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| Istro Bay as seen from Mount above Rakospito |
30.08.2011
After a flight lasting four hours during which we weren't allowed to consume any products containing nuts (!), we eventually made it into Heraklion airport, and five minutes after landing we had gone through the entire maze of the airport (one of the simplest we’ve encountered) and onto the street, where Mercedes-Benz taxis hung about waiting for the real rush that would follow us out. After finding Willie, Liz and Teddie, we quickly made it into the Honda and were driven to Rakospito. It was about 11:50 pm when we got home and I cheekily asked Liz whether there was anything available to chew on. She slapped up some pasta (alas, my gluten free diet would have to be put off for the week) with pesto and chorizo, which was delicious, and after a meal and some lovely Cretan wine, plus all the catching-up with the Uncle and Aunt, it was about 1 am before we finally made it to bed.
Our bedroom had been set up in the garage, with two brilliant air mattresses sat next to each other and Willie’s new creation – a proxy for a wardrobe made of simple shelves preceded by curtains – all ready for us. There was also a wooden frame, hinged in the middle to fold into two, which lined a mosquito netting and was made to fit under the garage door in order to be able to have a source of fresh air at night.
31.08.2011
Willie woke us about 9 am with the premeditated intention of going to Wednesday morning market in Agios Nikolaos, a town that brought memories from 2009’s visit with Andrew. We found Yannis, Willie and Liz’s old friend, in his stall and he gave us some free produce (tomatoes and okra, which are also called lady’s fingers) because Willie had helped him with his tomato harvest earlier on in the summer. The funny man shook all our hands and when he shook Louise’s hand he gave us a well-rehearsed look of pain and flapped his hand like a wet cloth that had just been squeezed dry. We then walked around the farmer’s market, bought some choclos, a sweet-smelling melon (not before the merchant shoved me a piece to sample from his stock, which was excellent) and some native cucumbers that were hairy and tortuous but turned out to be incredibly tasty.
When we got home from Agios Nikolaos there was time for a quick visit to the beach, our very first.
01.09.2011
Went to beach after rising late (10 am) and spent the day on the beach, taking it easy. Cousin Fiona arrived 1900 hs.
Dinner at home: chicken with ouzo sauce. Liz cooked of course, and the chicken was accompanied by some tasty long grain rice.
02.09.2011
Went swimming to the yellow buoy in the middle of the bay (perhaps it can be seen in some of the pictures?), but the jellyfish infestation there was in the surrounding area of the buoy really scared me so dashed back to shore as quick as I could...
At sunset we walked Teddy round the usual circuit and ended at a bar for some wine… when in Rome…!
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| Walking old Teddie - we all stop for a breather... |
Dinner at Manolis', at Istron Taverna. Saw Jacques, a lovely old Frenchman, who came in for dinner a little after us, with the day’s copy of Le Monde under his arm and a perceived intention to be alone. We did invite him over to our table, but after a polite hello to everyone and a bon appétit, he took off. Oh, and then there was Ruth. A hippie survivor with wrinkly skin and slow reactions, with lovely brown hair, which is definitely not natural, quite a character actually. She married this man called Jerry on the terrace at Rakospito, but they still live apart in the UK (they see each other on weekends, and she comes to Crete alone mostly!).
We had mouzaka (like a shepherd's pie, but with white sauce instead of mash, probably a close enough description...), stuffed courgette flowers, Liz had Horta (wild spinach) and chips because there was no lasagne, and Yannis came to sit with us for a while. Afer dinner, we got Yannis’ figs, watermelon and melon, and eventually Jacques did come to join us as well, we were certainly the central table in the taverna… oh, and there was Raki, the spirit that makes it to the table after every dinner.
Nico cycled home from Taverna, and found Whinnie the whinchat with a broken wing lying on the side of the road, so picked her up.
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| Waking early, not easy... |
03.09.2011
We got up terribly early (see how early by observing Nico's face while having breakfast), to try and make summit up the hill behind the house, but there was no path up it on the North side, so our failed mountain hike turned into -for Louise and Fiona - an early morning swim instead, and a long nap for Nico.
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| Brave disappointment realizing we couldn't make that summit. |
Richard arrived later in the day, so Fiona went to pick him up. When they eventually got to Rakospito and we’d all had out cups of tea, everyone but Liz came down to the beach and went for a sunset swim. It was great, the waves were perfect for body surfing and Nico did plenty of that. Even Willie was into it!
