Category: Personal

I’m writing this at the airport, where I’m waiting to get on a one-way plane ride back to the US, saying goodbye to the place I’ve called home the past 3 months. It’s bittersweet because while it’s always nice to come home, I’ve grown very attached to this wonderful piece of the world.

I’m writing this to reflect on all the amazing memories I’ve made here and I’ve included some of my favorite pictures. I know I’m insanely lucky to be able to come here and I’m forever grateful for the series of events that led to this. I’ve spent a total of six months of my life in Crete, and to be honest I don’t know if it ever would have occurred to me to visit here if I didn’t have to for work. Trust me when I say it’s definitely a place worth visiting!

In no particular order, these are the things I’ll miss:

• Saying “Calli Mera” (good morning) to everybody
• The “third lane” on the highway. You can tell the locals apart from tourists because they move over to the right to allow others to pass in the middle of the two lane road.
• Getting a fredo espresso, sketo, from five minute mart (that’s an iced espresso with no sugar)
• Amazing beaches everywhere you go
• Geep all over the place, including the roads in the mountains
• The beautiful mountains as a backdrop in scenery
• Driving a manual car (okay, not specific to Greece, but I have an automatic back home)
• Ridiculously fantastic weather, warm sun with no humidity
• Tim, the bearded guide at the Recreation Center who knows everything and everyone in Crete
• Swimming though caves at the beach!
• GMT, Greek Maybe Time, nobody is in a hurry here
• 3 hour dinners finished with free Raki
• Wandering around downtown Chania
• Caves literally everywhere you go, and tiny Greek Orthodox churches built into lots of them
• The best olive oil and feta cheese I’ve ever had
• Old Greek men sitting in plastic chairs on the sidewalks at 10 AM, talking and watching the traffic go by
• Never being carded because the drinking age is 16
• Listening to Chania Radio in the car
• Tiny villages with winding streets that barely fit our compact car
• Being able to order sparkling water at all the restaurants

The first time I came to Crete, we only stopped for a day, which we spent eating cheese pies, hiking to an ancient monastery in a cave, and wandering the labyrinthine streets of Chania. I was lucky enough to come back for three months, but it was winter and I had to spend a lot of time at work studying. Coming back for another three months in late spring and early summer has been amazing and totally different from winter.

This time around we’ve gone canyoneering, rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, and beaching, and I’ve loved every minute of it. I’m trying to be anonymous on this blog so I’ve blocked out my face in all the photos.

I’m definitely coming back to Crete someday, and I really want to bring my family here too. I’ve also decided that if I ever come back, I’m doing a multi-day kayak trip in Milos, one of the Greek islands. Just google search some images and you’ll see why. Being in this part of the world almost feels like a dream sometimes, because of the beauty and unique landscapes.