A Week in CRETE plus a Wine tour in SPLIT, CROATIA

It's April in New England and Spring is still a wish and a hope, so we are escaping to Greece! WE haven't been here in the longest time.

Friday evening,April 21st, we boarded our Lufthansa flight from JFK to Athens via Munich... we got a deal
on the seats if we went this way. Worth it.  We hit Athens at noon on Saturday with a 5 hour wait to board our Short flight to Chania, Crete. ( Pronounced Hania )..... So we found a driver named Yiannis ( John) who took us to the city. He dropped us off at a Taverna near the Acropolis where we enjoyed our first Greek meal of the trip..... Greek Salad, roasted veggies, Grilled Crayfish and a roasted Dorade for Ray. All drenched in gorgeous olive oil and lemon juice. We strolled around the Plaka area of Athens and then Yiannis took us up a steep hill to an overlook where we took in the whole city with the Acropolis and Parthenon right in the center.

Athens from the hilltop

Yiannis took this photo to prove we were there.

Around 7pm Saturday evening we arrived at Chania Airport in a chilly rain! This was not why we came to Crete, but we were told they really needed that rain here. And we understand That!
And we learned that my Suitcase had never made it out of the JFK Airport but that they would send it along. Patience my dear!
Our hotel is Casa Delfino in the old city near the harbor. Lovely place with very friendly staff. We were advised to go have dinner at a nearby Cretan and Turkish place called Tamam. It was simple but yummy. I had Sea bass with veggies and Ray had a fabulous lamb stew with an eggplant
puree. Oh and stuffed grape leaves. We were so tired from all the travel ( 22 hours) that we stumbled back to Delfino and fell into bed!

Sunday , April 23rd..... A Beautiful homemade breakfast in the hotel, and a tour of town with our guide, Efi.
We started in the Chania harbor, then drove to an archeological site on a hilltop at APTERA.
They are digging around an old monastery there, hoping to find ruins from the Roman  and Hellenistic eras.
There is also a fort there used by the Turks in the 19th century. Great views of the Bay.





Old Turkish Fortress overlooks the sea. Wildflowers abound!

                 The site of an old monastery . Archeologists are digging in this area searching for Roman        ruins below.

                                                      The City of Chania and the bay.

                     In the 16th century Chania was taken over by the Venetians. They built a huge wall all around the city. Now a new modern city has been built up all around, but the wall is still mostly intact and protects the "old city". This is a rampart at one end.

                                                       Of course we had to buy a sea sponge......

                                             The old Venetian Lighthouse dominates the harbor.

                              Sunday afternoon crowd of mostly locals enjoying a sunny April day. The snow covered mountains are a dramatic backdrop. The snow will melt off in Summer months.

                                                        Who will get to ride home on the bike??

                 There was an antique car rally in the harbor that afternoon. Lots of great old cars!

Sunday Evening we had dinner in a very nice restaurant in the harbor, SALIS. Grilled octopus, a huge green salad, Sesame crusted seared Tuna for Ray and lamb osso bucco for me. Several Greek wines by the glass from a very extensive list.

                              Looking over Chania from our hotel room. The low domed building was built by the Turks when they ran the city. The mosque of the Janissaries. It is now used as an art gallery in the Summer months.

              On Monday morning, we took a walk through town with Efi, our guide,  through the old city to visit excavated ruins of an ancient Minoan house. And to stroll through the back streets of town. At 9am when we set off, the city was still sleeping and almost nobody else was out. A very strange and wonderful way to visit a very touristy place like this.
Then we met up with Aris, the driver, and headed out through the hilly countryside. Ray took the photo above because it is perfect! Our destination was the MANOUSTAKIS Winery. We tasted a bunch of varietals and blends, visited the winemaking facility, and the shop. This is the second smallest producer in Crete. They focus on quality. We liked the Nostos Blend the best. French grapes cultivated in the soil and sunshine of Crete. Very nice. We ordered a bottle for dinner that night.

                                                    Flowerpots at Manousakis Winery. The pots were originally the     containers for Feta Cheeses.


