Viking Star Berths in Heraklion

^{by Jeffrey Guard}

A Morning Viking Shuttle Snafu

We woke up early to watch the sunrise from the balcony as we docked in Heraklion, the capital of Crete. We were in Crete! I was excited because we had thoroughly explored Athens and were eager to get to the other destinations and discover what they had in store!

We already had a morning routine down by Day 2 on the ship for our mornings, which consisted of having room service breakfast delivered to our cabin at 6:00 AM while we ate in our pajamas and watched the lectures on the history of the destination and cruise excursion information.

I was excited about Crete. I learned from the lectures that the Minoan Civilization, Europe’s first great culture on Crete, built the sprawling Palace of Knossos—an epicenter of art, trade, and myth, famously inspiring the legend of the labyrinth and the Minotaur.

The free excursion we had scheduled for the afternoon was “Heraklion & Archaeological Museum,” which promised a visit to Heraklion’s Old Town and a visit to learn more about the artifacts of Knossos Palace.

This was towards 1:00 PM, which meant we had the morning to ourselves.

So, we planned to use the morning to go to Knossos Palace and learn about it…as much as my mind would allow. By now, we were well rested, but I was feeling slightly exhausted from all the facts and figures, dates, and events that were being thrown around.

By now, as much as I loved history, art, and culture, all I wanted was the major headlines.

As we were getting ready, we heard a muffled voice outside the cabin.

We opened the door to hear the tail end of an announcement. This is such a peeve I have about Viking: Why they make public announcements in only the public areas and not in the cabins is beyond me… It was so irritating because it was an announcement that we needed to hear.

I did not read the Viking Daily closely enough and missed the fact that at The Port of Heraklion, passengers are not allowed to walk to and from the port. You must have a shuttle bus or transport (i.e., Uber/Taxi) to take you off the port and to your destination.

Viking was offering free shuttle bus service to Heraklion’s center, but not until 9:00 AM. The plank was laid out at 8:00 AM for people to leave, and so we left, not realizing all this, only to discover that we had to go back to the ship and wait until 9:00 AM.

That was crappy. My big question was where all the people who left at 8:00 AM were going. I re-read The Viking Daily and Shore Excursions, discovering that Viking had two paid excursions that morning, taking people directly to Knossos Palace, and that was the reason. They wanted to get their first. Whatever.

The Truth About Cruises That Nobody Tells You

It is important to remember that Viking Cruises are not Academic Conferences. Vacations are places to recharge and have fun, not stress out about not remembering every single historic thing that comes our way.

This is a leisure tour, emphasis on leisure, where we incorporate elements of history, art, and culture. Learn what you like and leave the rest. There are no exams, no dissertations, and no graduations.

This was the speech I kept reminding myself of, and it would get louder and louder as the tour went on because of all the information that just kept coming, I kept forgetting! Some of the stuff that I liked, I remembered, but I guess that’s how it really works when we’re older and nobody’s keeping score.

The Largely Invisible Knossos Palace

At 9:00 AM we got to the shuttle bus, and it took us to the center where there was a line of taxies just around the corner. It was so easy, and for €15 a taxi drove us to Knossos Palace.

We dove into the back seat of the aged Mercedes taxi which might have also doubled as an ashtray on wheels because all we could smell was smoked cigarettes. In very short order we went on the main road where the blocks of building turned into rows of trees and farmland.

The buildings looked like cheap IKEA modern and appeared shabby. I did not realize it was a red flag because I was absorbed by the music playing on the taxi’s radio. The Arabic percussion in the song was surprising and beautiful, highlighting Crete’s cultural proximity to the Middle East.

In about 15 minutes, we arrived at the entrance of Knossos Palace and were greeted by locals. My first impression was wow, these folks really care about be warm and nice with tourists. Despite traveling the world, sometimes I can be a real dunderhead. The locals were all jockeying to be our “Personal Tour Guide.”

