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Crete 2024, Greece
  • Gina Steiner
Nov – Dec 2024

Crete 2024, Greece

A 30-day adventure by Gina Read more
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  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    καλό ταξίδι!

    November 20, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    This is a mountain spring and now I'll tell you the story of how we came here.

    Unce upon a time there was a girl named Gina and Tongsong was the name of her favourite tea 🍵. It is a second flush Darjeeling and, like all Darjeeling, comes from West Bengal.

    When her Tongsong ran out, she told Rainer to bring some. Soon after, the delivery of tea arrived with Rainer. 😍

    But the tea didn't taste like Tongsong at all, more like a Ceylon, so a world of difference. Had he brought the wrong tea? Rainer, the tea connoisseur? Unlikely. It had to be the water 💦.

    You can drink the tap water here in Crete, but it's not necessarily great if you can tell the difference in the taste of the water. However, there is a water filter system with osmosis and activated carbon in the apartment and that is exactly the water she used to make tea. And with this water the tea tasted like Ceylon 🙁.

    That's why Rainer asked Matthes about the mountain spring he knows, Matthes has also spent the winter here a few times.

    So Rainer & Gina drove quite some kilometers to the mountain spring and filled up all the bottles they had. Lo and behold! Finally the tea tasted just like Tongsong should taste ❤️.

    And if they didn't die, they still drink Tongsong tea with mountain spring water.    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Microclimate, Ambas Gorge, Aba Waterfall

    November 21, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Here in Tris Ekklisies there is a pronounced microclimate. The sun burns on the steep mountains and warms them up, the wind usually comes from the sea. There are hardly any clouds here, the sun almost always shines, even if the weather in the next village inland is cloudy.

    The warm and humid sea air here has no time to condensate and form clouds, it is immediately pushed up the steep mountain into the Ambras Gorge.

    There it pushes up the cliffs and forms clouds at the top of the mountain that continue into the Asterousia-Mountains, mountain villages and the Messara plain. There aren't many, they're freaking out, but there it has some and none in Tris Ekklisies. 🤩 In addition, it has a few degrees more, due to the mountains warmed up by the sun.

    We went there to watch the spectacle. You can see the imposing gorge and Tris Ekklisies from above.

    The Ambas Gorge begins at a small plateau near the village of Paranymfi (710 m altitude) and ends at the beach of Tris Ekklisies. It is a 4 km long and beautiful gorge with many narrow passages accessible only by experienced hikers. You have to overcome more than 20 vertical places with rope, the largest of which is 45m. You can visit the simpler part of the gorge from Tris Ekklisies.

    The main feature of the gorge is the Aba waterfall with a height of 145m. He is rarely seen, only if it has rained a lot beforehand. He is one of the 10 largest waterfalls in Greece and falls down several stages.

    But see yourself how the clouds build up and the last handles of the hiking path, for the waterfall there wasn’t enough rain yet.    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Loukaniko and Myzithra

    November 22, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Yesterday we went shopping in the mountain village and of course we drove past the bakery.

    Already on the stairs the old Greeks waved to me with their weather-beaten faces: "γειά σας" (Jassas). Inside the baker huged me to greet me and the saleswoman grined so that I could see her gap in her teeth.

    Of course the first thing she did was giving us two biscuits and we sat down in front of the shop with a coffee and spinach and feta cheese pieces. We also bought bread of course and with a wink she put a sesame ring in my bag.

    Now we sat outside, an old Greek sat down next to us and we chatted, when the baker came out.

    He waved to his friend, who was there in his car and opened the rear double doors. I could see a scale.

    The baker was buying about a meter of sausage. He waved to me. "You have to eat this," he said and presseed two cups into my hand - rice pudding with cinnamon, I know that from here already.

    But the sausage? I was very curious and he recognized that and grinned. And wasn't that this super delicious greek cream cheese? I love it! He gave me a piece of sausage to taste. What a unique taste!

    Without further ado, we bought a kilo of Myzithra (cream cheese) and over half a meter of Loukaniko (greek sour farmer's sausage).

    We had to eat the rice pudding straight away, the baker made sure of that and brought out two spoons outside.

    The spinach and feta cheese pieces didn't fit in our stomachs anymore, so we took them with us.

    The part of the sausage that hadn't gradually „disappeared“ over time 🤣 was eaten this evening with fava and capers. Luckily Rainer brought his pan!

