Agia Pelagia: The Harry Potter Spell of Crete

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My long time friend and I (the one who got married in Montreal), were chatting on Skype about life and whatnot, and she decided she needed a vacation. We talked about "oh, couldn't it be nice to go somewhere warm, the Mediterranean, Greece!" and suddenly, flights were booked, an AirBnB was found, she was flying from Canada and me from Copenhagen, and we had a gorgeous 3 day getaway in Greece together. We rented a car and stayed in a place whose name I could only ever describe as a Harry Potter spell, Agia Pelagia (seriously, say it out loud). The AirBNB was perfect, a big place with loads of rooms and a big kitchen and a rooftop terrace overlooking the ocean. We went on daily adventures, looking at small towns and going to the absolute heart of Mediterranean typical British horribleness, a street with everything named after something British (in Greece!), with endless drunken Brits on every sidewalk, and often, staggering into traffic, and bar after bar after bar featuring British beers and ciders. WHY would you go on vacation, and try to buy / experience what you just left behind? I don't understand it. Either way, we solved that problem by meeting a nice gentleman at a coffee place at the very end of the street, who told us that the fun adult places (older folk) was in the next village. We headed there, and ended up spending our night dancing with a bunch of old (60's, 70's) Bulgarian women wearing hats and singing. They were awesome and we had a great time.



We also had our share of driving adventures, including a special night of being re-routed off the highway after a loooooong day out, and ending up in a traffic jam of many cars in the dead of night, with no street lights, in the mountains with cliffs on one side and mountain on the other, and tour busses passing every 5 minutes, nearly falling off the cliff or scraping off our mirrors. We ended up turning the mirror inwards, opening up the groceries we bought and eating tapas whilst driving, (or not driving in this case) and simply staying determined not to fall off the cliff. Our determination won and here I am, writing this today.



Near our AirBnB there was a great resort where one could casually walk in (I'm quite sure one was not supposed to, but nonetheless), visit the private beach, partake in cocktails and gorgeous Greek food and carry on about our day. We ended up spending a few times there, relaxing including our last night, where we tried to head to a party but didn't have the right energy, and so we ended up laying poolside, staring at the stars and talking about our careers, as we do.



It was a great little getaway filled with Greek salad, gorgeous beaches, and fantastic finds (definitely check out the *(#@(* ))) restaurant in Agia Pelagia, right on the beach, and one totally expects a tourist trap and is pleasantly surprised to find a chic, artisan getaway with exquisite food and drink and fabulous staff.

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