We landed at about noon in Crete, and we all crammed on a bus to the main town, it was a nice bus with very comfortable seats, but it was definitely full. After about an hour ride we made it to the town, and we searched for our apartment from there. We arrived earlier than we thought, so the apartment wasn't quite ready for us yet. Luckily we were hungry and enjoying the weather so we found a good brunch spot on the bay and each had a big breakfast that had us set for the rest of the day. We hung around and chatted until the apartment was ready, and we set down our bags and went grocery shopping. We shopped around also through some touristy shops, and ventured out onto the bay. We explored some more, got dinner, then crashed after all that travel.
The next day was a beach day :) It was glorious. February is a great time to go because we had the whole beach to ourselves! Celina taught us the funniest game... definitely one of my most hilarious memories with them. We basically spent the whole day there, and awaited the guys' arrival in the evening. Time out: three of the Westpoint boys were coming to Crete for a few days with us. Now I think things make sense. Time in. I think that was also an early night because they were pooped from travelling and I was super fine with going to bed early again.
The next day Celina and I went to Mass which was really nice and somewhat in English- it's been a while since I've heard English Mass parts. We met the boys at brunch after, then went out venturing on the bay together since it was their first full day there. We went out onto the rocks past the wall which was cool yet challenging to do in a long skirt... But we made it and then went to the beach again but it was windy and not as warm. Then we headed back and caught the sunset on the way. Then everyone went off to call their lovers (it was Valentine's Day), or at least tried to with the tiny bit of internet we had. I got a super good burger that night btw. I miss it.
The next day was the hottest day of the week, and probably of our vacation, so naturally we decided to climb a mountain. I didn't bring sunscreen with me and finally finally found some at a pharmacy- a tiny tube for 17 euros, so worth it. It actually was though. We took the first bus to a town, who knows, and walked for a while trying to find the hill. When we ended up in a military base we decided to turn around. We hung out in the town again and grabbed some food while waiting for another bus. We finally got on the bus and got to the base of the mountain. And so the hike begins. It was hot. And uphill. It wasn't that bad in reality, but I still can't believe I did it. We finally made it to the top, and I think I was having a minor heat stroke because I looked like tomato but had no burn. I quickly drank a lot of water and applied sunscreen again.
At the top of this mountain was Aptera, an ancient city-state dating back to the 14th century BC. Greek mythology has it that the contest between the Sirens and the Muses took place here. When the Sirens lost, they lost their wings, hence the name Aptera meaning "without wings". The city was destroyed by an earthquake in the 7th century, but many ruins remain. We were able to walk all over them, whether that's good or not I don't know. It was insanely gorgeous though. We were surrounded by ancient ruins and olive trees, with sheep grazing a bit farther off and the snow-capped mountains in the distance. Make sure you see those pictures.
We explored some more around the area, two of the boys climbed over the citadel-thing (very impenetrable), and then we made our way back down while stopping by to say hi to the sheep. A very kind Greek man gave us a ton of oranges, I think he could tell we were dying, and they sure did hit the spot. Oranges are in just as much abundance as they were in Athens. We got almost to the base when we stopped for lunch and snarfed down a greek salad, all of us. We tried their house wine which was very interesting... It smelled like rust and was rust-colored, but was supposedly a "white" wine.
We finally made it back down to the bottom and wanted to go for a swim, being the hottest day and all (in the 80s). We walked a long time in search of a beach, but finally found somewhat of a beach. We ended up sitting on the concrete pier and took pictures of the boys jumping in the water together (always a manly tale). Then we headed back and went out to dinner one last time together, then hit the hay ready to fly onto Cyprus :)