Crete, Greece

The tourist season in Greece has a hard and fast cut off of October 31st. Come November One, ferry schedules change, bus schedules change, some hotels, restaurants, and shops simply roll their sidewalks up until the following spring.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as rates for rooms drop, and many of the eateries that stay open are the ones where locals eat and not the over priced tourist stops.

So foregoing the major summer hotspots of the islands Mykonos, Santorini, and others, we decided to go a little farther south - to Crete.

Crete is so big it could be, and kind of is, a country all it’s own. The locals there definitely identify themselves as Cretan, not Greek. Not that they’re anti Greek or anything. Just proud to be from Crete. You could maybe liken it to people from Texas - just less annoying.

We spent our week in Crete exploring little sea side towns across the northern shore of the island. Chania, Rethyminon, Agios Nicholas, and Heraklion were all pretty similar, but different enough to keep things interesting. Like all of Crete, these towns each have an ancient history going back some 3,000 years to the Minoan civilization; you can find the ancient Greek influence, a little bit of Roman Empire stuff here and there, Byzantine churches in the center of the city, Ottoman fortresses that look like castles, and Venetian harbors, fountains, and buildings all scattered around like bread crumbs guiding you through history.

​Much like Nafplio on the mainland, many of the small little buildings lining the streets have been built, torn down, rebuilt, burnt down, rebuilt, crumbled in an earthquake, built, and rebuilt again innumerous times throughout the ages. And much like Nafplio, each town is charming enough to just walk around and get lost in the maze of shops and cafes.

Chania is in the running for the most beautiful town in all of Greece, and the harbor is supposedly one of the most photographed spots in the country. Our innkeep was an overly nice old man who took great care of us. He showed me pictures of his father and uncles, and told me stories about his grandfather who lived to be 107. “He would climb the mountain every day to get the goats. One day, he stayed on the mountain.”

In Retheminon, we spent a full day on the beach. The water was pretty cold, but it was great to spend some time just reading and relaxing in the sand. More exploring of some of the sites and streets throughout town.

We spent one afternoon checking out an Organic Olive Oil Farm just on the edge of Agios Nicholas. It seems everyone on Crete has at least a few olive trees and grape vines. This particular place had a press that was a good 150 years old. In the high season, they have a donkey that moves it. Today some volunteers, all from the US, who work for free in exchange for room and board, replaced the donkey.

Most guide books and travel articles we read about Heraklion, the largest city on Crete, don’t give it much love. We read a lot that there isn’t much to do or see outside of the big Minoan site of Knossos, which we’ll get to later. We disagree. We really enjoyed strolling around and exploring the many sites and side streets.

The coastal towns are great, but to get the true taste and feel of Crete you need to head inland to one of the many villages. And while we really enjoyed walking around the city, the real highlight was heading 17kms south to a small family vineyard. Stilianou Winery and Olive Press has been in the Stilianou family for going on five generations. And we met three of them. A quick bus from Heracklion and an incredibly well marked walk through town, and up the hill lined with olive trees and grape vineyards, just getting there was worth the trip.

We had the place all to ourselves. Ioannis, the owner gave us a quick tour of the facilities. They are part of a co-op and do a lot of the sorting and pressing of their olives off site. Since most families have a least a few trees but no need for the hardware to run an entire operation, most of the townspeople are also members of the co-op and take turns using the communal machinery.

The tasting was also great for the price of free, so we decided to buy a bottle of red and enjoy it walking through the vineyards, and sitting outside talking to the owner, his father, and his 15 year old son.

From Crete, with love.

Will + Sara