some photos with few words- near Heraklion, Crete

we are in a new place now...Hersonisos in kind of the northcentral part of Crete. we got a tour for 2 days of the wine/vineyard area, saw a Minoan archeological site thot to have been a palace, admired the awesomely beautiful hills and sweet little villages.

home on wed. more words then.
 5 /22/2012 - home and editing now...  rather than rent a car while in this area, we were able to hire a friend from Vamos who works as a guide and conducts tours all over Crete.  Valerie came over and took us to parts of this area that we'd have never been able to find and explore without her!!  the views and scenery were spectacular... we went up to the Lasithi plateau, which was a huge agriculture area with many windmills which provided power to the wells necessary for irrigation and to grind and process the grains grown there.  when electricity became available, the windmills were abandoned.  recently, more modern windmills are being placed around the area to provide power.  too bad the old ones can't be resurrected.

Valerie is an archeologist, so we had some great discussions about the history of Crete and various theories regarding the Minoans.  this is one of those sites that hasn't been much disturbed (except for the wall built at the back of this photo).  it is thot to be one of the palaces of that time.

archeological site-pobably Minoan palace

we stopped in one of the larger villages for  lunch and found a nice taverna on the plaka.  several dogs were wandering around looking for handouts.  this one took a bit of time out for a little rest in the sun.

this momma kitty and her babies were at one of the wineries we visited.  it was probably the best thing about this winery... which is more of a wine factory than a "local winery"

the next is out of sequence... it was taken our last night in Vamos....

this is Mr. Yannis, a sweet man of about 90 years, who is the unofficial greeter at Bloumosifi Taverna.  he arrives there early afternoon, stays a couple of hours just sitting by the door, goes home for a nap, then is back in his chair until 8pm or so.  there's all sorts of rumors about his "home life"... mainly that his wife is very mean and hits him with her shoe.  but he gets lots of love and TLC at the taverna.

and back to the wine country tour... we followed some signs and found a wonderful, small, biologic vineyard and winery and were greeted by the owner, Mr. Stilianou, who gave us a tasting of his wines and olive oil.  we bought 3 bottles of wine, including a Rose which i normally don't like, but this one was exceptional.  we also bought a liter of his lovely olive oil, but it did not make it home with us because my dear sweet man packed it in his carry-on and it was confiscated at the first security check for being way over the liquids limit.  from now on i'm in charge of packing any/all liquids.   if you are ever in the Minos Perfecture in the town of Minos you should look for this winery.

this one's for Judy!  remember all that Retsina we drank together??  it still tastes the same!!