For our 15th wedding anniversary, we decided to go back to Greece, where we spent our honeymoon. Crete was recommended as a beautiful island, well worth seeing. For seven days we read, hung out on the beaches, visited 4000-year-old Minoan ruins, and took in our share of Greek food, pastry and local wine.
Our destination was Palekastro, on the extreme eastern end of the island. We rented a car and drove out from the Heraklion airport, passing through the coastal towns and the dry, rocky landscape.
Because it was mid-May, on the coastal roads oleander was flowering in deep pink and white punctuated by yellow-flowering broom with spindly green branches. Once in a while, a prickly-pear cactus in full, yellow bloom showed up as we drove through the towns with houses right on the road.
As we drove farther east, the towns became smaller, the road narrower and the cliffs steeper. The warm red earth, like in pictures of Mars, peeks through the hillsides where the top layer of dust has slid away. The view of the sea from the road was spectacular.
In Palekastro town, numerous restaurants ringed the square. The number seemed large compared to the population of the town (1,800). There was one each of church, hotel, post office, and bank. We enjoyed visiting the couple of small bookstores, and the souvenir shop selling locally woven rugs and pottery made on the island. On the utilitarian side, many "mini-markets" were sprinkled here and there; they were open every day from morning 'til midnight - like American convenience stores, without the gas pumps.
Caution: Some of these roads are imaginary
On the road map of Eastern Crete is the "New National Road", which runs parallel to the old coastal road between Heraklion, where we landed, and the extreme eastern end of the island where we stayed. Curiously, in some places, this road didn't exist, in spite of the nice orange line on the map. In some places, we had to drive along the twisting, turning, climbing, diving coast road through the little villages. Between the town where we stayed and the next biggest city, Sitia, the only existing road was under construction, and consisted in part of gravel and dust. Where new asphalt had been put down, there were no guard rails between us and the steep drop-off down the side of the hill. We wound along at a leisurely 30 miles an hour (50 kph), which seemed faster to Kathy, who wasn't driving. In this way, the trip to or from Heraklion took anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, depending on whether we went looking for imaginary roads.
By the way, the gas stations were better marked than the roads! One had warning that a gas station was coming up in 500 m, but no warning that to head to Agios Nikolaos, one had to take the next right. Often the new road signs were unreadable due to graffiti.
Roosters, dogs and doves
We woke every morning to the sound of the roosters, then the doves, then the little dog next door. This little guy barked at his most urgent, apparently to keep the yard safe from renegade lemons, but, as the picture shows, he wasn't successful. Didn't keep him from repeating the performance every day, though.Palekastro is primarily a farming town. We walked through olive groves on our way to the beach, 2km outside of town. Pickup trucks were all over, from the shiny new macho ones to the beat-up old ones. Tractors trundled through town in the evenings, often with Ma and Pa sharing the seat. Richard saw a new pickup go by with its bed full of baby goats!
Lemons! It's like they grow on trees!
Every other house had a lemon tree in the garden, full of large lemons. A generous, juicy half came with every fish or meat meal.
Local Color
Dusty rain from the deserts of North Africa came in brown clouds and the sudden downpour left a layer of dust on everything.
As we drove to a remote monastery, the landscape on the plateau, consisted of moonlike boulders, clumps of herbs, and red earth. Goats and sheep and an occasional dog appeared at the sides of the road.
At some beaches, the tinkling of goats' bells accompanied the waves. They climbed over and pooped on the ancient ruins that were slightly inland from the beaches.
We once saw an old man riding down the side of the paved road, bareback, on a mule, pulling on a rope tied to a goat.
The Sites
We visited a number of ruins of 4000-year-old palaces that were built by the Minoans. Some of them were still being excavated. The site nearest us was thought to be bigger than that of Knossos. It stretched for hundreds of meters under the neighboring olive groves. Several precious, ancient artifacts had been found there and placed in a museum, which we visited.
