Day 9, Paleochora, Crete, Greece

Day 9

After breakfast, I took some pictures of the sandy beach and our hotel while waiting for our taxi. We took it up to Sto Scolio Restaurant at the top of the Anidri gorge.  It was converted from the school house when it closed in 1970.  Many have lunch and then walk the gorge which ends down at Anidri beach were swam a few days ago.  For lunch, I had their most popular dish, goat, oven cooked in the traditional way and salad.  I also had it last year when we were here.  So delish.  Jill had pork stew with apricot, beans and rice.  We took the picturesque road down to the bottom. It took us an hour in the heat of the day, fools that we are.  The almost absolute silence along the way was magical.  All you could her was the occasional insect. The walk through the canyon was cooling, as well as breathtaking.  Once out of the canyon, we encountered several small herds of wild and domestic goats, no kidding.  They did not bother with us.  Once we got to within 15 minutes of town, we had to stop and share a beer to cool down.  All in all it took us 1 3/4 hours with the stop. 

“Last one to the beach is a dirty rotten egg.”  The water was so refreshing but the waves were as strong as we have seen them.  The drying walk along the beach and then a shower brought our temperatures back to normal.  We were still full so we just picked up some snacks at our grocery store for a relaxing night at home.

We heard music coming from somewhere and decided to go for a walk into town. The streets were packed with happy people.  Even though it was a school night, there were lots of kids playing and having fun without a care.  We stopped by Agios bar and settled in outside.  I had a ‘twisted spice mango’ and Jill had a ‘lemon ginger sorbet Moscow mule’.  The metal straw/spoon had holes in the spoon so that it could be used as a straw and a spoon, genius, apparently available on eBay.  On the way home, we stopped by the pastry shop to look at the various baklavas on offer.  I resisted the temptation because I wanted to be able to sleep. They looked so good.  Another great night in Paleochora.