Last day in Sfakia

Waiting for the bus to Chania this morning.

Sfakia

In front of our hotel room in Sfakia.

Swimming in Sfakia

Gordon jumping into the Libyan Sea outside our hotel room in Sfakia. Perfect.

Trail to Loutros

We came across this lovely taverna and rooms to rent along the trail to Loutros. It's accessible only by boat.

The kiss

Goats do apparently fall off these rugged cliffs. We found this skull along the trail.

Gorge Hike

Who needs ropes when you have a ladder? This gorge was incredible.

Aradena Gorge hike

Sweet water Beach

This lovely beach was a day hike destination along the rugged coast from Sfakia.

Hotel in Sfakia

We had a really great room in Sfakia. The Mediterannean was just outside our porch door and we could hear the waves lapping all night. Did I mention the full moon over the Med?

Cave Hike

Curt, Sharon, Gordon and myself hiked up a mountain above the town of Azogires to discover this huge cave used as a place of worship. Very cool.

Rugged Coast Line

View from the ferry of the rugged SW coastline of Crete.

Ferry Trip

One of the many gorges we saw along the way on our ferry trip to Sfakia. We did a great hike through the Aradena Gorge the next day.

Ferry to Sfakia

The start of our ferry trip to Sfakia from Paleochora.

Last day on Crete

Here we are in Hania town ready (sort of) to depart for London tomorrow then on to Tucson and then off to Alaska for the summer. We are really sad to be leaving Crete. As I have mentioned many times on this blog, the people of Crete have treated us with sincere kindness, respect and the warmest of hospitality. Maybe you have been reading in the news recently how much the Greek people and their economy has suffered during the economic downturn....In the spirit of solidarity with the people of Greece, the next time you have a hankering for some feta, olives or olive oil, think about buying Greek !!! Yasas.

Chania

Near our favorite restaurant in Chania

Chania market

We keep seeing "giant beans" on the menus here. These must be they !

Chania

Chania

DOG

Grafitti is a prevalent cultural phenomenon on the island of Crete. We see the "dog" tag in many places. Not sure what it means but dogs rule like cats on the island.

Cats Rule

We're in Chania town for our last day in Crete. Sob.
CAT'S rule in Crete !

DOG

This one's for you Nic and Trav. Oh, and we saw a Greek Toby look alike dog today but he was camera shy.
DOG, gotcha!

Pavlo and Gordon

Pavlo was really interested in Alaskan fishing. He said he would take us fishing with him when we return. We sure want to. We love Crete.

Pavlo

At the end of our gorge hike we met this friendly and really fun young man named Pavlo. He fishes with his dad and runs a taverna and hotel with te rest of his family. They keep bees too. Great family.

Geranium Hat

The size and wildness of the geraniums here continue to blow my mind. What do you think of my Geranium Hat?

Paleochora

The local Pastor and his buddies. We had a fun "conversation" with my non-existent Greek and their non-existent English. Lots of laughs.

Elofonisi Beach

Elofonisi Beach

Gordon, my hero

Gordon pumping em up for the girls on the fabulous turqoise beach at Elofonisi. Ha Ha.
My He-Man.

Misc Crete Photos

My camera broke the other day so am on hold with fresh pics now that we're in Chora Sfakia.
This is Sharon Stetter, a friend from Bisbee whom we had been traveling with, along with her husband Curt, until just a few days ago. This was a misty beautiful hiking day way up in the mountains in Milia.

Misc Crete photos

May Day is a really big deal on Crete. There were wildflower wreaths everywhere.... On doors, on car antennas and around necks.. I've been collecting flower seeds to start in Alaska and Bisbee.

Coastal Walk

Along the trail to Sougia. Magnificent trek !

Trek to Sougia

We took a long hike from a very small village called Sougia the other day back to Paleohora.. We rode the small ferry over in the early morning. We walked along the magnificent coastline of South Western Crete and came across this broken Roman column. Great day !

Near Paleohora

We walked from Sougia to Paleohora the other day. We like to call it the Death March. An amazing trek but a little longer then we thought.

Paleohora

We've left Milia and are spending a week at some cottages in a beach town called Paleohora.
Very sweet little town. More soon.

Milia

Curt, Sharon and Gordon in Milia.

Milia

Some of Zoran's wonderful home made balsamic vinegars and olive oils made in Milia.

Ancient Olive Tree

Milia

Our bathroom sink in Milia.

Milia

A view of the inside of our room in Milia. This whole village was rebuilt by some local folks about 8 years ago. The road to Milia is quite twisty and frankly pretty scary. It's a very special place.

The Boyz

Curt and Sharon have been traveling around the world since February. Curt presented Gordon with a Nepalese party hat. Gordon just loves it !!!! (gulp)

Chapel along the trail

We took a long hike today through the valleys and small towns around Milia. Along the trail we walked by these sweet women re-painting the chapel in time for Sunday. They greeted us with such warmth as we walked by and invited us in to see their work and the chapel. As we left one of the 3 women rushed out to us as we were walking away to give us each a cookie. Incredible people and island, Crete.

Wisteria in Milia

This is our room at Milia. The wisteria is in full bloom and gorgeous. We're heading to the beach today with Sharon and Curt.

Dinner at Milia

In Milia

Sharon and Kim in Chania

We met up with Sharon and Curt from Bisbee here in Crete.

Our waiter

This is the wonderful waiter and his daughter that we met at the end of our hike into the gorge (see below for explanation of the amazing dinner that he served us). He's also the one who served us the locally made Raki liquor. They say that if a person from Crete serves you Raki, you dare not refuse their hospitality. This could get dangerous.

More goats

Pretty much wherever you go is the ubiquitous Cretan goat. We ran into these dudes along an extremely steep part of the gorge trail.

Rouvas Gorge

Wild, delicate cyclamen flowers in the shady gorge.

Rouvas Gorge

This is the Rouvas gorge that we hiked to the top of yesterday. My legs are really tired. This gorge feeds the large spring that feeds the lake in the picture just below. It was quite a bit different than the other gorge we hiked. Much steeper and narrower with totally different wildflowers. Spectacular!

Fresh trout and salmon dinner

Before coming back to Agia Pelagia we spent a few days in the mountains near one of the largest natural springs on Crete. We hiked to the top of the gorge that feeds the spring and at the end of the hike we had probably our best meal to date here in beautiful Crete. It consisted of fesh trout, fresh salmon, a really delicious smoked trout and calamari. All the fish was done perfectly, not overcooked. The fish live in the spring fed lake you can see in this picture.

Then at the end of the meal our handsome, friendly waiter brought us several rich pieces of chocolate cake topped with this amazing ROSE marmalade made from the local wild roses.
It's hard to explain how wonderful the flavor of this rose stuff was.....it tasted just like what a rose smells like! I carried on so much about it that he gave me a container filled with it to take with us. When I offered to pay for it he said "No, no, no...from us to you"

Did I mention how warm and truly wonderful the people of Crete are???
Did I also mention that he brought us a small bottle of the local homemade liquor, Raki?
I could get used to this stuff. ..... and this fantastic island.