Later in the afternoon we reached the south shore beach of Crete, complete with sandy beaches, clear blue waters that are shallow enough for one to walk out to a little island quite close to the shore. This was the first day that we encountered tourists, families and couples traveling in small camping vehicles. We had a HALF WAY through the trip ceremony in the clear blue Cretan waters this afternoon- a celebration of where we had been and to what we were yet to learn on this adventure. On the drive back home we chose to drive through many of the beautiful green gorges and tiny villages. That evening we finally took some time off to settle in and begin to read the book that our host Juliet had given us.
Juliet wrote a little paragraph describing the details of where we have traveled and we will include it here as it also has some pronunciation help for those of you planning a trip to Crete anytime soon!
From Juliet: “The gorge you went to a little way with both of us was Deliana Gorge. Pronounced thelyanA, where the 'the' is as in 'then'; the 'y' as in yes, you etc.;
the last A is emphasised but still sounds like the a in bat. You also walked Polyrhinnia Hill and went to Katsamatados, through the Topolia Gorge. You walked with me from Mouri to Latziana looking at Mouri Gorge, Topolia Gorge and the gorge which you see from the house, Sassalos Gorge. That's gorged you out now.
You also went to falasarna and Elafonisi on your big round car trip and to the Monastery with the golden step. You sat on the beaches Vari Bobbi and Mavro Molo.