Day 10: Get in the car and drive

Trip

Greece+Cyprus 2025

Location

Crete 🇬🇷

Date

September 22, 2025

Today, we’re making our way to Sitia. Of course we’re not just driving straight there, we’ve planned stops along the way. Of course, before heading to the airport to grab our car for the rest of our stay in Crete, we’re having breakfast. Originally we planned to stop next to where we were staying. 📍Tiny Rebels talked to us with its name and reputation for excellent coffee. They’re also exclusively vegan making the number of items on their menu that are probably nut free as tiny as their name or even smaller. After some deliberation we went back to 📍Frankly; if nothing else, the coffee and food was good and their paper placemats state: “My dear, I don’t give a damn” with the image of an unimpressed woman. They know how to cater to our sensibilities.

Taking public transit to the Airport is not much different than the other way. The signage for the bus stop is much easier to see for sure but it’s next to a taxi station AND the bus stop is covered in ads for Freenow, the local taxi app. I have a strong suspicion that there’s a strong taxi lobby.

The bus ride was quick, finding the Avis counter at the airport was a little more challenging. I remembered seeing it when we exited the airport on our way in but couldn’t find it inside the terminal. With enough walking we realized that the departure and arrival sections of the airport don’t connect from the inside. We exited, entered back in the airport a couple of doors down and we found the counter right away. Details shared, payment checked, conditions explained we boarded a car from the other side of the airport - because, yes, you have to walk the length of the airport to get picked up and driven to a parking area that’s a good 50 meters from the door we exited the terminal. Rental car companies keeps being the model of efficiency they are know for…

We got upgraded from a small SUV to a medium SUV. I had booked a car higher off the ground expecting more clearance would help on gravel roads. I will say that being given a Ford in Europe feels like being cheated out of a better car.

Our first stop was about an hour away in 📍Plaka. We were not looking to visit the beach town. It was only a convenient parking spot close to 📍Nisida Spinalonga, a Venetian fortress built on a small island that became Europe’s last leper colony. It was active until 1957. Later than what I would have expected for a bacterial infection that’s spread mainly via droplets from the nose and mouth and requires frequent respiratory contact. We’re not talking about the flu here.

The small island island is a nice visit. There are beautiful views on the bay if you’re willing to rough trail it to the top. There’s a walkway around that that took us around the island through very small habitation ruins. Thinking how around 400 people lived there at its peak as a leper colony really shows how people were crammed together back then.

The hour-long visit concluded back at the “port” with its very small pier. There are frequent boats but they don't all go back to Plaka. That small fact is key as the boat operators will not check your ticket for the way back. We came back on a boat from a different company than the one that brought us to the island, that moored at a different pier in Plaka than we departed from. Not that they knew and the only difference for us was that we were the next pier over and had to walk an additional 3 minutes to our car (for a total of 5 minutes).

We continued to our next destination, the 📍Monumental Olive Tree of Azorias. Based on the annual ring counting, it is estimated to have been planted between 1350 and 1100 BC. It’s one of the oldest olive trees in Europe. An impressive specimen. The road to get there might not have been the oldest in Europe but it was everything one can expect from an “off the beaten track” road. Barely wide enough for a single car yet it’s a two-way street. Add to that the multiple hairpins turns with no margin, and Karine was second guessing herself and her obsession with old trees. Fun stuff to drive at 20kph.

Our arboreal activity completed, we headed to 📍Sitia where we’ll be spending the next two nights. We didn't choose the town for any specific appeal other than its location and number of restaurants. We needed somewhere to stay close to the Zakros Gorges, commonly called Gorges of the Dead. Our arrival and subsequent exploration of the place to find sparkling water and something to snack on before dinner confirmed the lack of anything special.

We had dinner 📍Fegaropsaro. We were very disappointed with the starters. Who puts balsamic vinegar on top of fried feta with honey? I would call that a crime against humanity but I’m pretty sure that the goat has ground to sue the cook or there’s a need of somebody in The Hague; one or the other for sure. The rest of the meal was OK. Well… I say OK, I mean our lamb turned out to be pork and how bad do have you to be as a cook to mess up putting small white fish in the fryer? Not balsamic vinegar on fried cheese bad as it turns out.

Tomorrow is the hike. Since it’s a short loop we barely need to get up early. The weather forecast is calling for clear skies and warmth. Also, we’re not having dinner at the same place. Everything is looking up.