Greece: Part Four

You still with me? It's actually Day 8 of our trip but I have been writing all of these posts right after they happened so I would not forget any of the details. I have a terrible memory in real life and wanted to make sure I got all the events down- even the minor ones! With the internet being finicky and with so much to do, I just post them when I can! Meanwhile...we left off on the last post right before going to bed on Saturday night in Crete...

There is no denying the historical significance of the palaces we visited in Crete but my absolute favorite sights to visit were the fortresses! One such fortress stands on the island of Spinalonga just north of Elounda Bay. The fortress was built in 1579 to protect the Venetians and it lasted until 1715 when the Turks took over and used the island as a center for smuggling. When Crete reunited with Greece the island became a leper colony and stayed that way until 1953. It has been uninhabited ever since and has earned the nickname "the island of the living dead."

Spinalonga was the place I most looked forward to visiting and on Sunday, despite another late start, we drove over to the neighboring town of Plaka for lunch and to grab a ferry over to the island. There were boats leaving every thirty minutes and when we realized the next one took off in ten we decided to grab a quick snack instead of lunch and climbed aboard. After motoring over to the island we handed over our tickets and began to explore. We climbed all the way to the top of the fortress and had the most amazing views of Elounda Bay. It was very windy and a little rocky but we made our own path all around the island and really enjoyed our self guided adventure tour!

When we made it all around the fortress and up and down every path we headed back to the boat launch for drinks. We didn't have to wait long before our boat arrived and we headed pack to Elounda. On our way back to the hotel we remembered to stop for lunch and Linc finally got the Gyro (pronounced by locals Gear-o) that he had been craving. They did not disappoint and we went back to our room nice and full. We changed into bathing suits, made our way down to the beach for the afternoon, and managed to snag chairs right in front of the sea. After relaxing, reading, swimming, and hanging out we went back to our room to get ready for dinner.

We had a lovely evening at the Ferryman (with fewer cats on a Sunday) and really enjoyed our fresh strawberries with ice cream for dessert. We stopped at the little market on the way home from dinner and got a few things to eat for breakfast- including some fresh pineapple juice. After packing our suitcases and making sure everything was in order we relaxed in our room to prepare for our early start the next day-- check out at 7:30 am! We are headed to Santorini via ferry and have a long drive ahead to get to port on time. The five days we spent in Crete seemed to have flown by, but they have been so much fun. I will always treasure this time I got to spend with Linc and all the adventures we got to experience. Can't wait to see what kind of fun things will happen on the next island!