{"id":988,"date":"2011-07-21T07:02:14","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T14:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/?p=988"},"modified":"2011-07-22T04:48:38","modified_gmt":"2011-07-22T11:48:38","slug":"gaidouronisi-%ce%b3%ce%b1%cf%8a%ce%b4%ce%bf%cf%85%cf%81%ce%bf%ce%bd%ce%ae%cf%83%ce%b9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/?p=988","title":{"rendered":"Gaidouronisi (\u0393\u03b1\u03ca\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03ae\u03c3\u03b9)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Donkey Island”<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, I took a boat to Gaidouronisi<\/a> (Donkey Island), an uninhabited (or as I used to call it, “deserted”) island just south of Crete.<\/p>\n

The island is also known as “Chrysi” or “Chrissi,” which means “golden.”<\/p>\n

It’s pretty obvious why:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were three reasons I wanted to go. 1. I needed a break from the village. 2. I was there as a teenager and was fascinated by it. 3. One of the most romantic yet heartbreaking scenes I’ve ever written takes place there. Talk about fun research!<\/p>\n

Here’s the thing about Cretan travel: The journey, if it involves a boat, is usually as wonderful as the destination. Or sometimes, even better.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And I’m saying this as somebody quite prone to seasickness.<\/p>\n

Confession – the first thing I did on that boat was order a frappe. Do not mock or blame. Y’all know how I feel about that stuff<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And then, I sat back, took in the view, and listened to the Cretan music. If that playlist were on iTunes, I’d be all over it.<\/p>\n

Most of the songs involved words like “sea” and “island.” Very fitting.<\/p>\n

And, get this! Two of the songs were right out of my playlist for my last book.<\/p>\n

Check it out:<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vi4s9mz3ajQ[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SySl6oHiP9k[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

\n

Once you get to the Island, it’s a bit of a walk to the prettiest beach. It’s not that far, or that steep, but with the heat and the sand, it definitely feels like a hike:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But, as you can see, it’s well worth the trouble!<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Sadly, the day I went was rather windy, which made swimming very difficult and not so enjoyable. So I spent a lot of time exploring and relaxing in my lounge chair, listening to the soundtrack for the book I’m supposed to be working on and drinking (more) frappe.<\/p>\n

On the boat ride back, I could barely move from my chair. All the sun had done me in (my umbrella wasn’t in the greatest condition), and the wind made the boat a little rocky.<\/p>\n

But, like I said: the experience was more than worth it. Even if (in case any of you are curious) I didn’t see any donkeys.<\/p>\n

Now. If I could only get back into that book. . .<\/p>\n

As they say here, “sto kalo” (“go to the good”).<\/p>\n

In other words, be well!<\/p>\n

See you soon,<\/p>\n

Mel<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Donkey Island” Last week, I took a boat to Gaidouronisi (Donkey Island), an uninhabited (or as I used to call it, “deserted”) island just south of Crete. The island is also known as “Chrysi” or “Chrissi,” which means “golden.” It’s pretty obvious why: There were three reasons I wanted to go. 1. I needed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[77,78,84,76,79,80,75,81,57],"class_list":["post-988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mels-in-greece","tag-chrissi","tag-chrysi","tag-crete","tag-donkey-island","tag-gaidouronisi","tag-golden-beach","tag-greece","tag-southern-crete","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=988"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1001,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions\/1001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}