Crete - Heraklion & Agia Pelagia

 

Seajets ferry from Santorini to Heraklion, Crete. 

Night arrival in Crete. 

Dinner of Seabream and grilled vegetables. 

Views around Heraklion. 

Trip to Minoan Archeological site of Knossos. 

Checking out how concrete columns where built in 1,800 BC. 

The hill we had to go over on the way west out of Heraklion. 

Almost to the top of the hill. 

Finally at the hotel in Agia Pelagia. 

2nd week - Naxos & Santorini

 

Leaving Naxos. 

Arriving in Santorini. 

From Port to top of Caldera and the 9 switchbacks, and 1,000 ft climb. 

View from the climb up. 

Views of Fira. 

Oia from a distance. 

Hotel pool. 

Sunset in Fira. 

Akrotiri of Thera, Minoan Archeological site. 

On Santorini climb. 

First week in Greece

 From Athens airport we went to small seaside town of Artemida for the night. The next morning we rode to the Port of Rafina, had lunch and took Seajets ferry to Mykonos climbed a 3 km steep hill to our hotel. On our last day Anne had a nasty interaction with a killer tree stump left at a sharp cut at shin level at Paraga beach at Saint Anna resort which will keep her off the bicycle for 10-12 days.  

Todays ride 15 Kms with a 1,000 ft of Elevation Gain (EG). 

Bike boxes did arrive. We watched their progress with AirTags as suggested by my friend Rene. 

Dinner on the beach in Artemida. 

Our lovely hotel in Artemida. 

Waiting at the Port. 

Lunch at the Port of Rafina. 

At the beach in Mykonos. 

In Mykonos. 

Dinner in Mykonos. 

Night in Mykonos. 

Anne being taken care of!  

Waiting for the ferry. 

Ferry travel to Naxos. 

In Naxos. 

After 4 nights stay in Mykonos we took the ferry to Naxos and we are staying here for three nights. Todays ride 10 kms with 400 ft of EG.

Total rides only 25 kms. 

Greece & Puglia (Southern), Italy

Our Greek islands and mainland route. 

Our route around Puglia, Italy.  

All my stuff ready to be packed.  

Europe 2023 Adventure – Greece & Southern Italy

Greece & Southern Italy (Puglia)

We are planning another bicycle adventure this Fall to Greece & Southern Italy. 

We have also decided in order to help with reduction of poverty and global warming, we would again donate a bicycle for each 400 Miles of riding we do on this trip, through World Bicycle Relief.  Each bicycle given by World Bicycle Relief fund costs $165. We are expecting to ride over 1,000 miles and plan to donate three bicycles.  If you would also like to help with this worthwhile cause by donating, please take a look at their website:

https://worldbicyclerelief.org/

Our plan is to start in western Greece just west of Athens' airport.  Then ride to Port of Rafina, take ferries to Islands of Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini, and Crete.  Staying a few days on each and riding on some days.  In Crete we will start in the Port of Heraklion, then stay a couple of nights in each of the main towns and ride all the way west to the western end of Crete and then take a ferry back to the mainland and travel west to the Port of Patra.  In Patra we will take an overnight ferry to Puglia in southern Italy and the Port of Bari. 

In Puglia we will do a loop around southern heel of Italy, and end in the town of Taranto.  From there we are planning to take trains to Rome and stay in Rome for a few nights before flying back home. 

We will try to keep up this blog as we go along this trip and would be happy to stay in touch with those of you interested.  Wishing you all the best.  Please sign up if you are interested.  To sign-up you will have to be in the Web version and hit the "Follow" button on top under the Blog Title.  Thank you.  

Here is our itinerary: