Day 14: Day of a Travel 18 July 2013

Local and fresh cheese.

We began today's journey by heading to Heraklion to go to the farmer's market/ bizarre. It was interesting to see all the sellers. I have been to similar type markets back home. One of the differences I saw was the variety of fruits and vegetables. Another was the amount of goods one could buy. I am not used to finding cooking utensils, paper goods and other random at a market. Everything was very inexpensive and a standard quality. I bought a pair of heels for ten euro. Let's see how well they hold up!

clothing and household items area

vegetables available

Next we traveled back to the Deputy Governor. She had some presents for us. It was a small token thanking us for our great feedback on Brand Crete. Inside was a Crete apron and another small token for us to have. She was a very kind lady and I enjoyed meeting with her.

The beautiful greenery of grape and lemon trees in the front yard.

Fresh cheese and rusk.

We traveled to the village of the Panagiotakis Family village. There is an organic farm here with crops such as grapes and lemons. Also goats, sheep, and horses. When we first arrived they picked some grapes for us to eat and then cut some of their month old cheese from the goats. The cheese was delicious and we ate this with the rusk of the region. Also there was fresh goat milk for us. I actually really enjoy drinking it. I think it would have been good with something sweet or a piece of chocolate though. In the back yard we got to feed the goats and sheep some fresh picked artichoke. The sheep were red-brown "asterousia ori" mountain sheep. Then we made our way to his tractor. This was quite an adventure because we went up a mountain through trees and a dirt rode to see one of his horses. The horse was very cute and seemed to like the company.

Fresh goats milk, still warm from the stove.

Ulysses the horse!

An old structure of a house, trying to be restored.

What I enjoyed about this part of the trip was the hospitality and family I saw being brought together in this small home. The family were raised here and have a history here that they all share together. Family is important to me and seeing this today really touched my heart. 

In the back yard with the sheep and goats.

Cooking the small cheese pies we made in olive oil.

Cretan Miracle was our next stop on the journey. We learned how to make homemade pasta and also about some Cretan food. This was a great late lunch for us. The pasta we made were cheese pies. These are a traditional food that is fried in olive oil and then if wanted as a dessert it is dressed in a honey syrup with some cinnamon and sugar on top. We started out the meal eating a traditional Cretan soup. This soup has some of the homemade pasta squares boiled in water and olive oil and then the other squares fried in oil and then added into the soup. The traditional Cretan pasta dough contains flour, water, olive oil, and raki. After the soup and some salad they brought out rooster and pasta for us in a light tomato olive oil sauce. The dish was delicious. One of the sides I really enjoyed was the zucchini patties. These were very flavorful with many ingredients including feta, dill, and zucchini. We also drank some homemade red wine with this it was only a year old and had a fruit flavor to it. Finally for desert we had some of the cheese pies we made, which also were delicious.

At lunch eating some of the traditional foods of Crete.

The place showed great hospitality and was a beautiful place to visit. Here they have weddings and other events on occasion.

Beautiful colored sea creatures!

One of the eels, they are very cool creatures to watch.

The final stop of today's journey was the Crete Aquarium! It is a research institution for research for thousands of living organisms. There is a lot of research on marine biology and have three or four submarines. Also Crete Aquarium is evaluating the shipwreck on the island of Gramvouse that we saw. I personally love aquariums so this was a great way to end today. It was interesting to see the fish and creatures that live in the Mediterranean sea. Some were creepy such as the fish that live at the bottom of the sea and also the eels and some were beautiful. I loved the multi colored fish and was glad to go to the only research aquarium on the Mediterranean.