I mean, how can I become producer for the bachelorette, like the one who does all the travel planning? I would totally kill it. They could've explored the island a little bit more than just that teeny-tiny corner.
However, the finale episode, where the Final Two meet her family, appears to be in Crete also. Not sure. So maybe there will be some more exploration in two weeks. After the Men Tell All. (#omglukedrama)
So anyways. TODAY, is a big blog post. THIS was one of MY VERY FAVORITE DAYS on the trip.
I got a hella good night's sleep. Look at that 1h 28m of Deep SLEEP. YAS! I needed it after the day I'm about to have....
Morning tea on hotel balcony in Chania.
So we got into the car and headed to Balos, just a little bit aways from Chania, which we were staying at for a 2nd night in our awesome blossom hotel. Definitely strapped on my seabands and took my Rx dramamine. Brent already prepped me for the ridiculous road we were going to take to get to the overlook over Balos beach. Like, it was a gravel road on a mountain that only accommodated one way traffic. So, what did you do when there was car coming from the other direction, you ask? That's a good question.
I don't know.
I had my eyes shut the ENTIRE TIME.
We did stop a couple times to take pictures of GOATS! They were EVERYWHERE.
So Balos is reportedly one of the most photographed beaches on Crete. (Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited Balos on their private yacht!) People most often get there by ferry. Or you can do what we did and drive up the long scary road (we saw some weirdos mountain biking up the road. I need a nap just thinking about that....). You park in a parking lot full of friendly goats and then you hike to the overlook. And then, if you want to lay on the beach, you hike down the mountain and lay on the beach. Lots of people were there for that. We just wanted to look, for we didn't have time in our schedule for the hike or sunbathing.
On this day, I was not aware of the amount of hiking we were going to be doing. I was wearing my Sanuk sandals, and boy were they awesome!! They don't look like much in the way of rough terrain, but they are amazing and a worthy purchase.
My favorite thing about this adventure was the goats (obvi). And they had bells that went twinkle-twinkle echoing through the mountains and it was the coolest thing.
Photo credit: Brent
After cuddling with the goats (kidding!), we hopped back in the car and went back to Chania for lunch. Kouzina EPE:
This cheery lunch spot gets contemporary designer flair from the cement floor and hip lighting. It hands down wins the area's 'local favourite' by serving a mix of modern à la carte options and great-value, delicious blackboard-listed mayirefta (ready-cooked meals); you can inspect what you're about to eat in the open kitchen. Good veg options, too.
Lunch in Chania. Vegetable lasagna.
Little fishes.
Photo credit: Chris
Photo credit: Chris
Then we headed to the Suda Bay War Cemetery. I realized at this point that Memorial Day was two days ago, and I was glad to be doing something observing the holiday.
History Information
In May 1941, the Commonwealth force in Crete was organised in five widely separated defence areas along the north coast - around the three airfields at Iraklion, Rethymnon and Maleme, and at Suda Bay and the port of Chania. The Germans launched their attack on 20 May with airborne troops. The airfield at Maleme was quickly captured and used for landing German reinforcements. On 23 May, the remainder of the Maleme position had to be given up and its defenders fell back to Chania. On 26 May, the Allied line west of Chania was broken. Suda Bay became indefensible and the troops from these two positions, with the remainder of the Maleme garrison, withdrew across the island to Sfakion, where many of them were evacuated by sea on the nights of the 28 - 31 May. The airborne attacks on the Iraklion and Rethymnon positions on 20 May were repulsed. Iraklion was successfully defended until the night of 29/29 May when the garrison was evacuated by sea. Orders for the Rethymnon garrison to fight its way southward for evacuation did not arrive, and it was overwhelmed on 31 May. Of the total Commonwealth land force of 32,000 men, 18,000 were evacuated, 12,000 were taken prisoner and 2,000 were killed. The site of Suda Bay War Cemetery was chosen after the war and graves were moved there by 21st and 22nd Australian War Graves Units from the four burial grounds that had been established by the German occupying forces at Chania, Iraklion, Rethymnon and Galata, and from isolated sites and civilian cemeteries. There are now 1,500 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 776 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate a number of casualties believed to be buried among them. The cemetery also contains 19 First World War burials brought in from Suda Bay Consular Cemetery, 1 being unidentified. There are also 7 burials of other nationalities and 37 non-war burials.
