Indeed it is!
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| Chania Port Lighthouse |
Of course by now I've traveled to many countries that don't speak English, but they all have similar alphabet styles that allowed us to guess/figure out things. For example: Bus, that's a pretty universal word give or take an extra "s's" on the end of the word. But in Greece, we literally couldn't read (or guess) a word.
That said.
It was truly an amazing end to our trip! (not the end of my whole trip, but the end of Ali & my adventure). When we got into Greece it was gorgeous sunshine and blaring heat, just what we were looking for! We discovered that by luck we had chosen the worlds best hotel! I'm not even joking when I say that. It is a family run business that's hard to describe, George the main guy is extremely friendly and helpful. He gave us maps and introduced us to other girls to arrange stuff together, and generally had the best customer service ever. Then we met his brother who was trying to be a "baller" we think he learned English from watching the NBA. He was hilarious, asking when we were going to "bounce" and saying "aight". Then we met "Pappa eyebrows" our name for their dad. He's the handyman of the place and has, no joke, 3inch eyebrows off of his face. Priceless. On top of it all is their mom who is just confused and follows everyone around. They were all so funny and helpful!
Our first non-hotel experience with Greeks was on our way to the grocery store. We saw a field of goats and a woman started talking to us. She reminded me of a character on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and she told us the story about her goats. She said she got a goat for her wedding and then her children loved it but when she "go to cut it neck, my children.. they cry and cry and cry, so.... I no cut (with a shake of her head) and then.. she got preg!! and now.. now I have 3 goats" and on and on the story went. This apparently happened for 15 years until she had too many goats and started giving them away. This woman was hilarious and so nice! As soon as she heard it was just us two girls in Greece she was concerned and gave us a lecture on keeping our money close and being safe. Every Greek we met was beyond nice.
Our first evening we walked along the sandy beaches and enjoyed the sun. It was pretty great. We ended the day with delicious gyros and fries! (for really cheap too!). And because I brought my computer and we got connection to the world in our room, I spent the night catching up on life in the real world.
The next day we slept in (the first time in a week!) and then spent the day slowly walking through the tiny town of Chania (or Xania or Hania) and walking around the beach. It was so nice to have such a small area to explore after powering through 2 huge cities in a week. I did sadly get sunburned though, shocker! That night we were pretty crazy party animals, we curled up in my bed and watched, Water for Elephants, Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy & Mirror Mirror (the last was pretty terrible though FYI).
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| Elafonisi Beach |
For Monday morning we had arranged with our roommates in the hostel to rent a car, (luckily they're from Italy & Greece, since neither of us have an international license) and drive to Elafonisi beach, one of the most gorgeous beaches in Crete! Before we left a woman from Canada was checking in so we invited her to come along as well. It was a fun road trip. We went through an impressive gorge and saw hundreds of sheep and goats that free range. Sadly the day had off and on rain storms, so we weren't able to see everything. But nonetheless it was still stunning. I didn't realize Crete would have so many mountains and be so hilly. Aside from looking at the scenery we were amazed at how the "large" highway through the island would become a tiny little road that wound around neighborhoods. Also, there are some pretty crazy drivers on those little mountain roads. I'm just glad I wasn't the one driving. We stopped along the way at a tiny Greek Monastery. It was cool to see, but frankly I've seen enough churches for awhile! Afterwards we went to lunch at a tiny legit Greek restaurant. We joked that as soon as we ordered is when they started cooking, but that may have been true. The food was delicious! We got a true taste of Greek hospitality when we got after lunch shots (homemade) and biscuits and some sort of candied fruit w/ yogurt for desert! These after lunch treats are free because it's just traditional to give these things to guests! A few more minutes down the road and was the beach. It is amazing! supposedly you can walk all the way across to an island. But since the day was cold and off and on rain we didn't attempt that, and were satisfied with just walking along the sand and picking pretty shells. The sand here was a bright pink which with the deep blue water was breathtaking! By time we got back to Chania we were all pretty tired. So that night Ali and I watched Clash of the Titans while finishing up the food we couldn't bring back. Needless to say, we are insane party animals who should probably bring it down a few notches...
I truly loved Greece! The people are so wonderful and helpful and it was great to spend a few days resting our exhausted feet! We were also surprised at the number of cats and dogs around (countless). We constantly got little friends that followed us! It was pretty fun to see animals! Because it was so early in the year I never got the guts to go more ankle deep in the water, so I sadly didn't get to swim in the Mediterranean Sea, but that's just another reason so I can go back some day! Even though Crete is a short plane ride from Rome (2 hrs) and is also considered Southern Europe, the culture and people here were vastly different and it was incredible to see and experience.
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