Since Lisa had her hands (and car) full taking her and my parents around, I got to show Sarah and Andy some of the places I love on Crete. Our first stop was Plakias, a relatively developed south coast town, with it's main attraction (for me) being its proximity to Prevelli beach, a palm lined river emptying into the sea, and this youth hostel I thought would be interesting to check out. We had some times..read on for pictures!

Okay, I'll admit, I was a little selfish when deciding where to take my sister and her boyfriend. I knew the camper-van Belgians were planning on going to Prevelli and I wanted to see them again. But, in my defense, Prevelli is beautiful and I knew they would love it there.
So, we were off on the bus to Plakias to stay at the youth hostel there.
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As I mentioned, I found this place through their website and it just looked like the people who stayed there had really good things to say. I had called the day before to see about availability and the manager, an Englishman named Chris, answered. The conversation went something like this:

me - 'Hi I'm interested in staying at your hostel a few nights with some friends"
him - 'Oh, well, people don't stay here just for one day, they stay for months, or the whole season'
me - 'um, well, they don't have much time and I wanted to show them Prevelli and I heard good things about your hostel' (note my attempt at flattery)
him - 'yes, come here and I can tell you about better things to do than Prevelli'
me - 'I really think my friends would like Prevelli, so we can argue about this tomorrow'
Okay, so I already knew that this guy was 'outspoken' and knew a bit of what to expect. I was still suprised when he refused my handshake and waited for us all to be sitting down to begin his schpeel....

him - "This hostel isn't the kind of place where people come and go, only stay a few nights or whatever. The people here stay for long periods, a few months, the whole season, people come back year after year....'
me - *thinking* 'yah, yah, you told me already, just show us the room'
him - 'We've even had 4 couples who met here, married, and one named their son for me'
I didn't know what he thought we came here for, but I just wanted to sleep there, not 'hook up' with someone, or join his weird commune....

I'll mention, and get back to later, that when we went to the bunk we would be staying in, there was a girl asleep on top of some hippie-looking dred-lock guy (it was after noon).

So anyway, Sarah, Andy and I spent the day at the town beach in Plakias. View image View image View image

Janel caught up to us and we had a relaxing meal by the shore.
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We were (okay, I was) a little drunk and decided to just go back to the bunk because we had an early morning to catch the bus to Prevelli. As I was performing my evening tiolette, I overheard Chris telling someone that the hippie-looking, dred-locked guy had left to try and extend his ticket because, apparently, he had fallen for the girl we had seen sleeping on top of him. When I came out from the wc, Janel was talking to a Belgian guy who seemed none too patient with the drunken likes of me, and the goofy likes of Janel. (I see him again in Sougia part 2, and redeem myself).

Prevelli was gorgeous, and Sarah, Andy and Janel loved it. View image View image

I didn't see the camper-van Belgians, but passed by a campsite that I suspected they had just left. I crossed myself for missing them again (a week prior, I had attemped to find them at Ellafonissos, and failed). Oh well, we got back to the hostel after a grueling hike up the mountain to the bus-stop, and in our bunk, interrupted a 'romantic encounter' between two of the hostel commrads. After my shower, the commrads were having a smoke and I smiled to see that the girl was the same one who, the day before, had enticed the hippie-looking, dred-locked guy into extending his ticket. (the boy was not the h-l,d-l guy)

Leaving the hostel, we christened it the 'Horny Hippie Hotel' and I began writing this entry in my head.....