Greetings once again from Zaros, Crete! The weather here is probably 20 degrees cooler than Athens and there’s a breeze! At night it’s actually chilly. It is a welcome change.
Yesterday afternoon some of us went on a walk and found this pond with a little café overlooking the water serving crepes. We sat by the pond at talked and then played on the mini playground there, that included a seesaw!
At night we had a CYA paid for dinner at this taverna next to our hotel, it was delicious! We had wine, raki (strong liquor), fried eggplant, tzatziki, fried cheese balls, greens, fava, pork, and octopus! The octopus wasn't like I had in Japan, it was cooked for one thing, like charbroiled and grilled. It wasn't bad tasting but I couldn't handle it after two bites because I kept staring at the little suction cup things on the tenticles and it really creeped me out. Our professor is really growing on me, he was so cool last night! He kept making us to raki shots with him and he posed for pictures with us. He has a great sense of humour. Of course Justine, Anita, Samantha and I were the last ones there and we even called over the bus driver and waiter over and they kept buying us wine.
This morning we had a great breakfast at the hotel of greek yogurt with honey and granola and fruit cocktail, fresh oranges from the trees, cheese, dessert bread, hardboiled eggs, and cereal. Our first site was Phaistos which I liked better than Knossos because we got to walk around and explore more and no one else was there. I really like Diamant because he gives us free time to explore and come up with our own ideas and then he'll call (whistle, actually) us all back together and explain things to us. We got a break and sat at a cafe overlooking the mountains and the Mesara Plain, the largest plain in Crete.
Our next site was Kommos which was overlooking a beautiful beach! There were coves and huge rocks and mountains and the water is just so beautifly clear and electric blue. We actually had our first nude beach sighting, it wasn't pleasant...The site was a little smaller and much harder to explore, you had to climb up steep cliffs and there was sand everywhere and even some streams. It was intense but the breeze off the ocean was incredible.
We then drove a little bit more to Matala which is this beach town that is famous for it's caves that were used by British soldiers in hiding during WWII. The beach was beautiful but we only had an our so my new roommates and I just sat at a cafe and ate caprese salad. We got ice cream and explored a little more and got back on the bus. The ride was an hour back to our hotel and we laid out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon.
After we showered we went back to the pond and the cafe we were at before and got crepes for a snack. Then we had a 30 minute lecture by the pool about the history of Crete. I really love Diamant because he makes everything interesting and laid back so you don't feel like you're doing work. We just have papers to write so you don't have to worry about missing answers or taking notes, you just soak up the knowledge. I work a lot better this way so I really like it. I'm really excited tonight because there is a German tour group coming through and they ordered traditional Creten dancers and music for tonight! We're heading to dinner soon and then back to the hotel to enjoy the show!
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