Beaches, Anchient History & An Unltimate Decision - Crete

Arrival in Crete: A Taste of Real Vacation

I’m flying to Crete with a friend. It finally feels like a real vacation. A bungalow overlooking the sea, a rental car, amazing food. In Chania, we stroll through the old streets. If you ignore the little tourist shops, the city feels very local, and even though it’s high summer, it’s not overcrowded.

We soak up the sun on our skin, breathe in the smell of the sea, listen to the new language, see letters we can’t read, and take in the unfamiliar vegetation. The dry heat feels pleasant.

For dinner I order something unfamiliar and traditional. Goat meat and a green vegetable I don't know. Goat Meat with Stamnagathi. The waiter asks several times if I’m sure. I nod. Later, I understand why: the herb has a very strong, sour taste. Not everyone’s thing. But I like it. It’s the first time in my life I’ve tasted goat meat. It’s heavenly, with a subtle note of goat fur, which I find surprisingly pleasant.

The Message That Shook Me: The Beginning of an End

Suddenly I receive a message from a new number. What a surprise, it’s from Lucas. He asks how I’m doing. I don’t reply. I want to be present with my friend and enjoy dinner.

“How long are you going to ignore me? Forever?” sais the next message, shot straight after.

I start to shake. My thoughts race, and I can’t think clearly. It’s the fifth number he’s used to contact me. This time, a UK number, even though he already has a British one.

I decide to switch off my phone for the whole week. I can’t deal with this now—not during this vacation.

And yet, the feeling stays with me for several days. My thoughts circle around him. I’m absent in my conversations with my friend. I miss the beauty of the places we discover together.

Three lines, which have that much power over me.

It is said, that these people can sense when you’re doing well, and that’s exactly when they need to pull you back in. On the very first day of my vacation, when I started sharing and enjoying life with other people again, he reaches out. And I can’t manage to deny him my attention.

The Beaches That Outshine Everything

We visit one of the most beautiful beaches, Elafonissi. The water is crystal clear and so shallow you can walk for kilometers. Different bays open up in front of us, and the sand appears pink, because of tiny crab shells, which mix with the sand and leave a rosy shimmer behind.

This beach is famous for its color and attracts countless tourists every summer. But most of them stay on the first stretch. Anyone who takes the time to walk through the water is rewarded with more space and calm.

In the shallow water, people are floating like hippos in a bathtub. I join them, and the warmth helps me return to the moment. I decide to focus fully on the vacation. He doesn’t belong here anymore.

The next day, we take a boat tour to a Venetian fortress. While the other passengers jump into the water to snorkel, we climb up to the fortress in the midday heat. It was built by the Venetians in the 16th century to control the strait between western Crete and the Peloponnese.

Still, in 1645 the Ottomans managed to besiege Chania and conquer all of Crete. This island has such a fascinating and tragic history. Beyond all the mythology you feel on every corner, Crete was repeatedly conquered—Romans, Andalusians, Byzantines, Venetians, Arabs, Ottomans. Each time the island began to recover from one rule, the next came and ravaged it. What a parallel to a narcissistic relationship.

We continue to Ballos Beach. It stretches out for kilometers in front of us: shallow water, pools you can jump into and immerse yourself. On the other side lies a rocky shore with sharp stones, almost like a lunar landscape. In its craters, water has collected and formed beautiful salt formations.

I jump in to snorkel. Below me, it drops five meters into the depth, and the grandeur of this nature makes me uneasy. In the deep, I see a lost anchor. The sea is breathtaking, but as a guest in this unknown world, you are comletely exposed to the rules of this intimidating environment.

I’ve been lucky to see many places and beaches in my life. But the beaches of Crete surpass everything I’ve ever experienced.

History Etched in Stone and Blood

The next day, we visit the Arkadi Monastery. A quiet, beautiful place with a big garden. The former chambers are so small that we feel like giants inside.

One of the worst battles in Cretan history happened here. When Muslim troops came to seize the monastery, about 300 people, including women and children, barricaded themselves inside. For three days they held out until the attackers broke in and massacred them.

The monks fought to the end. When they realized there was no escape, they locked themselves in the wine cellar filled with gunpowder barrels. The moment the attackers entered, they blew themselves and their enemies up. The monks didn’t surrender—they chose death.

In the middle of the garden, a tree still contains a bullet from the battle. A memory of the horror. Inside the monastery, paitings show the monks in their everyday lives—writing, spinning, working. They look peaceful, centered. You can imagine them simply going about their days, never intending harm.

Until others came, believing they had the right to punish them for their faith. The absurdity that so much suffering can grow from pure intolerance brings tears to my eyes.

The rest of the days, we spend at the beach, eating incredible food—something this island does perfectly—and listening to modern Greek summer hits.

Choosing My Life Over Toxic Love

After the vacation, I switch my phone back on and see photos he sent me. Pictures of us, laughing, taken on the same day one and two years ago.

“Look how happy you were back then,” he writes. And I only think: And what about everything in between? One day before the first picture, you hit me for the first time. Before the second, you broke me down for hours because I put your motorcycle helmet in the wrong place, and I cried all night.

When his messages didn’t go through, he assumed I’d blocked him. Still, he writes: “It’s so easy for you to block me, isn’t it?” If he believes that—why does he keep writing?

I realize running away is pointless. After five blocked numbers, he’ll always find a way. So I reply.

In our conversation, he keeps trying to get me on the phone, because he knows if we talk, he has me again. I’m too fragile for that, so I keep my distance.

He tries to pull me back in through our old work. Tells me he created a business plan for our idea and asks if he can show me. I agree—I want to grant him that moment, because he seems like a child wanting to show his mother what he built. Our eternal dynamic. But immediately he ties it to the condition that I have to work with him again. He tries to pull me back into dependency. I refuse.

Then, a last attempt: “If I give you the time and space you asked for and stop contacting you—will you promise to make things right between us?”

I ask what exactly that means. For an hour, no reply. Then finally: “It’s okay.”

After that, I never hear from him again.

These sentences meant to bind you without ever being clear—I see them now.

I did it. Not by ignoring him or going no-contact like everyone advises, but by staying present with myself, holding my ground, and recognizing the manipulation.

I’m proud of myself. Even though it hurts that this time, it really feels final.

Be Well,

Vaselisa