Naxos, Cyclades and Kolamvari, Crete

The Mrs & I had a grand adventure in Greece. 6 days on Naxos and 5 on Crete. We used Air BnB for the rentals and stayed in both a brand new classic style villa apartment and a 300 year old stone cottage.
I didn't fish, but hovered at a few markets and talked at length with a semi-retired English fisherman who gave me some intel for next time.
The seafood was fantastic, as was the rabbit,beef, and chicken. Most meals were amazing. Hilights were fried calamari, boiled ray salad, rabbit stew, baked perch, wood fired pizza with whole bacon strips, pan fried snapper, and our last night I had a plate of fresh made pasta and that day caught shellfish and ate it overlooking the boat that had brought the fish in.
Naxos is known for their potatoes and olives, both were incredible. The Ouzo was a hit with Laura, but I preferred the Raki on Crete . Cold mythos and Fixx beer were just the thing for the warm salty afternoons.
We spent on night in Athens, and had just 1 free hour to see the Acropolis and Parthenon. We did it, and caught the sunset over Athens. Standing on a stone patio that was carved 5000 years ago is humbling.
As Americans traveling in September, we were semi celebrities. Drivng was a bit of a challenge (greeks don't like road names and the young ruffians make a concerted effort to paint and sticker over all highway signs) but even in the remote mountain villages everyone spoke decent English. Knowing a few greek words was a huge help, and got us confused as locals more than once.

Naxos port town fish market, with snapper, bream, mullet, barracuda, and scorpionfish. The squid was delish. The boiled ray salad was something I'll be trying to recreate here.

some locals fishing the jetty in Chania, and mullet cruising the surface in Kolumvari harbor. I saw something spook 'em, and learned later in was probably barracuda.
Also, one of the beaches in Fallasarna. with 72 degree water.

sounds like a great trip, really, you liked the raki over the ouzo huh, guess you have a strong stomach. first chef i worked for when i was 14 was greek and used to make raki at home, damn still makes my stomach turn thinking about it 30 years later:smt004, cameron

The Parthenon at sunset. The Erechtheion and the portico of the Caryatids.
The original stone figures are in the museum, these shown are recreations. You had to try to find the authentic stuff, as lots of ruins have been altered for presentation/preservation. But the marble steps around the Parthenon were the real deal, polished by 5000 years of foot traffic. Despite fires, explosions, theft....once the steps were carved in the stone they have endured, much like the greek people themselves.

sounds like a great trip, really, you liked the raki over the ouzo huh, guess you have a strong stomach. first chef i worked for when i was 14 was greek and used to make raki at home, damn still makes my stomach turn thinking about it 30 years later:smt004, cameron

  yeah, I'm not a big anis fan so I lliked the raki and the rakomelo (honey raki) best. the raki is basically a tequila firewater, and I had some really good and some ehhh good, but I liked it all.

It was a grand trip, and pretty cheap overall. Naxos was the least expensive by far. We drove down to Glifada beach and south of thaere it becomes wild coast, best accessed via 4wheeler. It looked like Baja. We saw several young women ride past on mopeds with their fishing rods and short spearguns strapped to the rear basket.

Awesome Sean! Looks like a trip to be remembered.

Nice!!!!

Good stuff right there!

Looks like a great trip.  That beach looks quite inviting for a number of activities.  

I too have been curiouse if local rays could be prepared in some delicious way.

awesome Sean.  Always regret going to Hawaii instead of Greece after high school.  A great high school teacher/world traveler said we could be in Greece for months on what we would spend in Hawaii for a week.  After my first $5 beer (1981 dollars) I knew I made the wrong choice.

Beautiful Sean! Thanks for sharing.

That looks amazing dude! Thanks for sharing. The missus been bugging me about going there for a while.

 

  When I got to visit the Acropolis and Parthenon, (courtesy of the US Navy, 1980?) it was many many moons ago and it was cold!  I was super young then (19? maybe 20ish) and didn't really understand the significance of the place I was visiting.  I knew then it was a cool place.  I think if I were to visit the place today, I'd have a greater appreciation for it.  It's cool that you got to see it!  Not many people are so fortunate.
  I smelled a shot of Ouzo and that was enough for me! The big beer then was Amstel?  Way too many crewmen were getting pie-eyed on the Ouzo and Amstel (After being at sea for 3mo straight!)

That looks amazing dude! Thanks for sharing. The missus been bugging me about going there for a while.

September is a shoulder season, all the kids are back in school and the college kids are back in Athens, so there were no real crowds except in Chania and Elofonisi beach in Crete. Renting cars is pretty easy, next time I'll try a quad (which are prevalent on the roads and more rugged beaches). We used FunCar on naxos and they were awesome.
I can't say enough how easy travel was in Greece, as all but the real old-timers spoke decent english, and we met some younger folks who had learned english in Riverside, CA.

One thing that has stayed with me was a detour we had to take through the interior of western Crete.
We passed though the tiny village of Kandonos and stopped for orange juice and to buy some homemade wine and raki. In the center of the village is a spring housed in stone, and behind it was a marble war memorial put up by the nazis in 1941.

Basically Hitler wanted Crete as an airbase and took the island by force, using parachute special forces. Villages formed loose defenses (think red dawn style) to repel the paratroopers, armed with machetes, hunting rifles, and rocks. They suceeded in killing all of the invaders, vexing the nazi commanders with their tenacity.
 When the island was eventually forced to surrender the nazis took revenge on kandonos and nearby villages and razed them to the ground, killing all inhabitants, all livestock, and pretty much "salting the earth" to wipe Kandonos off the map. They then put up a memorial for the 25 nazi paratroopers. The nazi memorial read basically "village of kandonos razed by nazi forces in retribution, never to be rebuilt".  Yet, here I was reading this, standing in a beautiful little village that had not only returned, but has steadily flourished in recent years producing wine and honey.
 It was amazing and humbling.  An interpretive sign told us that the village had decided to leave the nazi memorial as a reminder that such a terrible thing would never be allowed to happen again.

thanks for reading guys.