Crete, Greece

We stepped off the ferry and set foot on the third island of our Greece tour - Crete! Crete is known for its gorgeous beaches, but the island is definitely larger in size compared to the others we had visited so far. In order for us to be able to visit all the places we wanted, we had to rent a car to maximize travel time efficiency. We had to secure an international passport in order to be able to drive, but it was worth it! We were given a small little bright red Fiat and it was my first time driving a semi-automatic vehicle and I thank the Lord for Facetime and a portable wifi dongle because I had to call Harry (my boyfriend at the time) and he was able to guide me through navigating the vehicle! Our first long drive out west all the way across the island to the infamous Elafonisi Beach, known for its pink sand. The roads on the west side of the island were VERY narrow and often hosted only one lane roads, so please please please be careful!

Elafonisi beach, known for its pink sand, was PACKED when we arrived - so we recommend arriving as early as possible to secure a parking spot (we circled quite a few times and got lucky as someone was leaving) and to find a nice space to claim on the beach. This is understandable knowing how popular this beach is. While the sand was more close to a tan with a tint of pink rather than the bright pink color some photos online might portray), the beach was gorgeous nonetheless. The sand itself was again super fine and amazingly soft. I loved running around on my bare feet! The waters were clear as can be and the blue color was so pleasing to the eye.

We wanted to squeeze in another beach before we went back to our hotel, so we stopped by the local market to grab some snacks and drove over to a Falassarna Beach nearby our hotel to watch the sunset. It was encased by mountains on a couple of the edges, and it was a wonderful way to end our first full day in Crete. We definitely wished we had more time to spend here!

Next, we wanted to explore the cute town of Chania. It is a popular town that is not characterized by the typical blue and white buildings that we had seen so far. It was made up of many alleys, tall rustic buildings with balconies, and filled with every color you can imagine - pink, yellow, green, blue, you name it. There were a lot of stray kittens and dogs roaming the streets and the area was quite busy! There is a lot to explore, a lot of restaurants, and again a lot of places to do souvenir shopping. We made time to stop by Rethymno Port to see some pretty boats on the water. For dinner, we stopped by for delicious pasta at Laganon in the town and picked up some ice cream on our way out!

Because Crete was so big, we split our time in terms of lodging on this island. We spent a couple nights near the port where our ferry had landed in the area of Heraklion, and then spent our next couple of nights in Falassarna so we would be near the bigger beaches we wanted to visit (such as Elafonisi Beach). We dropped by Chania since it was conveniently on the way back from Falasarna to the Heraklion, where our ferry was set to take us to Santorini!

Fun tip we learned on a particularly stressful drive through Crete at night: most gas stations in Crete are 1) not self service and 2) closed at ~19:00 (or 7PM). This means that even if you drive up to a closed gas station after hours, all of the nozzles are either locked or do not dispense any gas. We unfortunately learned this the hard way and might have had a mini panic attack since we were driving in the dark, on a near empty tank of gas, on a fairly empty road. Everyone we managed to stop to ask for help did not speak English and google translate failed us miserably. It was heartwarming to know people wanted to help despite the language barrier, but we had a long drive ahead of us with and our tank edging closer and closer to empty. We did run into one car of girls who spoke some English and told us that there was a 24 hour gas station only 5km down the road. We held our breaths and prayed our car would make it that far after a bunch of frantic back and forth driving. We finally made it and learned our lesson — big time. I will never forget that Fiats don’t hold a lot of gas and to remind all my friends to always do your gas station research beforehand.

Goodbye to our stressful, but cute Fiat!

Paros, Greece

While planning our Greece trip, we had an inkling that Paros would be our favorite island. We were drawn to the fact that the island was a tad quieter than the others that we were visiting. It was one of the most beautiful islands - I’m talking pink bougainvillea flowers overhanging the roads, white buildings, blue doors, the works.

Our Airbnb host picked us up from the ferry to take us to where we were staying since the island buildings do not have official addresses. We asked the locals about this and they explained that as they were growing up, they often knew by heart where everything was. When talking about a location they would simply refer to a building as the restaurant next to so and so’s shop. Locals were super kind in helping guide us to find our rental shop, restaurants, etc. To keep track of our Airbnb, we pinned the location in our maps in order to easily access it as we were exploring the area!

Our Airbnb had gorgeous white stairwells and also had a stunning view from the patio. We dropped by the local market a couple times to pick up some greek yogurt, honey, orange juice to start off of our mornings eating breakfast on the patio. We also spent some of our sunsets sipping wine by the beautiful patio view. This was one of the Airbnbs we dedicated a little extra time at since we were head over heels with the place.

Every time we travel, we try to learn some important phrases in the local language as both a sign of respect and for ease of communication. I highly recommend this even in areas with a high volume of tourists where many shop owners speak and understand English. It’s a respect thing yannow? Some key phrases we used/heard often in Greek included the following:

1. Thank You: Efharistó - we used this one the absolute most! It also took a couple of tries to learn how to say it properly.

