Crete, part two

Although our house in the olive groves was an hour's drive from the nearest ATM, it was also an hour's drive from many more interesting things, so we generally took a little exploration trip each day before settling into afternoon reading and pool time. Inland, we found charming villages tucked into leafy gorges where we stopped for lunch on balconies overlooking the slopes. We explored churches and ruins, caves and beaches. Here is Elos..

.. and Eliot with the chariot set that allowed her to shrink focus and ignore the psychic disruption of being in another country.

The sides of the gorges were riddled with caves. One of Anselm's favorite little trips was a hike up a mountainside through olive groves to the surprisingly deep cave of Azogyres.

We finished that trip with a visit to Paleochora, a very low-key resort town between two beaches, with a ruined fort overlooking both.

My favorite trip, for archaeology and views, was to Falasarna, the site of an ancient harbor city. Massive blocks of white basalt were squared off, either naturally or carved, in weird shapes that made an entertaining guessing game of the location of the harbor and the form of the settlement. We climbed the cliffs, studded with hints of walls and towers, to some upper caves.

As you can see, Anselm-- hiker, climber, explorer, archaeologist-- was in heaven. And then, lunch! Here, they discover skordalia, a puree of almost pure garlic.