A fishermen’s village

March 24, 2023March 10, 2023 ~ Madison Kennedy

And then the storm hit !

If you’ve been following my adventures from a couple posts ago, then you know we somehow stranded ourselves on Spinalonga island, tried to bribe our way back to shore without any luck, until we bumped into the nicest boat guy who was sailing for a village named Plaka… and he only took us in because there was an alert being broadcasted for an incoming storm, and they stopped sending boats on waters.

Got to this beautiful seaside village, to dry ourselves in a café because we got drenched in the boat, under a crazy rain. Finally found a taxi to take us back to our hotel in another city, the pretty Elounda, and got not-so-suprised by the storm during that ride. Ran from taxi door, to hotel door, in already over two inches of rain. Ended up wet again, but at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel, with a nice cocktail. Delightful. In France we say “après la pluie, le beau temps” so I guess, good weather must be incoming now.

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Seaside Cretan village

March 22, 2023March 10, 2023 ~ Madison Kennedy

We ended up in this little seaside village unexpectedly…

I don’t know if you remember, but in the last post I told you about the little situation we got ourselves into, which was : we missed our boat back ! We couldn’t pay our way out of Spinalonga island, and got stuck there for over an hour… we tried explaining this, but no other boat wanted to take us as there were some “safety measures” they needed to follow (???)

Finally someone with some sense told us, we could be waiting there for longer than that, because there was a storm coming, and they might be the last boat going back to shore for a while. They accepted us in, otherwise we could have stayed on leper island until who knows when ! Because yes, on top of everything else, as you can see on the pictures, the sky was moody and the clouds started being menacing.

So they took us to Plaka, as they were sailing there. They explained it wasn’t too far from Elounda, and we could probably catch a taxi from there to go back to our hotel. We replied “HAPPILY, GET US OUT OF HERE” 😂

It gave us the opportunity to visit this little village, it was really cute and the views on the island were quite breathtaking. We dried ourselves in a nice café, because yes, the rain caught to us while on the boat 😅 what a trip.

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Postcards from Spinalonga

March 20, 2023March 9, 2023 ~ Madison Kennedy

We explored a little outside the Venetian fortress, unto the cliffs…

The nature in Crete is incredible, see for yourselves : it makes you want to go on hikes, dive into little coves, sit silently and watch the moody clouds go past you. We love this place so much, we even missed our flight to Paris on purpose to stay longer 😂

Spinalonga was a fun day trip, I would definitely recommend. Just keep in mind that it’s small, there’s an entrance fee on top of the boat you paid. Also, if you miss your boat back (like we did) you’ll get stuck on the island until they send another one, which can feel forever : no other boat will board you because of dumb measures, so you can’t pay your way out.

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The island of the living dead

March 17, 2023March 9, 2023 ~ Madison Kennedy

Boat day trip ! 🤗

I’ve divided the pictures I took on Spinalonga island in three parts, because it was a lot for one or two posts. Anyway, we took the boat from Elounda : we love that city ! They have amazing restaurants, the area is gorgeous, and a very chill and classy nightlife.

Plus there are a few boat trips from there, so that’s fun ! As you can tell it was very cloudy, but let me tell you that even when it rained it was warm. I didn’t notice anyone minding that, we even swam in those sumptuous waters with that crazy weather.

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Spinalonga island

March 15, 2023March 9, 2023 ~ Madison Kennedy

We continue our trip to visit Spinalonga island !

It’s a picturesque spot, the views whether from inside the fortified citadel, or at the ramparts, are quite breathtaking. Fun fact, it is known as the Leper island… people who contracted that disease in Crete, even Greece, would be sent here to live away from the rest of the population. It’s pretty now, even if it’s in ruins, but you can definitely feel some bad, lonely and desperate vibes.

By the way, don’t pay attention to my boyfriend’s outfit (the green shorts… you will get familiar with those in the next posts); he’s the type of guy to pack one or two pants when going on vacay at the beach, because he believes we don’t need clothes for that sort of trip. Whereas I’m over here changing outfits daily 😂