Day 4: August 23

After breakfast, we take a short walk around Krasi. In the center of the village grows a huge plane tree.
We found an abandoned old house, and beautiful amphorae were lying on the floor inside.

We continue our journey across the Lassithi Plateau. Mountains surround us, and it is very beautiful. We stop near the old windmills. We even managed to get into one of the mills (someone had broken the lock on the door) - we saw how it is arranged inside.

After the plateau, we head to Kolokitha Beach. The beach is located on the Spinalonga Peninsula, separated from Crete by a narrow isthmus. We cross the isthmus, and it’s so amazing — the road seems to be right at sea level. Then we drive along a dirt road to the parking area. There are lots of cars here. The descent to the beach is easy.

When we see the beach and the number of people there from afar, Volchy suggests going farther along the shore in search of a better spot. There really is a well-trodden path leading somewhere, and we keep walking and walking along it… It’s hot, and I already just want to swim, but there isn’t even a hint of a beach here — rocky cliffs drop sharply into the sea. I start whining, but Volchy cheers me up, believing that we’ll get somewhere very soon.

We reach a small bay, and the path continues to a little church. There is no beach here, but there is access to the sea over stone boulders. At first we were a little disappointed, but then, accepting where we are, we look for a place to “park.”

The bay we reached turned out to be wonderful for several reasons. First of all, there is a very beautiful underwater world here.

I saw a lionfish for the first time in my life. At first I didn’t believe my eyes, but yes indeed — a lionfish! I call Volchy over. He swims up.

- I’m going to show you somethiiiiing! I found this fish, striped, with lots of fins (I still didn’t know then that it was called a lionfish :)

- I don’t believe it! There are no such fish here, Volchy smiles

- I didn’t believe it at first either. Look, right here, it’s flopping around in the water.

Knowing that lionfish are venomous, we keep our distance from it. Later we read on Wikipedia that a person won’t die from it, but if it does sting with its venom, it won’t be pleasant…

And Volchy shows me multicolored underwater "worms" crawling over the rocks. Interesting creatures, like little snakes, bright, red-white-blue, as if made up of many little plates. We had never seen anything like them anywhere before.

And also, in this bay we found deposits of beautiful orange quartz! Volchy collected a whole pile of treasures!

We sit on the rocks and examine the quartz. The sun is sinking toward the horizon and the light has become soft… I don’t even want to leave; it’s so beautiful and pleasant here. On the way to the parking lot, the sole of my Teva sandal split in half. I really loved those sandals; they were very comfortable shoes for a beach vacation.

Our hotel is located in the eastern part of the island. It’s not that far to get there — 115 km — but along the Cretan winding roads the navigator promises a 2.5-hour drive, and it turns out to be right. It’s already completely dark. Too bad, it’s so beautiful here all around, but night has swallowed everything.

We arrive at the hotel at half past nine, the reception is closed, and there are instructions hanging on the door on how to check in. We find our room — and… sink into despair. The room is completely different from the photos; we want to run away from here. And not just me — Wolf has also sunk into despair. We have to stay here for 2 nights, but we decide to cancel the booking. Luckily, this was the only hotel of all of them that we hadn’t paid for in advance. Wolf quickly finds another hotel, 20 km from this one. We jump into the car and drive on. A huge red moon hangs in the sky.

Our new accommodation is a tiny two-story house in the center of a small village called Zakros. The house is so-so, but we’re only here to spend the night — in the morning we’ll drive on….