On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo
We’ve been lucky over the years to experience some wonderful travel opportunities around the world. With COVID, our wings were clipped not only financially, but also logistically, constraining our choices due to budget, time, medical requirements and availability of everything from flight routes to restaurant to entertainment.
After a long set of discussions, we ended up planning one big trip this year, to Crete. It’s a large Greek island, reaching down to become the southernmost point in Europe, about halfway between Peloponnesus and Libya. We had mikes to fly for free. We had initially considered confining our stay to Chania, Rethimno, Iraklio and Elounda in the north (with a lot of museum calls), but on reflection, that seemed kind of sedentary for our physical condition and desire to mentally check out.
We ended up deciding on an itinerary that included Chania with some private touring of food/wineries/culture, various landmarks and beaches, and a seldom used (in Greece, anyway) Orthodox marriage blessing. Following that was the lucky find of a really nice, fun and inexpensive naturist resort for four nights in the southern city of Chora Sfakion, a few nights in the adorable port of Loutro (Phoenix) and a final night in Old City Chania before an overnight in Athens and then to home.

Our guide was kind enough to arrange this with his parish priest at a pretty famous spot – the priest is his personal friend and the one who married him. The church was the headquarters of the Cretan Revolution against the Turks and the home parish of Eleftherios Venizelos (a Revolution commander instrumental in Union with Greece and several time Greek Prime Minister).
While I am no longer dogmatic at all, I do still respect my own family religious tradition, and it was a really important thing for us as a couple. Turns out that the Greeks generally don’t do these sorts of vow renewal/blessings, but there is a service for it and the priest was aware of the fact that a number of Americans want this sort of thing and is willing to accommodate that. We brought the crowns with us, and bought new linen clothing (along with Euros and good bourbon for the priest).
It was really special.
While in Chania those days, we did everything from wine tasting and restaurant walks (all inexpensive) to treks to Falassarna and Balos beaches, where I climbed up a hillside that the goats avoided, all to scramble on rocks for a great view while nursing my still-recovering leg.

This 3000 year old olive tree still bears fruit (I tasted it – bitter, but you could tell the promise). It is a beautiful thing at a place where a smallish farm includes olive, fig, pomegranate production, along with chickens, pigs, goats, beehives and a really sizeable kitchen garden.

After arriving in the area of Chora Sfakion (an hour and a half by public bus which cost something like 9 Euros apiece), we spent a lot of time at the rocky beach, by the pool and wandering the road to the beach in the buff as the stay was at a naturist resort. Things we noticed were that we were right in the middle band age wise (we were the only Americans, the rest were Brits, Germans, Poles and Lithuanians). Nothing was weird, everybody was friendly and nobody creepy.
Photos I didn’t include – the Milky Way on a clear night (Bill does those better) and the screechiest doves I ever heard (that’s Albatrossity’s turf). Also, I tried taking shots of the wild thyme and rosemary by the road, but those kind of sucked and didn’t do it justice.”, nor did my shots of abundant goats and sizeable uplift (Crete sits kind of at the confluence of the African, Asian and European plates, and the water frequently churns up with seismic activity – we saw it on the beaches).
Anyway, we ended up joining a naturist boat ride to Gavdos Island, southernmost point in Europe and the site of some fantastic wild beaches that we got to enjoy. As we went out, dust whipping off North Africa created a haze, and you could feel and taste that dust on the tongue. This rock formation is at the south most point on the island, and is stunning.

This is the port of Loutro, previously known as Phoenix during Minoan/Mycenaean times. In ancient times, the people of Anopolis ran pipes from this hilltop (now the site of a church) down to the port in order to send liquids as trade goods. This was to be our stay in two days time.

Byzantine ruins at Anopolis, built from the stone left over from the previous Minoan and Mycenaean ruins from ancient times before. This area has new homes, old homes, working farms, olive groves, goats, figs, chickens, prickly pear, etc.

View from our fourth floor room, up a daunting 75 stairs on my crap knee….

Also known as Sweetwater Beach, there is freshwater runoff that bubbles down to the very pleasant rounded pebbles below. There’s a great taverna on the left; the left side is mostly clothed, right side naturist. Ferry rides were 4 Euros a trip, and two loungers with umbrella was a grand total of 6 Euros. Beer was 2.50 and a shot of raki was .50.

This was our final stay, on the top floor of a Venetian structure. We had the large terrace with the large swing bed overlooking the harbor. I have great video of the harbor from there.
We, um, weren’t aware of how exposed we actually were up there that evening…….
Baud
Very cool.
satby
Looks like it was lovely and just the restorative break you needed. Beautiful vow renewal too. Congratulations, belated.
JPL
Thank you for sharing the photos of your trip.
Wag
Looks lovely. Great rugged terrain!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Wag:
It was fantastic terrain. Three massive tectonic plates meet pretty closeby! The weird little spurts of wave activity on the beach were interesting – as I told the Contessa – “if the ocean suddenly recedes, run and climb. Run, and climb….”
debbie
That tree! What a great drawing that would make! ?
Betty
Gorgeous part of the world. It all sounds very rustic and relaxing.
Another Scott
Great photos and stories.
Were you there during the October earthquakes? USGS
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Anyway
Nice trip! Great photos…
SkyBluePink
Wonderful scenic pics!
Lovely blessing ceremony.
eclare
Wonderful photos!
Almost Retired
Fabulous photos! And very timely for me, insofar as I’m taking my youngest son to Greece in the Spring as a college graduation present, and intend to include at least a week on Crete. Unlike his older brother, he’s not the “party island” type, so I figured “more Crete, less Mykonos.”
zhena gogolia
Beautiful. Blessings on your vow renewal! You look so sweet. The priest looks so much like one of my colleagues that I did a double take.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Almost Retired:
Definitely quieter, with an abundance of dramatic vistas, historical sites and charming tavernas.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@zhena gogolia:
Thank you! That was a beautiful day!
J R in WV
“How exposed” were you? Did people on the street stop to applaud the performance? A Standing ovation? Be proud~!!~
. ;~)
I kid, the opening was irresistible! And thanks for the great photos!!!
stinger
Wonderful photos of a place I’ve always wanted to see. Thanks!
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Thanks for the post and photos. I love the picture of the olive tree. I spent most of a week on Crete in 2018 as part of an archeological tour of Santorini and Crete and loved it. Seeing Knossos (Minoans!) had been at the top of my retirement travel list, but there was so much more to see. Greece is wonderful, especially the islands, and Crete is very special.