Saturday, 25-04-26

Morning, lovely people.

Day five begins.

It's an early start to the day as today is Knossos day and it takes three hours to get there (and three to get back again) so we're leaving at eight.

power failure, 

Yesterday started off with a bit of excitement - we had a short power failure around six this morning and learned later that there had been a 5.7 strength earthquake off the coast of eastern Crete, Heraklion way.  I didn't feel any aftershocks personally and I don't think there was any serious issues, but the power was off and on all day.  So that was an 'exciting' start!

Not quite so exciting was the fact that it poured with rain all day.  The farmer's market we were scheduled to visit doesn't happen when it is raining so we went off to Colymbari, to visit the Mother of God Monastery.  Nothing to do with food but it was something to do and the museum was very interesting.

I found a fridge magnet so I was happy with that!

The photo is the church in the middle of the grounds.

The view from the back wall.  Even in poor weather, it was lovely.

Then we piled back on the coach and went to Bee World where Dorothea talked to us about her bees before we tasted honey and went all spendy in the small shop.

I got some little olive wood bowls, some olive and orange soap and some beeswax hand balm.

Back on the coach again and off we headed, through some pretty heavy rain, up narrow roads with hairpin bends that made me hold my breath at times, to a winery, the name of which I can't recall.
The tour of the winery wasn't much to write home about but the wine tasting was!

After a brief talk, we were let loose.  There must have been around twenty five just opened bottles down a long table, with notes and glasses - proper glasses not shot glasses, and some finger nibbles to help us along.

With an awareness of luggage weight, I didn't buy any wine but I did buy a titchy bottle of honey raki.  Whether it gets as far as being packed remains to be seen.

Finally we got in the coach and headed home to the Mistral Hotel where Diane and I had coffee before I went to a fairly impromptu jewellery making session, making a bracelet that I wore in the evening.

Because of the poor weather, the Cretan party will happen another evening but that's OK, it was still a great evening.

A bit unexpected too.  We were expecting baklava for dessert but instead the lights dimmed, the music started and out came not only a birthday cake with an indoor firework, but all the staff, a cloak, a crown, a sceptre, a Happy Birthday banner and a birthday song.  Great fun but somewhat - er - well, not me usually!  But so kind and it was enjoyable.
I know someone else has a birthday today so now they know what to expect, don't they.

As mentioned at the start, today is Knossos day.  It is somewhere I have wanted to go for decades, ever since reading Mary Stewart's The Bull From The Sea.

It is going to be a long day.  Breakfast is early, we leave at eight and, probably, won't be back until around seven this evening.
So tomorrow's post will probably be later because I won't be processing any of the photos this evening.

Friday, 24-04-26

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to day four of my Cretan holiday.

Yesterday, day three, was a less energetic day in many ways.  If Wednesday was all about the olives, yesterday was all about the food

My breakfast - Greek yogurt (definitely NOT 0%) with fruit, a slice of Maria's banana bread and half an amygdalota (almond cookie) and how you pronounce that is beyond me!!

Then we had a quiet morning doing whatever we chose.  Diane and I grabbed some reading material and had a pleasant time reading and chatting now and again.

For lunch we walked down to Taverna Maleme - the link is to Trip Adviser - for an amazing cookery demo followed by a feast of all the things we had seen how to make plus lamb cooked on the spit.
and wine!
And raki.

We had Cretan dakos (Cretan rusk bread topped with a tomatoey salsa type thing, tzatziki, kalitsounia (spinach and goats cheese mini pasty type things), dolmades (stuffed vine leaves), a salad, the lamb, pilafi, a sort of Cretan roast potato, loukoumades (mini doughnuts with honey and nuts), the raki and, finally, some fresh fruit.  I think most of us positively waddled out of the place!

We also had Cretan music and a couple of other customers did some impromptu dancing.

Oh, it was such fun.

I'm going to have a go at making  the Cretan rusk bread.  It's made with barley flour (which Dove does) and wholemeal flour and it's a twice baked bread/rusk.  

Back to the hotel and Diane and I had a coffee each before a much needed snooze in our respective bedrooms!

I didn't take my camera down to dinner so you are spared yet more food photos.  It was all lovely - taramosalata, the usual bread with evoo and balsamic vinegar, something tomatoey, beetroot, apple and walnut salad, chicken and pork gyros and a yogurt pie to finish.
And wine!!

