Honeymoon Day 5: Saying Goodbye to Santorini & Saying Hello to Crete

Our 5th day was beautiful, as usual, but it was sad. We had to say goodbye to Santorini that day, which was really hard for us. We decided we were going to be back as soon as we could. By the time we had to say goodbye, we decided we were going to retire there.

Our next stop after Santorini was the island of Crete, which we needed to take a ferry to get to. We had reserved a less crowded ferry for the early evening, around six. So, while we had to check out of our hotel we had just a little extra time to say a really nice farewell to our new favorite place. Our hard-working and dutiful porters stopped by our hotel room that morning to help us with our things, and stored them at the main hotel office until the van came to take us to the ferry port.

For some reason, this third day in Santorini was by far the hottest. It was almost impossible to do anything else but sit. We explored around a bit to take some more pictures, but eventually we were driven to find a shady spot to rehydrate. Numerous people on Oia, including the employees at our hotel had continually suggested a restaurant called Kastro as the best place to watch the sunset. Based on its location on the westernmost area of Oia, it was obvious it would have been gorgeous. The couple nights we were in Oia we attempted to get a reservation and it was entirely full. If you’re interested in eating at Kastro, make reservations before you even leave for Greece! We had still heard, however, that despite the lack of sunset, the restaurant was still fantastic with great service, food, and views of the Aegean Sea. We deiced to stop there for some lunch and drinks.

This was the point in our Greek-epicurean adventures that Andy discovered his favorite seafood: Sea Bream fish, specifically the European Sea Bream, found only in the waters around Europe. It was the special at Kastro, so Andy tried it. After that first taste, Andy couldn’t get enough of it. He ate it a couple more times during our trip. It’s a mild white fish, considered the best of the white fishes, and contains a lot of bones. As a result, when you order Sea Bream, the waiters bring the fish out on a large platter before serving it to you and de-bone and cut it right there at your table. They were precise and delicate. It was interesting to watch.

It was a great meal. We only wish we had been able to eat there while watching the sunset.

At this point in the trip we had noticed a little bit of a pattern in the English translations that appeared on many of the menus. The minor error existed in the translation of plurals. My father is currently studying Spanish and he often talks about how it really doesn’t make much sense to have some words assigned an “s” at the end of the word to indicate that it is plural, while other words do not have that (example: moose…although us Alaskans like to trick people into thinking it’s meese; deer instead of deers; hair instead of hairs). You get the point. On many Greek menus we saw “shrimps” instead of “shrimp” which for the life of me I could not get over. I laughed every time I saw it. “Shrimp” seemed to provide a certain level of difficulty for Greek menus, because shortly thereafter we saw many menus that left out the “p” entirely….“shrims,” or even an entire mix of the letters…like some kind of weird word jumble game. I was dying.

We were able to walk around a bit more but eventually got driven to another shady spot when the heat got too crazy. We stopped at a café/bar called Terpsi En Oia with a small inner dining area and an upstairs outdoor café looking down on the famous blue Oia domes and with a beautiful view of the caldera and the Aegean Sea. We found a small table with a pretty view and enjoyed a couple beers.

While at Terpsi En Oia, we had a waitress who was originally from Russia. Her name was Maria and she was interesting to talk to, even though she only had a few minutes to chat. We picked her brain a bit about the issues with Ukraine and her opinion of Putin. She was reluctant at first to share her opinion but eventually opened up. That’s my favorite part about traveling – meeting people from all over the world with a slightly different view of global dynamics. Despite her insistence otherwise, she spoke English well and had an extensive vocabulary for it being her (presumably) third language. She seemed to enjoy chatting with us and brought us some nuts and fruit to go along with our beers.

