Surly They Won't Make It

29-30/12/24

The 29th was a Sunday so we’d made sure to get enough food the day before. We were hoping for a little more sunshine though the wind was expected to remain vigorous

We ate banana pancakes, using a cheaper banana for the batter, and slicing a Cretan banana on top. It was a truly delicious banana. About one o’clock we walked down to the harbour. There was a makeshift cafe with quite a lot of locals inside, some peering at us with curiosity.

At the other end of the beach is a steel hill known as Kastri. The top is the site of several generations of castles and fortifications, first by the Minoans and lastly by the Venetians. It was tricky to access due to the fences and there’s no real path. We picked a way up and got about halfway but decided it wasn’t worth it. The wind was too buffeting.

We went back to the house and made pizza, topped with capers and the last of the peppers. We seemed to have bought plain flour, though we’d tried to buy the fanciest flour hoping that it didn’t have the apparently usual ascorbic acid or enzymes added. Bread flour apparently wasn’t really a thing in the shops of Palekastro. The pizza was tasty but the bread turned out a little crumby and didn’t really rise. Still tasty though.

On Monday the weather hadn’t changed very much. There was sunshine early on when we walked to the shops. Frankie insisted on buying a cauliflower for €5.80. The whole owners sister had grown the organic beast in her garden and it had been plucked that day. 

We tried to find out about bus that could take us to Zakros. According the owner of one of the mini markets, although scheduled specifically for the Christmas period, it wasn’t coming. There were roadworks. We called the bus company who insisted it was coming. Who to believe?

We decided to head to the Minoan ruins called Rousolakkos. It was an entire town that had been unearthed and had been systemically excavated. We didn’t spend too long there and soon headed back to the house. The weather was overcast and rather windy. Back at home we had a lentil dahl and roasted half of the delicious cauliflower. Frankie tried to make cinnamon rolls but the flour failed to rise properly so they were a kind of pastry instead.