Last Downpouring Day

Our last actual day to do things here we took off early at around 5:30am.  We had a flight back to Athens at 8:25 and had the rental to return.  Im sure theyll get it back and hopefully not see how brutal I was to the clutch, brakes, and ignore any new scratches from possibly scraping the bumper on extra steep curbs/driveways.

The airport at heraklion was fine.  Decent sized with a shopping area, mildly confusing bathroom setup.  No actual docking gates so had to be taxid to the plane and climb the portable stairs to get in.  Flight was about an hour.

Athens has been stuck under a rainstorm for the past couple days and its supposed to continue for 3 more.  It was pouring when we got there mostly nonstop.  Today was our day to pick up some sohvenirs and eat anything we really wanted.  However first we had to walk to the new hotel from the train station.  Made a mistake of not buying an umbrella from someone selling it at the station.  We got there 20 minutes later, cold and soaked.  Hotel room wa ready even though we were early at 11:30.  We got dried up and borrowed an jmbrella from the hotel. 

Definitely wanted the Souvlaki from Kostas again.  It was the best we had and tHis time we had empty stomachs.  It was extra rewarding because we had made it through the deluge, fairly wet, eating outside under a table umbrella, but it was still pouring so hard the splashback was hitting us.  Easily worth it though.  We stopped at a grocery store, got back to the honey shop.  We also got stuck under an awning of a street food place that turned out to be fantastic.  We went in for some cover and to dodge the now riverlike street.  Had great cappucinos and Kataifi, a sweet made with wispy filo soaked in honey covering cheese, with pistachios on top.  Wed had one earlier but it was basically the cheap premade gas station variant.  This was great.  Good find.  

Finally with our stuff we headed back

To the hotel.  We printed some backup documents for the airport, organized our checked bag, and finally had a rooftop dinner.  Also great since we didnt have to leave.  This is going to be another food post sorry :/

Sarah had sweet potato soup and ribeye with stuffed potatoes.  I has Grouper in vegetable sauce.  Both grrat.  Grouper had a little bit of caviar on it, first time for me.  The caviar was fine?  Ill have to try it by itself some time, couldnt really judge it.  Good send off dinner at any rate.

Big thank you to everyone reading along and dealing with the typos.  Im doing this all on my phone and not bothering to proof read most of the time.  Hopefully it was fun to read.  May or may not do a final post when were back in the US.

Ze Covid Test(s) and Cretaquarium

To get back into the USA you need to have a negative Covid test within 72 hours of your flight.  Otherwise its a no go.  Since that seemed pretty important we had an at home test you do with a proctor doctor over the phone.  Ellume covid test.  Along with the Earthquake in Crete we didnt feel yesterday, the other news item related to us is that Ellume recalled around 400,000 tests due to karge number of false positives.  Happened a few days ago, and we have batches recalled.  To find out we had to enter the batch number and THEN start the test process which involves synckng a little bluetooth test strip to an app.  It then says something along the lines of "Oh this is recalled, sorry about that".  Not a big deal since we had booked rhe backup, but I want my money back durnit.  Those things were like $100 for both.

At 1:40 the doctor or test privider lady showed up.  She was great, nose swabs were easy and she left.  About 2 hours ago we were emailed the negative test results we then added to our delta flights.  So happy to be done with that.

We were going to go to Diktaion Cave, ehich is a cute cave that is the mythical birthplace of Zeus not super far from here, but it has been clised since the end of September due to...another earthquake that happened.  Not sure if its damage to stairs/supports but its not open.  Instead we opted for Cretaquarium.  Its nearby and is one of the very few aquariums in Greece.  Thise and zoos just arent big things here it seems.  But it was very cool and decent sized.  Took up a couple hours and there were some tasty looking Mediterranean fish there.  There wss also a nearby Dinoland that had anamatronic dinisaurs...but we decided not to.  We got their flyer, they tagged our car with it under the windshield wipers.

