The original reason for us to visit Heraklion was two-fold. Primarily because it is where the Knossos Palace is, and this was the palace of King Minos of the Minotaur legend. Secondly, because there are better ferry options to get to other Greek islands. When we originally looked at the itinerary we planned to drive to Heraklion in the morning, visit Knossos in the afternoon, and ferry out the next morning. Over time that changed as we found a resort with water slides that we thought the kids would enjoy. We thought it would be mean to only be able to use the water slides for a few hours, so we added another day. They we thought that we likely needed two full days of water slides, so we ended up with three nights at the resort.
We had told the kids that Heraklion had the worst hotel of the trip. That it might have a very small pool, but we weren’t sure, and that it was very small so don’t get excited. They said they understood that not everywhere we stayed could have a beach and a pool.
We had a quick morning swim at the house in Kolymvari before heading out around 10am. It’s about a 2.5hr drive from Kolymvari to Heraklion, and we were staying 30min past Heraklion in Herronissos. Check in was at 2pm, and the water slides shut down at 6pm. We hoped to give the kids a chance to get good usage out of the park.
When we pulled in and they realized there was a water park, a beach, buffets, slushies, arcades and all that comes with being at a resort they happily called me a liar. They had huge smiles so I was okay with the accusations.
For our first 4hrs Emilie and I thought we may have made a horrible mistake. There was a mediums sized, but very loud, adults only dance party happening around the central bar and pool. The music was crushing, and the whole scene was a little confusing as to the west of the central bar was the water slides, and to the east was a kiddie pool. We suspected that they were attempting to rebrand the “Star Beach Village and Waterpark” to the “Star Beach Village Dance Party”. Fortunately the music stopped at 7pm and didn’t start until 2pm the next day. We just happened to walk in right as the party was starting.
I'm still checking the rest of the teams phones for pictures of the resort we stayed at. I'll try to get Graham to post his GoPro videos sliding down the water slides.
2.5 days on a resort may be the perfect amount for me. We got our fill of water slides. Hopefully the kids post some of their GoPro videos. We swam and jumped waves on all three beaches which all had different waves due to sea walls and reefs breaking offshore. The kids at too many deserts. We watched a magic show. Ruby got to go to mermaid lessons. Graham drove Go-Carts. There was something for everyone, and it was easy.
Our final day we packed a tremendous amount in. We started early by driving back into Heraklion to go to the Knossos Palace. I was disappointed as I had very high hopes, and I was very pleased the resort worked out so well. If we had stayed at a bad hotel just to see Knossos we would have been crushed. My main takeaways from Knossos were that they didn’t curate it as well as they could have as there was no mention of the Minotaur, and the main point they made was that a British guy did a poor job of restoring the site.
At Knossos
After Knossos we dropped off the rental car and headed back to the resort. As it was still early we visited a small museum beside the resort that focused on traditional Cretean life. A smaller Zaanse Schanse for Crete. Emilie was very happy. Interestingly, while they focused on farming, weaving, ceramics and the like, they also talked extensively about how the Cretan people have always had to be ready to fight for their lands. I think there is a lot of war history to understand here due to its strategic location, and from the museum they clear wanted to express that these wars have had an impact on the people.
Tomorrow we leave for Naxos. I leave Crete happy with what we have seen, knowing there is more that we missed. The kids are better swimmers. Graham is has gotten extremely comfortable both in the pool and the sea, and seeing him take to surfing brought so much joy to everyone. The kids are also doing well in experimenting with new foods.
Ruby's Mermaid Lesson
Possibly the best 15min of the trip as far as Ruby is concerned.
Note: We finished the audiobook and the movie of Howl’s Moving Castle today. We had been listening to the book while driving around Crete and watched the movie our last night. Both were big hits, though we all agree the book is better.
Trying to get this to work !!!!!