Today was our big day to tour the island with our rental car. We headed out around 9:00am in the “chick pea yellow” van with Julie squeezed into back seat with all our backpacks. We drove South of Rethymnon towards the South coast for the ancient site of Phaistos.
Along the way we stopped in the village of Spili which is about half-way. Fresh water from the mountains spills out of a row of lion’s heads at a fountain in the town square. There is a beautiful church in the square – it was locked but the entrance doors were all glass so visitors could get the full impact of the inside of the church. Every square inch of walls and ceilings were painted with vivid frescoes.
We continued south through arid hill country. Phaistos was a Minoan place complex situated in a beautiful location – in the Messara plain up on a hill with 360 views of the surrounding fertile valleys. Not a lot remains of this complex – several earthquakes destroyed the palace many centuries ago. So you have to use your imagination. It was hot in the ruins and I was glad to find a shady spot to read while the others explored. Burke is really enjoying this trip – a true history buff. Love our conversations at the dinner tables – dissecting stories of the Gods – who did what to whom. Julie says these Greeks were obsessed with cross breeding between people and animals in their mythology. She just rolls her eyes each time the subject of a centaur, a minotaur, Leda and the swan is brought up.
Being the good Greek mama raised by Helen Vlacos, I brought bread and cheese and fruits which we enjoyed at the museum cafe.
Time to continue our exploration of Crete, with Bill at the wheel and Burke as navigator. The next few towns were very unimpressive (Agia Galini, Timbaki). Our eye was on Moni Preveli Monastary which is perched high on a hill overlooking the sea. We did stop at a little ceramics shop where they made bright colored terracotta pieces. The monastery was very quiet except for the church bells announcing vesper services and the squawk of the peacocks. We stepped into the little church for about 10 minutes of the service. Other than the views and the chapel there isn’t much to see. We decided not to take the hike down to the beach as it was almost six pm and we wanted to get back to the village by dark. Mona Preveli is well known for their work in helping hide Allied soldiers after the fall of Crete in World War II.
We stopped at a beach in Plakias because Julie and I were sure we wanted to take a dip in the sea – until we dipped our toes in the chilly water of Messara Bay. Plus it was very rocky. So we opted for a beach walk followed by coffee and ice cream.
At 7pm we headed out choosing to take the secondary yellow roads to come up the back way and maybe shorter route than through Rethymnon. Good choice as the views were much prettier – going through gorges and many up and down switch backs. The drive home was the highlight of the day for me.
We got back to the village in time to scoop up Yiannis and head for dinner at his favorite restaurant on the beach. We were the only patrons all night at this family restaurant. We had grilled octopus and sea bass and the typical array of mezedes (tapas). In Greece and in Turkey, restaurants typically bring a complimentary dessert and a shot of raki (white moonshine) after the meal. Also most of the lamb we’ve eaten in Greece has been mediocre compared to what we had in Turkey, with the exception of lamb shanks we had a couple of times. The grilled chops are dry and not very meaty.