Today will be both busy and interesting.  Weather permitting, we will be heading off to a local farmer's market, weather permitting.  If not, they will arrange an alternative for us - we had rain yesterday so fingers  crossed.  Then we visit a local honey producer with a tasting session and finally to an award winning local winery to learn about their wine production followed by another taster session with snacks to soak it all up a bit!
Once back at the hotel, it's r&r time until dinner which sounds as if it will be quite a party with music and dancing.  A very nice end to a special day.  :-)  

Thursday, 23-04-26

Morning, everyone.  Do you like the new banner.  It is one of the views from the Astrikas Estate olive groves, run by the same family for over five generations.  The current owner founded the Biolea company in 1994, which specialises in stone milled and cold pressed organic olive oil.
More about that later.

First things first.  Breakfast was great - I went for yogurt and fruit and then some of Maria's chocolate banana bread which was to die for.

We set off in the coach to see possibly the oldest living olive tree in the world.  We were told between 2000 and 4000 years old - elsewhere it said between 3000 and 5000 - but what's an odd thousand years between friend, eh?

It's impossible to date it accurately because none of the heartwood remains and the actual fruiting part of the tree is a graft.

The trunk was very impressive though!

There's a small museum attached with historical olive production tools, old wooden machinery, etc.

If you enlarge this, most of the print can be read - I is in English.

A mock up but a very interesting one.

Pretty much twice my height, used for olive oil making.

Then we all piled on the coach and headed off and up higher, along twisty narrow lanes when I think we all wondered how the heck we were going to go further without going over the edge.
We didn't, of course.

At the small factory, a very pleasant lady with a clear voice that meant I could hear every word talked us through the method they use, modern equipment but a centuries old method, to produce some of the finest extra virgin olive oil in the world.

We had a good old tasting session and a look round the little shop

We watched a short video . . . this is the cold pressing.

Some of their olive groves.

And what I bought.  I also got a few things for Beth but I won't show them here, in case . . .

Yes, I found my first fridge magnet!  Woo hoo!  and I love the wee olive bowl.  I'll definitely be using that regularly.

Here's some links. 
The estate and what they offer

About the oil.  

Finally we drove to the coast and had an amazing lunch - like Tuesday's dinner, the food just kept on coming.  Plates are small and you don't have loads of anything.  It's very good, fresh cooked, easily digestible, non-ultra-processed and really doesn't sit heavy.

We had bread and evoo (of course), dips and dressings with a salad, some sliced aubergine in a light batter rather like a tempura, chicken strips and rice, mushroom risotto (or maybe a version of pilafi, see lower down) . . . it just kept coming.
I had a glass of rose that tasted like strawberries.  Delicious.

And while on the subject, all the wines we are having are very light and have little impact on the head!!!  Just as well really!

I can see that I will be mentioning food quite a lot - this holiday is called A Taste of Crete, after all, so I will make collages of the food photos I take rather than posting separate photos.  Posts will be photo heavy anyway!

Back at the hotel and we had a few hours to chill and freshen up before the cocktail demo.  The

bar staff did really well to make five different cocktails, share them out in shot glasses, a clean glass each time, to around forty appreciative elderlies (we are pretty much a retired group and mostly female).  
They were only tasters, of course, minimum alcohol, so we all trooped into dinner with pretty clear heads.

And the food was, again, sublime.  

I can't remember if I said yesterday and I'm too lazy to check, but we have all been given a cookbook, from the hotel and One Traveller, called Cretan Cuisine, with 'traditional Mediterranean recipes for eating healthy and living well'.  I will definitely be having a go at many of them once home again.  The flavours are just amazing!

After a good night's sleep, on to today and it's a more gentle day.
We're having a morning in the hotel when some are having spa treatments.  Then we head off to Taverna Maleme (the hotel is in Maleme) for a cookery demo of a traditional Pilafi followed by lunch with lamb on the spit.
Pilafi is in the book and I think it will one to make again, either with lamb or, maybe, with chicken thighs.
Then it's back to the hotel for more chilling before dinner.
Oh, this is the life.

Have a lovely day, everyone!  xx

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.