    Incredibly delicious! 😋😛 Loukaniko!!! ❤️    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Horizontal windmill

    November 23, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The Asterousia Mountains never let me go, I find them beautiful and we keep going on short and long tours through the mountains.

    On one tour we discovered a horizontal windmill by chance near the town of Miamou, I've never seen anything like it before.

    Nine halved iron petrol barrels serve as wind catchers for a wind turbine.

    The low, round building has only two floors. The basement is built into the rock. The flat roof protruding over the rock forms a platform. A kind of iron "carousel" is attached to it on a standing shaft. However, this wind turbine does not have sails like the normal vertical Mediterranean windmills. Instead, nine halved iron barrels (petrol barrels) are attached to it as wind catchers.

    In the basement, the mill is not circular on the inside because the rock protrudes into it and measures around 5.5 x 4 m. It houses a grinding gear. It is not driven directly from above, as the hopper and the hull would get in the way, but via a gear drive from below. The grinding gear can be engaged and disengaged via a pinion on the mill iron.

    There has been a windmill in the town of Miamou for around 200 years, always of the horizontal mill design. The existing mill was built in 1920.

    It was used until 1972. Then it was no longer profitable to operate because all the flour from the large mills could be bought more cheaply in stores.

    The mill is still functional. Apparently there used to be around 5 other mills of this type in the Lassithi district near Agios Nikolaos.

    Very unique this windmill 🤩😍❤️.    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Dikti Mountains tour

    November 24, 2024 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    In Crete you can spend a lot of time in the mountains, this time we took a tour of the Dikti Mountains.

    If you pass the mountains from the south it's hard to find the way und sometimes you have to drive through the front yard of houses and drive through villages where you hardly fit between the houses. All in all a great adventure!

    The mountain range lies in the southeast of the island in the regional units of Iraklio and Lasithi between the towns of Iraklio and Agios Nikolaos.

    The mountain range, including Mount Dikti, reaches a height of up to 2148 metres, making it the third highest mountain range in Crete. It is about 30 kilometres long and up to 14 kilometres wide. And it’s cold and windy up there 🥶🌬️.

    In modern times up until the 19th century, the mountains were called Lasithi and the ridges of the Dikti Mountains enclose the Lasithi Plateau, the largest plateau in Crete in terms of area.

    The higher elevations of the mountains are almost devoid of vegetation and practically uninhabited. On the lower slopes and on the plateau there are small settlements and villages in which the few inhabitants live mainly from livestock farming.

    It took us 5,5 hours for only 130km and it was totally worth it! ❤️    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Lasithi Plateau

    November 25, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    When we went on a mountain tour through the north east we drove through the Lasithi Plateau.

    The Lasithi Plateau is a karst plain at an average altitude of 830 metres. To drive there we went over a height of 1250m.

    The picturesque plateau, surrounded by mountain ranges, is a popular tourist destination in the summer months, but now in autumn and winter there are no tourists to be seen anywhere.

    The fertile farmland of the plateau is flooded in spring when snow melts from the surrounding mountain peaks. The water collects in limestone caverns. The only outflow is the Chonos cavern in the west of the plain. If this was blocked, the plain could often be under water for weeks in spring, ruining the grain harvest.

    Because the plain is so high, neither olive trees nor carob trees thrive here. Many residents have olive trees at lower altitudes, where their herds are brought in winter when snow falls in the mountains.

    Windmills for irrigation were introduced in the 1920s; before that, hand-operated draw wells (gerani) were in use. Potatoes were only grown after the introduction of windmills; before that, cultivation was limited to more drought-resistant crops such as cereals (especially wheat) and pulses.

    The plain was connected to the electricity grid in 1964/65; before that, oil lamps were used for lighting.

    The characteristic wind turbines with white sails, which gave the plain the appearance of a large meadow of daisies in early summer, have now largely been replaced by water pumps with diesel engines due to the drop in the groundwater level. Many of the white sails have been retained for tourism, but no longer power pumps.

    It's a strange feeling to drive up the small winding roads over the mountains, surrounded by the steep cliffs of the valleys and then suddenly gaze into this huge plain up in the mountains.    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Windmills

    November 26, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    The Lassithi Plateau is famous for its white-clothed windmills, a trademark of the area.

