Having arrived under the cover of darkness, Mum & I hadn’t had much of a chance to take in our surroundings.
With all the excitement of Christmas Eve we climbed into our beds & tightly shut our eyes, hoping the morning would just hurry up already!
We woke up with the curtains closed & a gentle hum coming from the AC unit. Having blinked a few times & registered where I was, I sprang out of bed & ran down the stairs to prise open our sliding doors.
How’s this for a first view of Crete?
We sat with coffees by our little pool before taking ourselves off to breakfast & a walk around the hotel.
Breakfast was a fairly uninspiring buffet, although you could order fresh eggs & pancakes, which we did, but the grounds of the hotel arebeautiful . We’re staying at St Nicolas Bayon the east side of Greece’s biggest island, Crete. It wraps around the cliff tops and has it’s own little chapel & beach. Everywhere you look you’re greeted with swirling turquoise waters & a salty sea breeze.
Lunch was roast chicken, roasted aubergine & (of course) Greek salad.
The food was perfect & we were relieved to learn we’d never have to travel far for a good feeding.
The afternoon was spent lazing in our pool, reading Neil Gaiman’s brilliant new book “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” and just enjoying each other’s company.
I miss mum when I’m in London so it’s nice to have her all to myself for a little while.
As the sun started to set we thought it was high time we had a drink & toasted our arrival. So we dressed and padded down barefoot to the restaurant by the chapel.
I like to avoid shoes as much as possible on holiday, especially when the stones are all warm underfoot.
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We sat and chatted about home and work and the men in our lives until the restaurant was ready for us. With a smile & a call of “Kalispera!” they welcomed us and perched us on the edge of the beach at a little table that my silly long legs barely fitted under.
My date laughed at me for it!
We gave the waitress our order & she repaid us with a plate of Greek tasters.
While we waited I tried on mum’s glasses. I desperately need a new pair as I never wear mine & I think they’ve been lost to the depths of my flat. What do you think of these ones?
Too wizardesque? The food arrived with three waiters & a flourish of silver.
My favourite Greek dish, Shrimp Saganaki…
Which is big bowl of plump praws, cooked with tomatoes & rich chunks of feta cheese. Grilled octopus with crushed fava beans.
Deliciously meaty with the crisp tang of the grill. And huge grilled prawns…
Served with tomato, lemon & basil oil.
The view wasn’t bad either!
I ate (slightly more than) my fair share of saganaki & just couldn’t resist spooning the rest of the sauce out like a thick soup.
I really need to do a recipe for this at home.
When we’d finished our wine we said our goodnights to the staff and headed to bed, through the winding paths of St Nicolas Bay.
We turned the aircon off for the night and slept with the doors open so we could hear the waves crashing and the crickets singing. I’ve missed that sound from my childhood & I slipped instantly into a deep, dreamless sleep.
