Last Few Days of our Crete Vacation

The next morning we woke up and went for breakfast down the street, came back to our house and just hung out out the balcony admiring the view. We had until the afternoon before the taxi van came to pick us up to take us to the ferry. The ferry arrived on schedule and then once we reached Heraklion we had a two hour drive back to Chania for the night. It was late when we reached our inn. We stayed at the same place we stayed at the first night and like then, they just left our room key at the front desk. It was like we were coming back "home" as they gave us the exact same room.

The next morning was sad as we knew it would be our last before our flight later that day. We ate breakfast on the harbor and did some last minute shopping. Then we headed over to the base where we were going to get checked in for our flight back to Bahrain, only we found our our flight was delayed and we had until the next morning to leave. YAY!!!! Another day in beautiful Crete!!! We had lunch on the base and then immediately went online to book our room for the night. Then we went to the airport to go and see if we could extend our rental car. They couldn't extend us for the same car, however they ended up giving us a SUV in exchange for the same price. The look on Tyler's face was priceless. He was so excited to drive in it. So we went then we went and drove by Steve's old villa he used to live in before going to check into our place for the night. The place Steve booked for our last night was really nice. It was like staying in our own little villa. Then we went to the pool where Steve and Tyler went for a dip.
We then went in search of food and found a Mama's Place, a beach restaurant. The beach where Zorba the Greek was filmed. Before this though, we went for a little hike and found our second cache.
Dinner overlooking the beach and mountain was the perfect way to end our Cretan vacation. We had a sample plate of traditional Cretan foods as well. Then we headed back home where we packed up our things for the final time. We had to get up at 3am to return our rental and then go check in at the terminal on base. We so did not want to leave the island. What an amazing and relaxing vacation we had! It was absolutely perfection!

Day 11 Crete Vacation Santorini-Day 2

We made plans to meet with our friends the next morning to go check out the next town. Prior to meeting them, we went and grabbed some pastries at a local convenience store and took them to a nearby playground to eat. Tyler ate his while enjoy a little swing and then climbed a tree afterwards. LOL We went back to our little house and met up with our friends to go on our next adventure. We walked to the bus stop and hopped on the local bus to go to the town of Fia.










Once we reached the town, we basically just walked around and browsed the shops while checking out some of the local sites. There really wasn't much to see and do there, so we got back on the bus after a couple of hours.

When we were back in Oia, we said goodbye to our friends as they went to have lunch. Steve and I wanted to explore a little more around the streets that we haven't been down yet and found some cool things to take photos of.

Then we decided to go have lunch down at the restaurant that the guide book recommended to go during sunset. We figured it was probably packed during that time, so lunch would be a better time to try it out. We walked down the stairs leading down the mountain. The same stairs that the famous donkeys carry people up on. Finally, I get to see the donkeys!! :) LOL If I wasn't wearing a dress, we probably would have taken a ride back up on them.

Anyway, the view was magnificent from our table at the restaurant. It was so nice and quiet down there. Later we found out that Oprah even ate there. LOL

After lunch, we went and checked out a trail that we thought lead to a beach. The trail was much longer than we thought and we ended up turning back around. Instead we took a different way back up the hill, the more local route used by cars. It was quite the walk, but we enjoyed the view and later Dad treated us to some ice cream. Yay!!

We were tired when we reached our little house and so we decided a nap would be good. We went for dinner later on at a rooftop restaurant to enjoy our last Santorini sunset. We ate just in time to go down and take some more photos. We then returned "home" where Steve and I enjoyed our Chania wine before calling it a night.

Day 10 Crete Vacation, Santorini

So, the next morning we walked down to the pier and after some time we managed to find the right ferry to take us to Santorini. We boarded and the first thing I noticed is that we couldn't go outside like we could for the other ferries. The ferry was high speed and it took about 2 hours to reach Santorini. I was initially disappointed when we reached shore. I envisioned the white and blue buildings on the shore just like the photos, however instead we were greeted with a line of touristy restaurants and shops with about 20 tour buses. We had to find our way through the crowd to locate the right bus to our town, Oia. Once on the bus, it was a scary ride up to the top of the mountain, the road was one lane, however it was being shared with other motorists traveling up and winding hill.
Then we had to switch buses to another bus once we reached the middle town on the island. From there, it was only about a 20 minute ride. We got off the bus and then we were on the search for the place we booked. We had our luggage and walked around, but couldn't find it. We had to get a local to call the place to get directions. Once there, we were greeted with a lovely lady who made us feel right at home. The little house we were staying in was similar to staying in a cave and it had the most amazing view overlooking the water and mountains. It was paradise. Tyler found a cat family living nearby, a mommy and two kittens that soon became friends with him. We got our luggage settled away and then we hit the street for photos and food. The remainder of the day was much the same, with it ending by witnessing a beautiful sunset. However, to get to the area to take photos, we had to fight our way through the crowd. One thing is for sure, Santorini is beautiful, however very touristy, overpriced, and it had too many people.

