from Chicago for Athens.

Day 2 - Fri. June 20 - Athens

10:30 AM - United Airlines flight lands in Athens. 

11:30 AM - Take Metro Line 3 from the airport to Syntagma Square station.

12:20 PM - Arrive at Syntagma Square.  Walk 8 minutes to the apartment (Sotiros 05 Athens, 105 58 - https://www.vrbo.com/10561286ha).  Drop off bags.

1:00 PM - Late lunch at Aspro Alongo (7 min walk from apartment).

Afternoon: Walk to the Syntagma Metro station and take the train to the Megaro Moussikis stop.  Exit and walk to the Lykabettus Hill funicular.  Explore Lykabettus hill sites and grab a drink at the top.  Take Metro or walk back (27 min. walk).

Evening: Buy some groceries at Bazaar Supermarket and early to bed.

Day 3 - Sat. June 21 - Athens  

7:30 AM - Depart apartment and walk to the Acropili metro station (7 min. walk).

7:45 AM - Arrive to Acropolis tour meet up site outside of Acropili station.

8:00 AM - Acropolis and Acropolis Museum tour.

12:30 PM - Lunch at Costas. 

Afternoon: Walk through the Athens National Garden (playground), Panathenaikos Stadium (tickets purchased on site), Fokianos Cafe for aperitif, Aristotle’s Lyceum ruins (tickets purchased on site).

Evening: Dinner at Glykis Kafenio (1 min walk from apartment).

Day 4 - Sun. June 22 - Athens  

10:00 AM: Ancient Agora Tour (tickets in email).

11:00 AM: Hadrian’s Library, Water Tower, Athens Cathedral (Holy Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation), Monastraki Square (Sunday market).

Lunch: O Thanasis restaurant 

Afternoon: Take the metro from Monastraki station two stops north to the Biktoria (Victoria) stop.  Visit the National Archaeological Museum (need to buy timed tickets online in advance).

Late Afternoon: Take the Green Line back south, transfer at Omonia to the Red Line, and take it to Syntagma station.

Dinner: Saita Tavern (1 min walk from apartment).

Day 5 - Mon. June 23 - Athens → Naxos

5:30 AM - Depart lodgings for the port.

5:45 AM - Walk to the Syntagma Metro station and take the Blue line to Piraeus station.  Board the Blue Star Delos.

7:25 AM - Ferry (Blue Star Delos) departs Piraeus port for Naxos.

12:30 PM - Ferry arrives in Naxos.  

1:00 PM - Pick up rental car from Europcar at port.

1:30 PM - Check into hotel (Agios Prokopios Hotel - https://www.prokopis.com).  Explore neighborhood, get some groceries, and go to the pool or beach.  

Dinner: Giannoulis.

Day 6 - Tue. June 24 - Santorini Day Trip

7:15 AM  Depart hotel for the Naxos Town municipal parking lot.

7:30 AM - Arrive in Naxos Town, walk to the harbor.

7:45AM - Arrive at Naxos Town harbor.  Board Santorini tour boat (Alexander Cruises).

Day: Tour Fira in Santorini.  Lunch at Ampelos.  

8:00 PM - Arrive back in Naxos.  Dinner in Naxos Town

Day 7 - Wed. June 25 - Naxos Beach Day

All Day - Go to the beach 

Day 8 - Thur. June 26 - Exploring Naxos 

8:30 AM - Drive to Aria Spring (39 min).  

9:30 AM - Hike to Zeus’ Cave and climb Mt. Zas.

12:00 PM - Drive to Chalkio for lunch (11 min).  Explore town.  Walk over to Church of Saint George Diasoritis.

2:00 PM - Drive to visit Holy Paleochristian Church of Panagia Drosiani (6 min).

2:30 PM - Drive back toward town, stopping at the Temple of Dionysus (28 min drive).  

4:00 PM - Return to the hotel.  Pool. 

5:30 PM - Drive to Naxos Town.  

6:30 PM - Pre-dinner drink at AVATON 1739.

7:00 PM - Dinner at Doukato (make reservation when you arrive in Naxos)

8:30 PM - Walk out to the Portara for sundown.

Day 9 - Fri. June 27 - Naxos - Snorkel & Swim Tour

7:45 AM - Depart hotel and walk south down the beach to Agia Anna (.9 mile)

8:15 AM - Arrive at the Agia Anna pier for the Koufonisia & Rina Cave snorkeling trip with Jason Daily Cruises.

9:00 AM - Boat departs.

7:15 PM - Arrive back at pier.  Dinner at an Agios Anna restaurant.

Day 10 - Sat. June 28 - Naxos → Heraklion, Crete

Explore Naxos town in the morning.  

1:45 PM - Ferry (Seajets Champion Jet 1) to Heraklion.  

5:05 PM - Arrive in Heraklion, Crete.  Walk 12 min to Marin Hotel (https://marinhotel.gr/) and check in.

Dinner: Peskesi restaurant in the old town.

Day 11 - Sun. June 29 - Crete 

6:45 AM - Grant cabs to airport to pick up rental car (Avis - Confirmation #H-20474968US3).  

7:30 AM - Drive to Knossos and park.

8:00 AM - Knossos tour. 

10:30 AM - Drive to Rethymo.

12:00 PM - Arrive in Rethymno.  Lunch at Zefyros on port.  Walk around the old port area.

2:30 PM - Drive to Chania hotel.

3:30 PM - Arrive at Elizabeth Suites (https://elizabeth-suites.com/).  Afternoon beach.

Dinner: Sea & Sky restaurant.

Day 12 - Mon. June 30 - Chania

Morning: Explore Chania city and harbor. 

3:15 PM - Depart Chania for winery.  

4:00 PM - Arrive at Manousakis Winery for tasting and meal.  

Evening: Pool, hang out around hotel.

Day 13 - Tue. July1 - Chania

Morning: Drive to Elafonisi Beach (1.5 hours).

Late Afternoon: Drive back to the hotel, clean up, then drive (or city bus) to Chania.

Dinner: Explore the old city of Chania.  Dinner at Canale Restaurant.

Day 14 - Wed. July 2 - Chania Area Hiking

Hiking Day/Free Day to Explore.

Day 15 - Thur. July 3 - Crete → Chicago 

5:15 AM - Depart Chania hotel.

7:00 AM - Return car to agency.

9:40 AM - Discover Air flight from Heraklion to Frankfurt.

12:00 PM - Discover Air flight lands in Frankfurt.

5:20 PM - Lufthansa flight departs Frankfurt for Chicago. 

7:55 PM - Lufthansa flight lands in Chicago.

Let's do it!