TUESDAY 26TH – HERAKLION CRETE

It's probably unfair on poor Crete that it followed such a spectacular place as Santorini. Heraklion is a city of contrasts. Some of it is quite tidy but other parts aren't. In particular, it is one of those cities in which there are many partly constructed buildings, some in a state of abandonment, but some being partially used as if it is intended to complete their construction one day.

To its credit however, it is in better shape than Albania and generally appears more prosperous.

 

 

The old city is surrounded by a very substantial wall which enabled the Venetians who controlled it at the time to keep the Turks at bay for 21 years back in the 17^th century. In Venetian times, it was a substantial ship building and ship repairing port.

We acquired a new neighbour this morning while we were out and about. As far as I can tell externally, the Oosterdam appears to be identical to the Eurodam.

Tomorrow is our last port of call being Argostoli, Nisos Kefallinaia. It is described as a place which has “not succumbed to package tourism”. Sounds like a great place to finish our fabulous trip.

We spend Thursday heading back to Venice where we get off the ship on Friday morning We get back to the Australian cooler weather on Sunday morning.