Past years we have heard only negative news from Greece and its economic crisis. But they are making the renewing and trying to get it all fixed. We have many opinions about those renewing and actions the government does and how EU supports. One thing is for sure; ordinary people suffer and face the problem in their daily life trying to struggle on. If you travel there you can support their politics of renewing despite it is pretty hard for ordinary Greek people but you can help them out by buying local services and products. You can also support them to keep up and save remarkable archaeological places by visiting them.
In Rethymno is The Venetian Fortress Fortezza.
It has relatively big outdoor area.
There are few shadow places...
...and many interesting points to get familiar
if you are interested about old ruins.
If you are not interested about history nor ruins
it is worth of going anyway.
It offers spectacular views around.
If you have time it is worth of going twice at different time of a day or weather because it shows up differently according to the light. It has 4€ entrance fee per person and a bit steep and unpaved location to go; but if you are capable it is for sure worth of seeing. You can also have a picnic there.
Close to the Fortezza is an old Venetian Harbor...
...which seems to be popular among the hobbits too.
The harbor is beautiful
and
shows up differently according to light and time.
From the harbor you can see it all from another direction...
...than the monastery of Agia Irini offers.
The harbor is filled up with restaurants but there are space for you to have a picnic and sit down around the light house if you prefer that.
The Old Town of Rethymno is beautiful. It has many and more shops. Most of the shops are open from morning to night in there. It was quite surprising that in Rethymno Old Town was cheaper than in tourist centers built by the coast lines.
If you want to buy local, Old Town offers you many changes to that. There are few leather shops where they also make the products. One is Handmade Leather Goods. Stefani Souvenirs at Petichaki Street has wide collection of Cretan and Greek made chess boards and even swords. Sara Jewellery has two shops and excellent collection of golden jewellery. Silver Jewellery Evely at Souliou Street has -as the name tells you- silver jewelry included with stones imported (Crete has no jewelry stones itself) but all the work has been done in their workshops. Lemonokipos offers you refreshing moments in their LemonTreeGarden. (And yeas, it is ok to have only something cool to drink.)
Artifacts by Omodamos is a fascinating place to visit.
The shop has two sides. This one is for Greek artists...
...and this one for local artists.
If you are a craft maker and seek only ideas you can always donate (volunteer) few coins instead of buying anything. There's a cup on the table for that.
I visited the shop for several times while the other ones were having a street pizza which was not gluten free. I liked the shop a lot and was sorry when I finally had to leave!
