Thanks! I am going to try that and report back.
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So, siga siga is also a phrase about taking it slow, the equivalent to Take it Easy. That’s what I thought you were talking about.
Crete has lots of greens (horta) which are not kale or spinach.
Kale is more of a Northern European and Portuguese vegetable, not common in most Greek kitchens. Disliked by most Greeks in my family.
Could be dandelions, arugula, purslane, chard, other Cretan greens I don’t know then names for. Horta is the collective word for all greens (ie Hortaculture) , and when you order horta, it’s often a mixture or whatever is on hand.
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I was looking for a Greek menu to take a photo of but they spotted the yankee and only gave me the English version. LOL! So that short menu description is all I have. Not a great meal but a rather good one. And that is good enough.
Weather is bad for three days so I am just going to wander around Heraklion. The gorge can wait for warmer weather. Much warmer weather.
View from my AirBNB.
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The Samarian Gorge is a nice hike. Definitely recommend it. The restaurants at the base of the hike will gouge you, so don’t be surprised by their prices. If me memory serves, one taverna was charging 5 euros per Coke in 2007. Captive market after a long hike.
On a day that you’re not visiting the Gorge, if you decide to visit Rethymno, Avli has a good reputation. I hired a taxi to take me in between cities last time I was in Crete. https://www.avli.gr/
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for the cooks among us, Olive Tomato is a very useful website for greek dishes.
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I agree, Olive Tomato is a good site.
My favourite Greek recipe sites are Akis Petrezikis and MyGreekDish.
These are a few of the most comprehensive home cooking threads relating to Greek food.
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Heraklion was a culinary win-win-win… I started the second day w a small tomato soup w bone marrow amuse bouche, delicious! Then Kreokakavao/pork roasted in honey and a single huge cabbage leaf stuffed w cracked bulgur wheat and spices. Oh my God Peskesi is great!
One more slice, wafer thin!
In my defense, I was never told that the complementary bottle of Raki after dinner was to be sampled, not finished! LOL!
I drank 3/4 of the first 6 ounce one. Then the next cafe gave me an 8 ounce one and it dawned on me that you were only supposed to take a thimble or two of it.
I rolled into the museums of Heraklion and was dumbstruck by one room in particular. It has undamaged pieces sculted between 1000BC and 140AD. Incredible to see these works, some still with there nose and limbs. It really brings home the loss of great art over the years. And the human suffering and horror that accompanied it.
The detailwork almost outweighs the damage done to Aphrodite…
My favorite, today.
Heraklion.
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So happy to hear from you! And what an installment in the annals!! Thank you.
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envying your meal and your visit to Crete. Is it feeling like spring yet?
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Over the past week the days were 53’ish and the nights 45’ish and there was a good bit of rainy wind. But starting from yesterday and looking forward, the next four days are 61’ish and the nights are 51’ish. So yes, it does feel a bit springlike! 
None of the greenery is starting to bloom/leaf out yet, I think that comes in mid-March judging from my last trip in 2019.
I am in Chania now, Crete’s second city. I stayed in a nice waterfront hotel the Porto Veneziano my first 3 days and then moved to an AirBNB that is in the historic district and is very charming, albeit it was a bit chilly at night when the temps dropped down close to 40. The HVAC here is set up for cooling more than heating, I think.
Chania was a Venetian port city for nearly 500 years, then a Turkish town for 240 years and then Crete joined Greece in 1913. Most of the people I talk to “identify” as Cretan, not Greek. There is a bit of flavor of each of the three cultures but the locals have placed their own indelible stamp on it. The food has been very good and widely varied. My only problem so far has been figuring out the etiquette in different situations. Service is very friendly and very slow, which is hard for me to get used to. But I have finally realized that you are NOT supposed to drink the entire pitcher of Raki that they put on your table with the complementary desert after every meal. I thought that leaving any would mean it would just get poured out. My host was kind of nonplussed when I mentioned my concern. Thinking about it, I was assigning my own cultural biases about serving “second hand” food or beverage items that really do not make sense.
I found a really cool estiatorio/cafe that serves made dishes that I have been haunting for some time. I had chickpeas and pork stew (or was it rabbit?) my first time and black eyed peas and pork stew with peppers my second time. Really good family type food at Kouzina EPA.
The menu board gives you a good idea of the range of dishes.
I think this is the rabbit stew and chick peas. Downloading photos on my phone is challenging.
The marina has some nice seafood oriented places, of course. This stuffed calamari (feta cheese) was good at Kavouras.
The city itself is just beautiful. It faces north so the light is an issue for photography but the buildings and the sea are incredibly photogenic.
View from my AirBNB, surprisingly affordable!
Silly story. I have been surprised by how popular black clothing is in Greece. I feel like i am in Manhaatan where everyone is wearing black but me! LOL!
But i finally spotted someone wearing my signature orange colored coat! He was driving the maintenance van…
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Lovely photos, the black-eyed peas look delicious, been a long time since I’ve seen an ashtray on a table in a dining room. No cats??
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The black eyed peas and the chickpeas were both side dishes and they were two of the best dishes I have had in Greece. Just delicious!
Ashtrays are everywhere and they are in use pretty frequently. It is odd to smell cigarette smoke at dinner but it has not been that bad.
