Friday 6 October 2017

Souda Bay, Crete

Excursion: "A Taste of Crete"

Forecast: Showers

Max 21°

The small natural harbour of Souda Bay is located on the northwest coast of Crete and the bustling working town offers an insight into everyday life. The charming old town of Chania is just 6kms east and is the island's second largest resort town, and slightly further afield is the popular resort of Rethymnon. The rocky Akrotiri Peinsula sweeps around the bay offering hill side views from every angle.

Today we were a much smaller group of 19, so only needed a smaller bus, still very comfortable. Our guide today, Grecian woman, name Vassy, she was helpful, charming and very knowledgeable.

Today we were having a cooking class set in the Crete Botanical Gardens. The showers didn't eventuate although there was cloud cover as opposed to clear skies of other port visits.

It was a 40min drive to the "gardens" absolutely beautiful country side. Olive trees were evidence of the importance of olive oil to this region, indeed Greece as a whole.

This region however produce a smaller variety of olives, much smaller than their cousins in Cephalonia.

The owner established this 20 hectares gardens after devastating fire swept through this whole region in 2003. Everything was lost and with it their source of food for villages.

He told us how the "gardens" came about. When he was a child, one villager came back from a trip to South America and brought back a seed which he planted in the village. Four months later a tree was growing, it was a tamarillo , a sub-tropical tree was flourishing.

It left a lasting impression on this young boy, and so after the fire he and a group of visionaries wanted to develop this area with herbs, spices, plants, trees from three climates so the village would never again go hungry. Tropical, sub-tropical and alpine. All three flourish here as the high hills protect the plants from winds and temperature doesn't drop below 8-9 degrees. The results over seven years are amazing.

From Australia he has macadamia, lily-pilly, swamp gums (from the time of British occupancy), there are avocado, mangoes, paw-paws, star fruit, many more. Almost every herb, orange trees, olive trees of course, even wattle trees! It is understandably a Crete national treasure, botanical gardens.

The cooking class was amazing. Laid out on tables were all vegetables grown in their garden: potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, zucchini. Onions, avocado, apples, pomegranate, oranges and herbs, sea salt and 500ml bottle of local olive oil.

Under the direction of restaurant chef and translator, Vassy, we divided into four group.

We teamed with two young Brits, from Kent, Peter and Holly. Disposable aprons, gloves and hats were provided and we chopped all the ingredients, randomly tossing them in Pyrex dishes, adding sprinkle sea salt, and herbs, finally what we considered sufficient oil.

Our chef then took the bottle, and poured over the same amount again! 250ml, half the contents of the bottle of olive oil.

Then the next dish, taking the whole tomatoes, capsicum, zucchini and mushrooms, we cut the tops, making a lid, scooped out the tomatoes and saved the tomato pulp, throwing out the inner capsicum and eggplant.

Into these "cups" we spooned prepared mixture of rice, parsley, celery, spring onions, herbs, salt, pepper. The loose tomato pulp was put in the bottom of the Pyrex dishes, and remaining olive oil poured over the entire dish.

It was such fun and would be our lunch in hour or so.

The group then were taken on a guided tour of these impressive gardens with the owner and our guide (for hour+ to allow time for cooking) while Phil and I decided not to tackle the terrain as my foot was causing me strife and Phil's limited lung capacity causing him difficulty. Instead we sat on the terrace and ordered a Crete macchiato and waited for our group to return.

Lunch didn't disappoint. We sat with a second newly wed couple from Ireland, Jo and Chloe, and together with Peter and Holly, what a great lunch we had. No-one knew whose "prepared" dishes we were eating, although we recognised our "design" and fortunately that vegetable dish was placed in front of us! Added to our cooked dishes our hosts brought out additional chicken dish and wine or beer, or both! What a feast. Hope you enjoy the photos. This was truly a lovely day

On the return drive to the pier, we enjoyed panoramic countryside views as we reflected on our new found culinary knowledge.