Our Cretan journey landed us in our final destination, Elounda, after a lovely morning in Chania and drive across the island.
![20160725_201357-_D5A8177 20160725_201357-_D5A8177](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/3e09eb01d016f75064e605c641f9cc6c/20160725_201357-_D5A8177-900x900.jpg)
Elounda, on the northeastern side of the island, is a town of many beach resorts thanks to a calm inlet and shockingly clear beaches. The view from our room at the resort, the beautiful Blue Palace looked out on the island of Spinalonga, where we visited. I'll share more in the next post about that.
![20160725_190846-_D5A8137 20160725_190846-_D5A8137](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/406b9e003f0eab11dda8d066027b12bc/20160725_190846-_D5A8137-900x900.jpg)
We woke to hot sunshine and the most enormous buffet breakfast (they even had a whole GF bread section), and spent the morning swimming in our own little pool.
![20160725_123330-_D5A7539 20160725_123330-_D5A7539](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/547953b45172b6c81fc67e5b720e3359/20160725_123330-_D5A7539-900x900.jpg)
The water cool from the night felt perfect after sitting on the pool divider to warm in the sun.
![20160725_123906-_D5A7552 20160725_123906-_D5A7552](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/3c8f91ab34a413afb4166e2372bd5a31/20160725_123906-_D5A7552-900x900.jpg)
From our room, you could see the beach that we spent time at.
![20160725_125457-_D5A7622 20160725_125457-_D5A7622](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/23435edd4ddaead4e9e4fe13f6167271/20160725_125457-_D5A7622-900x900.jpg)
These beaches, like many in the Mediterranean have no sand, but smooth stones. We have long been wary of this type of beach, but discovered something amazing! The hotel had boardwalks through the stones and a pier to jump straight into the salty sea, and so there was no mess or scratch from sand anywhere.
![20160725_183310-_D5A8112 20160725_183310-_D5A8112](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/f96b38aa5a8d37dec9f5a38ecc5fefee/20160725_183310-_D5A8112-900x900.jpg)
![20160725_182428-_D5A8082 20160725_182428-_D5A8082](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/a7b9fd2a202a8d2e6ae483570298fd83/20160725_182428-_D5A8082-900x900.jpg)
![20160725_144455-_D5A7661 20160725_144455-_D5A7661](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/2a8584d55cf9a4387486f3c7848a58a6/20160725_144455-_D5A7661-900x900.jpg)
Blue Palace is pretty big, so there was a funicular that took us down to the beach and pool
![20160725_183552-_D5A8119 20160725_183552-_D5A8119](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/4d783437352d054f0c04b6453bf6e913/20160725_183552-_D5A8119-900x900.jpg)
and up to the reception area.
![20160725_184733-_D5A8126 20160725_184733-_D5A8126](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/7e473e800d09971ebc8e0a60fbcc6769/20160725_184733-_D5A8126-900x900.jpg)
We never felt crowded at the beach, despite the massive size of the resort. Walker took some of these in the evening when the chairs had emptied and the winds were whipping up (hence the stones on towels).
![20160725_183145-_D5A8101-HDR 20160725_183145-_D5A8101-HDR](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/e4e98fb1ec94e6b1f1f2850174eefb6e/20160725_183145-_D5A8101-HDR-900x900.jpg)
I absolutely love, love, loved swimming the salty water among a few tropical fish. So salty I bounded right up after jumping in! I thought the water in Grand Cayman was the clearest I'd ever see, but this had it beat.
![20160725_130019-_D5A7623 20160725_130019-_D5A7623](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/735a77d24ad43c6cca2ad97519a4397e/20160725_130019-_D5A7623-900x900.jpg)
![20160725_163625-_D5A7707 20160725_163625-_D5A7707](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/d507ce9eb00392171f2131839cc2e171/20160725_163625-_D5A7707-900x900.jpg)
Toward the end of the beach was a mouse-sized church
![20160725_182159-_D5A8081 20160725_182159-_D5A8081](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/32518e90d3bd15666f60b79d8918349c/20160725_182159-_D5A8081-900x900.jpg)
and then a 5 minute path to a small village called Plaka, where we ate lunch with this crazy view from our table.
![20160725_155510-_D5A7679 20160725_155510-_D5A7679](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/9675db21da97a52d0456c06a1a2c0e18/20160725_155510-_D5A7679-900x900.jpg)
![20160725_155409-_D5A7676 20160725_155409-_D5A7676](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/13bae7fc2e24947de9f78eaaf3f90972/20160725_155409-_D5A7676-900x900.jpg)
![20160725_155619-_D5A7687-HDR 20160725_155619-_D5A7687-HDR](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/a5bee8a449e7cb581aa9b8d03cbdd981/20160725_155619-_D5A7687-HDR-900x900.jpg)
All of the restaurants were very proud of their fish, and a few times, Walker and I went to look in the coolers of ice to see the fish at the prodding of the proprietors. At the lunch restaurant, Giovanni's which also went by the name Giorgio's, we found a 2 kilo grouper that looked good, so we gave the thumbs up. It took up the entire table, that fabulous fish, and cost about as much but was tender and covered in olive oil and ohhh so good. Alexandra, our tour guide, had told us the Cretan's don't eat much fish because of the cost--they save them for the tourists and eat octopus and squid. Deboned table side!
![20160725_160512-_D5A7695 20160725_160512-_D5A7695](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/28c38c874f56b31948614cd3d5fbbecc/20160725_160512-_D5A7695-900x900.jpg)
Look at that platter!
![20160725_160753-_D5A7698 20160725_160753-_D5A7698](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/00b9208f02fb547f5f40999bc62577ad/20160725_160753-_D5A7698-900x900.jpg)
![20160725_163518-_D5A7705 20160725_163518-_D5A7705](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/38289ee5bcadd1412a1cdcc58bceaf43/20160725_163518-_D5A7705-900x900.jpg)
We spent the afternoon taking a boat to Spinalonga, which provided a clear view of the resort on the hillside.
![20160725_171623-_D5A7867 20160725_171623-_D5A7867](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/268eae4ba1296665bdb02df891809dca/20160725_171623-_D5A7867-900x900.jpg)
![20160725_181213-_D5A8054 20160725_181213-_D5A8054](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/c8e97970b8f5e16c0ccbf0141a8ad2cd/20160725_181213-_D5A8054-900x900.jpg)
For dinners in Elounda, we took taxis to eat in town (10 min drive) at Megaro and Ferryman Taverna. The food was very good at both, but the service slightly better at Ferryman. Like all the restaurants on Crete, they served fresh, local foods: fish, potatoes, feta, and octopus.
And I'll end with a note that this was taken at sunrise on our last morning in Elounda right after the camera battery pack accidentally fell in this very pool, and I jumped in to rescue it. Sadly, we missed the pink ball of fire, but it was such a brilliant sunrise even after that.
![20160726_063929-_D5A8207-HDR 20160726_063929-_D5A8207-HDR](https://media.walkandalie.com/images/607941a1b0f17b4facf0321fb13c421a/20160726_063929-_D5A8207-HDR-900x900.jpg)