Feb
11
2010

Order Tara's Bicycle Touring Cookbook Today!

Working in Iraklion

by Tyler

We spent more or less the entire day behind our computer screens. Though I managed to get quite a bit of work done, even more flooded my inbox during the course of the evening (read: business hours in the USA). It looks like we'll be staying an extra night, hopefully allowing me to race ahead of the avalanche. When we weren't busy typing away, we wandered around Herkalion snapping photos, trying the local cuisine, and enjoying the weather.

Greek Kids

This gigantic, sad-looking dog was laying in the middle of the sidewalk every time we left our hotel. Nobody paid him any mind. We think maybe he was sick because he hardly responded when we petted him. :( Poor thing.

Sad Dog

Tara is excited to be in Greece because two of her favorite things: cheese and pie, are a popular combination here. So far we've tried spanikopita (spinach and cheese pie), tryopita (a sweet triangle of pastry filled with cheese), and the Cretan specialty, Bougatsa, which is cheese or pastry cream between two flaky layers of crust, cut into strips, and covered with cinnamon sugar.

Greek Cheese Pie

The areas we've passed through in Greece so far are rife with shopping opportunities. In addition to the useful places like grocery stores found on almost every block, there are also lingerie shops and party stores everywhere. Add to that lots of chain restaurants and somehow more pastry and coffee-shops than Italy and France combined; the service industry here is huge!

Herkalion in particular seems to specalize in sparesly patronized, posh party clubs. Its streets are filled with them! After spending so much time in Tunisia it is very strange to see so many, how to put this …useless establishments.

Downtown Heraklion Lounge Mayo

I didn't know they had Critical Mass in Greece! Cool!

Greek Critical Mass Poster Critical Mass Sculpture

And now, back to work!

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4 comments

I'm really curious about the Critical Mass poster. Do you think it was for a local event, or a film about Critical Mass?

RE: the abundance of clubs. I think they must have a huge party scene when the weather and water warm. I remember being in Crete 17 years ago in September. It was packed with tourists. I can imagine even moreso now with the likes of Ryan Air shipping in crowds super cheap all year round.
Posted by Green Jobs on February 22nd, 2010 at 1:09 AM
Hmmm, I'm not sure. I think it's for a local event though!

We have since moved on from Iraklion and LOVE the rest of Crete-- the parts not catered for party-goers. ;-) Thankfully we are here in February, otherwise I'm sure even the remote places would be swamped with people!
Posted by Tara on February 26th, 2010 at 8:21 AM
Just a note on the dog.
His name is Apostolis and he's a stray that lives in the center of Heraklion... everyone around here knows him... and he's not sick :)
He's just very fat (lots of people feed him and I think he eats everything that's given to him!) and he's a typical cretan stray in that he loves to lay around and act lazy :)
He's very lovable and comes to my shop almost every summer afternoon to sleep under the air-conditioning :)
Posted by Kostas on August 24th, 2010 at 9:09 AM
Kostas, it made our day to get your comment! Thank you so much for telling us about Apostolis. We were so happy to hear that he's not sick, he's just fat and lazy. Please give him a scratch for us. the next time he comes to visit you. :-)

I told Tyler that if we ever get a dog, we're naming him Apostolis... :-)
Posted by Tara on August 28th, 2010 at 2:35 AM