After spending only 12 Hours in Santorini we took another Ferry to the island of Crete.
Crete is very different from Santorini. The island is a lot bigger with a a bustling city and much harder to cover in a short amount of time. After leaping off the boat (I really do get sea sick way too easily) we took a cab to our hostel. When we arrived there was a group of 5 or so British girls lounging and laughing by the pool. The boys immediately struck up conversations so I took it as my cue to have a shower and room by myself.
We went out to dinner at Taverna Tropical, a restaurant on the beach. It was around midnight when we finally ate and we were all exhausted, but the owner brought out shots of homemade liquor that his own family made with the grapes that grew on their property, so we obliged.
Another short night of sleep and then it was time to rent a car. This time Michael took the wheel. If you're ever on the islands, rent a car. The tiny car squeaked and squealed through ever turn and I wondered if we might die when we hugged the curb along the sides of the mountains.
Crete has larger mountains that I imagined, along with gorgeous beaches, you can't beat the scenery!
Our first stop was Knossos in Irkaloin for the ruins. Call me a bad person, but I say skip them. If you're pressed for time, like we were, stick to the beached. They were cool but we'd already seen the grand ruins in Athens.
We drove along the windy road stopping for pictures whenever we saw a pretty scene. Which was really often.
Then it was time for the beach! We stopped at Matala for lunch and then headed down to the turquoise water. (It's the first picture I posted above) It was gorgeous but the sand was hot! we could barely stand on it for more than a second without putting our feet into the water.
More beaches to see and on a short amount of time we stopped at the very scenic Agia Golini.
We saved the best beach for last, Preveli. It was unreal. The beautiful crystal water actually met with a gorgeous tropical river. It was like anything I'd seen before. To make the trek down they'll tell you it's 400 steps down, which is a bold faced lie. It's 458 steps plus even more rocks to climb. I know because we counted. But it's worth it all the same.
Here's what it looks like from the top:
And panorama from the bottom:
