Crete

I absolutely loved Crete. It was colorful, right on the water, and had beautiful landscape. I also found the people of Crete to be very inviting, more so than other places we visited. One night a group of us walked past a Greek restaurant and the owner got so excited to see Americans he came out with a bottle of Raki and we all had drinks with him, that would never happen at home!

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and was the center of the Minoan civilization, the oldest civilization in Europe. While in Crete we saw Knossos and Festos, two Minoan sites. We also stayed in Rethymno, the site of a Venetian harbor and hiked through Samaria Gorge. We also had the opportunity to visit beautiful beaches!!