Olive trees, dirt roads and lots of food were the themes today! Our morning started off early as we were the first to breakfast before our tour guide, Stelios, picked us up. Breakfast here was made to order and since we knew we had an early start, we ordered everything last night. It was delicious! This is such a neat hotel. Our tour guide met us in the lobby after breakfast and we headed downstairs. To our surprise, the car was parked right outside of the hotel on the wharf. Turns out cars are allowed on the pedestrian walk first thing in the morning for deliveries to the restaurants and whatnot. We were joined by a mother and her young daughter on vacation from the UK near Oxford.

We made our way through Chania, Stelios told us the history of the area. Crete's history goes back thousands of years just like the rest of Greece. The island has been under the rule of many of the great empires in the past: Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman, etc. Even as recently as WWII, the Nazi's took over a small airport here and brutal fighting ensued. It's had quite the history but is now a major tourist destination. Much of the oceanfront is built up with hotels and resorts.

As we headed out of town, the landscape turned to rolling hills and lots and lots of olive trees much like we saw leaving Delphi. Our first stop was at a historical olive oil museum. There was a ginormous olive tree that was estimated to be over 3000 years old. They also had some replicas of how olive oil was pressed prior to modern equipment. Only in the last 50 years has technology made olive oil extraction easier. Historically, olives were crushed by giant rolling stones and made into a paste. The paste was then put into cloth bags which were then pressed to squeeze the oil and water out. Lastly, the liquid was left to separate so that just the oil was bottled. It seems like and awful lot of work! Most olive harvesting is still done by hand due to the landscape that makes it difficult to get harvesting equipment into the olive tree groves.

Out next stop was at an olive oil factory and winery where we met up with another car from the same tour company. To get there, we turned off the main roads and traversed the first of many kilometers on dirty and rock roads. We saw sheep and goats grazing the roadsides and lots and lots of olive trees. At the Anoskeli Winery, we took a tour of how modern equipment has made the oil extraction process much easier. They work with lots of small farmers (most own 150 trees or less) and buy their olives. The farmers take some unfiltered oil back for their own use and sell the rest to Anoskeli. Every part of the process is used. Any leaves that come in with the olives are separated and fed to livestock. The crushed pits are used as a heat source when burned and the wood is also used for burning. Anoskeli exports their extra virgin olive oil around the world and it will soon be available in the States at World Market! After the tour, we went inside the tasting room and enjoyed a sampling of their olive oils as well as several wines and a light snack. It was a great stop.

We got back in the vehicles and headed to the next stop. Once again, we didn't take highways but opted for lots of back roads. Crete had a lot of rain storms earlier this spring and so many of the roads were washed out or had huge gulleys. I was glad I wasn't driving! We stopped a few times along the way at scenic vantage points overlooking some of the gorges. Our destination was the Milia Mountain Retreat. This small mountain village built in the 16th century was abandoned during WWII until the 1980s when two descendants of the village began to restore it. Its now a ecotourism destination. Food for the restaurant is farmed on site, solar panels supply all the power and the guest rooms are restored from the ancient houses. It was beautiful. The stonework, location and simplicity of the place was breathtaking. We had a delicious lunch sampling many different dishes including Greek pasta, chestnut risotto, goat meat, Crete salad and some sausages.

One our way back to Chania, we stopped at a few scenic overlooks before driving along the coast back to town. It was a wonderful day exploring this area and seeing some of the backcountry. This evening we walked along the wharf and the streets of the old town before heading to Chrisostomos Restaurant for dinner. Both the hotel and our tour guide recommended it and it was fantastic. Keely had the lamb and I had the rabbit. The restaurant was packed when we arrived for our 8:00 pm reservation and people were still coming in when we finished 90 minutes later. Eating late is the thing to do here! It's perfect for us!

We leave Chania and our wonderful hotel tomorrow and are off to explore more of the island of Crete!

Kevin