Two of our Excursions on Crete

This week we have been really exploring the island of Crete.  Jonathan is terrific at planning our outings and we have seen some really wonderful sights.

Monday: Zeus’ cave

We set off early into the mountains of Crete.  After several days of bright sunshine we have had a few cloudy and slight to rainy days,  so the sky was cloudy and as we drove into the mountains it felt like we were driving up into the clouds. It really did feel like were driving up to the land of the gods.  It was very deserted up there except for a bus load of school children and a million goats running across the road. We got to the entrance of the trail where there was a large run down looking building with TABEPNA spray painted on the front.  That means that it is a taverna (B=V and P=R).  As we started our hike some men drove up to the taverna and started unloading the food for the day including two whole lambs slung over their shoulders.  Along the hike there were beautiful views of the valley below.   After a half an hour we reached the cave where “Zeus was born”.   It was a huge cave on the hill.  We went inside–all by ourselves, no other tourists or attendants, just us.  You could tell there were lots of birds and other animals inside.  It was such a big cave that it wasn’t dark inside and therefore not scary for the boys.  We hiked back down and drove to a nearby town for lunch.  Anogia was a very nice hill side town where I had cheese pies with honey for lunch.  Jonathan had his new favorite davos (hard bread covered with fresh tomato sauce, feta and oregano).  We read about the town and found out that Anogia was one of the villages where the nazis had killed every man in the village during the occupation of Crete.  It was such a horrible story and it made us wonder how the townspeople felt about all the german tourists that come through here.

Tuesday: Plaka and Spinalonga

When we arrived on Crete I found a book in our condo called The Island by Victoria Hislop.  I decided to read it since it was about Crete.  It was a really interesting book about a family in the small town of Plaka and the leper colony on the island across from Plaka called Spinalonga.  This historical novel is about a Cretan family from 1939-2001 dealing with leperosy, the war and more.  I enjoyed reading it and was really intrigued by the story of the leper colony on Spinalonga which was the last leper colony in Europe and was evacuated in 1957.  So Tuesday we drove to Plaka a very small and beautiful beach town.  We ate a very nice seafood lunch at a small taverna called Maria’s.  Then we took the boat to Spinalonga.  The small island has many layers of history.  Once a venetian fortress, a Turkish settlement, a leper colony and now a tourist attraction.  The island was fun to explore.  There were lots of ruins but also relatively new buildings that were built by the lepers.  My understanding from the book was that the leper colony was a strong community that was a real village with a market and a baker, etc..  I really enjoyed seeing the island after reading the book

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