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| Beach at Istro Bay in late afternoon |
Dinner out at Zorba’s in Pachia Ammos, about 5 km east of Istron. Octopus (grilled, terribly tasty), batter-fried sardines and lovely grapes for dessert. We met Almira, a crazy French woman who has a cat called Machito and spends age travelling around in her caravan with Machito sitting on the dashboard. Almira has a great cheekuy Smile and fiery blue eyes. Zorba has the most amazing moustache, he is short and cheeky, having very developed people skills and a knack for entertaining. He also has a very good-looking daughter who Willie fancies a lot (can’t blame him!).
By the end of the night, Liz was arguing with Zorba about the size of a raki glass that would have been used during a christening festivity a few weeks earlier, and eventually Liz called Almira into the fight to provide evidence in her favour (Alimira had been to this party, but it is most likely she didn’t remember anything…). Almira demonstrated what the men were doing at that party, and to do so, knelt down on the floor to pick up a full glass of raki that she intended to down. It all went wrong, she dropped the glass which broke and everybody sarted laughing uncontrollably… priceless comedy.
04.09.2011
Got up early again. Outing with Louise in Twingo. We went to a cave called the Dikhtean cave on Lassithi plateau. It is supposed to be either the birth place of Zeus or the place where he was hidden from his father Kronos to protect him. We arrived before gates opened so waited at the entrance for about 15 minutes. The cave was 70 m deep and full of stalagmites and stalactites. There were a few lights about the place to shine on the sides, making it look cathedral-like, almost.
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| Stalactites in Dhiktean cave; Zeus' refuge from his dad |
After feeding Whinnie the whinchat wet bread over the last couple of days, Nico fed the bird some chicken for the first time. It went down well.
Got home 1600 hs and dipped into Kostas’ (the absent niehghbour) pool. Then went for a BBQ at Stonehouse with Christine, Manos and Ruth. Snorkelled a bit around Stonehouse cove after sunset, the had most amazing food: local butcher sausages, Souvlaki (chicken skewers), and thick bacon brashers.
Manos, a local guy from Hamezi, told us about his childhood days when he hunted fish with friends by using dynamite… nasty thought, apparently very successful.
Dessert was a lovely melon bought on Wednesday at the market in Ag Nik farmers' market plus some tasty ice-cream and figs and biscuits. Nice. Liz drove home as Nico was probably more alcohologically unfit to do so himself.
Fiona, Louise and Richard went swimming after dinner (Nico was way too full of food to be able to) and watched the bioluminescent algae, which was a first for Louise.
05.09.2011
Got up later than usual around 9 am. Had a lovely common breakfast and took it easy, tried fixing Winnie’s wing with Fi, using gauze and tape to immobilise it.
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| Whinnie's cast |
Then we all drove to Agios Nikolaos and met up with Nick Laing, a crazy rich Welshman, for lunch at a bar by the Ag Nik Marina. Thence we all boarded Nick’s Bénétau 30-foot yacht aptly named Gudbai Tacs! and headed for Spinalonga island (an old Leper colony!) by sea. It was brilliant! The sea was quite choppy and we got sprayed constantly while sitting down below. Lou and Nico missed them, but the others saw a school of flying fish jumping out of the water!
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| Nick Laing's vessel, great name! |
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| Ladies bonding |
We anchored in a little bay where there was less wind, snorkelled down to 10m for a while Louisa, Nico, Fi and Richard swum out to the wall closest to us, and enjoyed the wildlife there. A beautiful pipe fish was the highlight sighting of this particular short expedition.
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| Nico driving |
We then carried on around the leper colony island and on the way back Nico got to drive the boat, which was fun. Got up to 27.7 knots, when the sea wasn’t as choppy and we had the wind in our tails.
Then we all drove home for a nice cup of tea.
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| Washing salt water off Gudbai Tacs |
Dinner in Monastiraki : Rabbit, Sausage, Cuttlefish in its ink, all new stuff for Louise!
06.09.2011
Up early (7.45 am) to get ready for an epic hike down Richti gorge. After a slim breakfast in a slight rush, All of us but Liz headed east in two cars (Honda and Twingo).
Richti Gorge: The gorge starts close to a village called Exo Mouliana, at ca. 350 m above sea level and is about 5 km long if you start at the very top; we drove down a minor concrete lane towards the sea and when we got to Richti beach, where the gorge ends, we left the Twingo there in a rush, all of us driving back to the village in the Honda in order to start our hike. In the end we decided to take an even smaller lane towards the gorge, north of the village, parking the Honda by an empty monastery in the middle of olive plantations on hill slopes, and thus shortened our final gorge walking distance by about 1.5 km, to ensure that we wouldn’t be late to get back to Istron by 3pm (Willie had to fetch Geordie George from the airport).
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| Beginning of walk down gorge. |
So we started down this stream bed, where water apparently runs all year round (very rare for Crete, I am sure) and soon found that our daily application of sun lotion had been used in vain, as we were covered by the shade of some beautiful sycamore trees practically all the way down the gorge. Here and there we also found wild figs, which we happily helped ourselves to without hesitation.
