Still in Heraklion, we had dinner last night at the rooftop restaurant at our hotel. Though it would have been fun to eat in the center of town this was just upstairs and the food was excellent. We ended up walking more city streets, found what looked like more great places to eat. One narrow walkway was lined with tables and huge planters filled with herbs for the chef. Waiters walked out with towers of rosemary infused meat. Enjoyed the scene, glad we had a lighter dinner…
This morning, we were happy to see the same driver who picked us up at the airport and he delivered us back there. We met up with two of our guides from The Northwest Passage, my sons, friends and yogis, and headed out for Knossos. The ancient city is considered to be the oldest in Europe. It was crowded but still amazing to see the site of most of the relics we just saw in the museum. It really helped to have some knowledge of the stories, myths and history.
A few hours later, we were checking into our hotel in Matala, a town on the Southern coast. Joni Mitchell lived in the caves here 1968/69 and immortalized Matala in the song Carey, on the Blue Album. Then the place was a haven for hippies. There are still miniature flower-covered VW vans in store windows and traces of macrame. It’s still much the same, minus the hippies living in the caves. Now the beaches are crowed with German tourists. The water is gorgeous, the shore is lined with bars and restaurants and the cliffs with their caves are lighted at night..
We drove up to a mountain top for drinks and a view of the spectactular sunset. Dinner was the first of the evenings to come. (Remember, I did this same trip a year ago.) Long tables, beer and wine, plates of meze, good conversation and more food. The local drink is raki. It is served at the end of every dinner .Every family or restaurant makes their own, and our job as guests is to reassure our hosts that theirs is the best.
