Lazy days and good food.

Now it may come as a surprise to some of you that I have never really been on a holiday which doesn’t have a plan, a plan to see the sights or climb X number of Munros. Not that I mind this, I love the Munros and having a plan makes me a very happy bunny, however this holiday does not have a plan. For the past 3 days we’ve happily laid on the balcony, or on the beds, reading books and generally chilling out (in fact I’m writing this from the pool with an ice cold frappe wonderfully prepared by our lovely Dimitri).

In between reading and lounging we have eaten some amazing food. I think the food’s one of my favourite things about Greece. From the spectacular tomato and cucumber salad, covered in olive oil and thyme, to the sweet, sticky Baklava the food is incredible.

Each morning we eat Greek Yoghurt and honey, the yoghurt is nothing like the Greek Yoghurt sold at home, it’s thick and creamy and ever so tart with it being made with sheep or goat’s milk. Lunch tends to be crisp bread with cheese, although today it will probably be crisp bread and tzakai, a wonderful dip made from yoghurt, garlic and cucumber. The dinners have been stunning.

Small fried fishes of the second night.

Yes, something as simple as whole sardines in a light batter with loads of lemon can be one of the tastiest meals I’ve ever eaten, although the wonderful Cretan wine may have had something to do with it. Cretan wine is made from their wonderfully shrivelled grapes that line the streets, people have verandas covered in grape vines and often make wine in their own homes. Raki, a fiery spirit is made from the leftovers of wine making. Everyone thinks Ouzo is the spirit of Greece but Raki is definitely the spirit of Crete.

The meal of small fired fishes was taken in a lovely Taverna on the edge of the sea front, tucked away from the fancy tavernas that lure in the few tourists. It may have made the walk home over 4km but, as I keep saying, the views were worth it!

The walk home (all 4km in flip flops) was a drunken one! Cretan wine tends to be around 11% vol. and the shot of Raki that accompanies your meal seems to tip you over the edge!

How we made it home I will never know!

Now for some reason watermelons seem to be huge over here, I mean really huge, and really cheap!

Yes, the huge green thing taking up most of the fridge is, indeed, a water melon, all 11kg of it, all for four euros. It’s keeping our hunger and dehydration at bay.

As a treat yesterday we wandered down into town (town being Kissamos 4km away)the wind was high and the sea was rough.

When I say rough, I mean rough by Mediterranean standards, not ours

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We spent a lovely hour or so building walls for the sea to destroy and soaked in the view, accompanied by Nestea from the lovely lady who can only say ‘bye’ in English, so we get to practise our Greek.

Nestea, best enjoyed with this view…..

Now, on this trip into town we treated ourselves to the Greek equivalent of afternoon tea, I had a frappe (not as good as Dimitri’s) and a huge slice of Baklava and B, true to form, had iced tea and a bowl of yoghurt and honey.

The British attempts at recreating Baklava have been disappointing, even from the most prestigious bakery in Oxford, where I first sampled this sweet delight. I was blown away by how flaky the pastry was and how sweet, yet not sickly the filling was. All in all very, very tasty.

After this gastronomic delight we wandered through town, and found all sorts of exciting Venetian and Roman architecture, that is just slotted into the surrounding area, like it’s not even that exciting that it’s thousands of years old. I found it immensely exciting so poor old B had to take pictures.

On the inside of this wall there was a house! Just a regular, concrete, Greek house.

A Roman Villa with houses either side. I love how the history of this place just mingles in with the rest of the town.

Last night’s meal was a lovely combination of homemade pitta (sooooooo much better than the ASDA variety) with a chicken soulaki, a sort of kebab thingy with pepper and chicken pieces. Everything here tastes so fresh and delicious. And the wine is wonderful! Those of you who know me well will know that I’m a fan of wine, yet am constantly disappointed by white wine (apart from that really nice one that you brought back from somewhere Lottie, that was really good) but I have found the white wine to top all white wine’s, it’s local to Kissamos and is so smooth and delicious even B liked it. Yes, it may be 11.8% vol. but it really is delicious! Dimitri offered to take us up to the vineyard to get some and see how/where it’s made, which is very exciting (did I mention how much I love Greek/Cretan hospitality????? A free shot of Raki , or in Dimitri’s case a free scoop of really tasty ice cream, after each meal)When you’re here you can’t help but be happy and chilled out.

Right, my book calls, or I might take Margarita’s option of sleeping in the shade.