After a very crazy ferry experience, we arrived into Heraklion, Crete about 2-3 hours later than planned. Our Airbnb hosts let us know that our place was within walking distance to the port, so that was the plan…to walk, with our luggage, to our apartment. If you can imagine a hot afternoon at the Santorini port filled with delays and little amounts of food, followed by a chaotic ferry ride, then navigating a new city in the dark with our luggage…well, moods were not happy. We made it to the apartment and then went and found a gyro shop and called it a night.
The next day was filled with exploring the square and shopping. EG discovered her favorite shop (which we ended up visiting several times while we were there). After an afternoon rest, we went to Peskesi. In each place we went, I tried to book us a nice dinner at least once. Ya’ll. There’s a reason this restaurant is rated 4.8 stars out of over 8000 reviews on Google. The atmosphere was so beautiful and the food was literally amazing. With a farm to table concept, they prepare local Cretan foods with such quality and taste. Gosh is was amazing, and we loved it.
Day 2 was beach day. I knew we couldn’t come all the way to Greece and not have a beach day, because these waters are so clear. We rode the bus to Agia Pelagia Beach and wasted the day lounging under the umbrellas and relaxing to the sound of waves. It was heavenly. We didn’t stay too long, because we had EG’s 18 year old photo shoot planned and a visit to Ligo Krasi Ligo Thalassa for dinner where we had quite the cultural experience eating fish that was caught that morning and trying ouzo (to which EG gagged). Luckily, the loukoumades (Greek donuts) helped to cleanse the palate.
We decided to spend our last full day with more shopping and trying out one final restaurant that was on our list. Heraklion’s streets and old vibe are beautiful, so we really enjoyed just walking the streets and seeing what was around the corner. After an array of shared appetizers at Plani (followed by some more complimentary ouzo), we strolled to the port for one last glimpse of the waters at sunset. It was a bittersweet moment as my heart sank a little bit knowing that our time was about to come to an end but also so very thankful for an amazing 10 days with my daughter!
I highly recommend taking your kids on milestone trips! You definitely won’t regret it!
