Running with the Cretans

Dear Friends and Family, Well, I provided only the briefest of glimpses of our adventures in the last blog. Now, I will overload you with visuals as we took another day trip yesterday. However, first I need to go back to Thursday evening. We had pretty much limited our eating to two restaurants in Sissi, Neromylos and Liofito. Both are family-run establishments that have lovely garden settings. Thursday night we thought we might try more touristy place located right down on the sea. It had been recommended, but I had stayed away because I am very suspicious of places that have glossy pictures of their food and menus the size of War and Peace, seeming to serve everything that anyone as ever thought of. I am pleased to report, I was right again! The food was not very good, but the setting was nice and most amazing was that just below our table, down maybe 10 feet on the sea rocks were 3 cats who seemed to ignore the crashing waves and sea spray in hopes of getting bits of fish thrown to them. Of course, they were right! It was obviously very dark where they were lounging, but I did catch a photo of this one fellow who just curls up on a rock and waits for food to be thrown his way.

The other two were gray tabby cats and were very hard to see, without a camera, let along with one. And since the food was not great, the cats made out pretty well. Friday morning we headed east. Our plan was to visit Kritsa, a town about 30 minutes from Sissi that according to our friend, Tom Mueller, in his book, Extra Virginity, has the highest per capita consumption of olive oil, more than 50 liters per year per person!

I had actually expected a sleepy little village, but, in fact, while not large, it seemed to be set up for tourists. We got there quite early and things were just opening up. We had a couple of frappes directly across from the village church

and then wandered the streets where olive oil seemed to be the primary feature.

Coach-loads of tourists began to arrive and the individual shop owners began to try to lure you in. There were a fair number of shops featuring linens

And, of course, olive oil products. The first shop we wandered into was owned by a British woman who told us the best buy on Kritsa olive oil was actually at the super market. So that is where we picked up can of olive oil from Kritsa

After securing our can of olive oil, we headed for a little village we had visited last year, called Mochlos. It was about an hour’s journey further east, winding itself dramatically around the eastern, south of a larger city called Ágios Nikólaos. Mochlos is really just some holiday rentals and 3 or 4 tavernas that sit right on the sea.

We had a favorite from last year, Taverna Bagozi and the owner, Manoli and his wife, Gabby, were still there. We were actually the first to arrive, but followed shortly after by a group of French tourists who were on some sort of kayaking trip and had just pulled in for lunch.

After ordering some wine, we selected something called Gemista which was described as a stuffed tomato, pepper and potato dish. Manoli, however, informed us that it would be 30 minutes until it would be ready. So, we ordered some tzatziki and decided to wait. It was worth it. It was actually a stuffed tomato, a stuffed egg plant and a stuffed zucchini with some cooked potatoes on the side. The stuffing was a delicious rice and meat mixture. Of course, the wait necessitated more wine, but with a clear skies and fresh sea breezes, who minded.

Being completely satisfied, the meal making the previous night’s disappointing dinner fade quickly from our minds, we headed back to the apartment. It is a very dramatic coastline

And we made several stops along the way to capture it

Including a side trip to a little beach we had heard about, called Tholos beach.

We arrived home about 4 and tried for a nap. Road trips in Crete are very stressful so you need a bit of down time after a day on the road with a bunch of Cretans! We did go down to the harbor for a drink, but decided to stay in. We actually poured ourselves a couple of ouzos and sat and watched the sunset from our own deck, just in front of the apartment. This photo is looking our to the west toward the very touristy town of Malia

It was a lovely, warm evening and we just sort of came down off a busy day at about the same pace as the sun set in the sea. Tomorrow we face reality as having been here a week, it will be time to get laundry done and do some house chores in the apartment. More to come on that later.