Although it was my first time visiting Crete, it wasn’t my first time being in Greece. Every time I come to Greece, I can’t help but think of the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It’s a classic in the Bean household; we often reference the movie and watch it. I love everything about Greece - the simple lifestyle, all the history, the food, and especially the people.
After saying goodbye to Cassidy and sleeping in the airport (only got about an hour of sleep) Friday night during my long layover, I arrived in Crete, Greece on Saturday morning!! The first place/time I’ve been able to wear shorts in 2019! I was so so excited to come someplace really WARM.
By the time I arrived in the Chania, the town in Crete (Crete’s an island) I was staying at, I was able to check into my hostel and drop off my stuff. Then I went off to get lunch, explore, and go to the beach. Chania is such a cute little city!! Lots of colorful buildings, a cute little beachy feel, and beautiful clear water. After getting dinner, I went to see the sunset on the beach and just kinda wrote and took pictures and enjoyed the calm, quiet moment.
On Sunday, I signed up for an excursion that my hostel offered: going to a cave, Elafonisi beach, and some small town. While heading out to the stop, there were some other girls from my hostel also heading out to the excursion so we walked over together and got to know each other. We all hung out for most of the trip: there was Nancy from Britain, Lisa from China, and Natalya and Amy from Australia.
We stopped at the cave for breakfast and to see the church in the cave. I saw a lot less bats than I thought I would. It was so pretty though! Rocks everywhere and the sun hitting them perfectly. So pretty.
But my favorite, most excited for stop, was Elafonisi Beach. It had pink and white sand and the prettiest and clear water. Honestly....it was paradise. Only thing we needed was a bit less wind (it got a little chilly). We took some pictures, went into the (freezing) water, and walked around and hiked to a church on top of a hill. Just so beautiful!!
Then we went to the tiny town, which was a very very very small town that literally had one street. We were told we could eat at a restaurant, but I just enjoyed the sun until we headed back to the hostel and I could get dinner there. I got some baklava which was soooo good. Also - I saw a political rally go on. They blasted loud music and had Greek flags. They were speaking in Greek, so I had no idea what they were saying or protesting against.
And the whole reason I came to Greece: I got to see my best friend, Landon!!! She’s also a friend from HPU (although she’s an alum now awh), and was going to spend the next few weeks cruising around Greece. We met up after dinner. I got to meet the other people she was cruising with, which was about 30 other 18-29 year olds all from America. Honestly...talk about culture shock. Hahahhaah. I was invited to join that that night, where we walked around and went to a club where we got a discount on drinks. Suuuuch a fun night!!
On Monday, Landon and I hung out the entire day. We just kinda wandered around and looked into the shops - so many rings, leather, and touristy shops. We also walked along the rock wall to the lighthouse, where we had a really cool view of the city. And we tried the fish eating dead skin off our feet thing. It was SO ticklish - we were hysterical for 5 minutes straight (out of the 10 minutes we paid for). But our feet were super smooth afterwards! So even though it felt weird, it was kinda worth it I guess? It was such a fun, relaxing, much needed day!!
The next morning, I caught the 6:30am bus for the 3-hour ride to the airport to head out to Italy! So we said goodbye the night before and went our separate ways. Love that girl so much.
Check out all my pictures from Crete here.