After wine was Olive oil. We drove to BIOLEA,  a maker of Organic Olive Oil on the edge of the dramatic Rokka Ridge. They really stick to the old, natural ways and make totally natural oils. We bought some , and plan to buy more back home through the Rogers Collection in Portland, Maine.
After Biolea, we all went to a nearby Taverna in the middle of nowhere for a delicious Greek Lunch!
It was a feast! Salads, Lamb , Wild greens , everything fresh and delicious!

                                The incredible view from Biolea Olive oil estate.


Back at the hotel, we rested, strolled town and enjoyed the sunset. Dinner was at a classic Cretan restaurant called Olvottoleio, which means winery. I had a big bowl of greens and a veggie stew made with chestnuts and other veggies. Ray had stuffed zucchini flowers and a rabbit stew. Plus that bottle of Monousakis wine.
We stopped off at a Music cafe on the way home to hear some Greek tunes and have another glass of Rakki, the local welcome drink. A great Day!

Tuesday morning started out with another walk in town, this time to see the famous minarets which remain from the time of the Muslim domination of town when the Turks ran the place. We visited one church that had a bell tower on one side and a minaret on the other, and nobody seems to mind.

                               A minaret still remains from an old 19th century mosque .

                                 A tiny monastery is around the corner from the minaret above. Beautiful icons                 and carved alters there.


WE went into a bakery for coffee and Efi bought us the most delicious chocolate eclair we've ever tasted! That bakery was famous for them. I should have taken a photo!

                   The square in Chania with the famous Plane tree. A lot of history here. Very cosmic energy for me.... the eclair shop is here and it is around the corner from the magical little monastery
in the shot above.



We loaded up the van and headed to the mountains to see the famous Gorge of Samaria. These are the White Mountains ( because the limestone shines white in the Summer Sun) and the highest peak is Pahnes at 2,452 meters.

WE drove through the village of Lakkoi with a famous monument to the Greeks who revolted against The Turks, and a wonderful Greek Orthodox Church.

Lunch was at the gorge at a place called Xyloskalo Restaurant. Super good Cretan food. A roast lamb with hickory greens, and a thing called "fried butter" which is a thick creamy sauce you spread on bread. Then a dish of pan fried lamb with french fries, and a yummy bean soup. All tasty.......

Then back down the mountain pass to town and our hotel for a rest.

Dinner was at an amazing seaside restaurant outside of town.  Thalasino - Ageri ( the wind from the sea)..... luckily it was not a windy evening. The sunset was perfect. So was the fried calamari and the fresh grilled sea bass and sea bream, and the white wine from Santorini!

         These 3 photos are about Thalasino - Ageri. a memorable dinner by the sea. This evening was a highlight! Such a charming spot.

It was a beautiful evening. After dinner we strolled the town and bought some Rakki and glasses for serving it from a local merchant.

              Some of the homemade breakfast specialities at Casa Delphino...... we loved those moments.

                                             Enjoying Breakfast at Casa Delphino.


On Wednesday we traveled from the Western end of Crete almost all the way to the East end.
WE stopped in Heraklion, the Capitol City, for a seaside Taverna lunch, Ta Kaletera...... This was one Efi and Aris both know from living in the area. All fresh seafood...... Tiny fried shrimp from the island of Simi, fabulous grilled sardines, Octopus Poseidon with a relish of roasted onions and olives in balsamic, fried cheese with fig sauce. It was amazing!

                               the beach at Heraklion, just outside our lunch Taverna.

                          Our chef  at Ta Kaletera in his outdoor kitchen. Very fun guy, and very proud of his Taverna.


We toured the ancient palace of Knossos outside of Heraklion. Built by the Minoans in 1900 BC,
this is the largest and most famous palace that has been discovered ( so far) on Crete. Knossos
was the residence of the mythical King Minos and is connected to many great legends including the Minotaur......This palace complex covered an area of 22,000 square meters. the civilization was at it's peak from 1,700 to 1,450 BC. Many of the major artifacts from here are displayed in the Archeological Museum in Heraklion, which we will have to save for another trip.

           A few of Rays photos from Knossos, and one of us by Efi...... You can take a complete visual tour of this place online if you like.


