Tuesday, May 21, 2024

First day at the Creta Maris Resort. We woke up at a reasonable time and went to enjoy the nice breakfast buffet. Then we got picked up for our Crete Culinary Journey. With us was a family from Belgium, an older couple and then one of their kids with his girlfriend. Very nice but not nearly as rambunctious as us! At our first stop we enjoyed all different types of olive oil with many different dipping items. Next we went to a micro-winery and Raki distillery. The wine was good and the Raki very strong. Mark got a Tshirt that said “Raki is the answer. I don’t remember the question” which nobody here will get but when he wore it in Greece he got a lot of laughs. And finally we arrived at the last stop where we were treated to a nice lunch with more wine. And in a shocker, the young couple on our tour got engaged! Right there at the table, so sly we didn’t even notice the older woman had to tell us! Congratulations to them!

The tour dropped the family off first and then we asked if we could go to the Palace of Knossos instead of the resort so we got dropped off there. Genevieve called up information on her phone and took the part of our tour guide. Much like when she provided Charlotte tours of campuses during Covid “Hello, my name is Genevieve and I’m a junior at Cornell. Here at Pitzer we are famous for our free speech wall you will see here on my left” all while walking backward she was equally convincing this time around. An English speaking guy even said that next time he’d book with her!

The Palace of Minos dates back to 1900 BC so pretty darn old. The site was first excavated in 1877 and then in 1900 another British dude came over and did some “recreations” that maybe weren’t as archaeologically faithful as they could have been. Still pretty cool. The Cretan civilization seemed more civilized than a lot of the ones later like Greek or Roman, with more equal income and they seemed to really have a sense of humor in their art and toys, etc.

We took a cab back to our resort and got in some pool and drink time then headed out to a restaurant where we thought we had a reservation but apparently didn’t but they seated us anyway which was nice.

 

 

 

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Got up and had another nice breakfast at the breakfast buffet. Even got the same table! Unfortunately, Genevieve was having a “long COVID” exhaustion episode (I am happy to report this was the last one she’s had and it’s been over six months so yay on that!) and was unable to make it up to go with us. We arrived at the same restaurant where we had lunch the day before and got to cooking. The best thing we learned was how to make tzatziki from scratch – it’s actually pretty easy, just grate and use a cheesecloth to squeeze the water out of a cucumber, add grated garlic, dill, a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of vinegar and yogurt and you’ve got it. We’ve also all been eating tzatziki wrong, they don’t eat it as a dip but rather like a salad, which is why the portions you get at an authentic Greek restaurant are so huge.

After lunch we had the driver drop us off at the Archeological Museum in Heraklion. I really dig the Cretan people. They had a really high standard of life, good design aesthetics, and a sense of humor.

 

 

 

 

 

After the museum we got a taxi back to the resort and met up with Genevieve who was feeling much better. Charlotte had a virtual training for her summer job teaching math to middle schoolers, so I kept her complete with drinks from the bar.  We had dinner at the buffet which wasn’t too bad and a nice walk around the resort and pet the cats.

 

 

Thursday, May 23, 2024

After another nice breakfast at the resort we had to say goodbye to Charlotte who had to leave to get to Athens and get to Amsterdam for an Olivia Rodrigo concert with her bestie! Genevieve, Mark and I had a really good day at the resort swimming in the ocean and the pool. We often do this–book at a really nice resort and then don’t spend enough time there actually enjoying the resort. The cats are very insistent on getting their petting in, notice what this cat kept growling and digging in his claws when Genevieve tries to move him…

Now it was time for Genevieve to go home as well, to resume her work on her final project for Trinity. Mark and I enjoyed a nice meal at a restaurant on the very edge of the property, then went to a show (They even had Irish dancing!) and off to bed.

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