from:
The two things that impacted me at this cemetery:
1. Lots of Australian and New Zealanders buried here. (Lots of Brits too, but that didn't surprise me as much...)
2. The landscaping was amazing.
Another interesting article:
After the peaceful and awestruck contemplation of all these foreign soldiers that gave up their lives defending Crete, we headed on to our next stop, a couple monasteries. I knew just a little bit about these places, but I had no idea how cool it was going to be. Like, we left the cemetery, which in itself was amazing, and there was just this lifey-calmness that happens before you have such an impactful rest of your day.
So, here's what I knew going in (taken directly from my research notes):
Katholikou Monastery is on the Akrotiri peninsula near Chania. Considered the oldest monastery in Crete, founded in mid-11thcentury. The founder was St. John the Stranger or Hermit, who lived in the cave. Surrounding caves housed many hermits and monks lived in the cells of the monastery. When the coasts of Crete were targeted by the pirates, the monks were forced to move to a more remote place, so they abandoned Katholiko. Keep walking for 10 minutes to the sea, you will find a small fjord of turquoise waters. Nearby is a large rock that is ship-shaped. According to legend, the rock is a pirate ship, which was petrified after the curses of the abbot of Katholiko.
(nearby is the Holy Trinity Monastery – best gilded interiors on the island. If you love cats, you’ll love this place.)
The Monasteries Adventures happened in 3 parts.
Monastery Adventure #1: We first visited Gouverneto Monastery, but it was closed that day, so we didn't actually go in. Also, by the way, photographs were prohibited in the monasteries, so I took very little pictures. But I did sneak pictures of a few things, mostly flowers. It was just too cool. I tried to stay away from religious relics, out of respect for the rules.
Wikipedia picture
Wikipedia:
Gouverneto Monastery or Our Lady of the Angels is a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Akrotiri peninsula of the Chania regional unit of Crete, Greece, located about 5 kilometres north of the Agia Triada Monastery.
Dated to 1537[1] (although other sources say 1548),[2] the monastery is a Venetian style fortress with towers at each end with some Baroque influences added later. It measures roughly 40 metres by 50 metres and contains some 50 monks’ cells on two floors.[1] It is reputed to be one of the oldest monasteries in Crete, and a 1637 census, recorded shortly before the Turkish invasion, revealed that at the time there were 60 monks living in Gouverneto Monastery, also making it one of the largest in Crete at the time.[1] The courtyard is rectangular shaped and is dominated by a dome church dedicated to the virgin and has an ornate Venetian facade. The chapel in the courtyard is reported to have some of the oldest frescoes in Crete.
To the west side of the monastery is the narthex, and contains chapels dedicated to St John the Hermit and the Ten Holy Martyrs. There are some notable monsters carved in relief on the front of the church.[1] A cave called Arkouditissa or Arkoudia, is also located in the vicinity where the goddess Artemis was once worshiped.[2]
During World War II, the Germans established a guardhouse in the monastery to regulate the area and since 2005 it has undergone restoration work by the monks.[1] The monastery has strict rules, and forbids smoking and photography inside the monastery and is officially closed on Wednesdays and Fridays.[1]
(It was Wednesday...)
Monastery Adventure #2: We took the path leading away from Gouverneto Monastery with our goal being to visit The Bear Cave in the Avlaki gorge. After a 20 minute hike, we reached the cave.
The discoveries in the cave revealed that since ancient times it was used as a sanctuary of Artemis. You can see the namesake of the cave at a first glance … in the middle of the room you find almost white stalagmite curved in the shape of bears.
SO COOL.
These steps were cool and interesting, and the pattern would change every 10 yards or so. We joked along the way that this must've been the mentally-challenged monk because the rocks were so wonky, and then it would change and be the OCD monk with perfectly laid steps....haha.
The smell was amazing. The sun and breeze were perfect. The twinkle-twinkle of goat bells echoed through the gorge. This. Was. My. Happy. Place.
There were little brown things on the ground along the path, which at first I thought was goat poop or something. But they were olives. HA! Wild olive trees everywhere.
In the cave
the bear
No pictures allowed in the monasteries, but I still snuck pictures of the flowers and vegetation outside and around the monasteries.