Cats are a bit more standoffish on Crete, not nearly as willing to be photographed as on Santorini or Naxos. I did stumble upon a feline gangster conclave but they scattered as soon as they heard my camera. I am living in fear that they are going to send a “fixer” after me for witnessing something that would have best remained unseen.
And today for lunch I stumbled onto lahanodolmades with a form of Avgolemono sauce at Kouzina as one of the daily specials. And I immediately ordered the mince beef stuffed zucchini with a yellower version of the same sauce, without even thinking about the fact that they use nearly the same mixture of meat and rice. I swear, even after nearly 3 weeks here in Greece I still suffer from Tourestte’s Syndrome. I inexplicably blurt out food orders that make no sense whatsoever… I blame it on my tourist mindset. If I was in Traveler Mode it would not happen! LOL!
Let me see if I can find the cat gangsters and the Lahanodolmades…
Anyone know what dessert this is? I am not a dessert person but i have eaten several here on Crete and this cream cheese yogurt thing is pretty good. Is it cheesecake?
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What is the latest? Are you still in Greece??
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Thanks. I was just wondering about this myself.
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Thank you both for asking! I really enjoyed Chania but i think it is time for me to visit Italy so i flew back to Athens a few days ago. Stayed at my usual, the Attalos Hotel in Monastiraki. Rooftop bar, renoed rooms and nice people, near the Metro too.
Afogato served just down the street.
Then i had a really good pork arepas, of all things, across the street at Hoppers and a kebab and sausage variety special at Kostas a couple hundred yards away. I wish i had a foto of the kibbeh tart i had at Feyrouz, just delicious. Only 1/3 of the dishes were Greek but they were all good…
The cats are a little more timid in Athens, not quite the bold fellows of Chania.
Almost forgot the worst lambchop i have ever had, dessicated beyond repair at Thea…
But Spring is just starting as the first cherry blossoms popped. Right next to the prison that Socrates lived in for his final 30 days before being forced to drink hemlock.
Beauty and history, one woven into the other…
I love this city!
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The cherry blossoms are beautiful but the green eyes on that cat…
If it’s not too demanding I would love to hear about your journey from Athens to Patras to Bari (gleaned from the Puglia thread). I am so enjoying vicariously your amazing trip!!
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I don’t know where to start on the Athens to Patras trip. Sometimes i am in the groove and foreign travel makes sense and sometimes i miss the chair lift entirely. The Athens to Patras bus was one where the chair lift knocked me off my skis but i still ended up at the top of the mountain, somehow.
The Blue Star / Grimaldi travel agent sold me the bus ticket but warned me it was Carnival Weekend in Patras and the bus would be mobbed. They also told me it was a 10 minute drive to the bus station which it might be, at 3am. Took my larcenous cab driver 30 minutes after he drove down a street where they were handing out bags of free food. Grumble, grumble…
Anyway it was super busy at the bus terminal and the bus crew were mad as wet hens about it. I could not get anyone to say that the bus i boarded was the Patras bus, they kept signalling me to get on and they were saying it was the Achias bus, which i think is the bus route company or something. I was the only non “University student” on the bus and like a guy, i refused to ask a student for help. I later figured out that everyone was heading to some sort of “Mardi Gras” type festivity on the Peloponesian but i did not know it then.
So the bus pulled out of the bus station and headed west and every major intersection we passed that had is still heading in the right way was cause for a minor celebration. Buses are usually straightforward but this was an irritating exception.
Patras is a tired port city but a fun one, especially during Carnival. I checked into an Airotel that is dark and modern. Clean too, so there is that.
I then hit Rooster for a delicious pork tenderloin in mashed potato. Plus a free toasted graviera cheese, a free nut stick w paste dip, a free chocolate dessert. The owner is a good guy but i rolled out like a fatted pig for slaughter.
The next day Carnival kicking in and the crowds were pretty thick on Riga Fireau.
I am no longer a crowds type of person so i stumbled into Terra where they had no English menu and the waitress shrugged and said " Use my Google Translate".
Face palm. How many people have suggested that and i never used it until a day before i am leaving Greece of the Cyrilic alphabet…
Phenomenal lamb puree dumplings w a touch of dill. Just delicious.
Had pasta shells w beef today, good but not as good.
Beautiful Othodox Church on my daily walk.
What is it with Greece, me and cats? I am a dog person in real life! Ok, Thailand, me and cats too.
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I had absolutely no idea that Carnival/Mardi Gras was celebrated in Greece!
Carnival in Greece? Who knew?
They have tons of 5 and 6 meter tall papier mache figures, of which i took zero photos… Arghh.
Ship just hit the fog horn, pulling out.
The pilot boat went out 5 minutes ago.
Uhoh, we got a freighter/ferry combi pulling up right alongside us as the crew started tossing the mooring lines in the water.
I think the guys on my ship thought we could get out before the Alternative Transport reached us.
Its a race! Now a tug boat decided to zip by both of the larger ships. Smart alec…
We are not out of the blocks yet and there are two squads of people at the stern of my ship yelling at each other. One squad yelling in Greek and a couple guys yelling back in Italian.
I am not worried. Both nations are known for their calm disposition and willingness to let things slide.
Bwahaha!!
We are out of here like a herd of turtles.
Wait, the pilot boat came back to follow us.
Probably came to break up the squabble on the stern.
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Safe travels! Can’t wait to see your next posts
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