After Knossos, we drove on to The costal town of Elounda, and just beyond it to the small village of Plaka and our next hotel, THE BLUE PALACE...... perched on a hillside overlooking the old Venetian ISLAND fort of SPINALONGA. We arrived early evening an had dinner in a hotel Asian restaurant. We are ahead of the tourist season and the place was pretty quiet.

Before dinner, the hotel photographer caught us in the bar. She convinced us to pose for her.




                                  Fishing boats heading out before 6 am on Thursday. Beautiful sunrise.

Looking back at the Hotel from Plaka harbor.

These guys were pulling trapped fish out of their nets in a boat near our skipper who ferried us out to Spinalonga on Thursday morning from the Plaka harbor.

Our destination..... Spinalonga Island just offshore from The Beach at the Blue Palace. This fortress settlement was built by and for the Venetian soldiers back in 1579. Through the 17th Century (1600s ) there were 7 neighborhoods with 7 churches and families came to live with their soldiers. About 3 churches remain. 

A Spinalonga street with houses for the Venetian Soldiers.

In 1750 The Ottomans ( Turks ) conquered and took over the Island.

We got there early in the day and were ahead of the crowds. For a while, we were almost alone there. It was cool!!

Amazing wildflowers abound!!! All over the Island. They all die off in Summer as it's very  dry.
So in 1901, this island was declared a Leper Colony, and eventually up to 900 lepers lived in the old Soldier's houses.
Doctors and priests from the mainland had easy access to the colony, yet they were isolated from the local population. A good spot for them. They were only there until about 1957. Efi suggested a book by Victoria Hislop called "The Island". It is historical fiction about the leper community on Spinalonga back in the 1930s. I am reading that book and love it.
We returned to Plaka just as huge boats loaded with visitors were arriving at the Island.  It was too early for lunch yet, so we took a drive up the mountain to visit a little village up there.

Oh Lordy!!! the views just kept getting better!! 

Ray's beautiful shot of the shoreline around Plaka!

A little church at the top of the mountain. Thats how you feel closest to God!!

NOW lunch! We found a neat Taverna in Plaka called The Carob Tree....... well named.
More fish, fried Feta, mezas ( little apps) and wine! Time for a nap!

Oh, the hotel had a nice SPA, so we did that after lunch. Ray had a scalp massage and a facial,
(his first EVER) and I had an Ayurveda massage. Just great!

Dinner was at the steak restaurant "Flame" at the hotel. Delicious Chateaubriand for 2
and that wine from Manoustakis.... The Cab/merlot blend. Wonderful!!!

Friday , April 28th..... our last day of sightseeing in Crete. We first visited the nearby town of
AGIOS NIKOLAOS, about a 30 minute drive South of Elounda. Another costal town, about 10,000
year round population. WE REALLY liked this one..... very livable and just big enough to be interesting.                                          AGIOS NIKOLAOS from the hills beyond.

                        A view of the lake and town from the coffee shop above. I love the iced coffee here.

                       Efi took us to this great shop selling all products from Greece... mostly Cretan.
                                Olives, cheeses, teas, pastries, oils, you name it .....



                       Locals come to buy her pastries all morning until they are gone! We got to taste some
                                   and the spinach pie was just amazing!!!!
Before leaving this town, we stopped at a garden selling essential oils and skin care. All totally natural from Crete!... Wonderful. Called "BioAroma".  I bought perfume and face stuff.

                Our final stop was one of the Southernmost towns in all of Europe!   IRAPETRA  is on the Lybian sea. A very old place, but charming in it's own way.          

          Octopus drying in the sun after they beat them on the rocks to make them more tender.....

                                        Potential material for a postcard from Crete.....



We drove back to the hotel and said goodbye to our guide, Efi, and our driver, Aris. They gave us a very memorable experience on this magical island. After a rest, we took a cab down the hill to the town of Elounda for a walk and dinner.

                                                           Early evening light in the harbor at Elounda.
                                           

Saturday we stayed at our hotel and rested up for the next part of our journey. that evening we ventured out to a hotel on the other side of Elunda for a very special dinner at the Old Mill Restaurant.
Absolutely gorgeous food artfully presented. And a fine white from Santorini....

The Old Mill early in the evening. By the time we finished dinner around 10 pm it was full of locals.

