🎶 On the Road Again 🎶

Saw this on FB and laughed because that's me!! And I can think of a handful of others that think the same way LOL!!!

Anyways......

Yes this morning we had our rental car delivered at 9:30 :)  Its a sunny day Yippee! Now,  I'm happy we have wheels to get around but will also miss the walking we have been doing!  May be hard to get my 10,000 steps (7km) in each day unless we can find some hikes each day!  But lots of driving and pictures ahead :)

But before we head off we have to have breakfast - and Dwayne requested pancakes. But once I started to get the stuff ready I figured we should have french toast since we have lots of old bread that needs to be used up. And it was a delicious decision!! LOL!!! 

Extra icing sugar used from my fav cookies made the french toast perfect :)

My favourite Greek cookie - Kourabiedes (almond butter cookies) which are totally covered with
icing sugar when you buy them - the round one is one made by our neighbour :) 

Then off we went.  First we drive thru our village and head up the mountain to see what we could see.  We got a ways up there on the old road but eventually it was getting to bad to drive any further. Don't want to damage the rental!! 

View of Souda Bay

Then west of Souda is Chania

Found where one of the carriage drivers live once we went thru Chania 

Also one of their horses - shaved down to the knees but left a cute little fluffy heart on the thigh :) 

Since it was such a nice sunny day I figured we should head to 1 of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world (per TripAdvisor) - Elafonissi Beach on the west coast. When reading the 10 most beautiful beaches I found that we have been at another one - North Beach on Isla Mujeres:)  There are 2 more we can see next winter in Brazil and Galapagos on our trip thru South America :) 

Elafonissi is only about an hour from where we are. Again we are travelling the mountain roads to cross over the mountain range to get to the coast. We are actually on mostly the same road when we went to Paleocharo ending up going thru the 1 lane tunnel.  This time we stopped at Agia Sofia - which we missed last time thru.  It is a chapel hidden in a cave.  But after walking the 200+ steps to get up there we find it closed!! Suppose to be open from 8-8. Guess only in the summer.  There is a taverna along the way but it was also closed.  Oh well it saved us money LOL!! 

The Cave Chapel from the road

start of the steps going up and ad for the taverna

Think the taverna sets up tables on this patio in the summer - it has a nice view of the gorge

The Cave Wisdom of God above Dwayne

Locked out!

This pic is for my friend Doris who LOVES these types of roads - a mirror to watch for on coming traffic which has the right of way 

baby goat running away to get to mama 

Another one scampering up the slope- they are fast!

Village on the way to the beach

Lots of baby goats around

Think the goats cause the rockfalls onto the road

We continue the drive to Elafonisis and arrive just after the clouds started to cover up our sunshine :(  Oh well it wasn't as if we were going swimming today! But once we get to the water I can't believe how clear it is. Since the sun is not shining it doesn't have that beautiful turquoise color you can see from pictures online.  But the sand is pink as they say. Ribbons of shells along side the water gives the pink hue.  Really cool looking.  The beach is not really long and I guess when the tide is up it is even smaller because there is an island that today we can walk to since the water is low but usually there is water that you would have to cross to get to the small island.  Once we were on the island there are lots of spent sea daffodils - I find the seeds so interesting.  They look like little bits of coal - but light as a feather.  It must look beautiful here in the summer!  There are a couple of closed tavernas near the beach. This would be a very cool place to visit early summer before the tourists arrive!!

Well guess that's the end of the pavement! We drive a little further before we park 

Very Big BARE beach this time of year! 

Not often I need to wear socks and shoes to the beach!! LOL!!!

The pink sand 

All the pink shells

The water is SOOOO clear and very shallow for quite a ways out (from pics I've seen online)

Walking towards the island 

Don't fall in Dwayne!!

Thousands of shells and I cant take any!! :(

So ting and perfect!

Looking out towards the Mediterranean Sea

Awww look what my hubby drew in the sand 💕

Looking back inland from the island and you can see the dark sand which is not usually covered with water when the tide is up

Beautiful designs made with tiny shells and rocks and waves looks SOOOO cool!!

BZILLION shells!!!

Tiny little conch shells

And the tiny black stones 

Sea Daffodil seeds

Seeds still in the plant

The flower in bloom (off the internet)

Looking back from where we parked since the road was impassable

View from the hill of the beach and island

We drove back to the village to try and find a taverna that was open for lunch - but no luck!  Everything closed up until probably next spring.  We did find a mini mart so bought our "lunch" there - potatoes chips, tube steaks and and cheesies! LOL!!!  Don't laugh - potatoes chips and tube steaks are good together - just ask Dwayne LOL!!!  We have a nice drive back along the winding roads with the great views. 

Even chips have oregano flavouring!

Our tube steaks LOL!!! Cant say weiners!!!

These happy faces carved in the prickly pear cactus outside a restaurant were a laugh!

How stone houses are built and when competed the stones are covered with smooth cement - which falls off when it gets old 

Amazing how the small flat rocks are used as fillers - so cool!

A field of baby lambs or maybe baby Sheoats?!?!?! 

Once we got back to Tsikalaria just at dusk we have to drive by the cemetery so I get out and check out the grave with all the lights, plants and "stuff"  From what I can see in the dark is the it must have been a boy about 15-18 who passed away and must have loved motorcycles because there are so many trinkets in the closed in area that have to do with motorcycles.  

Some of the gifts inside the grave cover

Tomorrow we are taking the bus into Chania since parking is to crazy on market day. We'll park along the route of the Souda bus line since it runs more often, and we won't have to walk the 2 km with our little red cart full of veggies if we miss the 2:00 Tsikalaria bus.  After we get home not sure what we will do, may drive back into Chania in the evening to check out the lights :)