Day 15: Chania, 23°,🌞

Elifanossi Beach!

Last evening we went out to a restaurant that made traditional Crete food. Crete is to Greece like Sicily is to Italy. Part of the same country, but very different from a people perspective, cuisine choices and their general connection with their respective country’s cultures. We’ve travelled on both Crete and Sicily, and they are very, very different from the mainland. And the people see themselves that way

The last gasp of a setting sun on the central church tower

At about 6:30, we went out to one of the restaurants that we had sourced earlier in the day. It turned out to be a very good choice!

***Oven baked lamb and real potatoes (not fries! Best meal so far.***

***A skewer of chicken and fried cheese with fries.***

Over dinner, we discussed what we should do today, and we came to a decision to travel to the far southeast corner of Crete to visit a beach that we had seen on YouTube. Good decision! 😊

We set off in good time and followed a very windy road. through the hills and down a very deep gorge.

***A single lane road passes through the tunnel on the left. It was pretty cool! ***

It was a fun drive through tiny villages, often with the road the width of a single car. I love those sorts of roads! Nothing sharpens your driving more than experiencing those sorts of roads.

It turned out to be a day full of goats, and we would meet them on the road again and again.

We arrived at the beach after almost two hours of driving. and found that there already quite a few people there, though not as many as would eventually arrive. We paid €20 to get two loungers under a nice umbrella with a good view of the Med. We decided to splurge today.

The beach area is actually quite incredible. It runs from the shore across to a couple of small islands with a small lagoon in behind that is also open to the sea. The water is crystal clear, with lovely little fish swimming around, nibbling at your ankles. I think people spend a fair bit of money for this procedure, right?

***There is a lot of pink in the sand, and it actually shows up***

***Yours truly***. ***Shirt on to protect from the intense sun.***

***Annemarie crossing to the next island.***

***The water was amazing! Warm enough for a Canadian and so very clear. As good as anything I’ve seen in Mexico or the Caribbean.***

This is why we plan the trip the way we did. Finishing on the southernmost island of Crete in the hope that the temperatures would still be warm and the water warm enough to swim in. so far so good.😊

***Bathers and sun seekers crossing between islands.***

***Definitely chilling much of the day. This wasn’t to last…***

Eventually, it was time to leave the beach. and head for home. We had driven down through the interior, but decided to drive back along the coast road. That in itself proved to be a bit of an adventure!

The coast road is for the most part paved, well sort of. In many areas, the road is pretty beat up. And because it passes through such rugged countryside, there are lots of good-size chunks of rock along the side of the road. A lot of this will fall regularly with the changing seasons, but with the serious rains and resulting flooding that was experienced on Crete just two weeks ago, there’s no doubt that some of it came down at that time. the roads are quite narrow, and in many spots, basically single lane. So you have to watch very closely because there’s some pretty big trucks using this road. But generally it was fun to drive!😎

***Note the heather on the hillsides. It added a nice coat of colour.***

***Lots of goats on this less travelled piece of road.***

After A couple of hours, we finished the challenging piece of road and merged in with the main highway along the north coast. We managed to arrive home no worse for wear.