                               Crete is magical...... Its all about the ocean, the land, and the people
                                        who take from the sea and love and give back to the land.
                                                We have to say goodbye after one more day of
                                                            R&R at the Blue Palace.........
                                                 On Sunday we fly to SPLIT, CROATIA for
                                                               the next part of our adventure.

Sunday was a long travel day. We left Heraklion at 6:30 am to Athens for a 5 hour wait for our flight to Munich, then on to Split. Our travel went smoothly, and we arrived in Split around 5:30......
just in time to meet up with my sister , Chris and brother in law, Tom. The 4 of us are part of a group of  about 40 wine lovers, and people in the wine business. Our tour is led by Larry Martin from "Food and Wine Trails" and Rebecca  Robinson from "ZAP" ( Zinfandel Advocates & Producers). They have brought together several makers of Zinfandel wines in California, and several winemakers of Zinfandel in Croatia to guide us in our extensive sipping and savoring of all kinds of Zinfandel and related wines from both countries. What a treat, and quite an education for all of us.

Croatia from the air

En route to Croatia, we flew from Munich over the Austrian Alps! Brrrrr.....  so glad we weren't going there!

We settled in at Hotel Le Meridien Lav, which is about 5 km outside of the city of Split.
The event kicked off Sunday evening with a gathering of all of us to meet the winemakers and to have an introductory sampling of some of the wines.

Tom , Chris and Cyn on the balcony of our hotel room at Le Meridien just after arrival.

Chris and Tom's room looks out over these boats at the hotel dock.

Croatian sunset on Monday evening from the hotel.

WE spent all day Monday at the hotel for an orientation session. We learned about the history of the Zinfandel grape, and had a panel discussion from 5 Croatian winemakers ( with tastings of course)
followed by a panel of 5 winemakers from California and a tasting. We had David Gates from Ridge Winery, Ivo Jeramy from Grgich Hills, Rich Parducci from McNab Ridge Winery, Randle Johnson from ArteZin, and Joel Peterson from Ravenswood Winery. The morning session was followed by a delicious lunch, with mushroom risotto and a gorgeous veal dish.
The afternoon session was another big tasting. Ray and I skipped that and went to the spa for recuperation as we know we had a big evening with dinner and more wonderful wines ahead of us.
Each time a new wine was served at dinner, the winemaker got up and made some comments on his process. It was a very unique opportunity to see them all in action. We had a nice mixture of American and Croatian wines that evening.


Tuesday, May 2nd......Our group got a tour of the nearby Island of Brac. We were taken on the bus to the Ferry port of Split to the port of Supetar. From there, the bus took us to Bol at the other side of the island.

The town of Bol.

The Stina winemaking facility in Bol. During the Communist era, this building was a big cooperative. Nobody got to make their own wine. It was purchased in 2009 by an owner who completely removed the old equipment and replaced it with
fabulous state of the art fermenters and barrels.

One of our Croatian winemakers, Emil, runs the winery of STINA in Bol. Stina means "stones" and we learned why. The Island is SO rocky.... they had to remove the large rock form the land but that left massive amounts of small stones on the surface. His vineyard is all stones. We could see no soil at all between the rows of vines. Stina makes a range of varietals, including Posip ( white), and Plavac Mali, Vugava, Crljenak, and Prosek.

A close up of the stony soil in the vineyard..... Tom's Photo!

Stina vineyard. It looks so white because of all the stones. Also the vines are small since it is so early in the growing season.

                                  Stina tasting room just before our group invaded........



Tom's photo of Ray with members of our group tasting at Stina.  Emil the winemaker is behind the               counter here.

Ray's photos were all inside the Stina winemaking operation, plus glasses from the tasting room
which were set up for our group. They also served us Beautiful platters of bread, olive oil, prosciutto ham and cheese. We were all hungry by 11 am and it tasted great with Emil's fine wines.

Our next stop was Senjkovic Wine Cellar and tasting, along with a walk on a very rocky road to check out the small family vineyards there. The owner Sasa ( Sasha) and his wife Magdalena, served us their wines accompanied by her fine small dishes under the arbors on their back patio. the wine is made in the family garage, and it was just delicious! Especially the rose!

