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

Saturday, 18-04-26

Morning, everyone.  It's a beautifully sunny day here today; I'm not sure how warm though as I haven't gone out yet.  However, I'm comfortable in my lightweight dressing gown rather than my snuggle hood so I suspect it's quite nice.

Yesterday was a this and that day.  I went to SW group (half a pound off) and then on to do a very small shop in Morrisons.
I did a fridge check and planned my meals for the next three days to use up as much as possible.

I had a phone call from One Traveller - one of the group managers has changed.  No worries.  And they confirmed that the hotel provides room towels as well as pool towels - the list only said pool towels.  So that's a space saving.

Getting there!

I've just popped out to get something from the freezer and just look at the buds on my clematis.  It's obviously happy there.  I remember its first year when I counted about five flowers and the next year was about eleven.  It is quite mature now, of course.

The blueberry isn't doing too badly either.  Not as smothered as last year but there should be a decent amount of fruit, all the same, fingers crossed.

On to today which is definitely 'getting the rest of the clothes ready' day.  I know what I will be taking but I need to get it all out and, probably, draped all over the sofa!

I also have Lindsey's loaf to start and some carrots and parsnips to get into the freezer.

And I need to walk round to Morrisons to pick up my prescriptions.  I asked yesterday but they weren't ready.  

If it is really nice and warm later, I might sit out in the lovely sunshine for a while and read.  Bliss.

All the best, everyone.  Take care and have a lovely day.  xx

Friday, 17-04-26

Good morning, everyone.  We have had rain overnight and it's a very dull start to the day.  The forecast isn't great but it isn't bad.  We will see.

Yesterday was great!
Chris came over as usual and we chatted non-stop.

Then I drove to Val's.  She decided to take me to Cressing Temple (I LOVE Cressing Temple) for lunch at the Tiptree cafe there after which we wandered around the grounds and sat in the walled garden in the warm sunshine for a good chat.  It was just lovely and I wished I had my camera with me.  I will go back again soon, it's not that far away really.  Ditto for Hyde Hall.

The online chat didn't happen so I had the evening to myself which was very nice.

Today starts with Slimming World Group, then I have just a little bit of shopping and a little list of stuff to work through.  I suspect a lot of the day will be spent chilled though.

Have a lovely day, everyone.  Stay safe and keep smiling.  xx