Saturday, Day 42, June 3 – Today it was a bright and beautiful day. We decided to do the Hop on Hop Off (HOHO) bus in Chania today. We walked about 7 minutes to this park, that was supposed to have a kiosk where we could buy tickets. We sat on a park bench and waited for a while and did not see any buses go by, so we decided to walk about 15 minutes away to where the 1st stop is. We saw the empty bus and so we sat down on a bench and waited. After sitting there for about 30 minutes, we saw the bus driver and the ticket agent down the block. We walked down there and bought our tickets. The tour was not going to start for about 20 more minutes, so we sat and waited. Finally it was time. We were the only ones on the bus. At the 3rd stop, threee ladies got on the bus and joined us. The whole tour takes about 90 minutes if you don’t get off the bus. We like to ride the bus around one full time, before deciding where we want to get off. the HOHO buses are a good way to get oriented to a new city. We rode this bus all the way around before we got off where we started which was near the waterfront where all the restaurants are. We then had lunch, before walking back to the hotel. We rested up some, before venturing out for dinner.
Sunday, Day 43, June 4. Today, we are leaving Crete and flying to Athens. We pack up our suitcases and checked out of the hotel. I had left the car in the public parking about a block away, so we pushed our suitcases to the car and loaded it up. The drive to the Heraklion Airport is a little over 2 hours. I figured if we left by 8, we should get to the airport in plenty of time.. It was a pleasant drive, not much traffic and a beautiful clear day. We got to the airport a little after 10 and found the car return place. The shuttle dropped us off at the airport. We dropped off our bags and checked in for our flight. We were flying on Aegean and werre in Business Class. The attendent put stickers on our carryon and personal items also. Since we were in Business Class, we were given Fast Trak, which allowed us to skip the long security line. We got through security and walked back to the gates, It was very crowded and we could not sit at our gate, so we found two seats at a different gate and waited. The airport air conditioner was not working properly, so it was very hot. We were supposed to start boarding at 2:05 and depart at 2:45. We walked down too our gate around 2 and waited for boarding to start. Finally, they announced that our flight was delayed 55 minutes. this meant we would not start boarding until 3 and then depart at 3:40. They were very unorganized and not very forthcoming with information. They let some people go downstairs to wait. I stood in the doorway cause it was cooler. Finally, everyone just sort of pushed on through and headed down the stairs. The attendent made everyone go back up the stairs. I was halfway down and I refused to go back up. She agreed to let me stay there. Unfortunately, Jay had to go back upstairs to wait. Eventually, they started boarding. You had to scan your ticket then get on a bus that would take you to the plane. At the plane, you could go up either the front or the back staircase. We went up the front since we were sitting in the 2nd row. We were served some kind of snack, that had chicken and toast. There were also a piece of dark chocolate for dessert. The flight was very short. When we landed in Athens, the 6 of us sitting in Business Class was allowed off the plane first. We had to go down the stairs and we got on a bus. Everyone else had to stay on the plane until we were gone. The bus took just the 6 of us over to baggage claim. Our luggage also came off the plane first. We got our luggage and then went to look for our driver. We had reserved a car with Welcome Pickups to take us t0 our hotel. It is about a 30 to 40 minute drive. We got checked into the hotel and rested before heading out for dinner.
