Day 17: 23 July 2013

Inside the walls of the monastery. It was a very grand entrance and straight on was the Church.

Inside the area were the monks were sacrificed during
the Holocaust.

Today we began our journey at Arkadi Monastery. This monastery is different from all the other ones we visited. This monastery is one of the Eastern Orthodox Monasteries underlining the catholicity and the universality of the Church. What is special about this monastery is there was a huge sacrifice that happened here during the Holocaust. On November 8th 1856 Monks in the monastery fought against slavery and resulted in the burning and killing of the monks here. There are still remnants found from the event and it was haunting to walk through. The monastery was very beautiful and I loved the layout of it. It has some very strong history here and a beauty to the Church that the others did not have as much.

Where the arrow points is a piece of shrapnel from the bombing. This
tree died during the Holocaust but still is standing.

The beauty of the Monastery

The lake surrounded in beautiful mountains and olive groves.

Next we travelled to the biggest lake on the island of Crete, Kournas Lake. It is located near the village of Kournas and is surrounded by high mountains and olive groves. The lake was very deep and was about 22.5 meters deep. We took some of the pedal boats out into the lake. This was the first time I have ever been on one. It was a lot of hard work but very fun. We went on the slide and also swam around in the lake. It was very refreshing and the water had no salt in it. Which I think surprised us at first because we have been so used to the strong salt water of the Sea. There are many activities you can enjoy here. Kayaks, pedal boats, swimming, and more.

The type of pedal boat we rode. The company who makes them are Italian
called Martini Costruzioni Nautiche.

This view reminded me a lot of Heraklion's harbor. It had a similar style.

We then travelled to Rethymno. This village reminded me of Heraklion but was more beautiful I believed. I liked the old rustic streets and restored stores and restaurants. Each street was unique and picturesque and had a lot of top spots and restaurants to go to here. There was even a castle you can tour. I wish we could go back, but it is hard since there is not much of the week left. 

Some of the unique and beautiful streets.

The Liberation Fountain where you can cleanse and drink from.

Tree of El Greco

We then travelled to the Fodele where we visited the tree of El Greco and the fountain. The village was very beautiful and some areas even reminded me of back home. The creek running through the village was what reminded me most of home in some areas near Villanova University.

Fountain and plaque dedicating El Greco.

The final stop of the trip today was to go visit Maria's family in Heraklion for them to cook a large meal for us. Maria's family and sister were very welcoming and friendly. The meal was huge and I was not expecting all of this food. Our first course was grape leaves, toasted bread, a Cretan salad, meatballs, Cretan sausages, and pita that is homemade. The pita and the meatballs were amazing. The meatballs reminded me of my mom's because they had pork and beef mixed in them.  The next course was more different types of grilled meats ranging from chicken to goat. I enjoyed the sausages because the one was on the spicy side. Then desert came where they served fruit and Bougatsa. The cherries in the fruit was the best ones I have ever had. Also the Bougatsa was a soft pastry with a cream inside. It was very delicious and the first time I have had this here. 

Joining us at dinner was the Vlahakis family. They are the family who started Venus, then Friendly Green Products and now have one of the top selling green detergents named ECOS. Mr. Van Vlahakis, his daughter Kelly and his grand-daughter Alexia all joined us for the meal. They were very kind and also have a great story that is now a documentary. It is called "A Green Story," which I got to see after dinner. It was a great film and a very interesting story. Van Vlahakis was from Crete and studied Chemistry in Chicago. He then started his product Venus because he was interested in creating products that are not harmful to people.

A Green Story. A Nika Agiashvili film.