Heraklio port

After a long walk in the city, we went back to the Lions Square where we had a quick drink before returning to the ship. On our way back, we visited the venetian castle which is located near the port.

As we were walking along the coastal street towards the ship, we enjoyed the beauty of that welcoming city. I was almost sad having to leave it because O wanted to explore as much of it as possible. Actually it would take much more time to do so and I knew that I had to return in Crete island on a longer trip in order to explore its wonderful prefectures.

Phestos Palace is the ship that connects Heraklio with Athens.

 

Cristal cruise at Heraklio port

Leaving Herakio behind

Our activities on Cristal ship

We returned to the ship in the evening and stayed on the deck enjoying the fresh sea air and the view to the island as the ship was sailing far away from it. We had a small snack that we carried from the buffet deck to the upper outdoors deck (over the pool) which was not crowdy at all. Most of the passengers were at the restaurant or at the buffet rooms for dinner. We had laid on the deck chairs enjoying the trip under the moonlight. Fortunately the weather was still warm so we could stay outside at night!

Lying in the deck chairs and enjoying the view to the sea (both during the day and at night) was our favorite “activity” during the cruise!

It was around 23:00 when we decided to go for a quick cocktail at the disco before going to bed. It was already full of people dancing and having fun when we entered it. We joined them immediately and dance with those foreigners who seemed so familias and so entertaining. People of all the ages, young and elders were partying together!

A young boy who was dancing hip-hop as a professional dancer!

Our party finished a couple of hours later and we returned to our cabins for resting. The next day we would wake up in Crete!!

Cristal ship – life aboard

Lunch aboard was a very interesting and tasty experience. Actually we could choose lunch at the restaurant of the ship where 3 starters, salads, main courses and deserts were available. The maitre would also help us to find a table for sitting and the waiters would come fast enough for our orders. They were all really polite and helpful. Of course, we could order any dish and eat as much as we could! No extra charges except for the drinks. Alternatively, we could have a buffet lunch either in the buffet salon or at the pool deck. In that case the food variety was much larger but we had to be served on our own.

Cristal ship Traviata buffet salon

We chose the outdoors buffet on that day because we preferred sitting at the pool deck as the weather was really nice and we had a great sea view too!

Cristal ship pool deck

The outdoor buffet of the pool deck served pita-gyros in the greek style and everybody was at the queue for it! Opposite the buffet, a nice event had been organized; the Greek chef of the ship was teaching people how to cook pita-gyros with the famous tzatziki sauce! When the lesson had ended, another chef (I cannot recall his origin) appeared and started singing for us. It was a very nice performance and the view of the singer dressed in a chef’s costume was really cute. (Unfortunately, my camera had run out of battery by that moment…).