Crete part II: Wine tasting - the good, the bad, and the ugly

Palaiochora was our next stop, a pretty town which we wandered around a bit before taking a dip at the nearby little beach. Having had a full day of ruins and exploring, we then headed back to our temporary home. We had planned to visit the village's one taverna as it looked very cute, however it turned out to be closed that evening, so we whipped up an impromptu dinner instead. Thyme lemon pasta cooked in Raki (when in Greece, right?) accompanied by a lovely wine - not a bad effort!

The next day we sadly said goodbye to our beautiful house (I would love to return one day!) and headed for the town of Rethymno, which turned out to be a seaside port. Whereas Chania had been pretty but somewhat run-down, this town seemed more well-off. Crowning the town was a beautiful Venetian era citadel, known as the Fortezza of Rethymno. Although part of the battle of Crete in world war II was fought here (interestingly enough mainly consisting of New Zealand and Australian troops alongside the Greeks) the city was largely undamaged and most of the visible city today dates from the 16th century, when it was under Venetian rule.

We enjoyed our wander around the old city, feeling no need to pay the fee to enter the fortress when there was so much to explore around us for free. The little network of streets were especially fun to wander! We also spotted and bought a couple of what I call 'twizzle sticks' but should probably called honey-sticks or something equally mundane. These fun sticks are used to twizzle the liquid honey around them and drizzle on beautiful Greek yogurt - delicious! 

We then headed inland and into the mountains, making for the village of Spili. The drive along the way was pleasantly scenic, and after driving up the hill behind Rethymno, we stopped for a picture of a little road side shrine (found dotted throughout Greece) and an aerial view of the city we had just left behind. 

Spili is a gorgeous little village full of cobblestone streets that climb their way steeply up the mountainside. My favourite thing about it however was the main square, where an impressive fountain of lion heads spilled out fresh clear water which locals were constantly filling up large water bottles from - what better way to get fresh water for your home!

 We enjoyed wandering the back streets which instantly became quiet and devoid of tourists. However we couldn't linger for too long as there was much we wanted to see that day, including an all important stop at a local winery!

We picked the Lyrarakis Winery to get our tasting on, which I was really excited about due to the Lonely Planet guide mentioning an ancient Cretan grape variety called Dafni that had almost gone extinct and had only been saved by this very winery!
It was a fantastic tasting experience, we didn't book ahead and were welcomed without problem. Initially I was worried that it would be pretentious, and it did seem a little so at first, but we soon relaxed and happily tried wines left right and centre for the next hour! We were given many different types of wines in generous portions and nibbles on the side, making it a very enjoyable experience. The Dafni was an incredibly unusual though nice wine, in that it tasted extremely herby, and was like nothing I had experienced before!
The owners happily explained and described each wine for us as we tried them, and we ended our visit with many more bottles in the boot than when we started!
That evening I tried wine of a considerably different vintage, sampling Retsina for the first (and last) time at a rather forgettable taverna for dinner. I came to the conclusion that drinking liquid pine needles was not to my taste, and decided that was enough Retsina for me for a lifetime.