We departed Terpsi En Oia and at that point had to say goodbye to Oia and find our van back to the port. We collected our things from the hotel and with the help of our porter friends, we loaded our luggage in the van and headed back down to the port. Fortunately, our hotel offered a one way shuttle to the port for around €30, which helped us to avoid the multiple buses and crowded bus stops. We made it to the ferry waiting area where in the span of roughly 2 minutes I lost both my sunglasses and my ferry ticket (anyone who knows me would not be surprised by this at all). I found the ferry ticket, but not my sunglasses (boo), and we hopped on our next ferry to Crete!

The ferry to Crete was only about an hour, and the ferry was much less crowded than the one that had departed from Athens. Nonetheless, the ferry experience was no more enjoyable – there is little privacy on the ferries and every screaming child and overworked passenger can be heard from across the ship. Headphones did little to stave this, and the frustrated woman yelling at the barista at the ferry café did even less (“He’s asking me to speak English! He says he can’t understand me! Why should I have to speak English?!”) Valid question, I guess.

We eventually docked at Heraklion, the capital of Crete, grabbed our luggage, avoided the angry woman and crying babies, and studied our map to locate our hotel. Andy and I had only one day in Crete, so we selected a hotel near the port so we didn’t have to spend too much time or money wandering around looking for it. We picked a beautiful hotel right near the port called the Megaron Hotel.

Our only criticism about the hotel, and really Greece in general (although it was the worst here at the Megaron), was the lack of attentive service at restaurants. Some restaurants (mainly those in Oia) had doting waiters and waitresses but for the most part service was very hands-off, a trait most Americans find frustrating and confusing. In many restaurants we were forced to track down our waitresses, stack our own dishes, or at the Megaron restaurant, Andy at one point had to get up and walk across the balcony to get our wine bottle sitting in a chilling bucket. Despite the fact that this is what my father would consider an “uptown problem,” (i.e., I can’t believe I have to get up to pour my own wine!), not knowing where your waiter is and having to take over some of your waiter’s duties (which presumably you are paying for in the final bill) makes dining slow and awkward.
 

The bizarre thing was that a lot of restaurants were like that, so we were forced to conclude that it couldn’t possibly be the individual people. Greeks were nothing but hospitable, kind, and eager to help, so it really didn’t make sense that the waiters’ lack of attention was anything personal. We finally determined it was perhaps simply a cultural thing – dining to the Greeks was supposed to be an enjoyable experience where you’re surrounded by family and friends, unfocused on and blasé about your cares that day and eager for an uninterrupted moment with your loved ones. As a result, waiters didn’t bother you until you asked for something; they didn’t feel the need to push you out of the restaurant or constantly hover over you.

While that was appreciated on occasion, unfortunately at the Megaron Hotel restaurant, the service was clearly lacking. It seemed like the waiters there (actually there seemed to be only one), were severely understaffed and many tables were being neglected. Andy and I are pretty patient people at restaurants; I’ve never been a waitress, but I can’t imagine it’s easy and I think the average person gets a little too upset with waiters, particularly if the root of the problem stems from the cook or the maître-d and not the waiter. That being said, a dinner that should have taken about an hour and half lasted almost 3 hours, with huge wait times in between interactions with our waiter. Next to us was an older British gentleman who was completely beside himself at the lack of service. He didn’t hesitate to make his complaints loudly and boisterously, at one point demanding to his wife that they leave. They ended up getting a free bottle of wine. Maybe Andy and I shouldn’t be so patient next time? Hah!

In further frustration, the food was so-so and kind of cold. It was really the only disappointing restaurant we came across during our whole trip. Despite this, the restaurant and our table had a beautiful view of the Heraklion port, an excellent wine selection, and a nice ambiance. When they did appear at our table, the wait staff was friendly and kind; I think they were working as hard as they could.

Our dessert with some tsipouro

After getting out of there, which seemed like an eternity, we made our way back to our room where we somehow found ourselves watching Avatar in Austrian (we think it was Austrian….“Tiny Wife, what a fascinating movie…” What a funny Big Husband). I finially convinced Andy to turn it off since neither of us could understand it, and we immediately fell asleep. More Crete adventures awaited us tomorrow!