A Most Romantic Place

Our holiday book of choice this year has been The Island by Victoria Hislop, a story discovered by Darrell, which is set in Elounda, where we are staying, the island of Spinalonga which was a leper colony until 1957, Agios Nikolaos (where we’ve already been) and the village of Plaka …….

……. and so it was a no brainer that last night we decided to get a taxi to take us to said village, especially as it was only about three miles away ……

……… it did not disappoint.

It was so peaceful and as the sun set it was almost tooooooo overwhelming of a romantic type nature ……..

…… hence the absence of Darrell from any of our photos, red eyes and a runny nose are never a good look, and poor Darrell did look ….. erm ….. a bit of a emotional train crash!  I don’t think I have ever seen him so overcome by beauty and atmosphere, but with the story of The Island very much in his mind I can fully understand his emotion.  He can be a martyr to a good book.

But, I was so glad when he finally composed himself enough to enjoy a little retail mooching …….

……. especially in the world famous Turquoise Shop, where EVERYTHING for sale is turquoise in colour, very tasteful and very much on trend. It would have broken Darrell’s heart not to have visited it after all his prior research and Skyping with Hugh, who had raved about it after he had visited it with Lady Gaga not so long ago.

Nigel was otherwise absorbed by “the aquarium” outside one of the restaurants, until I had to tactfully point out that the lobsters that he had been petting through the glass were in fact there to be chosen by customers as part of their evening meal ………

….. and then it was Nigel’s turn to need five minutes to himself and return a little moist eyed.

Plaka was a bit of an emotional roller coaster trip, however, I don’t think any of us would have missed it for the world …….

……. and after being within touching distance of Spinalonga we all agreed that it should be our next trip out.  It has to be said that we are really, really loving Crete and all its pleasures.