We moved some of the packed stuff around.  We have a flight tomorrow back to athens at 8am, so itll be an early one.  We have to return the car and get in the Heraklion airport.  Probably leave here at 5:30.  

Had dinner at a taverna down the road.  I had a Sea Breem, which we had seen in the aquarium.  Sarah had carbonara, and we split some stuffed grape leaves.  Very tasty.  Also at almost every place (I think every place) there have been a good few cats that come up to us when eating.  Sarah has very much enjoyed petting and feeding them.  Theyre usually very polite.  There were 4 of them at this taverna. One was just itty bitty.

Thats pretty much it, chill day.  I ommitted our hotel breakfast, midday snack and chilling watching Seinfeld while waiting for the covid tester.  

 

Earthquake I guess?

Apparently there was a large Earthquake on Crete around noon today.  Centered in the east but folks in central Crete felt it amd 2 aftwrshocks.  It was 6.5.  We found out from a tour guide later who mentioned "Oh the earthquake was crazy" and we had no idea because either we were driving and didnt notice it with an already bumpy road, or we were just slightly too far away.

Anyways, that came later.  In the morning we had a homecooked breakfast on our balcony scheduled from Fanis, the hotel owner.  Turned out to be amazing.  Had eggs, bacon, potatoes, bread and farmers (greek) salad with OJ.  Part way through he asked what coffee we'd like and gave us some options.  I had a greek coffee and sarah had a cappuccino.  He returned with the coffee and a  Bugatsa, a greek filo filled with something, in this case custard. Sprinkled lightly with some cinnamon and powdered sugar.  A cut up pomegranate and some grapes.  Bugatsa was amazing and hot, everything fantastic.

With full bellies we headed out with our stuff, this was our last night here.  We drove southeast and apparently ignored the earthquake.  We had a wine tour and picnic booked at 3.  Which left us with just a little time for a detour.  

We stopped at Phaistos, a minoan palace like Knossos that wasnt reconstructed.  It was really cool and you can walk into rooms their (albeit without roofs) and still are able to see the layout really well.  It really makes me wonder why you would reconstruct anything when its much more impressive seeing it without having to wonder what is real or not.  We had probably 20 minutes before we had to leave to make our appointment.  This worked out anyways though as it started raining hard walking back to the car.  

By the time we started driving it was a heavy heavy downpour.  We drove slowly through twisty towns.  Bad visibility, was hoping we were high enough still and that there wouldnt be flash flood issues.  We had been going downhill from Phaistos so we werent sure how low we were.  It cleared up though and wasnt an issue after a while.

We made it the winery at about 3:15.  Really wasnt sure what to expect.  I like wine well enough, Sarah doesnt like wine but the picknick looked adorable to her so she was on board.  

The winery was on a gorgeous hill, vines all around, modern nice building, and bathrooms where you can flush toilet paper (actually quite unusual here).  We mentioned our picnic and tour to someone and in a little while it was us and a German couple on an English tour.  The guide was super nice and it was pretty awesome.  They have rose bushes in front of each of the rows of vines because theres a disease that the roses can get as well as the vines but the roses show symptoms early enough where they can save vines, like a coal mine canary.  They also have sections that are more traditional vine growing including planting or harvesting based on moon cycles, not using any chemicals, and allowing snails all over the vines.  She says the snails dont harm them *much* and use it sort of a proof there arent chemicals on those plants harming the snails.  And then they eat the snails :)  Snails are fairly popular and traditional in Greece.

We tried some of the grapes, and then went to eat.  They had told us sorry since it was rainy it was too wet and mught rain more but we would get the food and wine samples still and have credit for wine after.  No problem, we still ate outside in a covered area.  The wine was just ok to me, but the food was a lot and delicious.  

