Crete, Greece

The Greek island of Crete is beautiful!!! I am staying with my friend Bekah and her family. Bekah has 8 brothers and sisters, so there is never a dull moment around her house. :-) The first day I got here I put on shorts for the first time since France I think and went to the beach with Bekah's dad and brothers. It was so nice out and the ocean is beautiful. They have an ocean view from their house and the beach is like a 2 minute drive down the hill. Amazing! It was like 80 degrees every day that I was there. It was absolutely wonderful.

Bekah and I did a lot of shopping and we even went to Starbucks. I spent way too much money in Greece on souvenirs for people and myself. But how often do I get to Greece, right? And they had amazing olive oil and soaps and many beautiful things. And the food is delicious in Greece. I don't know why I haven't been making more Greek salads. They are yummy.



Bekah and I went on a little road trip one day and stopped at a bunch of cool places. We went to an old war cemetary, which is on of the only places on the island that actually has grass. It was so green and beautiful. Then we went to a museum that is in an old Greek house that shows what a typical Greek house used to look like. There was even a spot for stomping on grapes to make wine. It was really neat to see some of the old Greek traditional materials, dress, etc. After the museum we went down into a cute little town with a really pretty beach and the most beautiful blue water. There were lots of rocks to climb on, which I always enjoy, and a lot of beautiful scenery. And it was so nice out I definitely could have laid on the beach had I brought my swimsuit. After the beach we headed to an old fortress that stood up on a hill. It was really interesting to walk around inside it and see where people used to live up there. It also gave an amazing view of the city below. After the fortress came my favorite part of the day: shopping! I spent way too much money and had a great time with Bekah.



Halloween on Crete was uneventful because they don't celebrate it there. I kept forgetting it even was Halloween. I only remembered because it was the sixth anniversary of my lovely cousin Stephanie's 29th birthday. Happy Birthday Cousin Fannie!



Even though I didn't celebrate Halloween at all, I still had a fabulous day on the 31st. I got up really early and went to the bus stop to take the bus into Hania. I was sitting there for about five minutes when I saw the bus coming, so I gathered all my things and stood up in anticipation...and the bus drove right past me. There was only one bus stop. But apparently you have to stand on the other side of the road to catch the bus into town, which I didn't know. I thought surely this couldn't have been the right bus since it showed no signs at all of stopping, so I sat there for another 30 minutes or so. Defeated, I walked back to Bekah's house and asked if she could drop me at the bus station on the way to work. So I was a couple hours behind schedule, but I made it eventually, and took the bus to Heraklion, about 2.5 hrs away from Hania. When I got there, I tried to find the archeological museum. I asked for directions about 8 times and ended up walking all around the city. Which was fine because I got a nice little tour. Finally, I found the museum and they were doing some major reconstruction, so I couldn't for the life of me find the temporary entrance. I was about to throw in the towel when I happened upon the entrance. They were only showing a few things in a temporary building, but I think I saw the important things. I'm not exactly sure. It's all Greek to me! (okay, sorry, I just had to use it once.) After the museum I took the bus up to Knossos to see the 4000 year old Minoan Palace. It was soooooooo cool! They had huge jars that they used to use to store honey and other food items, we saw the old throne (which didn't look very comfortable), and the royal staircase. Also saw the Queen's quarters which apparently house the world's oldest flushing toilet. Their water system was amazing! They made pipes out of clay and had running water and everything! They were probably the world's first engineers. Pretty amazing. I took a ton of pictures of the palace and found it extremely interesting. The guide even told us that they found silver tweezers, ivory combs, and materials used for makeup. Also, I noticed in the museum that some of the jewelry that is 4000 years old looks just like jewelry you see people wearing today! I guess we haven't changed so much over the centuries. The Queen's quarters even had wallpaper with dolphins on it and there was evidence of other wall paper underneath it with a different design. So one Queen died and another moved in and redecorated. :-) There are too many interesting things to write about from my tour of Knossos. But it was definitely a worthwhile experience.

On the English tour, I met a super cute couple from Portugal who were on their honeymoon! Their names were Ana and Felipe and they were extremely nice. After the tour, they asked if I needed a ride. When I told them I was taking the bus back to Hania they said, "We'll just drive you." And they didn't even know where it was! They were going to a city that is on the way to Hania, so I said I'd just ride with them until there and then I'd hop on a bus to Hania from that city so I would be a little closer. We had the best time chatting in the car. I told them it was Halloween and Ana said she could make me feel right at home by celebrating if I wanted. I was thinking I could knock on their hotel room door and they could open it and give me some candy or something. But then Ana said, "We could take you some place really dark and scary and chop you up into little pieces." :-) I'm not sure that's exactly what I would associate with Halloween but I guess if you are into scary movies it's about right. And then I remembered that I did get into a car with two complete strangers...

Obviously, I made it home safely with two new friends and an invitation to visit Portugal! I think I feel another world trip coming on! :-)

That night Bekah and I had falafel and ice cream and watched a movie. It was so fun to have some girl time. The next day Bekah took me on a tour of the military base where both she and her dad work. It was pretty cool. It's so neat that they live on Crete! I had an absolutely wonderful time on the island with Bekah and her family. Thank you Alex family!