Greece Trip (Day 6) - Volcano

Map of Santorini

Our first full day in Santorini we decided to take the trip we were most excited for. The volcano! We've been to the volcano on the big island of Hawaii and were interested to see how different this one was.

We took a bus down to the small sea harbor just below Oia and waited for the motorized pirate (yes i said pirate) ship.

We sailed past the harbor, past Fira (Phira) and onto the volcano.

Hiking up the volcano was really fun. It was surprising to see how many silly girls wore sandles and thongs instead of tennis shoes. Silly people :)

The view from the top of the volcano ridge was amazing. You could see the whole island of Santorini and the little islands around it. The island was once a whole stretch, but an earthquake/erruption split the island over time and now it is in little sections.

We really enjoyed the volcano and then afterwards they tooks us to a sulfur spring which flowed into the ocean and you could swim in. Then we went to the island of Therasia. We got a seafood mix which was nice and freash.

They grilled everything right there on the porch next to the ocean.

Very yummy!

We hiked up the steap 160 steps to the top of the island. Where there was a beautiful view of the bay. The stairs were pretty difficult to navigate up and the donkeys that were walking up and down did not make it any easier :)

Taking the pirate ship back to Oia we walked up the 260 stairs there and were finally back. Time for a nap.

And then some more picture taking.

And the prettiest sunset we had all week.

Greece Trip (Day 5) - Oia

The next day we woke up in Crete and got on a catamaran to go to Santorini. I won't say much about that trip. It was really really windy on the ocean and the boat rocked so so much. A lot of people got sick and we were very close. We met a couple who were also traveling to the town of Oia (pronounced EE-ah) so we asked to split a cab with them. Which was a very good thing because the port was crazy and we would have been there for a long time trying to figure out a ride.

We drove from the port, through the town of Fira and then on to Oia. Took about 30 min max. It was very cliffy, and mostly rock with a few feilds down below. We drove into Oia on the back side (since there is only one or two roads for cars) I was honestly getting a little nervous because we couldn't really see any of the white houses that you see on post cards or the volcano caldera. I was begining to think I'd made a big mistake.

Then we got to our hotel, tramped up the stairs and were led to the most beautiful view I could have asked for. This was our room right under the windmill at Golden Sunset Hotels. The sunests were so amazing. The bright yellows fading into pinks and ending in bright purples. We didn't even think about getting a different seat with the surrounding crowd that comes in to see the sunsets.

Everynight we went and bought a bottle of wine (Nico was our fav) and watched the sun go down from our hotel balcony. Then we'd get dressed go out to dinner and finish up at the bar down the street with Yani our bartender. He had some great stories and gave us tons of lemon juice marinaded carrot slices with our ouzo and Alfa beer.

The only down side to taking the ferry was that it was so windy that the waves washed up on our boat and soaked our suitcases. Mike's got the worst of it. He barely had anything dry for that first day. We laid everything out in our cavernous room and crossed our fingers that it would dry.

We had some decent meals and some really good dishes in Oia. This is a very big tourist destination so a lot of things were over priced, but we found some nice non-sunset view places later on that were pretty darn delicious.

Stuffed tomatoes
Mousaka, amazingly light and fluffy! We went back here on our last day and both ordered it as our meal because it was so good!

Yellow Fava bean spread

One thing I've been forgetting to mention about Greece is that there are dogs and cats every where! Not stray, but with collars and very friendly. The funniest part is that the owners just let them run around, so there is constently a poochie snoozing on a shops doorstep or flat out dead asleep in the middle of the pedestrian street. They must be so used to people because not much would wake them up. The only time I saw a dog wake up was when a scooter would shoot by or this one time that a guy actually tripped over a dog that was in the middle of the street sleeping.

Greece Trip (Day 4) - Rethymnon

Castelvecchio Cafe in Rethymnon

After a late night out at the Taverns, we selpt in and finally woke up to catch the public bus to Rethymnon to the West of us. The bus systems there are pretty easy to use, as long as you are on time. They have a lot of stops, but whenever the bus shows up and the last person gets on or off they go, no waiting for anyone else. So, needless to say we were never late for any of our bus trips.
We arrived in Rethymnon (pronounced Reth-em-no) and walked along the ocean sidewalk to the Fortress. It was a very pretty veiw and the sea was such a blue color. All over Greece we saw graffiti, from the little towns to the big city, much of it related to the symbol Theta 7. We later asked our waiter in Santorini if it was because of people saying something about politics or the banks. Nope, just the soccer fans. Soccer is really big in Greece too. A lot of the government owned banks did have graffiti we saw later on in our trip.

The Fortress is built right up against the cliff walls. There's not too much for building structures left, but the view to the city is very nice.

