Let’s get back to the Mediterranean …
Greeks love their garlic which they add to most savoury dishes. I have eaten some of the best tzatziki I have ever had the pleasure of tasting, used crusty bread to mop up Greek olive oil which had been poured lovingly onto a side plate, shared oven baked lemon and lamb with spuds, sliced through chunks of octopus and munched on a garden fresh Greek salad. Most meals are ended with water melon and raki the latter being a strong spirit made from grapes. An obvious disadvantage of travel is weight gain!
Greece is renown for its cats and as I’m a feline fan, I have no qualms about sharing my meal with these four-legged furries who always appear unannounced in cafés and tavernas.
Crete also has several archaeological sites. One of these is the ancient city of Aptera which was founded in the 8th Century BC and is perched on a hillside with commanding views of Souda Bay.
Restored Monastery of St John the Theologian
Church of St John
You will see the restored Monastery of St John the Theologian erected by the 12th Century AD and used up until 1964. Not far from here are Roman cisterns which supplied water to the public and private baths of that time.
Roman cisterns
Roman bathhouse
There are also ruins of a Roman amphitheatre and a Roman villa which would have been the ‘best house in town’ in its day, but now the columns from this building are sprawled on the ground. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in the 7th Century AD.
Roman amphitheatre
Columns from the Roman villa
Grasshopper visitor also enjoying the ruins …