One of Adam’s best friends recently got married in Crete and we were lucky enough to use this celebration to catapult us into exploring this beautiful island. Greg and Isaac had one AMAZING wedding! We loved getting the chance to be there to help celebrate and get to know the island that means so much to them.
Crete had the perfect mix of family travel ingredients for us to allow us to actually slow down while adventuring. Sometimes I can delve us into travel situations that are light on relaxation but after reflecting on our Cretan travels we have identified more of what we are looking for now that we travel with our little dude.
A few aspects of Crete that added to that perfect balance for us included:
- Convenience: instead of usual schlepping strollers and baby backpacks around our typical destinations our spot in Crete was an Airbnb apartment above a beachfront Tavern (with playground) in the center of a bustling seaside town. Because of this our beach and food endeavors were just steps away, while epic hikes were only a 20-minute drive away. This convenience that Crete offered with our stay cut down on planning and allowed us to simply enjoy the moments at the beach and in the mountains.
- Beaches: Beaches are everywhere, gorgeous, and typically paired with pebbles and playgrounds (which are two of Milo’s favorite things). Plus, because of how the towns hug the coastline… there are always food and bathrooms steps away from any sandy beach spot (which as a mom makes packing for the beach even easier). We spent every morning searching for the best rocks to throw into the sea and digging holes in the sand for Milo to jump in.
- Kindness: The people in Crete had a laid-back, genuine, and friendly way about them. People made it easy for us all to sit back and enjoy the beachy vibes of the island.
- Outdoorsy activities galore: This was where Crete really sold us. Prior to coming to Crete I never really got the hang of snorkeling but Adam LOVES snorkeling and any chance he gets he is in the water exploring. On this trip I fell in love with snorkeling too and the two of us would take turns exploring the rocks by the coast to see the beautiful fish villages woven within. Milo got so used to seeing us do this… he has been playing dress us with the snorkel and goggles ever since! Also the hiking… Man. We came to Crete hoping to try to do Samaria Gorge which is one of the best European hikes around but it is 9 miles which honestly would have been way too long for us with Milo. Instead, we tried a couple Gorge hikes nearby and hiked down to The Elephant Cave (which is an underwater cave that is a great spot for Scuba Divers) nearby. Milo typically slept in the car en route to our afternoon hikes and one day was so conked out from our beach-filled morning that he slept through the first chunk of our hike! Shoutout to the mountain goats, incredible scenery, and Milo commands to “go more up” that added to the ambiance of our hike excursions.
- Affordability: Our low-key Airbnb in a perfect location set us back $60 per night, a good bottle of wine was $5, and I actually brought back an awesome dress that I wore to a pre-wedding celebration for $25… With how affordable everything was this simply added to the whole relaxed feeling of the trip.
But of course, there had to be some hitches along the way and our arrival night in Crete was one wild arrival…to say the least. A few Blooper-esc to serious Blooper moments that started our Cretan trip off included:
- Our primary phone charger stopped working and our phones were dead upon boarding our flight.
- Because our phones were dead we could not find our rental car agency which was apparently not in the airport.
- After our reserved rental car could not be located we rented a second one to set off on our midnight GPS-less drive towards an Airbnb in a town we think we knew the name of.
- We arrive in Kalives which is a tiny town that I (think) know has an Airbnb on top of a tavern on the beach… how hard could it be to find?
- Incredibly tricky when the beach is lined with Taverns… but thankfully Milo was asleep in my arms and Adam ran into any bar and or hotel that would let him charge his phone. After some hardcore hustling, Adam managed to find our Airbnb and contact our host to let us in, in the wee hours of the night.
- Our Airbnb lacked the promised crib which made for one last challenge before we all passed out…
Only to wake up the next morning to the start of our Crete trip with windows that opened up to the Meditteranean, beachy mornings and hike-filled afternoons, a typically nap-resistant toddler who took naps each day so tired from all his adventuring, and finally, a week filled with the best kind of wedding celebrating in which Milo loved the live music and company so much he actually danced on a couple tables.
Our favorite spots in Crete:
- Gorge Sarakina Meskla: A Beautiful hike with SO much up. On this hike there were views around every turn, a cool slot canyon welcome, and a water hole at the end.
- Dimitris Taverna in Almyrinda, Crete: This was our favorite spot to eat by far because of the atmosphere (Thanks to Greg and Isaac for having a pre-wedding celebration here). The taverna butts up to the ocean, has one amazing sunset view, and has lots of fun slides and play structures for kids. But, really our favorite part was watching Milo fall in love with greek music and a Cretan singer throughout our dinner. Watching Milo bust his moves on a table beside the band was one of the best memories.
- Drapanos Hike, Octopus Bay: Seeing mountain goats here and watching them scurry through the cliffs was incredible.
- Kalives, Crete beaches: Perfection.
- Wandering Chania’s waterfront: Chania is a bigger city on the island and is jam-packed with restaurants and shops along the historic Venetian harbor.
Milo’s favorites:
- “Go see beep” at the playground at our Airbnb which had a little truck that Milo LOVED to ride.
- “Throw rock underwater” then he added, “with mama” and I melted.
- “go up” on our Sarakina Meskla hike.
Thank you Crete for the sweetest trip and thanks to Greg and Isaac for having us at your sweet wedding!
Tiny Treks 