We needed one, they made clear to us. An older woman with creases across her face, implored us, “My dear friends,” she somberly announced. It felt as though she might be ready to tell us her husband was not going to make it to Sunday, but no, she explained that Knossos Palace was a labyrinth of ruins, inexplicable to Americans.

Then, her crinkled, worried face smoothed out like she had a fresh batch of Botox, and with a large, almost fully toothed smile, exclaimed how fortunate we were to have her here. For a small price, she could make this memorable.

My husband and I looked at one another and smiled back to our dear friend, wished her well, but like Heracles, we would take our chances in the maze of the Minotaur that was Knossos Palace.

I also told her we had no money.

Poof. She was gone.

I kept walking towards the HUGE sign at the entrance that offered a QR code for a free virtual tour guide. I patted myself on the back, narrowly avoided wasting €30 on a tour guide whose English was glitchy and was probably going to tell us crap she made up on the spot. What difference would I know? We were the stupid Americans.

I hate thinking like that, but I have learned the hard way that, more or less, it is how we are perceived, rich idiots. Fortunately, thinking like this protected us from the big-time scams that were coming our way in Turkey.

Greece felt mostly honest. There is something of a personal dignity in this culture that prevents most from preying on tourists that I deeply respect.

The virtual tour on the app was surprisingly excellent. It offered a thorough accounting of the area. The big disappointment was the fact that that there is no palace, save for a couple of rooms. Everything is in literal ruins. You must imagine the hollowed out spaces often outlined with stone or decaying walls, remnants.

Crete is such a seismic hotbed that, unlike the Parthenon or Agora of Athens, there is no point in rebuilding Knossos Palace because it is the opposite of earthquake-proof. A huge earthquake catastrophically ended its use as a palace.

Crete was also heavily bombed by The Nazi’s in World War II and so I’m so that given the desperation and destruction, there may have been pillaging of stones and materials to repaid houses and buildings that had been damaged in war, and everyone probably turned a blind eye—because it was about real people needing shelter.

I REALLY wish I had known that from the beginning, but NOBODY talks about that. Nobody warns you that you are going to be looking at a whole lot of nothing, and what is there is so overrated simply because it exists.

Also, if you wanted to see the artefacts that stayed, they are in the Archaeological Museum in the old city center of Heraklion. Suddenly, it all started to click, why the Free Excursion was about going to the city center and the Archaeological Museum.

If Knossos had been the free excursion, I honestly would have felt jipped. It did not feel like I had received a meaningful education on the Minoan Society, the very first civilization of Europe.

One positive was that it allowed us to zip through the invisible walls and get back to the ship and prepare for our afternoon.

Viking Star: Lunch at The World Cafe 

Taking the taxi back to the Heraklion city center (15 minutes), waiting for the shuttle bus to unload and then its customary wait time (15 minutes), and then getting back to ship (7 minutes) had eaten a serious chunk of our buffer time (Definitely, something to remember!). 

We only had time for The World Cafe, a cafeteria-style buffet with (as the name implies) an assortment of menu options from around the world. It holds up; there were standard European/American and Asian cuisines. Missing were the Mexican and Thai, but to be fair, those are not the easy dishes to make and hold under hot lamps.  

It honestly did not matter. For lunch most days, I had most burgers from the grill or pizza from the World Cafe. Both were cheap indulgences, but given that we were walking and on our feet for most of the day, it was what I wanted. Nothing says love like a little comfort from a sugar-fat-salt bomb. 

It is fast and convenient 

It was also clean, but we did limit ourselves to the buffet after we saw some elderly folks grab the food tongs with their hands from the wrong end or simply reach for something with their fingers. Fortunately, we never got sick, but it reminded us of the perils of the food buffet. 

Heraklion City Center: The Archaeology Museum And A City Stroll

The Archaeology Museum was by far the best place to visit in Heraklion. This is where you can really understand Knossos Palace. You can see and learn so much about the Minoans and their ways. You can see how much they influenced Athens. 

