July 8- Driving the mainland and Welcome to Lefkada

Our flight to Athens was a little early and we weren't sure how to drop off the rental and have Jody make it to the flight on time. God is THE God of miracles and he made it, even though he had a bottle of water he forgot in his bag. It seemed like every time we went through security, one of us 7 always had a problem. The flight ended up really easy to Athens and then we had to wait 2 hours to get the rental car because the line was so long. We ended up with our two tiny Suzuki's that would plow over multiple roads, dirt hills, and pedestrians that stood in our way for the rest of the trip. 

We divided into 2 cars. Jody drove with Christina, Maria, and Saul. I drove with Eli and Ella. ELI WAS NAVIGATOR FOR THE WIN!!! Our internet died so fast and he was able to somehow guide us through a country to the island we needed to go to. The drive was about 5 hours and we stopped for snacks in different places. Maria was the TOLL FEE MANAGER in their car. 

TIP: You can take the green money sign to pay the toll automatically with a visa card.

The Greek National Highway is very different than American freeways. Barely ANYONE is on it and there are no cops so you don't know if you can speed. But there are signs saying that there are cops. The kilometers are much different that MPH so you don't even really know how fast you're going. But you fly on these beautiful highways with no other people and views of the sea, bluer than the sky.

We saw Corinth, we hit up some great grocery stores for snacks, we survived driving through Athens and once we got to Lefkada was were greeted by Mahi, the saint.

Mahi is an amazing Greek woman who is the mother of the guy who rented out the air BNB. It's kind of like a duplex. She cleaned the pool multiple times a day and it was the view of a lifetime. Lefkada is a mountainous island that you cross a bridge to get to from the mainland. It's right above Cephalonia and it is a jewel of an island. I would stay there again in a heartbeat. The trees were everywhere and there were hidden villages that peeked out among the scene of true peace. I will say, with everything good there always is a bad. The bad was the killer wasps that were the size of a half dollar that loved to drink from the pool.

It was a long day of travel and we stopped at Lidl to get food to make at home that night. It was a great house but it seemed like there were little places to really bump and bruise. Plus we broke a glass within 1 day of being there.

 

July 7- Goodbye Crete

 Our last full day in Crete consisted of discovering PISTA PARK!!! These race cars were AMAZING. They weren't exactly slow and I may have spun out multiple times and still beat everyone. I was trying to check us into our flight while we were checking in for the race cars. Sometimes as a mother everyone thinks it's your responsibility to do everything. It's not. You're welcome.

Once we got all checked in and our flight confirmed, I was able to relax and enjoy racing in the heat. We were racing some Canadians and were probably going maybe 50 mph. Eli, Ella, Joe and I really loved it. We then went to the waterpark across the way. It was actually pretty nice!! Jody lost goggles in the lazy river, we did the zip line drop into a pool, and lots of slides! Me, Eli and Jody also crashed hard in the lawn to the sound of cicadas. The heat was hot. There was a steep white slide that Eli went on and it wasn't as bad as he thought. I will say that Greek waterparks feel a little less safe than American waterparks. But Eli was opposite, he liked the hills of Greece versus the metal stair towers at Wild Waters.

Our last meal in Crete was epic. Gorgeous trees, sunset, amazing food... Eli finally got a steak his last night in Crete. For some odd reason they were giving him pork steaks. Still delicious, he was just confused because it said steak and wasn't beef steak. He learned that if they didn't ask you what cooked temp you wanted then it would probably be pork. Our waiter gave me a big hug and was surprised when I the woman was paying... God bless Greek Men who think women are helpless. We ended the night with a little walk down to gelato, Dubai chocolate being the recent craze and slept soundly. 

The air BNB was really spacious and everyone was comfortable. It was centrally located and super convenient for walking. Would definitely stay there again. Do have to mention the bathroom Jody and I used. We had a little bathtub we sat down in with a hand held water spray. The jets didn't work so black dirt came out when you turned it on. AMERICAN PLUMBING FOR THE WIN.