At this point we turned around and hiked back to the car to go to our next monastery. However, as I'm researching this, if we had kept going 20 more minutes, we would've come upon the Katholikou Monastery and the water, and it looks seriously like the coolest thing ever. I'm disappointed that I didn't realize what was going on out there. But from what I understand, it would've taken our current hiking situation to the next level and perhaps my Sanuk sandals and my energy wouldn't have made it. Besides, we might not have experienced our next adventure the same way we did. And it is probably Chris & I's favorite thing EVER. Maybe we'll return sometime and get the full experience. It is what it was meant to be.
(more info here:
https://www.meetcrete.com/road-trip-akrotiri-monastery-katholiko-bear-cave/)
Monastery Adventure #3: We drove the car to the short distance of the Agia Triada Monastery, also known as Holy Trinity. We discovered that this is an unofficial cat sanctuary. To my understanding, animal shelters are not really a thing in Greece, and people would come here to drop off cats. Cats every where. Sickly cats. :( At one point, there was a visiting girl down on her hands and knees with the cats, and the man who took money for our admission told the girl she needed to wash her hands. (I'll have you know that I didn't touch a single animal the entire trip!)
This man, initially seemed bored and grumpy, but little did we know!
We walked around the entire place, including a gift shop that was attached and a winery space in the basement. I took pictures of those places, but not inside the actual monastery. It was a beautiful place.
Its about closing time and we are getting ready to leave. Bored, grumpy man asks us where we are from as we are about to walk out the door and Chris tells him Kansas. I swear there was a twinkle-twinkle-ding as the man's face completely lit up like a firework. KANSAS! I HAVE FAMILY THAT LIVES IN COLBY, KANSAS! I VISITED THERE LAST YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER FOR OUR FAMILY REUNION! COME THIS WAY! I MUST SHOW YOU ALL THE THINGS! LOOK AT THE PATTERN ON THIS WALL! I MUST TELL YOU A BUNCH OF HISTORICAL FACTS THAT YOU WON'T REMEMBER! OK, NOW COME THIS WAY! LOOK AT THIS SUNDIAL ON THE WALL! COME IN HERE! I'M GOING TO TWIRL THIS CHANDELIER FOR YOU!
(heather watches the chandelier with her mouth hanging open. I think it was an incense thing, used to distribute the fumes during church service. julia joins her also with her mouth hanging open. julia and heather look at each other dumbfounded, ttrying not to laugh out loud.)
COME OVER HERE! I'M GOING TO OPEN THIS HYMNAL AND SING YOU SOME SONGS. I SOUND JUST LIKE GREGORIAN CHANT. LA LA LA LA LA!!!!!! NOW COME THIS WAY. DON'T TOUCH THE CATS. PLEASE COME BEHIND THIS OLD WOODEN DOOR INTO THE RESTRICTED AREA OF THE MONASTERY TO MY PRIVATE KITCHEN. I MADE THESE COOKIES. THEY ARE DELICIOUS. I'M NOW POURING YOU SHOTS OF MY RAKI, AND WE ARE NOW FRIENDS FOR LIFE.
omg. you guys. It was the cutest encounter I've ever seen. And then we said goodbye. And Chris declared we were going to get some postcards from Kansas and send them to our new friend Nik. He said his name was Nik, but I would like to think his name is Nikolaus, spelled with a K, of course.
Adventures. I love.
abandoned kittens out front of Agia Triada
So anyways, after that wonderful afternoon, we head back to Chania for wanderings around town, a sensational sunset, and dinner.
Kitten Boat! Brent excitedly told us about how they found a boat full of kittens. WAHT. You must show me. Turns out it was a little decorative boat. But it was indeed full of kiTTens!
Photo credit: Brent (I think this was the city market in Chania, but it might have been later in Heraklion. I DON'T REMEMBER. TOO MANY ADVENTURES.)
Kitten in some ruins.
Sunset selfie.
Photo credit: Brent
Photo credit: Julia
Photo credit: Julia
Photo credit: Julia
Photo credit: Julia
adorable city
Photo credit: Chris
Dinner
snails
liver, I think?
photo credit: Chris
Snails, and I think, two types of mushrooms....?
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