Day 9 Chania Winery & Heraklion

Another early morning rise for us, we had breakfast with our friends and then we all hit the road again. This time our destination was Heraklion. It was another two hour drive in the car and to help break up the time, we decided to stop and check out the winery in Chania. The lady there took us on a little tour throughout the cellar, told us about the history and even gave us a little sample of the wine. We ended up buying a bottle to have while in Santorini.
As soon as we got to Heraklion, we found a parking garage to keep our cars safe in for the next few days. We then checked into our hotel and then went to check out the ferry tickets to Santorini. It was a little more pricey than we thought and they only had a few tickets left. We actually had to buy from two separate travel agents because they were so booked up. We then had lunch downtown. After lunch, we walked around some more and had some ice cream for dessert. We thought it would be neat for Tyler to visit the museum. He enjoyed seeing all the artifacts and learning about Greek history. We finished off our day with a late dinner downtown.

Day 8 Sfakia

Sadly, we had to leave the lovely island of Loutro. We had breakfast down at the cafe owned by the same lady who owns our hotel. We enjoyed a nice serene meal overlooking the crystal clear waters with the sun glistening everywhere. Our ferry wasn't due to arrive for another couple of hours, so we decided to take a little hike up the mountain to see the church and some ancient ruins of a village that used to be. It was a great way to end our visit to Loutro. Then we met up with our friends and got on the ferry to Sfakia where we parked our car.  We went immediately to our cars and hopped in for our next adventure. A drive across an old temporary wooden bridge that Steve initially thought many years ago to be a pedestrian bridge. The bridge went across a gorge to an ancient village. We got out and took some photos. I could have spent all day exploring the buildings. On the way there, we passed by a local restaurant that we thought would be good to eat at, so we stopped there on the way back. There was a little language barrier while there and it took forever to get our food, but the wait was definitely worth it. The man and his wife were so friendly and hospitable. We booked a room for the night in Sfakia, so back we went. After checking in, we went down to the beach where Tyler collected some beach glass for Nanny's collection. He also had fun swimming with our friends. Later on, we went back to the hotel where we got cleaned up and then decided to go exploring for a bit. We took some photos of the area and grabbed a light dinner. Then we headed back to the hotel where we watched the stars from our balcony before going to bed.

Day 7 Ferry to Loutro

We woke up early the next day and checked out of our hotel in Paleochora. Then we got in the car and drove to get the ferry to Loutro. Before getting on the ferry, we left the car for overnight parking and had a quick lunch right on the shore at a restaurant with our friends. Then we went for a nice little ferry ride to Loutro. Loutro was much cuter than we expected it to be. We immediately checked into our hotel. It had an amazing view overlooking the crystal clear water. Then we got our swim wear on and grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed down to the beach where we rented a few umbrellas, sipped on some frappes and went snorkeling. We saw a few different species of fish, one was quite colorful. The water was a little chilly at first, but we eventually got used to the temperature. After awhile, we went back and got showered and dressed for dinner overlooking the water and mountains. The view didn't even seem real. Steve and I ordered some fish and wine, Tyler got his usual Greek salad. Then we went for a walk along the shoreline, did some shopping before calling it a night in beautiful Loutro.

Day 6 Oldest Olive Tree on the Island and Azogires

Day 6 on the beautiful island of Crete started off with breakfast on the street of Paleochora and then getting in the car for another fun little adventure. Before our adventure kicked off, we made a couple stops along the way, first was at a cute old church and then we visited the oldest living olive tree on the island. Olive trees  cover a quarter of the land mass of the island. We were amazed to find out they still produce olive oil from this tree.

Then we were off to Azogires, a surprisingly quaint but jammed packed village full of sights to see and explore. However, before our adventure started, we decided to grab lunch at the local restaurant where Steve and I had Sofia's Famous Omelets. So delicious!! While we were eating, we were entertained by a little humor of one of its' locals who attempted to "rob" the Snickers Ice Cream truck. LOL It startled us at first because we didn't know what was going on and then we had a good laugh. Turns out, the "robber", is featured in a couple of children's books written about his adventures. We didn't realize this until Steve went to go pay the bill and heard the lady call "robber" by his name, "Lucky", and connected the name to the books. He confirmed this and signed the books we purchased for Tyler.
Then we were off to see the village sights, "The Cave of the 99 Holy Fathers" and the museum of the village including the old olive oil factory, school and monastery. We ended our day by going to another beach and Steve and Tyler skipped rocks into the water before we met our friends for dinner.

Day 5 Ferry to Agia Roumeli and hike to Agios Pavlos Church

Day 5 was a big day for us. We bought some items for breakfast the day before to have before we caught the ferry to the island of Agia Roumeli. The ferry was a beautiful two hour ride. Once we arrived at our destination, we made our way to the Agios Pavlos Church. It was an outstanding two hour hike along the incredible shoreline. Once we arrived to the site of the church, we could not believe there was a restaurant on the beach. We thought it had to be a mirage! It was an easy decision that we were all going to sit and have lunch there. The food was amazing! After lunch, we walked over to the church. It was built in the 10th century and in remembrance of Saint Paul who reportedly stopped on his way to Rome and baptized some people at the site of the church. It was a fascinating experience to be there and we've always wanted to see the church. Steve and I have seen so many postcards with the church but we never had time to go do the ferry ride and hike. So we are glad to finally check that off our things to do list. Once we made the hike back, we were totally exhausted. We treated ourselves to some ice cream. We were planing on catching the next ferry back but the ferry got delayed because of rough seas. Once the wind settled down a bit, we were able to board and set sail back to Paleochora for the night.