Tuesday, 21-04-26

Well, good afternoon, everyone!  I'm here, in my room at the Mistral Hotel in Crete, chilling before we go down for pre dinner drinks at about 6:30 ish.

There's not much to say, just a few photos . . .

My room.  It's lovely.  Very not English and with a balcony.

The pool.  No, I haven't, not yet, but I will.

The sea.  We won't talk about the dirty big electric pylon things just to the right of the photo but we will mention that road that takes one down to the sand and the sea.  It's the Aegean Sea, I think.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Right, well, I'm going to have a little snooze, I think.  I should be back tomorrow with more and better photos . . .

Bye.

Monday, 20-04-26

Morning, all.  Welcome to Monday.  I hope you had a good weekend and feel well refreshed for the week to come.

Yesterday felt quite busy what with this and that.  It started with a bread making session for Beth and Lindsey and, for ponce, I was able to bake all four together.  I can pretty much say how long the yeasted bread will take before baking but the sourdough is different and it's unusual to be able to bake them together.

And while on the subject of sourdough, Bubbles had a good feed yesterday and is now fast asleep (I hope) in the fridge for a week and a bit.  I'll wake her up when I get home again.

I managed to get pretty much everything done that I had planned.  Downstairs is now tidy and ready for Kay.  It doesn't LOOK completely tidy because of cases, etc, but it's OK.
I got the washing and the ironing done.  I will change my sheets today and get them done with any random bits and pieces so I won't have any more than holiday washing when I get home.

I decided to finish the packing.  Some things will get a bit crumpled, I know, but the rooms have iron and ironing board so anything too crumpled can have a quick smooth.
And I weighed - first me, then me and the case and then do the maths.  I nearly had a panic at first, thinking I'd gone well over until I realised that I weigh in lbs and the allowance is in kgs.  A quick Google conversion later and phew, well within with ample room for any little gifts and souvenirs.  I wonder if you can get fridge magnets in Crete.  😊

I saw some good news too - it popped up on my feed.  I wasn't looking forward very much to the EU entry-exit biometric thingy, just because there are queues and it can take a while but it seems that Greece has just cancelled this requirement for British travellers, happy tourists and ease of entry being pretty essential to their economy (and also because it would seriously hold things up, especially, I gather, the exit part where people have missed their flights because it all took so very long).  That sounds like good news to me.

I popped over to Beth with her bread and for a little chat and relax, did the last bit of tidying and then chilled.

Today starts, as always on a Monday, with Circuits at Lindsey's, then Kay is round and I have a list of last things to do.  Things like watering the indoor plants, checking the garden room is locked (it should be but must check), unplugging everything that needs unplugging (that's partly a task for tomorrow morning too), etc.
And I will check countless times that the passport, money, cards, etc are all safely tucked away in my bag because just checking one isn't enough, is it?  At least I don't have to worry about travel documents - One Traveller deals with all of that.

A friend will be staying over from time to time, just to check on things.  She can reconnect anything she wants to use.  Thanks very much S, very much appreciated.

Less than a day to go now.

I won't be posting tomorrow morning, of course, but fingers crossed that I can post later on, once there and unpacked and accessing the hotel wifi.  There should be photos too.  :-)
Have a lovely Monday, everyone.  xx

Sunday, 19-04-25

Good morning, everyone.  How are you today.  It's so nice that the sun has come out to play this weekend.  I'm waiting for a load of washing to finish so I can take full advantage of the lovely weather.

Getting there.  I think everything is now either in the case or around it.  It all looks very messy at the moment but will easily be tidied up.

(I asked - there's no gym at the hotel, just a spa, so the leggings will be going back upstairs again!)

And the cabin bag, far from full but there are some things still to go in.
It's surprising how much it can take.

In other news, I have Lindsey's bread in loaf tins, doing its last rise and Beth's dough on its first rise so that will all be done and dusted by lunchtime.

Today's travel prep is to get everywhere tidied up and looking nice.  I don't want a mad rush tomorrow and, anyway, Kay is coming and I like to give her a clear run.  She comes to clean, not to tidy up after me.

Does anyone else get this feeling of mild panic that they've forgotten something vital.  I do.  I'm sure I haven't but . . . 

The washing has finished so I must get it on the line.  Have a lovely Sunday, everyone.  xx