In an effort to get on local time, I made myself stay up til almost nine pm last night, but I was still awake at midnight. After watching some Kaos, I was able to go back to sleep and did not get up until 10:30!
I figured out the coffee pot and made some hard boiled eggs and bread for breakfast. There are a lot of stray cats here and the instructions say not to feed them. But I didn’t see any rules about not letting cats in to snuggle while one is reading
After noon, I rallied to walk around the little village and up the mountain side a bit. I noticed many homes like mine, have stones by the front door. Apparently this is dates to the Minoan times and is meant to set a boundary with evil spirits to prevent them coming in.
I also learned from the scintillating tome Archeology of Crete that indeed the island was heavily forested. When “civilization” arrived, the trees were cut down to build ships, thus making a lot of Crete non arable land as the top soil was blown into low lying areas. That is easy to believe as the wind was blowing furiously all day. On my walk, it was moaning up the mountain.
Some time after three, I got ambitious and decided to drive to Sitia — mostly because I wanted some real food and none of the local tavernas are open on Sunday or even during this season.
A seaside city that has been an important port for ages, there is an old Venetian fortress here and an old Roman fishing pond now inhabited by ducks and geese.
I thought I would be adventurous and drive into the city to find a taverna. Intrepid or just not that smart? I was on narrow streets and eventually hit a dead end. It was not fun reversing and manoveouring on a hill on narrows streets with a manual transmission that I’m still getting used to.
After that, I found a place to park the car and walked around the harbour
and found a place for dinner. For €13 I got shrimp with orzo and a light dessert. Driving home in the dark on winding mountain roads keeps one alert! Safely in for the night, it is time for some red wine.
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