We’ll be on the island of Crete for a full month, splitting our time between three cities: Heraklion, Rethymno, and Chania, with Chania being the only one we’ve visited – albeit very briefly – before.
Of the three cities, Heraklion is the one where I have the fewest things planned. Other than hopefully a day trip to Knossos, it’s all about relaxing on our patio in the sunshine, drinking Greek wine, eating amazing baked goods (plus halva!), sitting in parks with cups of coffee, taking slow walks around town, and just enjoying the fact that what we’ve chosen is a lifestyle, not a vacation.
All of that just doing not much is made even easier and more attractive by the fact that in April this is really not a tourist town. We won’t see the mostly northern European tourists who are staying at the seaside resorts.
Someone described the convoluted network of narrow winding streets as “two donkeys wide, and never meant for cars.” Apparently no one told all the motorcycle, car, and lorry drivers, because they all manage to squeeze precariously between the ancient walls.
Our first two walks were based simply on the desire to pick up groceries. The AB Vasilopoulos grocery chain had a good selection at what we thought were very good prices, until on our second walk we stopped in at Bazaar and Lidl. Those have not only a good selection but truly excellent prices. As so often happens when we’re in Europe, we were shocked by just how inexpensive a decent bottle of table wine (not plonk, but also not vintage) is: under €3.50 ($5.70CAD/$4.10USD). Bread, cheese, and chocolate are reasonable too. That’s living done right!
Having eaten quite a bit of Greek food in the past, I was surprised at how often the combination of ham and cheese has come up here, that very unimaginative combination being elevated to the sublime by being encased in layers and layers of incredibly flaky phyllo pastry.
En route to Lidl, we passed the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Minas, an architecturally stunning church.
The interior is currently undergoing structural remediation that meant we could only enter the hallway. I especially liked the simplicity of the stained glass windows.
At the end of the hallway were areas where devotional tapers could be lit.
The hall was lined with impressively carved wood, and gleaming silver icons.
We were not allowed beyond the threshold of the door to the nave, and nowhere near the sanctuary where the altar was shrouded in multiple layers of tarpaulins.
Fortunately Ted’s camera is good enough that he was able to zoom in on the magnificent central chandelier and the breathtakingly vibrant ceiling.
A small adjacent chapel is open for prayer while the cathedral undergoes repairs.
Although we plan to eat cheaply this week in Heraklion, leaning heavily toward bakeries, cheese, and souvlaki, tonight we treated ourselves to a 48th anniversary celebration dinner at Vourvourladikon.
What fun! Arriving around 7:30 meant we were the first people seated; Greeks, even with young children in tow, don’t eat until 8:00 p.m. or later – and the children eat fried calamari the way North American children eat french fries!
The restaurant featured a limited menu because we’re leading into Orthodox Easter, but there were still plenty of delicious choices.
We started by ordering half a litre of the house white wine.
Next came our appetizers: a thinly sliced hasselback potato with dilled Greek yogurt, a plate of dolmadakia (small dolmades), and grilled talagani cheese with warm honey served on fresh pita.
Then our mains: grilled ground beef patties and grilled chicken, each served with wonderful hand-cut fries.
We couldn’t finish it all. Thank goodness we have a mini-kitchen, so we could take the leftover meats home.
Just as we were thinking about leaving, a surprise dessert arrived: chocolate cake with a scoop of creamy vanilla gelato, and a freezing cold bottle of rakia containing enough for 5 shots!
In keeping with trying to track what we spend at restaurants, tonight’s total bill was €51.70/ $83.32CAD.
It was a lovely way to end our day, and to mark 48 years of adventuring together.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 