2. Hello: Geiá sou - we pronounced this one as “yah soo”

3. Good Morning: Kalimera - this one we heard from many restaurant and shop owners, so it was nice to be able to understand what they were saying and to get to say it back!

As the sun set, we ventured out towards the coast of Parikia in Paros for dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by our Airbnb host! Apparently his parents are not only the cooks for the restaurant, but also head out to the sea to fish their own seafood for the meals they served. We took his recommendation and headed over to Taverna Mouragio to dine right by the water. Service was warm and friendly and all the food was delicious, but our outstanding memory of the restaurant was the moment we fell in LOVE with moussaka. Mind you - I do not normally enjoy eggplant, but this dish was the exception. We hunted down moussaka at every restaurant we went to thereafter in Greece. Our meal ended with complimentary ouzo (as many of our meals did) which is quite strong for my taste, but apparently it is good for digestion?!! I’ll take it.

Our choice of transportation for Paros island was to rent an ATV! It was super easy to get around on and pretty easy to find parking for. We walked down to the busier part of town from our Airbnb and headed over to pick up our ATV at a rental shop by the coastline. Walking through the town, we caught glimpses of tourists shopping, children gathering in playgrounds, and some farm animals grazing peacefully underneath the open skies.

Then we decided to venture out in search of another beach spot on our ATV and we found our hands-down FAVORITE beach in all of Greece: Kolymbithres Beach in Naoussa. It was quiet enough for visitors to not have to fight over beds. The sunbeds were on the cheaper end, the water was SUPER clear and calm, and the place gave us calming and peaceful vibes. We spent a large chunk of our day here, relaxing underneath the straw umbrellas, sipping on our respective tequila sunrises, munching on a burger, and hiking over the cliffs to our right. We were able to venture quite deeply into the sea since the sea level stayed rather shallow for a huge portion of the waters. The sand was fine, warm, and soft underneath our feet. Seriously, everything was perfect about this beach. I didn’t want to leave!

After tanning on the beach, we headed further east in Naoussa and had sunset dinner reservations at Barbarossa. The view was stunning as it was right on the water. We were practically running through the town so we could make our reservations on time. The price tag was a bit expensive for how we thought the food was, but a wonderful experience nonetheless. We ate plenty of seafood and had a glass of wine with our meal (as soon became the norm)!

After dinner, we were not quite ready to leave Naoussa yet, so we decided to look up some nearby spots to grab a drink! After some quick on the spot researching on TripAdvisor, we decided to visit Sante Cocktail Bar hidden in the nooks of Naoussa’s town center. It took us more than a couple wrong turns to find, but it was so worth the search! It was decently busy but we were able to find a table and ordered a couple of fruity cocktails before the night got too late! The drinks were pretty delicious and the cute, outdoor vibe made it a really fun spot we would recommend to friends!

We dedicated the next day to exploring the area of Lefkes, Paros, which is a traditional, hidden Greek town. We visited a local spot — Geuseis tis Sintrofias—for a very affordable and delicious breakfast. We realized it was a more local spot when we arrived and they did not have an English menu. The waitress was kind enough to help us figure out what to order as she translated some of the menu items for us. We shared a delightful order of eggs, sausages, orange juice, and complimentary bread on the side! Again, a great spot we would recommend to anyone visiting Lefkes!

We then walked around the village of Lefkes on a hot, hot day. We were sweating bullets, but we found lots of shade underneath the gorgeous pink clouds of flowers and dove into a little side shop for some ice cold lemonade to cool off. Lefkes is a more traditional village and apparently was the first capital of the Paros island. We were surrounded by freshly painted village buildings congruent again with the white and blue theme. The village was much quieter than when we walked through Mykonos Town’s Little Venice, which gave us a lot more room to wander and explore. The peace that accompanied the smaller crowds was something we thoroughly enjoyed about the area.

Leaving Lefkes, our stomachs were growling and we wanted to visit another non-touristy mom and pop restaurant. We were in the mood for kebabs, so we stopped at Mylos Traditional Grill and the service and food did not disappoint. We ordered the “platter for two persons” which came with 7 different meats sticks, pita bread, sauces, grilled tomato, grilled pepper, and onions. It was so flavorful and the portions were more than generous!! The service was kind, sweet, and made us feel so welcomed as visitors. Best of all, the prices were phenomenally worth what we ate! We would definitely recommend this cute little restaurant for a more local and authentic Greek experience.

Every time we walked through the town of Parikia, we passed by this super cute cafe nestled underneath a couple trees. We kept telling each other that we wanted to stop by, so we finally made time to do it on our last morning in Paros. Sitting down in Symposium Cafe, an accordion player nearby played a few pieces for everyone as they enjoyed their morning coffees and breakfasts. We ordered a breakfast set for under ~20 euros which included savory crepe, a ham and cheese toast, orange juice, english breakfast tea, and a belgian waffle (with what I assumed is covered in nutella or some equivalent). We stopped by the little shops in the town nearby to get a couple souvenirs for our family and friends as we awaited our ferry. Then it was off to the ferry port again as we had to bid farewell to our favorite island of Greece. Goodbye Paros!