Outside of the Fortress

View of the city from the Fortress

After seeing the Fortress we walked down into city and to look around and do some shopping. On our way down the hill we saw a menu on a side street restaurant that looked really nice so we decided to stay in town longer and take the late bus back since it didn't open until 6pm.

In the town there is a really well known ice cream shop right by some fountains that people come to see. They had flavors like pistachio, ameretto, hazelnut, and nutella. We walked around for a bit, got some local Diktamos (Dittany) tea which is a mountain flower that grows on Crete. It looks like a fuzzy little purplish bud and I'm interested to see what it tastes like. We wandered around the town a bit more. I got some sandles and a purse. They have the most amazing leather products on Crete. So nice, but you have to watch out for fakes and buy what you like.

We settled down for a Mythos beer at a family run Tavern down the hill from the restaurant we had picked out. We watched tourist go by and the children of the family who owns the two taverns on that street tease each other till the mothers came out and scolded them.

Finally at the stroke of 6pm we headed up the street with high hopes and a beatiful view. We sat down, being the only people there at the time and found some of the most amazing food we had on our trip. It was a family owned place, the father came out in his apron after grilling our food, the son was our waiter, and the mom was the baker. The son's little girl was reading a Dora book to herself and her mom was setting up the tables. It was so quaint and had a wonderful 'home' feeling to it.

We ordered the Aubergine dip which was so simple and so so so delish. It's a smooth dip with roasted aubergine (type of eggplant), mayo, gruyere cheese, olive oil, walnuts, and parsley. We will be trying to make this soon :) We ordered a really good bottle of wine there also, a Chateu Nico Lazaridi. The wine comes from the Drama region and is a really nice light blend.

Other pictures of the meal are below. My personal fav story is how the son brought out the cake with the check (we were so full we didn't even think about desert at this time) and said "here here, you must have some of this cake, my mamma made it this morning." And what could we say? We had to eat it, even though we were stuffed. It was that good and we felt like that much more a part of the family. The Greeks really do have hospitality down.

(From Top) Sun Dried Tomato, Olive Oil, Feta with Fennel, Aubergine Dip

Grilled Swordfish with eggplant and baked potatoes

Foil wrapped Pork with Feta, Tomatoes, and Potato Fries

Mama's Walnut Honey Cake

Greece Trip (Day 3) - Palace of Knossos

Palace of Knossos, Crete

After getting in off the Ferry, really the begining of our trip, and finding some food, we wandered around the market area of Heraklion. Many of the shops were tourist traps, but they had nice churches and the cool 'Lions" Fountain that stands in the middle of the square.

The Lions fountain

Directly behind it and to the right we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, getting fried zuchini and eggplant combo. The waiters were very loud and friendly, often giving out free ouzo shots and would respond to almost everything with a long "allriiight." One waiter in particular could have been the brother of the comic who does the "and did you know" skits on late night TV (Maggie and Mom, you would have died with laughter). He was very excited that we were from Minnesota and would yell after us, "Timbur-volves! Timbur-volves!" (basketball is big in Greece I guess)

Palace of Knossos

After fully exploring the town, we hoped on a bus and headed out to the Palace of Knossos, where the legendary Minotaur and Labyrinth were said to have been. The ruins were very very old compared to what we have seen on other travels.

Much of the site has been excavated and the artifacts brought back to the local museum in town, which we stopped at next. They had some really cool statues and vases.

Artifacts from Knossos

After the museum we took a walk down to the pier. We thought there was just a little ways out to go, but the pier had been built so big to shelter the cruise ships at Port that the 'little' walk turned into more of a death march. That day was extreamly windy and we later found out that many of the inter-island ferries had been cancelled or delayed. This was not the first time we were lucky with the weather.

Because our march to the end of the peir had worked up an appetite, we decided to take the recommendation of the hotel and visit a Tavern that served fresh seafood and traditional Greek dishes. It was one of the best meals we had on the trip.

Pita, Feta, Tomato sandwitches

Shadowed under the shade of trees (as all the traditional restaurants were) we sat out on the street patio and had amazing dishes with homemade wine.

Kalimaraki (version of squid)

Grilled Octopus (so good we ordered a second plate)



Loukoumades (Honey coated donuts) These were so so amazing.

They were very nice, giving us free dessert and ouzo, as we found that all the 'small' family owned places did. We were a little confused when they presented us with a menu in Spanish though. Since there are so many cultures that vacation in Greece, taverns frequently have menus made up in different languages. I guess that night we looked like we were from Spain... We also recognized and said hello to a French tour guide who we had ridden over on the Ferry from Athens with. I guess even foreign islands are smaller than you think.

Later we went back to The Lions square for drinks with our waiter friends, George and Mike. We found out exactly how much ouzo you can have without getting a headache the next morning.