Along the walk in the town center, we got a feel for the place.  

After the archaeological museum, we had a walk around town with Viking’s Tour Guide, and she was extremely helpful in centering us around the Old Town Center. And again, this is one of the reasons why local guides are so good, they have lived in the area and can provide a local perspective that is so valuable when traveling and learning about a location. She took time to highlight the points of interest.  

Of course, even with an excellent storyteller, it was clear that Heraklion was not a pretty place. They had some nice areas and sites, most noticeable the Morosini Fountain (also known as Liontaria), a gorgeous fountain built in 1628 that is also a technical masterpiece. It can tell you the time, using the lion heads to show the hour of the day.  

Close by the fountain was the Loggio, which uses two differing architectural styles, Doric on the second floor and Ionic on the first. It is one of the last architectural remnants of Heraklion’s past. Built as a private club for Venetian nobility, it now functions as a municipal building. 

Even with an old building here and there, the rest of the place was filled with all those cheap Ikea-looking, bland modern buildings, which sadly cheapened the whole vibe! 

The bombings of World War 2 and earthquakes together have robbed Heraklion of its beauty and old architectural treasures. There was never any kind of formal planning for the city, and it just grew, especially in the 1960s-80’s, which is when those Soviet style block buildings went up everywhere. They were cheap and functional, and one could erect them fast. It just made Heraklion the ugliest sister of the Mediterranean. You will not confuse this place with Rhodes, Sicily, Sardinia, or Malta.  

After we reached the church of Saint Titus of Heraklion, which was a gorgeous hybrid of Christian and Islamic design, she gave us almost 45 minutes to do some free walking. We walked towards the harbor and towards the beautiful old fortress that commanded our attention.

The Koules, A Venetian Fortress And A Saving Grace

The gigantic structure sitting at the edge of the island, at once captures your eye as you look towards the coastline. Sitting just beyond the harbor where the ships gently sway from side to side, it becomes clearer that it is an actual fort. There is a beauty to it, the heavy stone, the frescos with lions on it.

It is called The Koules or “Castello a Mare” (Fort on The Sea) and it is a fortress that was built by the Republic of Venice when it was in possession of Crete. The Koules was built in the 16th century and is still in excellent condition today, a testament to its superior engineering!

We did not have enough time, but I would have preferred to take my time visiting this over Knossos Palace.

Back To The Viking Star

The tour group all met up once again at the designated spot across the museum and we drove back to the cruise ship.

Our evening already had a routine: Wintergarden to Gym for workout and hydrotherapy, dinner at The Restaurant.

We could have gone to lectures but we view them on demand while eating our room service delivered breakfast. We could have also seen musical performances, but it is not our thing.

The most important thing no one tells you is that by the time you are finished with the excursions, you are exhausted: mentally, physically, emotionally. You are just spent.

We pulled out of before just shy of 6:00 PM. While I genuinely loved The Koules, I regret that we did not spend our morning seeing it, instead of Knossos Palace, which in retrospect I would have skipped. Overall, I found Heraklion to be disappointing. Fortunately, our vacation fortunes were about to change with a visit to Rhodes.

Recommendations

Skip Knossos Palace, there’s very little of it to see and it can get crowded with people all hoovering what still exists. It’s a completely underwhelming experience. Instead visit The Archaeological Museum where you can view so many artefacts of the palace and learn more about the ancient Minoan Society. You can even see an entire replica of what Knossos Palace looked like before its seismic destruction.

From the Museum, walk toward The Liontaria Fountain and Loggia. Linger and enjoy these two beautiful sites and then make your way past the Church of Sain Titus of Heraklion towards the The Koules Fortress.

Make time to enter Koules, soak in the experience, the views and learn it’s history.

Remember, Crete is an island, so everything will be a little pricier than mainland Athens.