Crete

Although I am currently sitting in a hostel in Berlin, I thought I would recap on the week in Crete before getting into all the goings on here.

The past week was probably the best in my life overall so far. I couldn’t have imagined a better group of people or a better setting than what we ended up with.

We started out the week discovering our villa, which had four rooms with two beds each, and two boys slept outside on our patio. The villa was large with our own private swimming pool and you could see the bay of Chania (Crete's largest city) from our windows. Picturesque in every way imaginable. We arrived, went for a swim and figured out the car situation because we found that renting a car was necessary because the island was really much larger than I (and probably the others as well) had expected. We spent the first night without a car, discovered the local restaurant, the Cretian Corner, owned by British-Greeks, and had our first taste of Raki, the local liquor near where we were staying. It was pretty nasty, but when honey was added it was tolerable at least.

The next morning (after some minor injuries from a wild first night in the villa) we took the bus to Chania to discover the beach. We ended up just walking all around the tourist areas of Chania where the cruise ships dock where there are lots of interesting, cheap stores where people can buy junky souvenirs. It was nice but finding the beach was not as easy as we had anticipated either…we finally ended up on a small beach on the other side of the city, where the water was stunning but later it was discovered that swimming was not recommended within the city limits of Chania due to the high sewage levels. No one got too sick though…

By the next morning we had acquired one car, so five of us loaded into the tiny red car to go to the airport to rent a second car for the rest of us. Getting home was a fiasco, somehow there was a bee in our car which sought out my back to sting immediately, we got lost, and decided that making a U-turn on a high way was a viable option for getting home alive. After surviving getting the car, we headed to a long stretch of beach quite close to Chania. Again, stunning views and beach. We had more Greek food in a little restaurant near the beach and spent literally the entire afternoon laying out on the beach and playing in the water. Later in the afternoon, Hanna and I went to a little bar on the beach and chatted about how much we would miss each other at the end of these few months. It was depressing but also gave me a really amazing outlook on this experience because I realized what great friends I've made here and how I want to keep these people in my life for so many years to come. 

The third day we decided to go down to the other side of the island to discover beaches there. It was a long drive and we ended up in a cute little town with a mediocre beach. We decided that we may have better beach options if we drove a little way down the coast, so we all climbed back into the cars and started our ‘short’ journey to the next beach. As luck would have it, we ran into a sign after not too long that said the most beautiful beach on the island of Crete, Elofonsi, was ‘close’ by. I suggested that maybe since we had come so far we would be best suited to head to the beach we knew was a sure thing. Everyone thought that was a pretty decent idea, but unfortunately, the ‘road’ was unpaved, through the mountains, laden with goats. It was stressful; in our car, the fearless driver Matt did a fabulous job navigating through the steep, twisted roads of the Cretian mountains. After two and a half hours of hell, we arrived at the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Elofonisi is unique in that to get to the prime location, you need to wade across the knee deep water. It was crystal clear and if you looked out into the distance you could almost swear that the ocean had been dyed blue. To top it off, there was a beautiful mountain landscape and strange stones raising out of the water. It was a view from a postcard. Reluctantly we left to get back to the villa and took a really nice road all the way home where you could catch beautiful vistas of the coast from up in the mountains. That evening our group of ten was joined by Kevin, also from Wisconsin, and we all returned to the Cretian Corner for another round of the meat platter.

The next day we went to a small town that one of the owners recommended to us with a nice beach and a beautiful white floating chapel. The chapel wasn’t actually floating, of course, but it looked like it was from far away because you had to take a small rocky footpath across the water. From the peninsula where the chapel was, little tidepools formed where you could watch the patterns of the waves ebbing and flowing. I love the sounds that the water makes and always feel a tinge of regret that there’s no way for me to bottle it up and take it home with me. I took the first of a pair of really wonderful walks down the long shore with Marc. It was a really strange beach though because the tides would alternate between hot and cold water and I would scream and then relax, scream and then relax. Lots of laughing. That day I also discovered that Kevin was the guy I sent a shout out to a couple winters ago because we both had broken transportation…it was a hilarious realization and I must admit my mind is still a little blown.

The next day we took a break from the beach to go hiking through the white mountains. I love hiking on vacations, I feel like some of the best memories are made from the endorphin high you get from the exercise. What was interesting about the mountains was really that even though the island was so hot every day, the mountains were still topped with snow. The path looked like something out of northern Wisconsin, and made me feel like home. At the bottom (it was one of those hike down then hike up situations) there was a babbling brook with clear cool water and boulders to sun yourself on. We sped up on the way home because we were battling the park closing at 5pm, which was a challenge but felt amazing and I wasn’t even sore the next day. On the way home we stopped at a restaurant at which a lot of us ordered rabbit…not I, but I must admit I tried it and found bunny rather tasty.

The last full day we returned with Kevin to Elofonsi. I think one of my fondest memories of the vacation was walking down the coast through the tidepools and rocks on the island you wade to. It was the second marathon walk I went on, the only crappy part was that I left my kindle out in the sun and it completely died, leaving me bookless. I miss Kipling already. 

Our last day we returned to Chania because a few of the girls really wanted to get these fish pedicures. (By a few of the girls I mean Maja and I talked about it pretty constantly until everyone else was persuaded). Fish pedicures was that we stuck our feet in these tanks of water where fish ate the dead skin off of our dirty feet. It was one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever had in my life. I laughed for literally the first 10 minutes my feet were in there. After a final lunch, and one last shot of Raki, we went back to the airport, finally making it back to Bonn around 11:30, exhausted, sad, and filled with fernweh. I must admit I still miss Crete, mostly the people, but also the environment and the experiences that will last a lifetime.

My weekend in Bonn was too short, and this morning we arrived in Berlin for the week. I thought I should post about Crete though first to make way for new memories being made this week with all the Americans who I love. I’m so excited to see another German city, which seems so more metropolitan than I would even have guessed. It’s also crazy to me to see the brick line where the wall once stood, can’t even fathom living in a city where you are confined to an area but can see how life goes on the other side. It absolutely blows my mind.

So anyway, until I get back to Bonn, enjoy the week. Ich vermisse euch alle!

This internet is being uncooperative so I regret to say that I can't share pictures right now. I'll try to make a picture post when I get home with a couple highlights.