You Never Know

by Katie Goody (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

A leap into the unknown Greece

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There’s a strange beauty in travelling somewhere new that always fascinated me. After a lot of deliberation and pricing, my boyfriend and I decided to have our first holiday in Crete. It was somewhere neither of us had been before, so we were a little nervous, but mostly excited. We had booked a flight from Belfast that would be arriving in Crete late at night. We didn’t mind too much, aside from it meaning my boyfriend’s first time driving on the opposite side of the road would be late at night – on roads we would discover to be pitch black. When we landed we realised that the car hire company didn’t have an office at the airport. Instead, we had our own ‘personal chauffeur’ to take us to a building about five minutes away. Still in my ‘I’m-on-holiday’ mindset, I was ready to set off in our new hired car – that is until we were slapped with an extra €200 charge for insurance as neither of us had a credit card to cover the excess. Reluctantly, we paid and with us now in a bit of a foul mood, the man said he would show us to our car - a Fiat Panda. For anyone not familiar, a Fiat Panda is pretty much a box with a hood attached and ours happened to be bright orange. Feeling defeated, we got in and finally set off. At our hotel, we were greeted by the delightful owner, Stavros, who showed us to our rooms. ‘Leave your things,’ he said, ‘Come back to the bar and I’ll make you some food’. We had a feast for champions, two toasties and a plate of chips, and let me tell you it was one of the most phenomenal meals I’d ever had in my life. From then, all was right in the world, we were ready to enjoy our holiday and it was wonderful. In the space of a week, I became the accidental owner of a small number of street cats on a walk home one night. We discovered so many incredible restaurants overlooking crystal blue waters and tried plenty of mouth-watering Greek/Cretan dishes like moussaka and souvlaki. We visited countless, breathtaking historical sites from the rich ruins of Knossos to the harrowing island of Spinalonga, which had been used as a leper colony between 1902 and 1957. I was also able to tick something off my bucket list: jumping into the middle of the ocean – which was both terrifying and exhilarating. In the charming beach-front town of Chania, we relaxed and enjoyed a delicious lunch and a ridiculous amount of candy floss. I forgot about my cats as I became enamoured with a gorgeous dog basking in the sun. We knew we wanted to visit Psychro Cave; a destination believed to be the birthplace of Zeus. What we weren’t prepared for was the hike to get there. In the raging heat and with my asthma hitting me full-force, I struggled up the hill. But with the help of my boyfriend and some encouraging words from a group of older ladies we made it to the top. The cave took my breath away – both figuratively and literally. I had never felt more connected to Greek mythology than in that moment and secretly hoped I would discover my very own magnificent powers as we drank the most refreshing, freshly-squeezed orange juice before our descent. The bus tours weren’t as thorough as we would have liked and we ended up revisiting some of the sites in our little orange Panda leading to many more discoveries - like a quaint bakery tucked behind the high walls of Rethymno, which made adorable swan-shaped biscuits and the most indulgent powdered sugar biscuits, which came in a generous box for an affordable price. I’ll admit we had more than we probably should have, but sure, we were on holiday. Towards the end of the week, my boyfriend had started to love driving in Crete and even tapped our bright orange Panda and said, ‘I think I love this ridiculous car’. Considering how our week had begun, when it comes to holidays and trying new things - I guess you never know.