Today we began our journey making a few unexpected stops. We first had to stop at a medical center in Crete because of a quick emergency for one of the students. This reminded me sort of a minute clinic or medical center with immediate attention like we have in the states. It was a quick stop where we sat and ate breakfast then continued to travel to one of the banks to help the other student out with her credit card.
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| Climbing up the mountain to reach the cave! |
The first planned stop was to the Dikteon Cave in Lasithi, Plateau. This is where Zeus was kept in hiding. His mother, Rhea, hid Zeus a new born here to protect him from Chronos, his father. This cave is known as the Psyhro Cave which we climbed up to the top of the mountain and then traveled down the steps into the cave. It was very cool in there and felt great. There was water at the bottom and the rock formations were unlike anything I have ever seen before in person.
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| Walking down inside the cave! |
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Water down at the bottom, such a cool place to go!
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The rocky beach with a pathway to walk to the water and
the island in the distance. |
Next we travelled to the beach called Spinalonga to see another one of the most refreshing beaches in Crete. This was such an interesting and different type of beach we have seen so far! There was no sand or waves. The rocks were huge and the only way you can lay on the beach is a chair. It was kind of difficult to get into the water so there was wooden pathways to help you walk into the sea. This reminded me more of an inlet or bay because there was a lot of land surrounding the area. The water once again was very clear and refreshing. You could not really sand in this water. The rocks were very slippery. I enjoyed cooling off here and also spending a few hours in this area. The one interesting thing I learned is the architecture here uses the rocks from the beaches and sea to help build the foundation and exterior. Also the island across was a large museum where you could take a boat to tour it. No one lived there, but it looked like a fortress type place.
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| In front of the Bull Statue at Adios, Nikolas. |
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| Lake Voulismeni with boats parked along the walkway. |
After the time at the beach we walked around the town of Adios, Nikolas, it was a cute little town that had a lake called Lake Voulismeni. It was not a typical lake I am used to; it was more like an inlet that small boats could park in. This is a popular place for visitors to see and also eat around at the local restaurants. This town is a great shopping place also with streets that are cobble stone and also just walking streets.
Finally we stopped at a festival. This was a religious ceremony called St. Marina. We began listening to the prayers, but we could not understand them since they were in Greece. There was bread brought by families and it was blessed. After the ceremony they cut the bread and share it to all the people. This bread was sweet, it had the taste of anise in it. Then we travelled down to the village to celebrate with food, music, and dance.
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