/edit - added some pictures

I've been in Heraklion the past few days, capital of the island of Crete. Crete is part of Greece - it contains four states of the 52 that make up the country. The states are much smaller that our states... as Greece itself is about the size of Albama, each Greecian state is more comparable to a county of ours.

Heraklion is a nice city, although nothing special compared to Athens. It's very green, with lots of trees along the major roads and town squares. It's impossible to walk down the streets without running into low-lying bushes or trees, unless you're in the true downtown district. The other interesting part of the city is the Venetian Wall that surrounds the old town - 4 km in each side forms a triangle around the old town. I spent yesterday morning walking this, and also walked out along the sea wall that protects the harbor. After getting back to the hotel I slept for the afternoon, then we had dinner and a discussion with Yanni, the owner of the hotel and one of the hottest stars in the Greek business & political world. At only 32 he's already on the Heraklion state congress, and is running for national congress and will almost surely win next year. Highly successful, if he wants to he could be president of Greece within 20 years. Talking to him about the hotel industry and the Greek business world was great.

Today has been a slow day, as I haven't felt like doing too much. I walked down to the city center for lunch - Cretan food is a strange mix of Greek and Italian food, due to tastes left over from the Venetian occupation. I had a Cretan Lasanga-like dish, which didn't taste nearly as good as the picture looked. Still looking for a true American hamburger... Yanni says that the one at his hotel is good, as his wife, who is American, wanted at least one true hamburger to have. Might have one tonight.

Here's the first half of the pictures I plan on uploading... couldn't get the others online before the laptop's battery died. I'll put the others up soon.



Downtown Athens, you can see the mixture of the old and new in the crowded city:


















The rock where Peter preached to the Athenians, talking about their statue to the unknown God:





City guard in front of the parliment building:





Greek country village, on the road to Delphi




The view from Delphi:


View of Athens from the Monestary of St George, highest point in the city
















Night view of the Acropolis & Parthenon from the rooftop of our hotel


















Cats and dogs are everywhere in athens:















Heraklion city street: