Outdoor Market in Rethymno

olives, olives, and grape leaves

dried favas, olives, eggs, cheese

snails!

some of the most beautiful squash blossoms I've ever seen

green and black figs

LOOK at those colors! fripping gorgeous

the old cretan lady that tried to converse with us in greek

prickly pear! it is literally all over Crete. they surprisingly only eat the fruit and not the cactus leaves

peeled prickly pear

some sheep's milk cheese

kzynohodros! the fermented milk and grain product we were researching 

cheery tomatoes and beans

mini pears!

the wild greens that grow all over the island. though they are actually weeds, the Cretans have harvested them for millenia. these are the cooked down greens that grace my favorite green pies! 

Mirogdies

Mirogdies! Or 'aromas' in Greek. This restuarant was recommended to us by the lovely ladies at The Cretan Diet. Located in the heart of old town Rethymno, the majority of patrons were actually Cretan, not tourists; this quelled my suspicions. 

The adorable outdoor dining area complete with 3 person band.

Their menu was quaintly rife with translation errors. Allow me to point out:

- "handmade homemade". I love that stuff

-" fried pluck in small bites". It turned out to be some kind of offal

Page 2 of hilarious mistranslations (sorry for the bad photo):

- "burger giant half-half"

- paste days!

yogurt and beet dip, olives, peeled cucumber sticks, whole wheat bread, white wine

a beautifully assembled Greek salad with 2 kinds of cheese, and green pies, possibly my favorite thing on the island. 

traditional smoked pork dish

chicken and sauteed bell peppers in an extremely light cream sauce

some sort of lemon custard for dessert

Greek Breakfast

This is what constituted our daily breakfast in Crete: Greek yogurt drizzled with honey and topped with whatever fruit we had bought from the local outdoor markets. Uhm, hello perfection. Our fruit choices varied  from nectarines, to peaches, plums, and of course, the all mighty fig.

So Effing Good We Had to Go Back

Aaaaand we're back. After visiting the Palace of Knossos we stopped back in the town of Fodele to clock in a couple of hours at the beach. Our stomachs a-rumbling, we decided to try the same taberna from our first meal. It did not disappoint.

Beet salad, the ubiquitous Greek salad, and the meze platter

look how beautiful all the swirls are! the blood red liquid contrasting with the pools of olive oil... loves it.

Chania Street Food

pork souvlaki station

Loukoumades aka fried donut holes in honey

the prep

a different loukoumades station

2 little girls watching the hot donut man at work

our midnight snack: flipping AMAZING pork souvlaki and crunchy loukoumades with honey and sesame seeds

Agricultural August

Aspassia from Cretan Diet took us to a festival in Chania, located about an hour outside of Rethymno. All sorts of producers gathered to peddle their Cretan wares. Aspa of course knew everyone there and we stopped and chatted at almost every booth. This was of course accompanied by the obligatory tasting and the even more obligatory farewell glass of raki. Suffice it to say by the end of the night we were full and drunk. Need I ask for more?

The festival took place in an emptied out dam, just across the street from the ocean. 

various honeys 

a raki production 

cheese!

pies! my favorite are the green pies. they're filled with indigenous greens, oregano, garlic, and mint. I'm addicted.

Cretan wedding pastries

a man in traditional garb compelling random passers by to down shots of raki

Cretan cheese in olive oil

more cheese!

yep, that entire table is raki. normal raki on the left, different kinds of spiced raki in the middle and on the right.

Cretan herbs

Traditional Taberna

the little cove where we ate

some of the fish on the menu, none of which are local or sustainably  fished, though they insist they are caught that day

left: arugula and mint salad with tomatoes and a cretan cheese similar to a pecorino.

right: melted sheep's milk cheese with tomatoes and peppers, very similar to queso fundido

lamb souvlaki and a calamari fritti plate

the obligatory watermelon and raki to finish the meal