Heraklion; Saturday, 10 June, 2017

Despite wanting a good night’s sleep, a combination of the heat and the thin curtains meant that I was awake long before 7am. I tried to have a little bit of a lie-in, but it wasn’t working so instead, after a refreshing shower, I headed downstairs for an early breakfast and then headed out of the hotel for a wander.

I wandered down through town towards the Venetian harbour and was intending to have a wander round there when I spotted the open top bus tour approaching the bus stop that I was standing by, so instead I decided to pick that up.

Given how warm it was I was very glad to be on the top-deck of a bus able to get some of the lovely breeze that was being generated by the buses motion. I did a full circuit of the tour through the city centre, out to Knossos and back before getting off at the harbour to have a little wander, and to pick up a bottle of water, before catching the next bus that was coming around on the extended tour that took in the countryside and some of the beaches of this part of Crete.

With that second tour completed I was feeling quite peckish so I stopped at a very nice-looking café by the waterside for lunch and then wandered back the short distance to have a look round the spectacular St Peters Church – one of the oldest buildings in the city having started life as a Catholic monastery before becoming a mosque during the ottoman period and today an Orthodox church.

After looking round the church, and some of the ruins outside of its former incarnations, I headed over the road to the Crete Historical Museum and spent a long time looking round the very interesting exhibitions they had.

I left the museum just in time to hop on the open-top bus for its final tour of the evening, catching it back round to the city centre to then go for a wander through the heart of the Venetian middle of the capital taking in the Lion fountain and the Loggia.

Near to the Loggia is the stunning Agiou Titou church (St Titus). In traditional Greek Orthodox style, its quite a plain church on the outside with just white walls and a blue dome, but inside it was very beautiful with lots of icons and beautifully carved wood.

Having looked round the church I headed back to the hotel to freshen up with a quick blast from the hotels super-efficient air-conditioning before heading back to near the Lion fountain for some dinner.

After dinner, I headed down to the Venetian harbour and wandered down the harbour wall to the fortress to have a look round the outside at night before heading back up the hill to the hotel and to turn in for the night.