Elofonisi

Elofonisi is an amazing beach also on the south side of Crete.

It is one of the few sand (not rock) beaches in Crete. Again, this was after a harrowing two hour drive through winding mountain passes. We arrived at a dirt parking lot and one tavern where we had lunch.


After you walk down to the beach, there is a lagoon that is a few hundred feet wide. The water never goes deeper than about three feet and is as warm as bath water. After that, there is more land and then the sea. The water is perfectly clear.

Immediately upon arrival, I found someone's car keys in the lagoon. We later saw a family frantically looking for something and were able to guess they were after the keys. Crisis averted. I'm not sure what would have happened to them otherwise. Probably eaten by wolves.








We stopped in a particularly scenic spot on the way home.

Agia Sofia en route to Elofonisi

We kept the car a second day and drove through the mountains again to a beach called Elofonisi.

Above is a picture of the streets of Chania.

Along the way, we saw signs that said something about a religious cave with free entrance. I'm not sure exactly of the history of Agia Sofia, but they had found evidence that people had been using the cave for several thousand years.






We parked at the cave and walked up some stairs to the entrance. There were two men about halfway up repairing a shelter but other than that, no one was around.




The inside of the cave was pretty creepy, lots of hidden crevices, the only light came from the sun shining through the entrance. Bats and birds kept swooping over head.





There were various religious altars and pieces in the cave.



This was maybe the creepiest part, tucked in to a little nook was this shack. This is the only picture I took of it. I kept expecting some Nosferatu type creature to bust out of it and eat me alive. I think that's why I didn't stick around for a second photo...

Sougia

We rented a car and drove from the North coast of Crete to the South coast, a beach called Sougia.

The road was narrow and zig-zagged up massive mountains. At the peak we were next to gigantic windmills and could see the water on both the north and south sides of the island. A few times our path was blocked by hundreds of goats taking over the road.

After descending we were greeted by a nearly deserted rock beach.

Looking left on the beach.

Looking right.

If you keep going straight from here, the first country you hit is Libya.









"Don't look now, but I think that guy with the camera is looking at us..."


Back in Chania, the Venetian harbor at night.

Paradise Found

Trying to shake the sensation of being on a boat for the last ten hours, we wandered through cobble stone streets at sunrise to find our hotel.

An old woman carrying an armful of Cala Lilies pointed us in the direction of Hotel Theresa. Out front was the woman I had spoken to on the phone who said she wasn't "sure if they had a room." Maria normally arrived at work at 9, but could tell I was nervous about the situation so she showed up at 7 AM to meet us. Our room wasn't ready so she bought us coffee at the cafe next door.

So began our short stay in paradise.


If you find yourself in Crete, I would recommend staying at Hotel Thereza.


This is the view from directly outside of our room.






The old Venetian harbor was steps from our hotel door.




Ruled by Christians and Muslims alike, Crete is full of oddities like minarets stuck onto old churches. What used to be a church instantly becomes a mosque!

These things were all over the place, essentially a tribute to someone who died at that spot. Supposedly vendettas and car crashes were major sources of mortality on Crete.



The Turkish baths are all over the city of Chania. Some have been converted to restaurants.








A place where the water is a clear turquoise color and warm enough to swim in, yet there are snow covered mountains in the distance.