Day 19: Last Day of Travel! 25 July 2013

We began today's journey with a bus full of people including George from Chania and also the ECOs family Kelly and Alexia. Perfect for our last trip together. I can't believe this is our last trip day.

We started off the trip going to the Pottery place. I used to do pottery when I was younger but it was nothing like what I did before. We started by watching a demonstration on the pottery wheel. It was amazing to watch! The instructor was amazing and could tell of his years of experience. We each took turns at the wheels. It was a lot of fun and mine surprisingly didn't turn out too bad.

The larger firing oven.

The instructor making a large vase.

My little vase I made. 

Before firing they let the pots dry in the sun for 3 days. The firing process was pretty interesting therewas a large oven outside that gets over 1000 degrees and fire is brought into the oven by little wholes in the ground. You could still feel the heat coming from the oven even though it was not on. Next we saw the detailing work that goes on for the large pots. The smaller pottery fires in a smaller oven inside that I was more familiar with. The colors of the glazes on the pieces were beautiful and unique. I loved the design of the pots that looked like glass. It was just something that happens during the firing process that makes it look like that.

These are the pieces that look like there is glass on the bottom.

After this we saw the Justice Cup. It was so cool and unique. What happens is they pour wine up to the line. And everyone gets an even amount. If someone wants more they pay for the price. It pours all the liquid out through a hidden hole in the center. This is for people to learn their lesson.

We then travelled to a small museum and also musical school where Lyra's are played. This string instrument is similar to a violin or guitar. It has very intricate designs on them and from all of other world. I would have loved to heard them play some of the instruments or heard the style of music.

Lyra's on display.

Next we travelled to Niko Kazantzakis museum. It was a newer and modern museum. We watched a 15 minute documentary on his life. He was a hard working man who was a writer, philosopher, artist, and kind hearted. He wrote the book we are reading now called Zorba the Greek and also well known novels. He also wrote plays which was very interesting.

For lunch Theodore planned a nice meal for us outside the museum. It was soulvaki, fries, pita and salad. The chicken soulvaki was my favorite. It was tender and had great flavor.

The vineyard.

Some of the grapes I at; these I liked the both since they were
the sweetest.

The final part of the trip was to the Boutari winery. Such a great way to end the day in a relaxing setting. We started out seeing the grapes and the different types they harvest. It was fun to taste these. Some were sour and some were quite sweet. We then went in the factory to tour how they process the wine. The wine is not being produced at this time but will be in probably the next month. The wine cellar was very interesting I loved seeing the cedar barrels and the aging process. None of the wines in Crete are aged that long. These are better to drink sooner. The wine tasting part was very relaxing. We sat in large chair watching a video on the story of Crete and how to taste the wine. Then we continued upstairs to try two more wines. We tried two red wines and one white. I enjoyed the white the most but all were a little to dry for my taste.