Greece, Pt. 2

   Hey everyone, I’m back again. Once again it’s a post about my trip to Greece, which I will finish up with one more post coming soon. I hope you like the blog!

   So, after our lazy Tuesday on the beach we made plans to go to Matala, a small town on the other side of Crete, famous for its caves. These caves have been inhabited from the Neolithic age, and most recently by groups of hippies in the 1960s, most famously Jim Morrison and Joni Mitchell. Even today you can see the small rooms carved into the cliff face, with stone beds and tiny living chambers. So Wednesday morning we headed across the island to Matala, driving through the mountainous region of the island, passing by an enormous herd of sheep on the way. On the other side we found ourselves in Matala, with a beautiful beach and the cliff towering above it.

     We sat down by the beach for a bit, while the adults enjoyed a coffee, and then we headed to the caves. Almost all of them were open to the public, and you could crawl around in the tiny chambers and see what living there must have been like. It was amazing to see every chamber and how different they were from another, and all the little details carved into the rock.

              

   After our trip to Matala, we headed back to Rethymno, and our hotel. Our next trip, on Thursday, was back into the mountains. This time we stopped in the mountains at a small restaurant, to try a Cretan specialty. It was a sort of flatbread, filled with feta cheese, and topped with honey. Very Greek, and very tasty.

   Our destination was actually right next to the restaurant, the entrance to the valley. It was an 8 kilometer long hiking trail, through a valley, that ends at the south coast. So my host mom, my two host sisters, and I headed off on the trail. My host mom’s friend and her daughter were meeting us at the coast, so they back in the car and drove off to the meeting point. The trail was really nice, carving through the mountains at some points and winding through the serpentine canyons at others. It was fantastic to see the Cretan landscape, with all the beautiful views of the mountains above us.

       

   We took our time going through, and arrived at the coast after a couple of hours. Then we spent some time at the coast, with views of the beautiful blue water below. After spending a bit of time there, we headed back to Rethymno once more. This was our last night in Rethymno, so we went out to dinner and spent the whole evening playing cards and having a good time.

     Although it was our last day on Crete, Friday wasn’t going to be an off day. We ate breakfast at the hotel and packed our things, and were off towards Elafonissi. Unfortunately (and luckily, I guess), it turned out upon review of our tickets that we were leaving from a completely different port than we had though, and we couldn’t make it to Elafonissi with time enough. Instead we decided to visit Chania, a port town famous for its leather goods, which wasn’t too far away luckily. When we arrived we set off into the city, to see its leather markets and port. The markets were really amazing, due to sheer size. It seemed like they streached the whole city, as if they would never end. After walking though the leather maze, we found a really neat little restaurant outside the touristy area. We got many of the same things we had gotten Tuesday night, but it seemed like they were much better here. The food was really good, and even came with a little dessert.

       

   After the break, it was back into the city, towards the old port. It was a really nice little place, with the now-typical crystal clear water, bustling portside restaurants, and a nearby modernized port with enormous yachts. I really liked this port, with the pastel-colored buildings and its lively nature. We stayed at the port for a while, before moving back into the market-filled streets.

   Everything was really full today, because it was the beginning of Easter weekend. Every few years the Catholic and Greek Orthodox Easters line up, and luckily enough this was one of those years. I was really happy about it because it meant we would get to see some of the traditions and celebrations that they have. I already knew Easter was going to be interesting, because it was only Friday and there were already some celebrations going on throughout the city.

    Eventually we left the Chania, and were off to Heraklion. We had quite a bit of time before we had to be there, so we stopped by a beach on our way there and stayed a few hours. We all enjoyed the Cretan beaches one last time, before we left. I was going to miss the nice beaches and the pristine water, but our trip wasn’t over by any means.

          

   Eventually we were on the road again, and arrived in Heraklion. We had a quick dinner, and got to our ferry. Now when I pictured ferry, I thought it would be something a bit smaller, but this ferry was the size of a small cruise ship. It even had a club, a pool, a few restaurants, a small shopping mall, and multiple floors just like it’s larger relatives. And because we were getting on so late, we even had a cabin to spend the night.

   Before getting on the ship we said goodbye to my host mom’s friend and her daughter, and once we had boarded we went around to do a bit of exploring. When the ship began to leave, my host mom, my host sisters, and I went outside to watch as we sailed away from Crete, on out way to Athens. Then we headed to our cabin and hit the sack, to wake up in Athens the next morning.

   And that’s it for this post, I hope you liked it (even though it was a bit lengthy), and I’ll be back with a post over Athens soon.

  Bis Gleich!