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| End of walk down gorge |
The place was like La Cumbre’s "chorrito" river running between the San Geronimo and the town, as there was a similar amount of water – in other words very little – and as soon as one was out of the riverbed or even just above it, grass and brush took over, filling the air with aromatic scents. Our research on google regarding the gorge indicated that at some point we would find a waterfall and were hoping that enough water would be running through it to make it possible to have a bathe at the bottom of it… our hopes were rewarded, because at one point we were led away from the streambed and up into the rocky brushland, then steeply down some wooden steps until we rejoined the shady rocky bed a good 15 meters down, and we knew what was awaiting us: a beautiful waterfall landing in a lovely big pond, large enough to dive into from a standing position. The water was so fresh and clear, and there was a huge curtain of water plants growing all the way down the cascade, with a freshwater crab at the very bottom of it. I went ecstatic at being in such a lovely place.
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| Waterfall at Richti Gorge |
We had dinner with Jacques and Geordie George from Newcastle, in Mohlos, with a tall man called Giorgos as host.
Jacques’ story in drive on the way there was sad, he has had more than his fair share of bad luck, it seems. He long ago lost his family butcher's business to the French taxman and now has a bout of prostate cancer, which is awaiting treatment later this year. He now manages by subletting a set of rooms in Istron for 6 months over the summer season and rents them out to French people who are either acquaintances or have heard of his service by word of mouth and/or repeat bookings.
Saw hanging octopus, huge perch head and lovely looking Lambuca fish. Jacques let me try a bit of his swordfish dish, which was lovely. On the way back Louise and Nico fell asleep in the back of his car, while the stereo played Charles Bois, Francoise Hardy and Veronique Sanson. We were shattered and full of lovely food, and had to be woken up when we got back to Rakospito…
07.09.2011
Up early again! This time for some tourist action! We left at about 0730 to go to Knossos, outside Heraklion, hoping to arrive there as early as possible. We got there at about 9 and went straight in to beat the groups of guided tours in Italian, Russian, German and who knows what other language… And boy did they come in hoards. By the time we parked, bought our tickets (6 euro each) and had a quick toilet break, the queue at the ticket office behind us was huge.
Knossos is Crete’s main cultural destination as a relic of Minoan times (called Minoan because of the mythical king Minos, Zeus’ son). The ruins were dug up by a Cretan businessman in the late 19th Century and then explored and studied by Sir Arthur Evans from the Ashmolean at Oxford University. This man actually interpreted to his own perspective a lot of the ruins dug up and therefore, in reconstructing and restoring them during the early 1900s, added a huge proportion of imagination and creativity to them. This means that it is now very difficult to carry out any additional research regarding the ruins and to distinguish between original remains and Evans’ additions...
The palace ruins at Knossos were worth visiting, was our conclusion. We were, at first, confused by the idea of Sir Arthur Evans’ huge input and then a bit miffed by it: there were concrete arches around rebuilt doorways that were painted in order to resemble wood (effective, since Louise actually thought they were real wood!). So we left happy to have gone but a bit disapproving of the whole thing. I guess the whole idea is to regard it as an amalgamation of lots of different aspects of history, modern and antique (the closure of the Minoan period and the demise of Knossos is thought to have been around 1380 BC).
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| Knossos |
In any case, after a morning walking around ruins with the sun getting hotter and people becoming more numerous, we decided to go across the road for a coffee before taking Richard to the airport and heading back to Istron. So we found a little shop (one of the 15 that adorn the road opposite the entrance to Knossos and are riddled with postcards, Minotaur statuettes, game cards with Greek Lovers on them, etc) and had a delicious iced coffee on Fi. Then we took off. After leaving Richard at Heraklion airport we headed straight back to Rakospito, desperate for a cool swim in the sea and some lunch. On the way we listened to Rod Steward and Johnnny Cash classics, with the sunroof of the Twingo fully open. Awesome.
Beached with Louise for 45 mins but the wind had brought so much trash plastic wrapping into the bay that Nico decided to scrap swimming and instead cleared as much as he could in the space of half an hour.
After a tasty lunch of leftovers and Pimms, it came to feeding the Whinchat. We had been discussing what should be done about her once Nico left, and we all agreed that Willie should take care of her (instead of letting her go with her broken wing or cast on, or even, which was also considered seriously, for Nico to smuggle her into the UK in a jacket pocket or something…). So he would have to learn how to force feed her and all that. So in doing so Nico stared trying to tempt her to peck at food instead of forcing it down her throat. It resulted in an excited turn of events, as she has started to eat on her own!