We spent a day visiting the well-known site of Knossos, where Sir Arthur Evans used a lot of imagination and questionable reconstructions to make the site come alive. His archaeological methods of years ago do not agree with today's methodology. He reconstructed artworks to fit his ideal of a society that was peaceful and enlightened. He used poured concrete to replace structural members of buildings, and thus prevented Knossos from being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What we saw though, was impressive. The palace was extensive; the tour covered just a fraction of it. Unfortunately, after the first picture, our camera battery ran out, and we were left without any pictures from that day.
Lazy Days
Our days were spent enjoying the sun, sand and sea. The rhythm of the waves on the beach was a very peaceful sound. We went to a different beach every other day. On the alternate days, we went to an archaeological site or a museum or a monastery, and then ended up on the beach!
It was the best kind of vacation-one where you sit around soaking up the sun and relaxing until you can't take it anymore, then it's time for a nap. Everybody naps during the hottest part of the day from 3 to 5 pm. It is impolite to call or visit someone between those hours.
After we woke up from our afternoon nap and wandered down the streets to the restaurant we had chosen for the evening, the town came alive for the cool evening hours. We saw men in the café playing backgammon and watching soccer on the TV. In Greece, a café is usually a men's domain.
Food
Moussaka - casserole of ground pork or lamb spiced with cinnamon, topped with slabs of eggplant and zucchini, topped off with what seemed to be rich, custardy mashed potatoes, but was probably a custardy white sauce (Greek recipes use egg yolks in the white sauce).
Grilled lamb cutlets, which the proprietor enthusiastically insisted I pick up to get all the meat off the bones - Local lamb, of course!
Whole grilled shrimp - peel the shells off with your fingers.
Pork souvlaki grilled on a bamboo stick with thick french fries and a wedge of lemon.
Whole battered and grilled small fish - again with half a lemon. I didn't eat the heads.
Greek salad- tomato, cucumber, and onion chunks with small local olives, topped with a slab of Fresh feta cheese (no briny taste) sprinkled with herbs, with a pool of olive oil in the bowl.
Fresh grape leaves (no taste of brine from the jar) stuffed with a savory-flavored rice and meat mixture.
Coarse-grained bread, almost gritty like cornbread.
Intense Greek coffee boiled with the grounds.
Frappé, very refreshing - strong coffee blended with creamy milk and sugar.
Baklava and ketaifi portions the size of a normal German or American piece of cake!
Milkshakes! - made with locally grown bananas, or made with intensely pistachio ice cream.
Sweets that came after a meal - a small plate of creamy Greek yogurt (it's nothing like yogurt in the US or Germany, it's almost like whipped cream cheese) topped with a very sweet fruit compote: red quinces, or crimson strawberries, or even yellow-green grapes, also in a thick syrup. See the picture at right.
The wine! - the local agricultural cooperative made a crisp, fresh white wine on the dry side, but not too much, with very low acid. We drank it whenever we could!
Greek hospitality
At a taverna on Kato Zakros beach we were treated to a banana from the garden and some homegrown strawberries.
The hostess at the hotel fried bacon and eggs in olive oil on Sunday morning, gave us a liter of her family's olive oil (in an unmarked can) to take home.
A family-run restaurant that we visited a couple of times made pastitsio just for us. Normally, it's not available so early in the tourist season because not enough people visit the restaurant, but Grandma was willing to make some for us if we came back the next day. Another night at the same place, we expressed a desire for dessert, but were told that they didn't have their own homemade baklava because of the lack of tourist volume, but the woman's mother was out shopping, and she could bring some in 5 minutes. Have some free raki while you wait. Giant pieces of ketaifi and baklava arrived, and a Greek coffee was on the house!
Perfect Weather
The weather was perfect the whole time. Dry and sunny days were followed by warm, but not too warm, evenings. During the hottest part of the day, the heat became slightly uncomfortable, but if we were on the beach, the breeze kept things cool. The evenings were balmy and not at all chilly.
Of course, it made us very sad to have to leave. It was the best vacation I have had in years!
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Definitions:
pastitsio - macaroni and ground meat casserole topped with a custardy Bechamel sauce
raki - strong liquor distilled from what's left of the grapes pressed for wine
ketaifi - shredded phyllo dough wrapped around nuts and drenched with syrup
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