Next up – Crete, where we spent most of our time in the lovely town of Chania, which has this amazing old port that so much reminded me of Venice.  There were so many Venetian influences, it truly felt more like Italy than Greece!
Rain rain, go away…at least in makes for some interesting photographs!
The one below on the left is one of my favorite images from our trip. ♥
The rain finally subsided, and we were able to spend the most beautiful day at Elafonissi Beach, which ranks as the most gorgeous beach I have ever been to in my life.
I think the most interesting thing aesthetically about Crete is the landscape.  It has such a variety, all equally beautiful.  The image on the right, below, is on the way to Elafonissi.  You drive along this incredibly windy road for a couple of hours, but the scenery and end result (relaxing on the beach) makes it all worth it.
I stitched together 5 photographs to make this panorama of the old port at night.

I just recently got back from a trip to Greece, where we spent time in Athens, Crete, and Santorini.  I thought it best to split it up into 3 seperate posts – one for each location – so as not to bombard you with a million pictures all at once!

The following are from Athens, an interesting urban city with amazing ancient history.

While we were eating breakfast our first morning there, a fire had broken out behind the Acropolis and Parthenon.  It was an eerie sight, as you will see from the next image.  It looked as though the Acropolis were on fire!  The sun was rising and front lighting the scene, which made for some amazing light.We started our day with a hike up to get a closer look at the Acropolis and Parthenon.  They are both currently undergoing some much needed restoration, so it was a challenge to get pictures without the cranes and wires in the way!We then hiked down to Ancient Agora, which was probably my favorite place in Athens.  Very quiet and tranquil, few tourists…you could really get a feel for the ancient history surrounding you.  The area is said to be where Socrates taught Plato the philosophies.The Temple of Zeus:Much more to come from Greece!