FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Iraklion, Greece

Iraklion, Crete

We spent our day in Crete with Gregory, the crazy Greek. Let me start off by saying that Gregory is not for everyone. He calls it as it is and cracks jokes which some may find offensive. However, his generosity as a host could be faulted. We travelled to his horse stables near the mountains where we rode up to admire the beautiful Cretan countryside. Those unable to ride were able to ride in the wagon.

Errr, he trusted us with his car?!?!

The horse stables

Jonah ready to go

Horse!

Resting the horse at the top of the mountain

Family photo everybody looking at the camera!

Crazy Gregory serenading my aunt

Olive trees everywhere

On the way down

Elliot loved being able to ride by himself

Jonah managed as well!

From there, we went to Knossos to visit the ruins of the Minoan Palace. The Minoan civilisation was pretty impressive. The city had three separate water management systems. One for supply, one for stormwater and one for waste. Remains of the ceramic pipe system were visible. There were 10kms of pipes from the mountain to bring in fresh water to the city and they had developed toilets nearly 4000 years ago. On the site we also saw 3800 years old artifacts left untouched as they were discovered . The intact vase, intact throne, and intact floors just boggled my mind.

We returned to Gregory's house where his wife, Eva, had cooked up a feast. What fabulous food we had! We were served the best tzaziki I've ever had. The zucchini fritters and meatballs were also to die for. Dessert was nutella and condensed milk sauce poured over greek style pancakes. We were also served home made wine and home made olive oil. The ingredients were from their garden, with only meat and potatoes being bought at the shops.

We bid Gregory's family farewell and walked through the town Centre. Being a Sunday, most of the shops were unfortunately closed. We stopped for a quick coffee and then walked along the waterfront back to the port.