And the journey continues... we met Patti and Doug in Athens and the next day we flew to Crete. Picked up a rental car, and spent 8 busy days seeing the island.
We started in Chania at a great apartment in the Old town with a wonderful view, for 3 nights. Chania is a coastal city in NW Crete with a beautiful old harbor. We spent one day driving to Elafonissi Beach in the South west corner of the island. It is a beach known for its beautiful crystal clear water and pink sand. The sand wasnt really pink, but the water was beautiful. The drive was narrow mountain roads, red and white oleander in bloom and beautiful vistas.
The next day we woke to some unexpected rain, so the boat trip idea was cancelled and we roamed the streets of the Old town - narrow pedestrian walk ways with lots of small shops and restaurants/tavernas. That night there was quite abit of activity in the plaza below our apt. We later were told, the Greek Prime Minister arrived for an opening of something...
to the mountain village of Archanes in central crete. We decided to meander the mountain roads, so the 2 hr drive took about 6 hours. At one point, we were the only ones driving on some freshly paved road, when we came across the construction crew. I wish i had a picture of their expressions, when they waved us down and we asked if we were on the correct road. He told us abit indiginantly to return the way we came, not that we could of, we had no idea where we were. But backtracking, we saw all the detour signs telling us road closed.... we did eventually end up in Archanes.
Stayed at a wonderful traditional stone home and met Athina and her son George. The next 2 days we toured the countryside including Knossos, the Minoan ruins from 7000 BC, a family run olive processing plant, and a wine tasting sampler with a delicious dinner at the local town square.
Then it was on to the beach/port of Agios Nikalaos, in the East corner of Crete, visiting a monastery, and more beaches. Then our last night was in Rethymno, another beautiful harbor
and old town with pedistrian streets and lots of shops and restaurants. And somehow in 8 days we drove 1100 kilometers on an island 166 miles long and 35 miles wide.
So, after wading thru all the covid regulations, we arrive at the Chania airport. All of us returning to Athens. We had purchased some wonderful olive oil from our visit in Archanes and boxed it up along with some souvenirs. As we check in and are asked what was in the box, we were told we could not check the olive oil. It had to be in a wooden box with sawdust.... No, no wooden box nor sawdust nearby... We had over 6 liters of olive oil and try we did, to think of some way to get it on the airplane. In the end, the gate agent agreed to let us each carry one liter of olive oil in each of our checked bags. Unfortunately, we had to toss the other 3 liters, which was very, very difficult for us to do!! Always an adventure!!!