    These were water and mill mills built mainly by the Peloponnesian settlers who arrived here at the end of the 19th century to irrigate the plateau. Unfortunately, young people are now leaving their homes as there is little incentive to stay in the villages. As a result, only the elderly remain in the villages and they look deserted. As a result, the landscapes with 12,000 whitewashed windmills that once drew water from wells to irrigate crops are now only seen on old postcards.

    Nevertheless, several windmills can be found as many of them have been restored in recent years. In addition, at the entrance to the plateau (at the site of Ambelos), there is still the largest stone windmill park in Greece.    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece
    2

    Serpentines

    November 27, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I have to drive these serpentines if I want to go shopping somewhere other than in the vegetable car.

    I love the view and as long as it doesn't rain cats and dogs, the route is a lot of fun.

    You can see my private beach as well as my village from far away and it is the only settlement here far and wide 😍.Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Chimney cap

    November 28, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    A lot of chimneys here have chimney caps that look like birds. Then the rain doesn't get into the chimney and they turn with the wind so the wind doesn't blow into the chimney.

    I think they're really pretty. 😍

    Last year we climbed up on a roof and looked at how one of these things is built. Maybe we'll weld one ourselves, we thought.

    This year I found one in my favorite hardware store. But I don't really like the shape of the bird. The others look like cranes, this one looks like a songbird. I think cranes are much cooler.

    If I every buy a house to live in (not one to rent), I will put such a chimney cap on it ❤️.    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Greek coffee

    November 29, 2024 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today is my last full day here in Tris Ekklisies. An ordinary day with swimming, sitting on the balcony, drinking orange juice and so on... And there are quite some things I'm going to miss from Sunday on...

    Definitely the ocean, my lonesome private beach, the sun, the blue sky, my balcony with ocean view, the sleeping village, the old Greeks who feed me when I sit at the bakery and work...

    And I will miss Greek coffee.

    It is prepared like Turkish coffee, but only boiled twice. A small metal pot is filled with finely ground coffee powder, which is then poured over with cold water and then boiled. A characteristic feature of Greek coffee is the coffee grounds, which are poured into the cup with the coffee.

    I tried to buy some in Hamburg this year but it's very expensive. The I tried to ground coffee beans very finely myself but since it is really really finely grounded, I did not manage. So this time I bought a huge amount and will put it in the freezer 😁.    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Eurasian griffon vulture

    November 30, 2024 in Greece ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Waiting time at the airport... do you wanna read something about the vultures here?

    I watched them every time I was lying on the beach and was looking at the sky. The griffon vultures of Crete circle along the coast in pairs, sometimes eight or ten.

    They glide majestically through the air and they only rarely flap their wings.

    It's difficult to photograph them because they're so high in the sky, but recently I was able to spot some when I was on mountain tour.

    They are 93–122 cm long with a 2.3–2.8 m wingspan. The males weigh 6.2 to 10.5 kg and females typically weigh 6.5 to 10.5 kg. Hatched naked, it is a typical Old World vulture in appearance, with a very white head, very broad wings and short tail feathers. It has a white neck ruff and yellow bill. The buff body and wing coverts contrast with the dark flight feathers.

    One was sittig near my balcony when I arrived - Amazing creatures!    Read more

  • Gina SteinerTravelerCrete 2024, Greece

    Home sweet home

    December 1, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    The sky is blue and the sun is shining - it’s cold yes, but the sun greeted me this morning (sure a bit late but…) 😍.
    I love to have my bed, my blanket and my pillow back 🥰. The jasmin is blooming a lot and greeted me also with a wonderful smell - I love my home ❤️.

    So here I am back again, the apartment looks good - Sophia (who lived here during my absence) took good care for everything including the flowers. Monika, my neighbor, put all my mail on the kitchen desk and there is no ugly mail included 🤣.

    I’m happy to be back since the storm was coming to Tris Ekklisies and it looks like the cold weather is now going to stay in Crete. In addition the wifi was not the best during the last 2 weeks so I had to work from the bakery from tome to time. Once again I‘m very grateful for the fast wifi in my apartment 🤗.

    Now I will stay for 5 weeks here in northern Germany, Heidrun will come over X-mas and I will work between the holidays, since it is so calm then and I can finally take care for all the stuff which is important but not urgent.

    Then it’s time to say goodbye again, because beginning on January I will be on my next workation on the Canary Islands.    Read more

    Trip end
    December 1, 2024
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