'If you want to relax then this is the place for you.' After weeks and weeks of incessant partying, we were instantly sold after this review on hostelworld. Our journey to the small town of Plakias did take 14 hours, but we were rewarded on arrival. A big green garden, 4 yellow blocks with little verandas, a communal outside area and the best thing of all, hammocks strung from every tree.
Plakias was a lovely beachside town, with one main strip of shops lining the beach, scrubland behind this, with a mountainous backdrop. This town seemed like the perfect fit for me, a blend of all the things I love most. Beach of course, but more serene and empty coves, in stark contrast to the umbrella packed, tourist filled sand of every other Greek Island. Cheap and local restaurants, where I had some of my best Greek meals, cooked by a local, continuing to create the dishes I'm sure his or her yiayia would have taught them at a young age. A new mix of people, from all countries, walks of life, varying in ages from 18-50 was so refreshing after weeks of constant Australian accents, all young travellers like me, doing the token uni break 5 week Europe party trip. No one with an interesting story or something special to offer, but Plakias brought this change. I met Hans, an extremely kind Dutch man, a teacher who taught me a lot about generosity, and gave some fantastic book recommendations. Marta, a 30 year old Brazilian whose list for life was so infectious, and made you feel like you simply had to make the most out of every day. Already at her young age she had been a police officer, studied film and photography, and is now in law school still doing freelance film work with the hope of becoming a human rights lawyer. Daz, the dopey English boy, who was an absolute goofball, but had travelled around Asia for 10 months with incredible stories of what can happen when you go with the flow. Yiannis, a Greek man, who had been coming to Plakias for his month holiday for the last 22 years, who could speak 4 languages and still opted to teach in his home village in Greece so that his village was well educated, despite having the potential to go much further. A trio of American boys who quickly invited me into their 'munch crew' which held the principle, 'Munch it all and munch it now'- we hit it off as you can imagine. Three boys that looked to be your typical American jocks, but played chess in the afternoons and chatted with me about Of Mice and Men, as well as many other classics. So many other incredible people, which made my 4 days quickly turn to 7, and even then my goodbye was only temporary, I will definitely return.
Crete taught me a lot about myself. How much I love adventure and activities, reading stories and learning about people's lives, and how nice it is to sit in the quiet and just be, especially after 3 months of high paced travelling. I got rid of a lot of inhibitions, following Isabella a German girl at the hostel who on arrival at the nudist beach, looked around for 5 seconds, shrugged and stripped to join the crowd. I stared at her in envy, how confident and sure of yourself you must be to just get naked no inhibitions and continue chatting merrily like nothing had changed. I was angry at myself, why can't I just be brave and blend in, take the plunge, I mean its only another body, there are plenty of others, but there was something stopping me. Fear of being judged, looking different, it being awkward, I can't pinpoint it exactly, but I couldn't do it, even though I desperately wanted to be free and liberated.
My adventurous streak was in paradise here, as the reception walls were filled with maps and instructions of hiking trails, walks, waterfalls, and secluded beaches. To get anywhere I walked. An hour to a hidden beach, three hours trekking through scrub and a river to reach a series of amazing waterfalls and the 'magic bridge', 45mins up to the village on the mountain Mythios, to taste a Cretan delicacy from a local taverna, snail stew. The feeling of excitement, adventure, blood pumping through my veins, leg muscles working, heavy breathing, I had missed it so much after weeks of inactivity, beach and clubs. I forgot how much I love to explore and do activities and felt my mood and energy levels lift drastically during this week. We got back to basics here. We climbed, we walked, we read books in hammocks, did yoga in the garden in absolute silence except for the birds, we bought food and cooked healthy meals on the campfire, we went out for dinners as a group and had conversations about the world, learning someone's life story each night, and realising how different people's lives are.
Each morning around 10 we would all roll out and eat breakfast together, get supplies out from the fridge, or have Greek yoghurt and fresh Cretan honey from the hostel. By the time plates were cleared and washed up, we would have grouped off for activites. A hike, a beach day, relaxing day in the hammocks, a car adventure to another part of the island, you name it. And by 6pm everyone slowly regrouped back around the table, stories of their day shared over summer wine (red wine & fanta), fresh grown tomatoes from the garden, feta from the shops, maybe some peanuts from Yiannis' village, each night someone brought something different to share. It felt like a family, and was the most normal I have felt and most homely environment, despite being a world away from my normal home life, that I have had so far this trip. There were no attractions or sights to see, no huge party life, but such a blend of fun that the relaxed nature of it was perfect, and never got boring.
On my last day in Crete, I walked across the rocks and clambered down to the beach and with a rush of adrenalin peeled off my clothes and calmly marched into the water. I did it. And in an effort to push myself to the absolute limit and feel that satisfaction, I climbed up the rock to the 9m summit, took a breath and leapt off, into the cold water beneath me. And as my bare bum hit the water, I felt free.
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