Taking a breather in Greece

When I returned from Paris I had just 24 hours to unpack and then re-pack. This time I was en route to Crete with Maria and her Greek family! We stayed in their home and used their on-site vehicles (meaning scooterrrs) to get around. It was so refreshing and super relaxing after the months of stress.



The first day we just briefly cruised around the city of Hersonissos and then sat down at Maria's favourite spot in the city - Dolce Vita. Where she ate a pancake and I devoured this fantastic dessert.



And then we slept in and didn't do anything before 2 o'clock, haha. (Side note: I don't think Ive ever slept as much as I did on this vacation!) But then we went to Malia, a nearby city. It was pretty deserted - everyone was either sleeping with their hangovers from last night or on the beach. So we sat there, all alone. With the extreamly British menu, since all the people in Malia are British tourtists coming to party.

Maria's brother had been dumbfounded when he realized how many celebrity names we knew by heart, and we set out to see how many we actually knew! Actors, musicians, fictional characters... And we wrote them down in that book throughout the week. We reached a quite pathetic and surprisingly high number. I blame Tumblr!




After that we casually broke into Maria's family's ground - so we did nothing illegal. We did jump a little when the police passed us while we crawled through that fence.



It was such a large piece of land!



And we ate dinner at this place. And almost spat our drinks out at the sight of that charming menu layout - a picture of the living, breathing animals at "Mario's farm" and then the cooked bacon...

Since it was Friday the 13th we grabbed a movie to match that dinner - Final Destination! We watched the first two (the last 3 followed in the coming days) and then went to the beach for a stroll. It wasn't until afterwards we noticed how much our evening would have been the perfect date, if one of us had been of the opposite sex.



But of course we couldn't resist a midnight dip!



Maria worked her water magic. My hair is a bit too long.



When Saturday dawned on us we decided that this was the day we would go to Spinalonga! The small island on which the main land's lepers where shipped onto back in the day. So we boarded a bus, waited at a bus transfer for an hours while eating ice cream and doing puzzles (yes, I'm 5 years old so I took the Winx one).



But when we finally reached the island it was quite a place! The church were closed though ;(



Before we went exploring we just had to dip our toes in the water to cool down - it had been a long trip.



And on we went! Trough the stormy wind.



The scenery was b-e-autiful!



Wind, why are you making my hair stand up and stripping off Maria's clothes?!



After an hour we'd walked around the island and decided we would climb all the way to the top. We hadn't really thought of the actual challenge it would prove to be. BUT! We made it!



And guess what? It was even windier up there.



Going down!



We found this massive cactus plant where a lot of people had scratched their names - so of course we wanted to contribute with our own as well. I can't wait to see if they are still there, if I ever return.



Chilling in ruins, that included a remarkable large number of mirrors.



After all of that we rushed to the boats and asked when the next one to our destination would arrive. We received the answer "You'll have to wait about 30 minutes." So when a boat docked out 5 minutes later, we assumed it was for one of the other destinations. But nooo, so suddenly we had an hour to kill. Thankfully one of the other boats' captain let us use his boat to get in the water, since Maria was Greek.



I don't think an hour has ever passed that quickly!



We had loads of fun and dried off when the boat sailed the sea once again.



Goodbye, Spinalonga! It was nice knowing you and standing by those black flags of yours.




Heraklion! And that last picture shows the mountains forming "Zeus". Can you tell it looks like a face?



We went to Heraklion to pick up Laura, who came to join our Greek school reunion.




Back in Hersonissos we played a game of cards and ate some more completely unhealthy food as two became three.



The next day our last Dane arrived and we had our fun showing her around. And of course we sat down at Dolce once again to enjoy the fabulous televised fashion shows, haha. It was silly and we took pleasure in doing it.



And of course we just had to party a bit.




We went to the beach a lot, read a lot, swam a lot. And yes, those tan lines are horrible - I had actual straight lines from my shorts after Spinalonga.




And guess what we did? We went to Dolce - of course. Hangout number one!



And as the sun went down we readied ourselves for Malia! We just had to see how the Brits partied.




We started off by ourselves in a nice, relaxed lounge with a water pipe. And then we went pub crawling. That Indie place had a nice vibe going, but it was much too small.



Reflex was my favourite of the night! It really went all the way with Dirty Dancing paintings on the walls and all the oldies but goldies songs playing.



Amusingly enough we didn't speak with a whole lot of Brits, since we had so much fun just being us 4.




Heraklion called on us, so we went shopping.



... And we ate souvlaki. Then we sat down in a park to rest - since, y'know, it's hard spending money.




Yummy stuff.



Urg, my teeth starts watering up at the sight of these pancakes. I tell you! - they tasted immensely delicious.




But all god things come to an end and it was time for my departure from Crete. Since it was my last night we went to a proper restaurant and dined there. It was such a cosy spot! We watched as the sun went down over Hersonissos.



Their glasses were bigger than my hand!
After eating we had two choices: 1) Go home immediately and sleep until 3, where you shall wake up and go to the airport, or 2) stay up partying! There really wasn't much choice, haha.



We took the scooter straight to the club, haha.




Havanaaa! Since Maria's family owns a bit of the place we came round quite often. I even worked there one night, haha!
A lot of people tell Laura she looks like Julia Stiles, so we just had to see exactly how much...




We are some hardcore boxers!




Time was up, we went to the airport. And I watched the sun as it rose from the east from the plane window.

<3**