After the museum, we walk through the center of town to the Lion Head fountain, which we mange to get photos of without anyone around – how, we don’t know, because the town is packed with people!!!  There is obviously some sort of children’s festival or race or something because there are a bazillion kids running all over the place. Ack! We are outta here in a hurry. Crowds are not our thing – particularly crowds filled with kids.  Eek.

It is around noon time anyway, so we head off to the waterfront in search of the restaurant Ed had found, Ippokampos.  We find the stretch of restaurants along the waterfront promenade easily enough, but all the enclosed eating areas on the promenade across from each restaurant look closed.  And we don’t see one for Ippokampos. Hmmm….circling around the block, and then walking down the street side of the restaurants, we eventually find the right place, where it appears they are just getting ready to open.  We grab a table outside on the promenade, and basically have the place all to ourselves, in the sun (it is cold, and a little windy, but in the sun it is ok).  Let the feast begin!

Holy cow – the food!  First of all they bring an entire bag of bread (and entire bag!  Full of different breads and crackers) – plus some sort of hummus spread (which is actually pretty good), babaganush type spread and olives – along with this huge carafe of wine and a huge beer.  Then as “appetizers” we ordered a spicy cheese spread of feta and peppers, which is delicious, as well as an amazing seafood moussaka, for which Ippokampos is famous.  As a main meal (ha! I’m already stuffed) we get grilled octopus (very good) and grilled cuttlefish in squid ink.  Oh yum.  But oh my, we’ll have to walk miles and miles to exercise this meal off.  As we feast, the place totally fills up, even the enclosed seating areas are filling up – so we definitely made the right move getting here early and scoring our prime location.

Our next and final stop for the day is the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, which is sort of on the way back to the ship.  Ok, yeah, another technology museum.  Yawn.  But, wait, no, not at all!  This is a fascinating collection of seriously ancient technology that shows how the ancient Greeks had developed so many different inventions and processes that we still use today in one way or another.  Pulleys & belts. Pistons & cylinders. Gears & perpetual screws.  Sprockets & roller chains. Bolts & Nuts.    Fascinating.   Most intriguing was how they figured out hydraulics, and used it to power a telegraph machine, the first worldwide telecommunication device.  They created “automatons” that used hydraulics to power movement and sound – One of the examples here is the chirping  birds and returning owl.  The birds chirp, but then get frightened and stop when the owl turns to them. 

There is also a fascinating alarm clock – from the 5-4^th Century, BC!!!  It is the first “awakening device” in human history.  Invented by Plato no less, it uses hydraulics to push the water through the vessels at a certain pace so that after a period of time (in this case, 7  hours) the water emptied the vessels quickly and made a chirping sound to awaken you.  Amazing.

There is also a really cool game called “the Polis”, which is the precursor to chess as we know it today.  I just love the little dog like creatures they use as pieces.  That would be fun to make and play.

There were tons of other astonishing inventions that kept us occupied for quite some time.  There are a series of these museums all across Greece – and we think even Europe – showcasing different technologies. We need to find the list to visit them all now!  At the end of our visit, upstairs, there is a coffee bar where we grab a cappuccino and sit by the window overlooking the water. Very nice visit and end to our touring in Heraklion.  

It is an easy walk back to the port and the ship, where we start our normal routine.  Tonight after dinner, we go to the Black Light Show,