
It was time to sail south and Crete will be our next destination!
Finally it was northerly winds and we could sail south. We had no plan where to go, but had a thought about Schinoussa or Ios, depending on the weather. We ended up on the south side of Ios, in a bay we thought would be less rolly. It was not…. so it was a long night… We stayed there another night because of the weather and disaded to sail further south the next day. The next morning we got a message from our friends on Naxos that the weatherforcast stops the boat traffic and we should not go out sailing. But we ignored that because we had the wind behind us, and not too much wind.
Santorini
From Ios it is only one possibility and that is Santorini. On Santorini there are no good anchorages or marinas, so were not sure what to do when we arrived there. The weather was not sunny and it was a lot of waves, so we sailed between the islands, also to see more of Santorini.

We have been on Santorini for holiday before so we didn`t had a wish to visit the island now. If you like to read more about that trip you can read my other blog:
https://lailasturblogg.blogspot.com/2011/06/santorini-dag-1.html

We anchored outside the marina on the south side of Santorini. A lot of swell there so we started early next morning to sail to Crete.

The first part of the sailing from Santorini to Crete was lovely, quiet, and we also need to use the engine. But it went from 0 to 30 knots of wind when we were almost half way. The sea built up and it was not nice to be out there. We had a plan to sail into Elounda bay, but it was dark when we arrived and because of the wind and waves (and it is very shallow along Spinalonga island) we decided to go south of Elounda instead, just to hide from the weather. We tried the next day to sail around the Spinalonga peninsula to Elounda, but the waves was huge, and then I mean HUGE!!! Just against us! So we turned around and went back to the anchorage we came from.
That day I made one of my favourites for dinner, pasta/chicken salad. First I made tzatziki:

And then I cutted all the vegetables I wanted:

Then I boiled pasta and I fried the chicken in small pieces. I made a sauce to put on the pasta, and it is soooo delicious, if I could say so my self 🙂

And I made foccacia in my omnia oven.

And then at least but not last, feta cheese and olives on top. OMG!!

Finally the next day it was calm and we could sail around the Spinalonga peninsula. Here you can see Spinalonga island. In the beginning it was a fortress, but it is most know for a treatment center for lepers from 1904 to 1957. I have been here once on a studytrip many years ago, but Astor haven`t, unfortunately it is closed during the winter.
Spinalonga

A photo from the boat.

Many people lived on this island, many was born here, and many died. It has a lot of history.

Maybe you have read the book “The island” (Øya in Norwegian) from Victoria Hislop? Here it happend!

Elounda
Finally anchored in Elounda. This is a really nice bay to anchor and we were alone for many days.

As in many other places in the Med, it is quiet at this time of the year. It is a nice temperature and the sun is shining!

After four days on the boat we needed a walk. We walked over to Spinalonga peninsula. Here are the bay we anchored first.

We had a walk to Chapel of Saint Luke, before we walked back.

The view from Spinalonga peninsula to Elounda.

There is a canal through here but it is not possible to go here with a sailboat. On the south side there is a Minoan sunken city, it is around 5000 years old. We had a plan to go here with a drone to take a photo from above, but didn`t manage to do it.

It is mid January and the Christmas decoration is still there! From here the bus goes to Agios Nikolaos.

You can also do some gym before going back to the boat!

Agios Nikolaos
The next day we took the bus to Agios Nikolaos to meet our friends from S/Y Relax, Tuula and Pekka. Agios Nikolaos is much bigger than Elounda and here you can find everything you need.

We had a walk around town, had lunch together and visit them in the boat before we took the bus back to Elounda.

The Christmas decorations with lights.

I guess they will take it away within a few days.

And we are baking bread. It is with a lot of different seeds, walnuts, oliveoil, honey, and of course flour, water, salt and yeast. It is soooo good!!

The next day we had a longer hike around the Spinalonga peninsula.

I am not sure what this is…

Almost the whole way it was easy to follow the trail, just had to look for marks.

We walked over the hill and down on the other side.

We had a pitstop at Ekklisia Agios Fokas were we met a French couple.

Ekklisia Agios Fokas

Nice trail and easy to see!

Cloudy, but nice temperature!

In Elounda there is a promenade in northerly direction for 1,5 km, perfect for a short run or walk. I had a walk while Astor went to the hardware shop…

And as you can see, it was a lovely nice and warm day.

On the way back I walk up the hill instead and got a nice view of the boat.

Kritsa Gorge
We met a couple from UK, Sarah and David, having a catamaran in the marina here, they are renting a small apartment for a while through winter. David should pick up his mother in Heraklion airport the same day as we had rented a car, so we could go with David instead of taking the bus. It is more than an hour to drive to Heraklion, but the car rental prices is so much cheaper than other places. We paid 70 EUR for 3 weeks!!
And now we could drive around and explore the eastern part of Crete. The first thing on our list was Kritsa Gorge. Crete has over 100 gorges so it is many to choose from! Kritsa itself is a nice village worth a visit.
And as you can see it is an amazing day!

Here it is the beginning of the gorge. This was our first gorge and I am glad for that, it was a really huge WOW!!

We are walking in there, look at theese amazing walls!

It was a little bit of climbing but all in all an amazing trail!

It was so exciting walking around there.

Astor is pritty small there!

I could do this trail over and over again!

Sometimes we wonder were the trail was going, but it was good marked, you just had to have a look for the marks.

Not much sun in the bottom of the gorge. I guess it is a lot warmer here in the summertime.

A lot of stones in different sizes so you had to watch were you put your feet!

Many types of rock formations!

Not much space when you can touch both sides of the gorge!

A little bit of climbing.

Do you see the cat up there?

Further up the gorge it opens up and it was more sunny.

The map on alltrail showed a longer hike, but we met a fence which was so difficult to open that we decided to cut the trail there and we walked up the hill and back to the parking. We saw a beautiful mountain, and I wished I could be up there….

Here is a video from Kritsa Gorge:
Kritsa village.

We had a short walk through the village, it was not much to see and very quiet.

Well, we found this guy!

And theese couple had been sitting there for a while…

I guess an artist is living here!

When we came back to the boat I received this photo from Sarah, you can see our boat over there. Amazing colours!

With a car we can now continue exploring the east side of Crete!

