Crete - Iraklios: Wandering Central Crete, Arhanes, and lunch at To Spitiko (I think...it's still Greek to me)

After leaving Peza, the Missus pretty much just pointed the way to go, we just kinda headed off, passing through village after village.....

Every so often the Missus would tell me, "stop....stop now...." And I'd oblige.

Of course I would stop....after all, we were in the middle of Crete, it's not like I had anywhere to go, right?

By that time, the Missus had found Her calling for this little jaunt; She wanted to photograph every single church in every village along the way.....really!

We'd be driving and She'd exclaim there's one, hurry, like the church was some kind of rare bird that would grow wings and fly away into the horizon.

After a while I seemed to enter a bit of a daze as the villages we drove through, Astraki, Mori Agarathou, Apostoli, Evangelisimos, all faded into one. We passed through the village of Thrapsano, famous for their pottery...did we stop to check out the shops? No, although I think there's a photo of the church around here somewhere.

Looking at these photos I noticed something interesting.....

Do you notice that all of the photos seem to be somewhat tilted one way or another?

The Missus would rush out of the car, set-up and quickly snap a photo, run back to the car and tell me, "ok, ok, lets go....." It's not like the sun was setting on Kastelli or anything.

By the time we hit Lyttos I was fried....plus the smell of fresh manure was strong in the air. It was surely a sign to turn around and head back.....

But not to Iraklios, oh no, weI had to find the village of Arhanes...which actually wasn't that hard to find.

We found parking above the village, then walked down the street to the very photogenic and relaxed area near the square. As we walked along, it was hard not to stop and enjoy the wonderful houses, full of plants and flowers.

It was hard not to just slow down and relax........

By the time we reached the square I was starving. It seemed that most places weren't open yet...perhaps it was too early in the season? We made our mind up on one of the restaurants right on the square. I think the name was To Spitiko, but can't be certain, after all, "it's all Greek to me....."

 The place was empty and three was a very nice woman working the front of house. Of course the Missus had to have Her half liter of red wine. She was deteremined to have wine with every meal in Greece. Thankfully, breakfast was the exception....god knows if She'd tried to do that!

Of course the bread arrived and the Missus got Her "rusk".

We started with the "Spitiko Salad", which was a hefty salad featuring boiled eggs along with the standard Greek salad items. That rusk was used as "croutons" just made the Missus enjoy it more.

The Fava Skordalia was very thick though without a strong bean or garlic flavor.

The horta, boiled wild greens had a nice bitterness, though were on the "water-logged" side.

The woman recommended the Bekri Meze, literally "Drunkard's Meze", which is made with red wine.

Though the pork was on the tough side, the sauce was a nice combination of salty-sweet-spice which we sopped up with the bread.

Overall, this was a decent meal, after which we walked back to our car and headed to Iraklios. Past those scenic wine groves.....

We saw an older woman hanging off one of these tractors, probably hitching a ride to the next village on the way back. I wish we were a bit faster with our cameras....

Speaking of on the way back......one thing I noticed as we made our way into Iraklios; things looked different. We didn't pass Knossos, nor the hospital as we did on the way out of town. We were confused and perhaps a little disoriented...until we saw McDonald's (remember I mentioned the importance of that landmark in an earlier post?). Getting back to the hotel was a piece of cake after that....though we'd have to find parking on the street. If you've ever tried parking on the street in Europe you'd understand. Actually, the Missus was quite impressed with my parallel parking skills as I made it into a slot barely bigger than the car itself. It was time for a nap......then maybe i'd be ready for dinner!

Comments

[grey]

Oh, good I was hoping you would get to some form of skordalia. Question: How would you say the "feta" cheese you had compares to that which is commonly available in supermarkets here in the USA? Is it close..or a different animal?

Also wanted to say nice pick of the grape vines with the tractor.. what do you think might be the grove of trees in the background? If they were olive trees that would be sweet

[Kirk]

Hi Grey - For typical store bought....it's not even in the same league. But you need to consider, even in a typical market in Greece, there are at least 4-5 diffeent types of "feta" available. Those were olive trees in the background...tis was the wine and olive oil region of Crete.

[kat]

that looked like a great adventure!

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - We had a fun time.