The ferry was about 2 hours behind schedule to pick us up from Naxos. Not too big of a deal, but it did make our arrival in Crete later than we had hoped. Justin upgraded our ferry tickets to the “platinum” level for this ride since it was longer (about 3 hours), but it went by really fast.

The platinum level really wasn’t anything fancy except that we had a big table where we got to play cards. James enjoyed 2 pieces of pizza followed by a donut and the time flew by.

When we got to Crete, it was about 9:30pm. Our rental car was waiting for us at the Port. After a brief explanation about the car, we were on our way. It was about an hour and 15 minutes to Rethymno. The drive would have been fine during the day, buy it was a little nerve racking at night due to the lack of street lights.

We got to our hotel, The Ionia Suites, just after 11pm. James was passed out in the backseat. The hotel was very nice and in a great part of town. We unloaded our stuff and went to bed.

After a nice breakfast, we checked out of the hotel (the was quick) and walked around Rethymno. It has a large beach and an “old town area.”

One quick thing that I have noticed about the Greek people that we have come across (whether in hotel, restaurant, shop etc) is that they are extremely generous. You never feel “nickel and dimed.” They are always throwing in some kind of freebie. Almost all of the meals have ended with a free dessert. The Ionia Suites gave us some handmade coasters. The ceramics shop gave us a magnet.

After we left Rethymno, it was time to head in the direction of our Villa for the next 5 night. We had one stop along the way at Lake Kournas. This is a fresh water lake between some mountains. We rented a paddle boat and enjoyed the beautiful views.

After a bit of confusion, we finally made it to our Villa.

We are looking forward to hanging in Crete as we close out the last leg out our Greek vacay.