Archive for April 15th, 2008
On the way to Lassithi, the plateau in the mountains of Crete, my wife, Andrew and I stopped to take some photos of the surround countryside.
Almost 100 feet later there was a church and we stopped again, because we could not resist the temptation to take a picture of a Church in Greece. I one-upped the one church quota with this two church shot …
The windmills themselves are nothing but ruins, relics of an era when wind was used to grind grains.
The view from the top of the ride is spectacular and most definitely worth stopping to check out.
Once we entered the plateau it was somewhat of a disappointment. As a child the plateau made a tremendous impression on me because it was the only bit of flat land I had ever seen on a Greek island. I suppose, when I was a child, I had found the notion that in the middle of these mountains there would be something flat to be very disturbing.
But in the end, a plateau that is used to farm, is just that, a plateau that is used to farm. I suspect if you stayed in this area for a month, you would notice some very subtle rhythms that seemed to speak out to me, but were ultimately lost in our rush to get in and get out.
April 15th, 2008
After our hike up what we thought was Karfi, we were very hungry. The oranges were very tasty, but somewhat insubstantial.
The guide book offered a few places to go eat, but I wanted to check out what was available before I committed to anything.
We parked in front of a house that belonged to an old widow that I could not resist taking a picture of.
Our walk around the town made it quite clear that the right place to eat was at Taverna Kronio.
A small tavern that had been in business since 1965. The current owner, pictured below, was a local who had married a French woman which explained why the wait staff (husband and son) spoke perfect French and the menu was written in perfect French cursive.
When we arrived at the restaurant, I was very hungry and demanded to start ordering. His reaction was funny. He goes:
Sit down, relax, this is not a Mc. Donald’s. There is a pace to how you will eat here.
He started the menu with an aperitif offering ouzo. I told him that I was a designated driver, and he gave me a priceless reaction:
Spare me. Soon we will be like Denmark. One little drink will not hurt.
And so we ordered food, chastised for being in a rush, and told to drink and if we needed to wait for the alcohol to be digested to sit and wait because there was no rush.
Across the way from us was a Kafenion with a set of locals who were drinking their coffee. Their mustaches and their looks were quintessentially Cretan.
Their patience and willingness to take their time to drink their coffee did much to convince this hurried man that he should slow down. 
The food was very tasty and very colorful. What I find most interesting in Crete is how vivid the food colors are. The stifado is very red. The yellows/green of the artichoke was very yellow/green. There is something to be said for organically grown produce.
As we were about to leave to head towards the cave where Zeus was supposedly born, the owner warned us to not go. He said, there is a cave, and there is a fee to park, a fee to enter, a fee to smile, a fee to exit, a fee to frown, and if the local bureaucrat smiles he made decide that your car is a fee. With that warning, we decided to turn around and head back to Xersonissos.
April 15th, 2008
When we arrived in Lassithi we decided it would be lots of fun if we went for a hike up Karfi, a small peak with a spectacular view of the plateau and the northern coast of Crete.
The road to the hike began near the village of Tzermiado. The road was a tiny one lane road that winded itself up slowly up the mountain leading to a Stavros Church. We were supposed to get off the road before we got to the church and take a dirt road, but we misread the instructions. We knew we had misread the instructions when we reached a dead end
and I had to do a three point turn in my Nissan Micra (huzzah for small cars!).
The hike began in a small valley near a much smaller church off the main road.
The hike was extremely easy to follow
with lots of goats pointing the way
The guide book claimed that there was plenty of shade on the mountain for a picnic. We found no shade except for this tree:
I suppose if you consider that you are on a mountain top in Crete which was deforested in the Minoan era the mountain looks downright lush with this lone tree providing shade …
There were many pretty flowers, that I could not resist taking pictures of.
We finally reached a fork in the road with a sign that pointed to Karfi
The only problem is that Karfi was in the opposite direction of the arrow (or so we think based on our guide book) and looks like this 
Unfortunately we only discovered our mistake on the way down from this other peak.
At the top of the mountain
we took a group photo
Unfortunately, in our first attempt, I tripped and fell before I could get to my spot next to Andrew. Funnily enough the camera was able to take a picture of the reaction of my wife and Andrew to my fall
Which looked more gruesome than it was.
While on the top of the mountain I did put together this 300 degree panorama that looks kinda cool
The way down was uneventful, and after my fall, I wasn’t that interested in taking any more pictures.
April 15th, 2008