Greece Trip (Day 1-2) - Traveling

Heraklion, Crete

On May 14th, Mike and I set out from Minneapolis for a 10 day trip to Greece. We planned everything out ourselves, no need for a travel agent with the ease of the internet these days. We were still concern about the strikes going on and the schelduling for the ferries, but we figured if we had to get stuck an extra couple of days, there would be worse places than Greece.

Mike on the Ferry

Our flight got us into Athens, after a loooong layover in Paris (the airport for that leg of the trip did not seem as bad as everyone had told us, on our return trip we found out why everyone says CDG airport is the worst...) We had walked quickly from our plane to the Sky Club room in Paris and played cards, mostly in a delirious state from the 8 hr time change.

Once in Athens we got on the public bus and headed to the Port where we would be taking the overnight Ferry to the island of Crete. The bus system was easy, but the ports were another matter. They jut out into the sea and are numbered based on the island you are going to. One confusing thing about Greece is that they often refer to the destinations by only the port name, not the island and then sometimes it is the Greek name for the port, not the common English name.

Restaurant at the Port

After we walked around, dragging our suitecases after us, we found the right Ferry and bought our tickets. We were so hungry that we jumped into the first place that looked like it served food we could find. It was a little restaurant across from our dock with a small menu and country music playing on the radio. The hostess and the cook were constantly yelling at each other in Greek, but the food was amazing. I had the Pork special and Mike had Beef with red sauce. Both were so comforting and juicy, the Pork winning out in the end. They were both served with the most amazing Greek potatoes we have ever (and even after our full trip) had. Sorry, but we were too tired and hungry for pictures that day. You can see the restaurant with the blue shutters in the photo above.

Lato Hotel in Crete

We slept on the ferry through the night, which turned out to be a wonderful way to get into the time change quickly. Arriving in Heraklion, the capital of Crete, we discovered that everything was a lot closer than we anticipated, so we were able to walk to our hotel, the Lato Boutique. It was a really nice place, with a roof top dinning area, lifts you had to pull doors open into, and THE smallest bathroom I have ever seen. One had to sit sideways on the toilet because of the limited leg room. Very quaint.

And so began our third day, with coffee and an apple tart....

Self Proclaimed Tiramisu Snobs

In Iowa City, where Mike and I went to college there was a restaurant called the Brown Bottle. It was a dimly light Italian place, with ok food and too high of prices for college kids. But the Tiramisu was amazing.

We'd go out to dinner at different places and then run over to The Brown Bottle for desert. They served the deep chocolate and espresso flavored treat in a large clear wine goblet, pressed up against the sides so you could tell it was individually made. Ever since then we've ooooh-d and ahhhh-d over every desert menu that we see it on, remembering the yummy dish. But it's never been the same. We get all hyped up to taste it and then it turns out in a perfectly layered (undoubtedly frozen) slice, tasting of cream cheese and bad coffee.



So I was really nervous to try making it myself. I'd found some good looking Lady Finger cookies at a local grocery store and figured I'd give it a try. Almost a year later they were still sitting in my cupboard.
We'd just had an amazing dinner with friends who made wonderful Bread Pudding and give us that recipe and one for Tiramisu.
Turns out it's pretty complicated to make from scratch, makes a lot of dishes, and is time consuming. Perfect! Honestly my kind of dish. I figure if it takes a long time to prep and make, it's gotta taste that much better than store bought.
I'm on the lookout for a better serving dish though. This repurposed flower vase just doesn't quite have the effect I'm looking for...



Tiramisu

6 egg yolks
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese*
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
2 packages dry lady fingers (3oz each)
½ cup coffee liqueur**
Cocoa powder or shaved chocolate curls

Beat egg yolks and sugar until lemony colored (1-2 minutes), place in top of double boiler a cook 8-10 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Whip 1 ¾ cup of the cream until stiff. Fold in the egg mix. Line bowl with layer of lady fingers and pour the liqueur over them, soaking slightly. Avoid getting the liqueur on the eggs mixture (it soaks into lady fingers well). Cover with eggs mix (1/3) dust with cocoa and repeat layers. Top with sweetened whip cream and garnish with dusting of cocoa or shaved chocolate. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

*Mascarpone cheese substitute: 8 oz cream cheese, 2 Tbls. cream and ¼ cup sour cream blended until smooth.

**Coffee liqueur: Espresso with brandy or Kaluha/Tia Maria.

Sweetened whipped cream: ¾ cup cream, 2 Tbls. powdered sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla whipped but not too stiff.

Spring has finally sprung!

Here in Minnesota we are used to snow in April, but this year we have been blessed with some of the warmest weather I can remember in the spring. The 'evil' snow pile that Mike and I had to shovel off the flowers finally melted. The bulbs I planted last year decided to bloom. I've even see some butterflies.

The best part about spring in our neighborhood is the lilacs. The whole road is lined with them and when the breeze blows south the whole house fills with the sent. It's one of my favorite smells.