Crete with the Alters

Our ferry arrived to Crete about an hour late, but thankfully our rental car was waiting for us. We were just about to hit the road, when Mitchell and Josh were called upon for their Herculean strength (hee hee Greek pun intended) to help some locals push a car whose battery had died out of the parking lot. Heroes! :) They also did a stellar job at driving through and navigating sketchy highways, limited signage, and even sketchier and convoluted directions to our villa, while Claire and I entertained ourselves in the backseat with 80s and 90s movie and soundtrack trivia. Not sure Mitchell and Josh were as entertained!

Arriving at our villa in Almyrida in the pitch-black after midnight, we were a little disappointed with the lower standard of the interior compared to some of the shiny Westernized places we'd stayed at so far. Some of the "highlights" were the relentless ants around the kitchen sink and counters, our bathroom with the jimmy-rigged shower curtain held up by a chain from the shower rod to the heater (safe?!), Josh and Claire's bathroom stench, and the overall stale late 70s aura going on. Waking up the next morning however, to our own private pool, side terrace with a fuschia Oleander canopy (where we enjoyed several lazy lunches!), ripe fig and lime trees, and a sprawling terrace perched on a cliff overlooking the clear turquoise waters of Almyrida bay and its beaches -- our opinion of the place overall quickly changed.





The town of Almyrida is quite truly a very new destination as far as tourism goes. Prior to 1980 it was a tiny fishing village with 60 residents, until a woman from Brussels opened up a cafe there. According to her story (we read in a menu) her cafe was the catalyst that began developing Almyrida as we experienced it. Now, still a small and beautiful beachside town, its main street is lined with about 10 restaurants, cafes, bars, and a couple small hotels, and overrun by British tourists. We anticipated feasting on tasty authentic Greek fare, but the Almyrida menus boasted Fish & Chips with "mushy peas" and Sunday English Roast. It was disappointing, but we managed to seek out mousaka, gyros, and some Cretan specialty dishes.


Friendly servers from our favourite dinner spot, Aeraki.


We shared many after dinner Raki's - whether we liked them or not!

We spent the majority of our week enjoying long breakfasts on our terrace overlooking the beautiful bay, suntanning, swimming in the ocean or our pool, reading (a lot!), sipping on tasty adult beverages and grooving to a few favourite playlists (Thanks Emily for your Aritzia tunes!). We did venture out for a few day trips, one of which was to the famous Elefonisi Beach in South Western Crete. On Crete's rugged coast, in a protected area, it was one of the most beautiful, crystal blue water and pristine beaches we'd ever seen. With the promised 'pink' sand too! Thankfully Josh drove as it was a trecharious drive through a narrow gorge on the way there, and a high cliff drive along the ocean on the way home. He handled our Fiat and those cliffs like a local (although we did need help from "Greek Ray Charles" with directions after we got lost in some olive groves).






Famous pink sand of Elefonisi




Sun setting on the hills of Western Crete on our drive home

Another big day out was an early morning trip to Chania for the robust Saturday market. A 12th-century Venetian port, Chania used to be like Venice with canals, but they were filled in a long time ago. We chose a great fishmonger (that originally caught our attention because he was throwing fresh sardines to the local cats on the roof) who helped us select a sea bream and a sea bass for dinner. He cleaned them up and gave us a lesson and recipe on how to cook them: stuffed with sliced fennel, and rubbed with lemon zest, saffron (called crocus in Greece), and sea salt all over, wrapped in tinfoil and on the BBQ for 15 minutes.






Lamb or rabbit for dinner?


A local Chanian spearing an octopus for dinner!

After a healthy happy hour the boys man-handled the dinner preparation and got the charcoal bbq fired up, while Claire and I played a game in the kitchen we invented called Baguette Ball with the evening's loaf of bread and a lime from our tree. With the recipe we'd been given we rubbed the fish and stuffed a couple slices of lemon and tomatoes inside (couldn't find fennel anywhere!). The fish turned out perfectly. It was so fresh and delicious and with a great smoky flavour from the bbq. We paired it with a greek salad (obviously), saffron rice and fresh bread.







It was an awesome week with the Alters full of a ton of laughs, good food, tasty drinks, and hours of relaxation. We were sad to split when the week finished. They caught a flight to Istanbul and we went off to Rome for four days. We're looking forward to following their adventures on their blog and seeing them back home in just over a month.


Swimming in the beautiful water below our villa




Here's a link to more Greece photos: More Photos