Wednesday, 22-04-26

Morning, everyone!  Welcome to the Mistral Hotel, Crete.
Yesterday was really very tiring although everything went smoothly from start to finish.  No lost baggage, people or minds!!

Thank goodness they had abandoned the entry-exit stuff.  Chania airport is pretty small and it took long enough just to go through passport control, never mind anything else.  But it was easy, all the same.

The evening was very pleasant.

We all turned up at the poolside bar fort a welcome drink and a 'get to know each other' session.  Nothing embarrassing, just a good old chat with whoever was nearby.  The welcome drink was prosecco and very nice too.

There's a great long list of cocktails and I intend to try one each evening.  They're extra but really not that expensive.

Then we all piled in to the dining area.  From left to right there's Heather and Marcela who are our tour managers for this holiday and then two of the family who run the hotel - and I didn't catch their names which is very bad of me.  I will ask today.
Anyway, they explained how the dinners work.  It's Cretan style so everything gets put on the table and you have what you want.  No menus or 'courses' as such, just when the plates get changed.

(Their English is so very good, as is that of all the staff.)

Oh, my!!  The food!  It was so, so good.

It started with the traditional delicious fresh bread with local evoo and balsamic vinegar.
Then it moved on to a canape with some spiced whipped feta (I think) piped onto some crispy rounds of bread and something chickpea-ish blended and piped into rosettes.

Then out came a salad followed by what's in the photo.  I guess you could say it was rather like a Spanish tortilla except it used feta and evoo and cream and it was sublime!
Then out came some kind of pork and mushroom casserole with rice, all melt in the mouth and savoury.

Finally, some halva.  Delicious and very rich.  That round one tasted like the inside of a Ferraro Rocher

It all finished off with tea, coffee, etc.

We have all been given a Cretan cookery book and I am hoping some of the recipes will be in there.  

The wine was free flowing, included and any carafe nearly empty was removed and returned full.
You just have to, don't you?  There was plenty of water too, thank goodness.

I think most of us were pretty shattered by the end and I certainly wasn't the only one or even the first one to make my way up stairs.  

And I had a great night's sleep!

Today, after a Cretan style breakfast, it is olive day!!
First we are going to visit the Olive Tree of Vouves.  Here's a bit about it.  https://www.abea.gr/en/olive-museum/

It is between 2000 and 40000 years old and still produces olives today.

Then we are off to an olive oil producer where we will have a tour and then some tasting (thank goodness olive oil is very good for one).

This will be followed by lunch at a waterfront taverna before returning to the hotel.  Come the evening, there's a cocktail tasting time (included) by the bar, followed by dinner at eight.  I'm excited for what they will cook for us tonight and I might go for the red rather than the white tonight.  And considerably less than last night!!  Send me strengthening vibes!!  :-)

Time to have a bath and get ready for the day ahead, I think.  I will leave you with a view right and then left from my balcony.  One is heavily edited (I don't mean the cropping either) to get rid of electricity stuff so apologies for that.