We finally went up mountain behind the house (this time, not walking but round the back side of it, in the Honda). The views of the mountains above Istron are magical. There are limestone cliffs with caves in them that remind one of places such as Annecy in France where the Alps start showing, it is strikingly similar rock although the vegetation is quite different. We climbed very quickly up a dirt track that winds and winds all the way up. When the car could go no mre, and we were quite close to the pek of what we called Mount Rakospitos, we marched on up to the very summit where there lay ruins from times of yore. The view was of course more tham memorable. We got some good group pictures and scrambled around the old wall ruins for a while before returning to the car. Then we drove up into an olive grove that lay on the top of the ridge (this pattern might be true of Cretan geology: mountains that fall sharply on the northern coast actually rise very gradually from the south permitting agriculture to be rife even at their very tops). We found some old almond trees in their last seasons and took their hard work away with us to eat. Delicious almonds. After some more views from the heights, this time even being able to see Rakospiito, we drove back down a different way thus completing a loop around this magnificent rocky peak. When we got back there wasn’t much time before we had to leave for dinner, so we quickly killed a few cups of tea and showered.
The ride up the mountains to Kroustas where dinner was planned was again making us gasp. There were mature pinewood forests of the lushest green one can imagine for a place like Crete. It was sad to see that some areas had been affected by forest fires, but there was still a lot of it left. The paving on the first half of the road was immaculate and reminded us of the "camino de las cienagas" from salta city to San Salvador de Jujuy through yungas that we drove through with Louise last year in August (at its driest it was at the right time to resemble this Cretan road). We overtook a cople of farmers driving the most bizarre rural motor, a 6hp lawnmower-type mitsubishi engine drives two front wheels that look like mini tractor wheels and drags behind it what looks like the back of a pickup. Our waves were not at all acknowledged by them as we drove by, which makes you wonder what they think of foreign tourists, or whether they’ve ever come across one?
Dinner at Giorgos', a charming guy that can't take no for an answer, especially when taking food orders, which is filling but perhaps too much so and then a little expensive… 80 Euros. It was, however, the best mouzaka tasted yet (remember? the minced lamb with white sauce and cheese), which came in three big portions although we had asked for one… Then came an omelette called stakas me abga which was made with the cream from goat’s milk and home eggs. Not to forget were the Dolmades here, as well, of which there came the three types: vine leaves, courgette flowers and cabbage leaves. In increasing order of tastiness. Too many of them too. We also got cheese pies, the size and shape of mince pies, and fried courgette cakes which were memorable. All in all, probably would have been the best meals we’ve had were it not for the slightly overburdening insistence of our host to eat more. Anyhow, at least I got some Mouzaka meat for Whinnie, which I fed her as we got back and she seemed terribly happy with it (Teddie kicked up a tantrum watching me feed what he thought was his mouzaka meat to an alien pet lower down in the literal pecking order of the house, and he whined at me a few times, but gave up after he saw nothing came of it).
Sadly we decided against our ealier plan of nightdiving with torches in hunt of octopus on secret bay which can be seen to the east of the beach below Rakospito and to the west of Istron Bay Hotel.
08.09.2011
Time to pack. Up at 8.30 and had the last feeding session with Whinnie. She was great again, showing signs of having eaten mouzaka last night after I left her (some spilt pieces lying at the bottom of her box were absent this morning). Willie gave it a go feeding her. She stood on the palm of his hand and we took it in turns to dip lamb meat into a bowl of water and then offer it to her in small chunks. She cocked her head with curiosity and pecked away at those pieces which she considered of adequate size, colour or shape… sometimes the chunks were a little big and a quick shake of the head sent them flying from her beak across the floor… if they fell back on Willie’s palm she would cock her head again and perhaps retry. We went off thinking, "this bird will be fine, if her wing is not mended, she can live in a box like this one and eat stuff thrown at her; low maintenance, so much happiness".
Said a quick bye to the bay, having a quick swim with Fi and Louise, Strangely, there were clouds in the sky today… first time since we’ve been here. Still, some sunshine and warm enough for a dip. Got back home by 1135 in order to leave by midday. Quick shower, sign the guest book, and finish packing. Said bye to Liz, Fi and the two pets. And headed to the airport in the twingo, which Willie let Nico drive this once more. Stopped in Malia for some figs to give Louise's dad, and grapes for our trip.
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| Willie feeding Whinnie |
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| Summit! |
All in all, this was an amazing trip. The sad ending is that, we heard from Willie, Whinnie died a couple of days after we left. We suspect this was from too tight a cast around her little body. It was all worth a try, though, as a feral cat would have caught her if we'd left her there and she wouldn't stand a chance alone with a broken wing anyhow.
