Grand Africa Cruise - The Island of Crete in Greece

Cruise Day 17

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

“Traveling’s not something you’re good at, it’s something you do.  Like breathing.”     -- Gayle Foreman

Today we are in Souda on the Greek Island of Crete.  The town of Souda is a small port city, but the nearby village of Chania is the main draw of the area.  Val and I have been here before in 2017 and spent the day in Chania, but today we are exploring some other areas of the island.  Here is a link to our visit in 2017 for more information on the area and Chania.

The blue marker to the left is Tunis and the red marker to the right is Crete.

The red marker is Souda where we are docked.

The flag of Greece.

The ship was originally supposed to dock at 11:00 AM, but the captain said last night that favorable sea and wind conditions would allow us to dock earlier than expected and we ended up arriving at 9:30.  Besides being a cruise port, Souda is also a commercial and military port, so the port is a bit industrial, but Souda Bay is very scenic.

Sailing into Souda Bay.

 

We are taking another Cruise Critic roll call organized tour today, this time organized by Susan.  It is a full day tour exploring Western Crete.  The tour was originally planned to leave at 11:30, but the tour operators were able to arrive earlier and we left before eleven.  There were 28 of us divided into three large vans.  Val and I were assigned to van one and our guide was Alexander, who turned out to be a great guide.

After driving through the surprisingly mountainous terrain of Crete, we arrived at the first stop on our tour, the picturesque coastal town of Rethymno.  We did a walking tour through the narrow winding streets while Alexander filled us in on the local history and points of interest.

We passed shops, residences and cafes along the way and stopped at one bakery where we watched the owners of the shop making the phyllo dough for baklava.   After mixing up a batch of phyllo dough, they put it on a table and started working it by stretching it and stretching until eventually covering the entire table.  The dough was then cut and the process of making the baklava was started.  The baklava smelled so good I couldn’t resist buying a sample for Val and I to share and it was very, very good.

He starts out with a blob of phyllo dough about the size of a pizza pan and then works his way around the table carefully stretching and working the dough until it is paper thin and covers the entire table.

Here he's starting on another table.

 

The finished baklava. It was so good I wish I had some right now.

We continued our walk through the town at a leisurely pace and eventually ended up at the harbor which was similar to Chania, but on a much smaller scale.  Then it was back to the bus and on to our next stop; our tour was getting off to a great start.

As I said earlier, we hadn’t realized how mountainous Crete was and it reminded us of our own California coastal range, even the vegetation was similar, which I guess is not surprising as the southern and central regions of California have a Mediterranean climate.  We continued our scenic drive and ended up in the interior village of Spili.  The Spili center of town is known for its long line of Lion’s Heads fountains with clear, cold spring water pouring out of them.  We took a short walk with some history and information provided by Alexander and then returned to the van for the drive to our next stop.

This is a good place to mention Alexander.  I think we were very lucky to be placed in the van with Alexander, he is a native of Greece and obviously very proud of his country and very knowledgeable on the history, geography, etc. of the area.  He is also very funny and exuberant.  If you have ever watched the old Seinfeld series, his mannerisms and even the way he looks reminded Val and I of the J Peterman character (in a good way).  We had a great time with him.

Our next stop was a Greek Orthodox Monastery, but before we got there we stopped at a deep gorge to take some pictures.  Once again, we were surprised at how mountainous Crete was as this was quite a deep gorge.

The white building in the middle of the picture is a small church.  That's Val standing on the viewing platform talking with one of our fellow van passengers.

After a brief stop at the gorge, it was on to the Reveli Monastery.  The grounds and surrounding area were very beautiful and had a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere.  We wandered around the grounds for a while learning about the history and then visited one of the chapels.  Before leaving, we visited a museum that gave us a look at the monastery history.  One of the interesting things on our visit today was the number of cats in the monastery; I think we saw more cats than people.

 

When we returned to the bus we were surprised by a little picnic laid out with fruit and nuts for a snack as well as drinks including beer.  Alexander also brought out a bottle of raki, an alcoholic drink that was first produced in Crete.  It is a very potent 50 to 65% alcohol and as Alexander told us, “drink some and you will be very happy”.  Val and I rarely drink alcohol, but from those around us were taking some shots, it did make them quite happy.  They said it was very smooth and really liked it.

Our guide, Alexander, in the yellow shirt, extolled the benefits of raki.

It was time to hit the road again and this time we headed through a twisty back road that Alexander said was used by herders to access their sheep and goats.   The road was a bit rough for the van, but it was a great drive through the back country of Crete.  We had to stop several times for flocks of sheep and the occasional goats to get off the road. 

A poor picture from a moving bus, but an example of the many sheep we encountered in on our back road drive.

After a long drive through the countryside we reached our destination, the Tabepna Athivoles, a traditional Greek tavern in a beautiful location complete with waterfalls.  It was time for lunch, but considering it was around five, I would call it an early dinner, but whatever, we were hungry and ready to eat.

We were seated at tables out on a terrace with a waterfall coming down in the background and beautiful views of the valley.  Each van had its own table, so we were seated with our fellow travelers for the day.  Val and I ordered an appetizer of tiropita (a Greek cheese pie) to share and skewered lamb for our main course.  Each couple ordered a different appetizer and they were big enough to share so everyone was able to try all the appetizers.  The couple across from us had some tzatziki which is a dip, but was so delicious we were actually eating by the spoonful.  The other appetizers were a traditional Greek Salad with very delicious fresh tomatoes and another salad that I don’t know what it was called it had cucumbers and other vegetables in it and was also very good.

Then it was on to the main course.  Neither Val nor I really care much for lamb, but we were in Greece and Alexander told us that this lamb was spit roasted for four hours and turned out to be delicious.  Another thing that Alexander told us was to be sure to eat the skin as it is very crispy and delicious.  When I first tried it, it was very good, but a bit off putting as there was a layer of fat underneath it.  Val loved the skin and said hers didn’t have the fat so I ate more of mine and it was much better.  Maybe we’ll have to give lamb another try when we get home, but it probably won’t be the same.

Just when we thought we couldn’t eat anymore they brought out plates of Greek doughnuts with honey and sesame seeds and they were really good, what a meal!  More bottles of raki were brought out and more shots were taken and a good time was had by all. 

The entrance to Tabepna Athivoles.

We had a waterfall in the background to watch and listen to while we ate.

 

Our group from van 1 ...

and Val who was cut off in the previous picture.

Dinner was over, the sun was going down and it was time to get back to the ship.  The ship wasn’t leaving until 10:00 so we had plenty of time.  It was a nice drive back in the twilight and we were back on board before 7:30.  What a great tour, both times we have been to Crete we have really enjoyed it, especially the food.  I would highly recommend Alexander for a tour guide.  Another great tour so a big thank you to Susan.

A picture of our group in the van taken by Susan, that is her husband who is cut off on the right side.  Our guide, Alexander, is in the front center in the yellow shirt.  He did a great job and kept us informed and entertained the entire day.

We were still very full so there was no reason to go to dinner so we just relaxed in our room for the rest of the evening.  The clocks will be turned back for a change tonight so we’ll get an extra hour of sleep, but it will short lived as they will be moved forward again when we get to Jordan.