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.
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