The Greek Isles!

We took Raegan out of school and snuck off to a pre-peak season trip to Crete, Greece the last week of May. It was just as fantastic as I had hoped it would be. I've wanted to go to the Greek Isles for as long as I can remember - how nice that is just a 3 1/2 hr direct flight away!

Crete is fairly large - at about 60 km wide and is full of large mountains and a mix rocky beaches and sandy ones. The water is beautiful - crystal clear. Too bad the water was a bit cold for me (and Ron)...the kids still enjoyed playing in it. I think we were just a bit early for warm water...but the upside to this was that the weather was just perfect for sitting outside on the beach - sunny, warm but not hot. Ahhh, it was so great to wear bathing suits and shorts and feel real warmth for the first time in months!!

We stayed in a very laid back (and clean and safe) old fishing village called Almyrida. We could walk 5 min from our apartment to the main strip with all the tavernas (restaurant/bars) which were all open air and on the beach. The beaches were right on the main strip as well. Here is a picture looking back on Almyrida

Our apartment worked out great - we rented directly from the owner. At first when we realized we didn't have a TV or WIFI we were a little nervous but actually being forced to disconnect from everything was definitely a good thing. We certainly didn't need TV and were just fine without the internet. Here are some pictures of the kids playing on the playground and pool right outside the apartment. (like Raegan's swimsuit? - Go USA!)

So Raegan is little miss outgoing. She made 3 friends. The amazing part about this was not that she made friends but none of them spoke English or even the same language (one Norweigan, one Russian, one Greek). I guess being in Denmark with all the Danish kids her age not speaking English has helped her deal with this and it doesn't seem to matter one bit. It was funny though, I heard her tell the kids she didn't speak Danish. :-)

Here she is with her new friends.

We loved the laid back vibe of the village. We didn't have any agenda on this week long trip so we were very slow to get moving in the mornings and then would let the kids play in the pool and head to the beach for a bit then to a taverna for lunch, then back to the apartment to let Wyatt nap and then more beach and pool and yet another taverna for dinner. Raegan did get to celebrate her actual 5th birthday there - lucky her!

Here are some photos of the beach area we went to daily in Almyrida.

 They loved making sandcastles with Dad. And even more,Wyatt loved to demolish any sandcastle that he found on the beach.

 I brought a kite with us that they kids enjoyed (for about a minute :-) )

 

 The big thing for all the kids were to have these fishing nets to play with. The kids enjoyed them, but it was definitely a gimmick since there were no fish or sea life to speak of, except the occasional minnow.

 They loved collecting shells as well. 

Thankfully Wyatt stopped eating sand after Day 1. He has resumed eating sand here again at home at the parks with sand.  ....why?????? I honestly thought I would let him eat sand a couple times and this would correct itself. Nope.

Here's Wyatt on a day he played too hard. Yes, he is watching TV (Dora to be exact) on the beach. Spoiled kids! 

 

We tried out pretty much all the tavernas in town. You can't beat sitting in an open air restaurant right on the beach.

 All the tavernas serve a little dessert for everyone and shots of this nasty clear alcohol for the adults at the end of the meal. Ron enjoyed watching me try it.

 

One of the tavernas had a room with a bunch of hats the kids could put on (hmmm, maybe this is why Raegan's school class had a recent break-out of lice...haha, so far we are clean!)

 

Here are some photos from morning jogs. Almyrida is situated at the base of mountains on the coast but if you run up the hill about a mile there is a very nice little mountain town called Plaka that overlooks the ocean from above. We went into the town for dinner one night with our new Norweigan friends.

 



We took 2 day trips - the first one was an excursion that took you on a large ferry boat on the other side of the island from us to Balos Lagoon. Unfortunately this was the one day with not the best weather - it was a wind storm - apparently until October all their storms are dry and they just produce ridiculous winds. It was really beautiful, but would have been more fun if the weather would have been better.

 

First the ferry boat stopped at an island with a 15th century castle perched on a cliff - only reachable by a 15 min walk straight up stairs without hand rails. Wyatt was in dire need of a nap and had just fallen asleep when we got there so I let him sleep while Raegan and Ron went up the trail. Wyatt could not have gone anyways once we saw the trail... Ron said he was quite stressed just making sure Raegan stayed safe.

 

Here is Raegan just off the boat

Climbing up 

 



 There's the boat we came on

They made it!!

By the time they got back down Wyatt and I were busy looking for seashells.

 

A quick boat ride takes to the final stop at Balos Lagoon - this is a giant warm lagoon you can walk all the way across- if only there wasn't a cold wind!! Our pictures do not do this place justice - it was really beautiful and very unique.

The boat ride back

The second day trip we rented a car for the day and drove through very steep, winding roads that at times really were not wide enough for 2 tiny European cars going opposite directions to pass each other. Ron enjoyed the challenge of driving a stick through the steep mountains. I tried to ignore the cliffs and just enjoy the views! Our destination was Elafonisi Island - an amazingly beautiful place with crystal clear turquoise water and white sand - at this location they are famous for pink sand which made Raegan very happy.

Views from the drive over to Elafonisi Island



 

We arrive and its amazing...

 Ron built them a ramp for the boat to go down into the ocean

 The water was so shallow you could walk over to the island, even Raegan walked by herself

 The pink sand...

 Raegan kept burying my feet and making pink "slippers" out of the sand

 I really loved Crete and would love to go back. If only it is a 3 1/2 hr flight from the US!!

 

Time to head back home and get ready for Raegan's school birthday party at our house a few days later...