At the beginning of July 2019, my girlfriend Emily and I were
fortunate enough to spend a week on the Greek island of Crete. The largest of
the Greek islands and the 5th biggest in the Mediterranean, Crete
was characterised by good food, friendly locals, and beautiful landscapes.
Although we were only there for a relatively short period of time, staying in
the popular tourist city of Chania, we visited some of the islands best assets
including the beautiful Elafonisi beach which is famous for its pink sands, and
the incredible Samaria Gorge. Although very touristy in parts, the island had a
certain charm and elegance without giving a “typical tourist destination” vibe.
The island is known for its mountainous landscape which made
for some incredible photos.Chania is the 2nd largest city on the
island, after the capital Heraklion, and is famous for its beautiful Venetian
harbour which gives a brilliant view of the sunset. We were able to explore
lots of the city which had cool backstreets and shops. A favourite of mine was
a shop which was appropriately titled “memorabilia” with the subtitle “things
to be remembered”. A very straight to the point titled shop which had lots of philosophy themed items including a “DJ
Socrates” t-shirt and some other interesting stock. Blunt titled shops seemed
to be a trend in Crete when we stumbled upon “pretty and cheap”. Apparently
pointing the shop out to Emily and telling her “haha just like you” was not as
hilarious as I had though in my head. Chania also had an amazing Ben and
Jerry’s ice cream outlet which we found ourselves going to every other day.
One thing that I could not fault about Crete was the food.
We tried to eat traditional Greek food
most nights and enjoyed souvlaki, moussaka, and gyros (although Emily
went for veggie options). My favourite was the souvlaki (Kebab meat) which I
had at two different restaurants. The moussaka (which for those who don’t know
is basically lasagne) was really good as well and the gyros (pictured below) made
for a nice, cheap meal. Most of the meals were accompanied by a complimentary
small desert and a sweet white wine/spirit. This was always a fun part of the
meal as you were never sure what desert you were going to get! On our last
night we tried some baklava, a tasty pastry which was covered in locally
produced honey from the mountains. Although the honey is a tad expensive to buy
in the local shops, it is worth it for the taste!
Elafonisi is one of the islands greatest assets. I had never
seen water with such a clear blue colour and the pink sands made for some
incredible sights. Although very busy, if you walked out further along the
beach it was much less crowded. With warm rock-pools and beautiful scenery,
Emily and I felt it was one of the highlights of our trip. We enjoyed swimming
in the warm waters and sitting under the sun.
Elafonisi was only beaten by Samaria Gorge which, for me, is
the best thing about the island. The largest gorge in Europe, and a national
park, the gorge stretches 16km (with the walk through it being approx. 13km
long). The hike starts at the Xyloskalo trailhead with an altitude of 1,250
metres. The route begins with a steep descent down some very rocky paths which offer
some incredible sights before walking through the valley floor. The fresh water
running through the gorge is one of the key water supplies for the island and
it was great to be able to dip your bottle into the river along the way. The
route included remnants of small villages and churches where communities had
lived. Once you reached the bottom of the gorge, you continued walking to the Libyan
Sea where we enjoyed some more swimming and a small nap. According to our tour
guide, the average time for someone to hike the gorge is between 5 – 7 hours
long, so Emily and I were very pleased with our time of 4 hours 30 mins which
included breaks to drink water and take some photos.
Overall, Crete is an amazing place to visit, filled with
amazing sights, bluntly named shops and tasty food – I would encourage anyone
to visit!
