Γειά σας Crete!

If Santorini is a Fran’s chocolate, then Crete is organic cocoa powder.  Santorini is refined and packaged with a perfect bow for all visitors.  While I love it, it is not for everyone.  The crowds of tourists and ultra-coiffed view in every direction, leave many visitors yearning for “less done” and more natural landscape. Crete is the opposite.  It is raw, versatile and its beauty is in the simplicity of its natural state.

Cliff and I were so psyched for Crete because it was a milestone of the trip….our first destination that was new to ALL seven of us!  It is a blast taking the kids to some of our favorite spots in the world, but it is just as fun to discover and explore some new place together.  We could not have picked a better place to begin our adventures.  Crete offers beaches, boating and surfing along the coastline.  In the interior there are ruins, gorges and even immense caves to explore!  There are cool Venetian cities and there are millions and millions of olive trees! Crete has so much to offer it is hard to wrap your mind around it all in a mere two weeks.

For one of our last Cretian meals, we went to Mystic View, a spectacular Taverna in Matala, and talked about what our takeaways were from Crete…here they are!

WORLD HISTORY!  10th Grade World History is a lot more fun when you can read the textbook, and then go visit the place you just read about!  We went to visit Knossos and as we entered the ruin, Cliff began to read the blurb on the pamphlet aloud for all of us to hear.  Wescott wandered off out of range.  I called to him frustrated that he was tuning us out…”Wescott…don’t you want to learn about Knossos?” …..”Mom,” he answered exasperated by my tone, “I read about it 3 days ago in my World History text!” ….”AWESOME!  You can teach us!”

 

SOMETIMES CURRENT HISTORY IS AS INTERESTING AS ANCIENT HISTORY.  We were lucky enough to be in Matala to see an open air screening of a documentary made about the town.  Matala has an interesting history! Not just from ancient times but also from the 1960s when the caves were occupied by the hippies!  The documentary was about the hippies days and it was titled “Hippie, Hippie, Matala, Matala!”  It was fascinating!

 

SUNSETS!  While we saw some pretty awesome sunsets in Santorini, we all agreed that the sunsets in Crete were EPIC!  Each one was so spectacular that we couldn’t bare to miss a single one.  Tuck and Jones grew tired of “sunset time” and declared that for their birthday (in June!) we will NOT watch sunset OR go walking

 

CONNECTION WILL COME FROM UNEXPECTED PLACES! In Florence and Santorini our connection to the community came through our host…. the individual who was renting us our apartment/house for our stay.  But in Matala, our connection was the guy who rented us our rental car!  In addition to owning the rental car company, he was the de facto MAYOR of the town  He invited us to the screening of the movie, gave us some olive oil from his personal olive grove, drove us to and from the airport and was spotted all over town at various bars and restaurants!  He made our stay in Matala much more interesting than it otherwise would have been.  The rental car kept breaking down but we didn’t care….we just chalked it up to adventure and decided the PROS of the car and its connections to the community definitely outweighed the CONS of having to stop and add coolant to the radiator every 100 kms.

ALTERNATIVE FUEL!  Because Crete is an island far away from mainland Greece, alternative energy is economically wise as well as environmentally friendly. Because of this, solar panels are set within the acres and acres of olive groves spanning the entire island.  Read more here! Windmills are strategically placed along the shoreline and high within the mountains.  Desalination is used for fresh water.  It is awesome!  Crete is definitely a role model of how alternatives can be incorporated into everyday life.

 

BAGGAGE CLAIM CAN BE SO COOL YOU DON’T WANT TO LEAVE THE AIRPORT! Land at Crete airport and you would think you were in Silicon Valley.  While you wait for your bags there are 3D visualizations and interactive kiosks that rival Disneyland.  The kids didn’t want to leave!  There was a massive green screen that you could stand in front of and take a picture of you in front of Crete’s main attractions and email yourself!  Hilarious and genius!  Your first impression of Crete is simply awesome!!!  Why don’t more airports do this?