Western Crete - Day 2

Crete, Day 2

After a fantastic day 1, we would have been satisfied with an OK day 2. But, Barbara had planned another glorious day. The first village was ho hum, so we pushed on to Lakki.

Approaching Lakki, we thought we had magically been transported to the Swiss Alps. It is high in the mountains, and all the houses are painted white, with accents that are often blue or red; the roofs are all red tiles. During WWII, it was a resistance stronghold, because there was only one way up this area, and the top of the gorge was narrow enough to attack the germans without being seen. I digress.

We parked half way up the hill, and walked up to Lakki. This is one of these moments for ever embedded in our memory. The old men where sitting around the cafe, rolling their prayer beads, playing a board or card game, sipping coffee and watching women, we know this now, because of day 4.

After about 1 hour, we started the drive to the Omalos Plateau. The sky was blue with some clouds, the sun warm and us happily talking away and enjoying the scenery. Shortly before the town of Omalos, Barbara stopped the car, so she and Patty could go explore this cave. It is the longest cave in Europe, after 10+ years of exploration, the other entrance or exit has not been found. After the cave, we continued on to the little town of Omalos. We parked in front of a field where a grand mother and 2 young boys were trying to catch a few sheeps to milk them. Little did we know, that this milk was going to be used in the cheese making we were about to see. After the cheese factory, we had a coffee and it was on to the Samaria Gorge National Park.

Then we wound out the day through the Gingilos Mountain, passed the Irina Gorge, saw some mountain goats, stopped for a very late lunch around 4pm, and made it back to Hania early. The mountain goats here are curious.

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