Beneath the Matala Moon and Hip Hania… our weekend exploring Crete

Beneath the Matala Moon and Hip Hania… our weekend exploring Crete

Red Beach... Matala

View of the caves and beach at Matala

Peter picked up our rental car after lunch on Friday –it was a Nissan Micro and “Micro” was an understatement! Even so, it cost over $75 to fill the tank so, while the car rental seemed inexpensive, with the cost of gas at about $9 a gallon, it was a lot for two days. Peter loved driving (too fast!) on the winding mountain roads and we both appreciated the freedom our wheels gave us. That afternoon, we headed to the southern half of the Island in search of warmer sun and nicer beaches. Our destination was Matala, a beach town about 75 miles south of Herkalion on the Libyan Sea (as close as I would want to get to North Africa at the moment). Matala was a hippie getaway in seventies, immortalized in Joni Mitchell’s song Carey:

The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here Carey
But it's really not my home
My fingernails are filthy, I got beach tar on my feet
And I miss my clean white linen and my fancy French cologne

Oh Carey get out your cane
And I'll put on some silver
Oh you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you fine

Come on down to the Mermaid Cafe and I will buy you a bottle of wine
And we'll laugh and toast to nothing and smash our empty glasses down

Let's have a round for these freaks and these soldiers
A round for these friends of mine
Let's have another round for the bright red devil
Who keeps me in this tourist town…

Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam
Or maybe I'll go to Rome
And rent me a grand piano and put some flowers 'round my room
But let's not talk about fare-thee-welIs now
The night is a starry dome.
And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the Matala Moon…

To hear Joni sing this song and give some background on Matala go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmwxGYA1IIA

The town still has some vestiges of its hippie days and I can see how the caves might be a hangout for some…although it would creep me out to sleep in what were once tombs during roman times. The beach was nice and the water a bit warmer than on the north side of the Island. The best feature was a hike up the hill behind town towards Red Beach with gorgeous views of the sea and the rocky shoreline.

Hania Harbor and the road to Hania (looking east)

The next morning we headed towards Hania (or Chania, but really neither of these in Greek) a picturesque harbor town built by the Venetians. We first stopped in Rhythmno, a university town, on the way west and walked that Venetian harbor, which was quite pleasant in spite of the rain. Our arrival into Hania coincided with Market and we got caught up in an endless loop of traffic trying to make our way into the old town. After about 45 minutes of circling and trying to read the map and the street signs, we found a place to park a few blocks away from the old town (the streets were too narrow for cars-- even micros!) and walked to the Doge Hotel, a curious blend of Italian and Greek that seemed to be under construction. Our room looked like it had once been a store, complete with displays and a stage area, but with a modern bathroom and a very comfortable bed. That evening we had our wonderful meal at Tamam described in my previous post about Greek food.

Hania old town and the stormy sea

Sunday morning was bright and sunny after a big storm the night before. After a wonderful Italian breakfast, we headed back towards Heraklion with a detour inland towards Mt. Psiloritis, the largest mountain on Crete. It was great fun to take the small country roads that climb up the side of the mountain and drive through all the tiny towns along the way. As I noted before, agriculture is Crete’s mainstay and every tillable portion of land is well tended. We stopped at a stream about two thirds of the way up the mountain and walked along it a ways to explore the flora and fauna, including some incredibly loud frogs. While the scenery was beautiful, it was disconcerting to discover trash pretty much everywhere… something we had noted before. Ubiquitous plastic bottles and bags that will never degrade…aughh!

The other interesting thing we noted were quite a few high-end Land Rovers and other expensive vehicles in what seemed like poor villages… we discovered later that there is healthy drug harvesting and trafficking in the hinterlands and it is best not to explore too far away from the main roads.

We made it as far up as roads go and tried to visit the caves but they closed at 2 p.m. so we had a picnic of our leftovers from Taman on the side of the road overlooking the expansive valley towards the sea and then headed back to Hotel Handakas, ready to start our next week at St. Spiros on Monday.

The baby goat is finished… Greek culinary adventures

The baby goat is finished… Greek culinary adventures.

Food in Greece is a mixed bag. We had some wonderful meals of the usual Greek fare: spanikopita (spinach pie), fresh grilled fish and endless Greek salads and gyros. Most of the meals at the Handakas hotel were very good and satisfying; however, the breakfasts quickly became monotonous as they consisted of white bread, boiled eggs, yogurt, corn flakes and undrinkable coffee. Peter had wisely brought our REI thermos mugs with a built-in coffee filter, which we would fill with coffee and then ask for “nero zestra”, hot water, to make our own coffee each morning. I am willing to do anything in the name of global peace and understanding but I must have a decent cup of coffee in the morning…and that’s NOT Nescafe.

Our breakfast at Hotel Doge...wonderful coffee there!

Coffee is puzzle: everyone in Greece drinks Nescafe, either “freddo”—cold— and whipped in a blender or hot with milk…and it’s not cheap…about 3 euros (close to $5) at coffee shops. I am usually adverse to frequenting American franchises while abroad but the Starbucks in Athens and in Chania were a welcome respite…and the baristas were so happy and friendly at each one. Maybe because they had work and they had finally discovered that good, brewed coffee makes life so much better. Tea doesn’t fare much better and all you can really find in the stores are Lipton tea bags.

Although there are vineyards everywhere the eye can see on Crete and around Athens, I never found an exceptional bottle of Greek wine. The closest was their version of a cabernet sauvignon, which we could read on the bottle because they don’t translate it into Greek. For the most part, the wine is sweet –even if it says dry – thin, and really very uninteresting. I even saw a waiter at a restaurant in Athens add water to our carafe of wine before bringing it to us. That didn’t stop us from drinking it, however, or from imbibing in Raki, the traditional Cretan liquor made of the wine stems. Some of it was really quite good –especially at the convent next to St. Spiros, where the nuns graciously serve it to you with a welcoming smile.

Which brings me to bread, another important staple of the good life. Most of the bread we had in Crete was white or seminola flour with a soft crust –again not very interesting. But that could be because I had just come from Italy where the bread (along with the wine and the coffee) was wonderful.

Our best meal of the trip was at a hole in the wall taverna called Tamam, in the old town of Chania, which was just around the corner from our hotel there. We cooled our heals in our room until 9 p.m. which is still early but a respectable time to head out for dinner. We wandered the harbor and ignored the restaurant hawkers along the waterfront and headed into the rabbit warren of streets to find a restaurant that had a lot of people in it. When we came across Tamam and saw people lining up outside, we knew we found our place… and we weren’t disappointed.

The pony-tailed server sat us down at a cozy table and announced: “the baby goat is finished but we have everything else on the menu tonight”. When we asked what is good, he responded: “Everything! This is Tamam!” as if we needed any other proof. I had a wonderful grilled chicken kabob and Peter had a cheese and meat pie that was so good and rich that we saved some for our picnic lunch the next day. And we had a superb carafe of house wine (cab) for only 5 euros. The place was packed with locals and a smattering of tourists who were all happily enjoying their meals, which included complimentary raki and cake for dessert! Who could ask for anything more??