Part 3 – The Minoan Path to Zeus
After our venture to the Minoan sites in central Crete, we returned to Heraklion for some ‘down time’ and a little fun. I was personally having difficulties in my own organization, something rare for me as a traveller. To begin with, I found after the first day that I had not packed any socks in my luggage. Not a major problem normally, but I had to venture out to find a store that sold mens socks, something I had not bothered to learn in the Greek language. After a lot of confusion, translation and taxi rides, I found “Paperinos”, a men’s wear place that sold socks. I also found another shop that sold the book “Cretan Cooking”, which we had already bought for our daughter, but bought another for my son, both great cooks!
Then I also discovered that I had also forgot to bring a charger for my new ‘smart’ watch – not very smart! This watch was new for me, and I didn’t realize how fast it used its charge. After wandering the streets of Heraklion one afternoon, I learned nobody wanted to sell me a charger for my cheap smart watch knock-off. They all wanted to sell me a complete, high-end smart watch, complete with its own charger. Sorry, not in my budget, so I went without a watch, used my phone for another week or so, until I could buy a plain, cheap watch, one that just gave me the time, nothing too smart. I was beginning to believe anything was smarter than me at that point.
During this period, we planned to take a “sunset evening sail” out of Heraklion with the other couple that was travelling with us. We booked the excursion, scheduled to leave the port of Heraklion late afternoon, sail out to an island with snacks and drinks, swimming optional, then return to Heraklion after sunset.
Sunset Cruise?
We were all looking forward to this excursion, but at the last minute, they contacted us and had to cancel the trip. I think they had over-booked, so we were stuck without a plan. No problem, we headed out to the port to the “Marina” Restaurant near the Fortezza on the harbour.
Large Pork Steak on a wooden platter
We enjoyed a lovely meal of huge calamari and a 600 gram pork steak, larger than the wooden platter it was served on.
Barbiani Ouzo on ice
As well as some Barbiani ouzo from Plomari, Lesbos, and a bottle of Malamatina retsina for Diana and I. The restaurant was overlooking the harbour and the sunset, almost as good as a sunset cruise!
The ‘Fortezza’ in the Harbour
Greek Phone-booth Graffiti
More Graffiti
The following day was our big “Safari” day. An event we had been looking forward to for weeks before our trip. It was advertised by Viator as “Full-Day Land Rover Safari Minoan Route From Heraklion with Lunch”. The description of the day included a day of driving up the foothills of the Afendi mountains, roughly following a 7000 year old path towards the Dicteon Cave where Zeus was born, views of the Lassithi Plateau, the Aposelemis basin reservoir, a Roman aquaduct, a Cretan breakfast and some local Raki, followed later by a lunch at a country taverna. We just had to do this!
Our driver was Giannis Istrakis (Yanni), a pleasant young man in a Land Rover, which picked us all up at the hotel. Besides us the other couple, Helen and Les, who we were with, there was one more couple, Sue and Mike from Sarnia. That made six from Canada, a seventh lady was a no-show.
Giannis was a very kind and knowledgeable fellow, claims he never read any books until he was thirty. He then realized what he was missing and went to university in England, and of course began to learn about the Minoans, and realized what a treasure he had all around him. This was not the usual ‘canned’ tour guide narrative, but a very relaxed, informative and educational one. He explained the history, nuance and pronunciation of the Greek language. I had many individual discussions with him as my interests in Greek history and the Minoans were more intense than the others.
Lassithi Plateau
As we left the sea on the north side of the island, we headed up through several little villages and continued on rough roads higher up the mountains. I was lucky because I had a comfortable front seat, where the others were squeezed into the back. Beautiful views of the Lassithi plateau, the valley and miles of farmland became visible.
Windmills of the Lassithi Valley
Giannis told us he was a farmer that grew olives. His main object was to grow the best, award winning olives. We had several stops for snacks and drinks, some in villages with ancient old plane trees, some thousands of years old. At one stop, we tried the local honey, olive oil and bread. Giannis explained the complicated rating system for olive oil. Everything grown on Crete is organic, no pesticides or poisons are used, only the occasional natural spray is used to control pests. Everything is recycled, nothing wasted. Another stop was a cheese making location, where he showed how they stirred the milk in a big pot until it curdled, then scooped it out for soft cheese, and also into rounds where the whey was squeezed out to make hard cheese. Giannis called it Greek parmesan, just as good or better.
Small hut for making and curing cheese (natural ventilation and sterilization)
All this took place in a small hut with open windows, no stainless steel, no obvious hygienic measures. He explained about the bunches of certain herbs hanging from the ceiling rafters. Apparently these plants kept the flies and other bugs away, so a sterile environment was not required.
Friendly Goats
One of the main advertisements for this safari tour shows goats climbing all over the 4 wheel drive vehicle, mainly to eat leaves on the trees above. When we first booked the trip, I though this might have been a staged photo for their brochures. Not so, as soon as we arrived at one location, the goats appeared, along with some ancient goat-herders, begging for treats from our guide and proceeded to climb up and over the vehicle to eat leaves above.
Thousand year old Plane trees
During this trip to Crete, I lost my good Canon camera, together with the memory card with all my photos of the first part of our adventure. That’s one reason many of the photos here are simple ones, taken on my phone or borrowed from somewhere else. At one snack/drink break, we had an option to hike up a trail to the Dicteon caves, reputed to be the birthplace of Zeus. Diana and I chose to stay at the taverna and enjoy a drink. The start of that trail our guide pointed out was just part of a rocky outcropping on the hill, barely recognizable as a ‘road’ or ‘path’. He said that section dates back over 7000 years, to the early days of the Minoans.
Meeting some of the locals
Driving back to Heraklion, we learned many more things about Giannis. He played the Cretan lute, as well as four other instruments. As we drove through one area where Giannis must have called ahead, a lady came out to meet the car, handing Giannis his lute and his coffee as we passed by. It turned out it was his wife, a Russian lady who when they first met did not know Greek, and Giannis did not know Russian, so they both communicated in English. We were watching this from the vehicle, so I greeted her in Russian, which of course surprised her as Giannis had told her we were all Canadians.
Of course, he also plays a four string bouzouki (tetrachord). I mentioned I like the old three string bouzouki (trichord) ones playing the old songs like Frangosyriani). He was surprised I knew both about trichord bouzoukis, and about that song, which apparently every bouzouki player must learn, and that it is very difficult to play. I learned about it when we visited the island of Syros, where the song was written by Markos Vamvakaris back in 1935. It is a love song about a Catholic (Frango) girl from Syros. (Full disclosure: I don’t play a bouzouki or any instrument, but I like the instrument and the song.)
The ‘safari tour’ is one I highly recommend, especially if you have a knowledgeable guide. There is so much science and history on that island, from mythical beginnings, neolithic civilizations, their successful trade by sailing throughout the known world, as well as through occupation by the Myceneans, Venetians, Persians, Ottomans, Arabs, and Romans, not necessarily in that order. But the legacy of the Minoans still dominates the history and culture of the people who live there.
In the next ‘episode’, we’ll travel to the far eastern end of the island, check out another ancient ‘Palace’ and get into more modern Minoans, their culture today, their food, drinks, and, unfortunately, their medical system.
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