Magdalena serving her tasty treats at the Senjkovic Family winery

                                        At Senjkovic..... waiting for our turn to sample the wines.

The shots above are all of the countryside of the Island of Brac, and the village where Senjkovic is located. We were so fortunate to have such a beautiful day to enjoy all this.

                                                  Brac Island village with a great bell tower.

                               Our last stop was  Sultivan, where a group of kids posed for Ray......                    

                                    The harbor in Sultivan. We sat at the edge of this walkway just around the
                                                                          corner at Lemon Garden.

Our final Stop on Tuesday was a late lunch at the Lemon Garden Hotel Restaurant in the lovely seaside town of Sultivan....... We had a 5 course meal with a white and a red wine. Sitting at a table
right on the water!  The roses were surreal! They were in the garden with the lemon trees on the hotel property. Ray and I would go back there in a heartbeat!

After our meal, we headed back to Supetar to catch the last Ferry to Split at 8pm.  We had time before we needed to board the ferry, so we all strolled around.

                                                             Evening in Supetar Harbor      

                               Chris and I posed for Ray just before boarding the Ferry back to Split.

The charming town of Supetar. There was a church service going on , and we could hear the congregation singing together. They did a lot of singing and bell ringing ......

 As we boarded, the sun was setting. We were all tired but very satisfied with the places we had discovered that day. After 10pm, Ray and I stopped in the Italian place for a bite, and Chris and Tom joined us. A fine way to top off a big day of discovering The Island of Brac.

WEDNESDAY , MAY 3RD..... Morning. After a good buffet breakfast at the hotel, the group set out to the "Hinterlands"..... all Croatian territory on the other side of the coastal mountain range. I elected to take the day off and rest up at the hotel, I got Rays description of the day.

                            Second stop that morning was this family owned winery.

           The main attraction was a walking tour of this amazing place. KRKA National Park. Its near the town of Skradin, and features thousands of waterfalls... some tiny, some grand! The next 4 shots were taken by Ray on that walk.

                                   

                           This winery is in the Kastela Region. They had a fabulous lunch here .

                                Countryside on the return from Babich Winery

The harbor area of Split. Our group tour started here.

Thursday, May 4th, was the last day of the Tour. We all went to the city of Split for a 3 hour walking tour of the old city and the Diocletian Palace. Diocletian was the Roman Emperor before Constantine.
He retired and moved back home to Split. The palace was to be his retirement home, and it was built as a fortress to protect him from his enemies. This was in 305 AD. It is now a UNESCO world Heritage site. Since the middle ages, the palace grounds have been taken over by local residents who
built their homes here.

We spent a long time looking at the underground complex at the palace.  There's Tom in the green shirt. The structure features barrel vaulted stonework.

The palace courtyard. It has been recently restored. All built with local limestone and fine marble from local quarries.

The vestibule with an open ceiling. Wow!

The famous bell tower of the Cathedral of St Dominos.  Part of the palace.....A real Split landmark.

Our guide stands in the middle. We are in the Cathedral of St. Dominus. This was originally Diocletian's mausoleum,
It is regarded as the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the world that remains in use in it's original structure.

Looking through the gold leaf archway in the Exquisite St. Dominus

We were rewarded after that big walk by a fabulous lunch at a restaurant in the old city called 
O'ZLATA.  Our host was Zoran Pejovic of another restaurant called Paradox. Zoran introduced our wines, and the gentleman from Z'Lata presented all our dishes. Just an few highlights: a calamari souflee with little shrimp inside, and smoked and roasted duck with a berry puree sauce and an almond mash. The white and dark chocolate pudding/sorbets at the end were also great. All the wines came from different producers and were perfect with the food.

Chris and Tom and I needed a long walk by the Hotel beach after that to work up an appetite for the wonderful Farewell dinner that was planned for us. We discovered a local game of bocci going on and had to linger. They were having Fun!

Dinner was back in the newer part of Split at a seaside restaurant called KADENA.  Highlights of this dinner for me were the crab risotto and the most tender roasted octopus ever!!! And the views of the sea at sunset were nice. We sat in a private area totally enclosed in glass. Soundproof from the rest of the place, thankfully. We were noisy that night.