There were stuffed vine leaves and zucchini blossoms, Zucchini balls, a cheese spread with meat and figs,  mini Gyro pitas.  The highlight was the Dakos.  Id had one at a cafe in Athens but its a cretan dish and made with different cheese, Mizithra.  This one also had crushed rusk that soaked in the juices from the tomatoes on top of it which soften it (Barley Rusks are rock hard normaly), and it was reformed in a circular mold.  So it was cake shaped with a rusk layer, tomato layer, rusk layer, mizithra spread on top with an olive, rigani, and olive oil.  Its fantastic.  After that we were given a dessert wine which we both really liked, with cheese pita (maybe a soft sheep cheese) with honey and walnuts.  Best meal weve had here really incredible.  

At that point we hadnt expected a ton to be knocked off for the picnic, but it turned out to be a tgurd of the cost.  We paid 100 euros and they gave us 35 in store credit.  Enough for a couple dessert wines. 

After that our hotel is just east of heraklion (again).  We have our required covid test tomorrow prior to returning to the U.S.  This couldve been a little less planned as there are test stations around in each city, but not knowing this we scheduled both an online test tomorrow and a service on Crete where they come out to the hotel.

This hotel is defilitely the worst quality hitel, feels cheap for a variety of reasons, but the view more than makes up for it.  Its right on the ocean and our deck faces it.  Took some cool snaps and get to fall asleep to the waves coming in.  We'll see what we can do tomorrow, couple possible options and we'll play it by ear.

 

 

Twisted Mountain Roads

Today was a trip out to Elafonisi beach and lagoon.  Its one of the most popular swim spots on Crete and one of the most beautiful (supposedly).  The drive was a twisting one through the mountains.

We went through a lot of hairpin turns with fairly sheer drops, a single lane tunnel, and GOATS.  Cute little buggers sitting in olive tree shade off tot he side or munching shrubs.  We stopped once borh ways at 2 different tavernas.  The first was really great, maybe odd that we were geeting food at 10am, but we were hungry.  We had feta stuffed zuchinni blossoms lightly battered and fried, and a Cretan vegetable dish called Boureki made of Zuchinni, Potatoes, and cheeses.  Along with bread and olive oil and some Raki and yogurt with almonds and honey afterwards.  Was awesome.  

Along the way we stopped at The Cave of Agia Sofia (Wisdom of God).  It was a small chapel in a cave at the top of stone stairs (i counted for sarah it was ~240 steps).  Pretty large almost spherical shaped cave with stalactites/mites and home to quite a few pigeons.  The cave has a long history, but more or less is now just a historical site with prayer candles and an now unused confessional.

The beach was busy, but probably far short of what it is during busy season, about 1/4 of the cabanas were in use.  We parked after a rugged rock and dirt road.  Helped another person push their car who got it stuck in the sand.

Even though it had been raining earlier it was cleared up and sunny here and about 82F.  Slathered on the sunscreen.  Dipped into the beach for a bit but didnt really want to swim much.  Especially since we were keeping our passports and money in the pack.  Instead we opted for the lagoon.  It was thigh height in most places, with absolutely crystal clear water.  Some fish swimming around.  We spotted 1 crab.  Got about as far as stomach height.  Just walking around and getting feet in the samd was a lot of fun.  Coulle topless folks but no full nudies.  There was a nearby beach that had been recommended by Tiama that coincidently is also popular with naturists, but figured that this might be tge least busy this beach was in some years, and we didnt want to do 2.

On the way back we stopped at another taverna.  It was Antikrista Taverna and Rooms.  It was just ok.  We had Lamb with Fries, and Mousakka.  Both were just ok.  The beer was good and there was a cat that hung around us for food and had a purr that sounded like a Dove or Pigeon.  He also hiccupped like a water drop sound.  It was the funniest cat, he got a lot of food from us.  After the meal offered Raki which we passed on, i had to drive more but they did bring us cakes and some apples for the road.

Its only 9 and Im exhausted.  Just the time in the sun and concentrating on driving.  Tomorrow we'll have breakfast here and be heading out on a different route to Heraklion again with some cool stuff along the way.