Gremma's Travels: Relaxing in Crete

Good morning pool!

Chilling by the sea side

Loungers down on the ocean

Greg taking a dip in the sea

Captain Greg!

Ruins

My turn to drive

Picnic lunch on our boat

Our flight from Paris got in around 10pm, so we were really thankful to see our pre-booked driver and not have to line up with the hundreds of others for a rental car or public transport. The drive to our resort was crazy - he drove so fast. You'd think we'd be used to that from Germany, but the difference was the road is only one lane each way, with no divider, and for the most part they treated it like a four lane highway, with slower cars driving along the verge while others sped past down the middle towards the oncoming traffic.

We stayed at St Nicholas Bay Resort, and it was perfect! We had a private pool, and a gorgeous view out across the ocean. We were only there for 2 days, but made the most of it, spending lots of time just relaxing by our pool, or relaxing down by the ocean, and of course eating and drinking.

The first night we had a lovely boozy dinner over looking the resort and ocean, and I had the first experience of the Greek cats. There are loads of them, and they all actually seem pretty healthy. There was a very cute little kitten that kept coming to visit our table. Not as cute as our Duncy though!

The next day we hired a little self-drive boat, and set off to explore. We putt-putted our way up the coast, stopping to snorkel and swim a couple times, before getting to Eloundra, where we had to navigate through a tiny canal to get into the harbour. The rental guy had warned us the canal was narrow and he was so right! On our first go we ended up sideways across the canal, and only narrowly missed hitting the edges thanks to Gregs awesome reactions. There was a little taverna on the edge of the canal, and luckily there were only a few people watching us. We backed out a fair way, lined it up, went a little faster, and made it through prettily the second time. It was pretty nerve racking!

Up near the top of the harbour is an island with a lot of old ruins on it. There were loads of people there on tourist boats, and it was so nice to be on our own little boat cruising round. We then went out the top of the harbour (no canal this time - phew!) and into the open sea. We cruised past some nice looking beaches, but again they were filled with big tourist boats, so we continued into a little cove, had our picnic lunch, and did some more swimming and snorkling before heading back.

When I first got into our pool, I noticed straight away that not only was it salt water, but it was the saltiest I think I've ever been in, and it was so easy to float! The same went for the ocean. A couple times we tried to dive to the bottom, only to have the water pop us back up to the top.

The last night we headed into Agios Nikolaos, the nearby town. It was quite touristy, but really pretty. We walked over the hill, and found a local taverna on the water for dinner, where I had the best moussaka of the trip (we tried quite a few), and also the most amazing baklava.

We were up super early the last morning to catch the ferry to Santorini. When planning this trip we discovered that island hopping between the Greek Islands is not quite as simple as it sounds. Many of the islands are far apart, and for some you even have to fly or ferry back through Athens, or take a full day or overnight ferry. Part of the reason for choosing Crete and Santorini, was both are easy short flights to / from Europe, with only couple hours on the fast ferry in between the two. Perfect! Next time (cos you know there will be one!) we will go for longer and explore some of the smaller islands too.