Crete: Part II

After spending a couple of quiet days recovering, we took a trip to one of the mountain villages. The native goats that we saw along the way were pretty entertaining and we did some shopping for woven goods in the village. The elderly women who sell the textiles are very aggressive with their sales pitches. If you hesitate at all or try to discuss anything with your spouse they just keep pulling out more items to show you. It seemed to me that each shop had almost identical weavings and embroidered pieces for sale, but each woman was quick to tell us that she had made this or that herself, and that it was a lot of work. So, we bought more than we needed and high-tailed it out of there!



We stopped for lunch at another mountain village on the way home and sat by this beautiful church surrounded by palms and a duck pond. We made it home in time for another Hudock balcony sunset photo.



Our next day trip took us to the south side of the island. We visited the archaeological site of Phaestos, which also dates from the Minoan period. The day was just as hot as our day spent at Knossos, but there were no crowds, which was wonderful. Brennan really enjoyed both sites and had a lot of fun running around and jumping off of rocks and walls.





We ate at the surprisingly reasonably priced cafe on site, which overlooked the valley and olive groves.



We drove to a beautiful rocky beach to spend the rest of the afternoon. This ended up being much better than the sandy beaches because the pebbles didn't stick to us and the larger smooth stones were a lot of fun to play with.



In the spirit of branching out we tried a new beach the next day, one we had spotted from an overpass near our town. Isla fell asleep upon arrival and had a nice snuggle with Patrick. It was nice and secluded, although these pebbles were tough to walk on. We relaxed, enjoyed, and had lunch at the taverna.



Brennan acquired a taste for iced tea at lunch, and then put some space between us so that he could look cool in front of a couple of little girls sitting nearby.



We tried out another restaurant in town for dinner and were pleasantly surprised to find that they had a nice little playground for the kids. We usually dined alone, as we ate between 5 and 6 and everyone else on the island didn't start to think about dinner until at least 8pm. Here are another balcony photo and Brennan creating works of art.



We took a day trip into the city of Chania, the former capital of Crete. The first stop after parking the car was a playground that we just happened to pass by.



Our second stop was for ice cream. It was purely for medicinal purposes; it was so hot that both Brennan and I felt a little ill. We perked right up after the ice cream! The harbor at Chania was beautiful and the old Venetian buildings and alleyways a lot of fun to explore, although it was a very touristy area.



A miracle in Crete: both kids passed out in the car! Amazing. We had planned to travel on to a highly rated beach about an hour west of Chania, but our GPS just couldn't get us there. It took us through someone's huge olive grove on roads not meant for anything less rugged than a tractor. We made it out, (and saw this man herding sheep along the way), and decided to cut our losses and head towards home.



This ended up being a good decision because Isla was coming down with Brennan's bug (perhaps all that ice cream sharing?) and had a fever by the time we stopped for dinner. We ate at a roadside taverna and went out on a limb with our order of lamb chops. They were ok, but very fatty and I wouldn't get them again. In case you are wondering what the kids ate at all these tavernas, we ordered them Greek dishes almost every time and they ate wonderfully. Bread and tzatziki, dolmades, moussaka, Greek salads, pastitio, little meatballs etc. Most places supplied a free dessert at the end of dinner, usually melon (amazing melon) and in this instance figs fresh off the tree.



Another day, another beach. This one was practically deserted and the umbrellas and chairs were gratis if you patronized the taverna, which we did. The kids never tired of playing in the sand and we were having fun right up to the end of our trip.



Here are some photos of our accommodations and the restaurant. We had the whole top floor. This was one of the best trips that we have had as a family and was so incredibly relaxing. One of my friends joked that I will be stressed again by next week, but I think Crete is going to last me a long time! Yiassou!