Attractions
This island with its clear, warm sea, boundless beaches lined with
tamarisks, splendid plateaus and mild starry nights has more to offer
than its past, its gorges, unskilled peaks and climate. Today it continues
to live fully and to develop, its cities particularly changing in
appearance from one day to the next, in contrast to the many unchanging
villages where life goes on in the same rhythm it has for centuries.
There are hundreds of cafes where one can sit in the shade
of a spreading plane, oak or mulberry tree and sip a "sweat" or "medium"
coffee, or a glass of "tsikoudia" (raki) while playing a game of cards
or "tavli" (backgammon). There are dozens of tavernas and ouzeries
serving some tasty "meze", a specialty of the area. Yogurt
and honey, sweet tarts (kaltzounia), pies made of wild greens flavored
with fennel, fried cheese (staka), rabbit stew, cheese pie from Hora
Sfakion, cockles, boiled goat.
In the city of Hania, at Malaxa, at Vrisses,
and other villages in the area, in Rethimno, in Iraklio
and its villages, and in the whole district of Lasithi - fish,
sea urchins, octopus and cuttlefish cooked on charcoal and fried squid
to be tasted at seaside tavernas. And everywhere the delectable Cretan
wine. Every saint's feast-day is celebrated with gusto at dozens of
villages throughout the island. All Crete throbbing to the sound of
the Cretan lyre and the rhythm of the local dances, the pentozali
and the sousta. Meanwhile the housewives are preparing a steamed Cretan
pilaf and special holiday fritters (xerotigana).
In the shop windows of bustling Iraklio, cosmopolitan Agios Nikolaos,
picturesque Rethimno, and Hania, elegant furs, precious jewelry and
artistic silverware attract the visitor's attention. In the shops
of lovely Sitia and tranquil Ierapetra and in mountainous Anogia
one is impressed by the spread out patanies, traditional local woven
fabrics in dazzling colors, and everywhere one sees skillfully crafted
ceramics and leather goods. In the "Stivanadika" district of
Hania (Skridlof St.) traditional boots (stivania) are still made in
the old-fashioned way, because though it may seem strange even today
there are Cretans who still wear their traditional costume. In the
marketplace of the same city, the only one of its kind, but also in
similar shops all over the island, every kind of food, fruit and vegetable
produced in the fertile valleys, hot houses and mountain regions,
is laid out on display.
The evenings are enchanting spent next to the intoxicating aroma of
a jasmine vine in an open-air cinema, seated in the comfortable chairs
of a pastry shop, gathered round the table of a fish-taverna right
by the sea or strolling in solitude on a remote, deserted beach. Or
why not, enjoying the rhythms of rock in a discotheque or bar or conversing
in the spacious lounge of a luxury hotel. |
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Taverna in Sitia
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