What would that have made me?
Morgan, Queen of England.
Today we left the city of Heraklion and headed west towards Chania. On the way there we made a couple stops. The first town we stopped in was the village of Rethymnon. While we were there we got to go inside a Greek Orthodox church. Today is the Day of the Holy Spirit in Greece so we got to see some of the Greek people going in and out of the church to pray. The inside of the church was spectacular. It was painted with different depictions of the Christian stories from floor to ceiling. There were two big chandeliers that hung from the ceiling and reached up to a gigantic depiction of Jesus in the center of the dome in the ceiling. Gorgeous! Then we did a little tour through the city to see some of the architecture and different Venetian monuments. The coolest part of our day though was when we visited an old style bakery where the master-maker was making phyllo dough. This is the dough that goes into making baklava. The bakery was a family-run business with the baker and his wife (George and Catherine) as the only two workers in the store. They were completely adorable and told us that they had been doing this together since 1946...that's 66 years making phyllo dough! It would be a hard life; the little building we were in was not air-conditioned and to stretch out the dough you have to gently pull it on side at a time, working your way completely around the table to make the dough the size of a large bed sheet. George has to be super careful in the process because he has to stretch the phyllo dough paper-thin without ripping or tearing it at all. Back when there business was really booming, he would do this same process over 150 to 200 times a day! Barnes bought us some of their freshly made baklava out to eat...it was amazing! Vaggeli was translating for us the whole time and he told us that George was just an old flirt; he was showing us pictures and talking about all the old stories he could remember from his earlier days as a baker. He was such a sweetheart and when Vaggeli asked him what the ingredients were for phyllo dough he said, "Salt, flour, and a lot of love." Precious. After that we headed out to do some shopping around town. Kara, I am turning into you because the first place I checked out was a Greek children's bookstore...you're rubbing off on me! After shopping we got back on the road towards Chania. We made another quick stop at the Kanakis olive oil plant. We got to see inside the factory where they make their olive oil. It was pretty cool to see the process of how it works! They gave us samples of their olive oil and homemade araki with honey. The olive oil was amazing! And it's a good thing too because the Greeks do not use butter or margerine, it's all olive oil. After the olive oil company, we finally made it to Chania. We grabbed a late lunch (none other than a gyro for me, I just can't get enough of them!) and then walked around to get ourselves oriented with the city. We went and saw the boat that Vaggeli and his crewmates rowed all the way from Crete to the mainland of Greece (a freaking long way, it took them over a month). They sailed in a traditional Minoan vessel to show the true struggle that the Minoans had in maneuvering around ancient Greece. We saw some more Minoan excavations and shoppd a little bit. Chania is a beautiful port city. The little tavernas and shops circle the water and almost every place you eat you can sit out and see the ocean. The view was wonderful! We then headed to dinner at a little restaurant called Hamam (Turkish for bath) where there actually used to be a Turkish bath. In fact we were eating inside the bath in the building. Vaggeli is quite the character. He doesn't take no for an answer and always gets his way. He argued with the owners of the restaurant (in Greek no doubt) about the placement of our tables and even cleaned up our table after we ate because he thought the workers were not doing a good enough job! The table behind us tried to beckon him over because they thought he was their waiter, it was hilarious. He is quite crazy and all night he was taking pictures of himself with all of our cameras and taking goofy pictures of us and after every one he would shout "That's amazing!" before the picture even came up on the screen. He was quoting Tyra Banks and telling us to "smize" (smile with your eyes). I just love him! The meal was fantastic as usual. I tried escargo, rabbit, and veal for the first thing...and I love them all! Oh there was this avocado dish that was baked on top of a potato that was to die for. I love food way too much. We have a free day tomorrow and I am super excited to get to sleep in for a little bit! Then it's back to mainland. Crete is amazing and I can't wait to see what the rest of the trip has in store for us!
Learned something new today about the education system of Greece. Vaggeli explained that while in America, after high school if we choose to go and are accepted into college, we can choose our major and do what we want with our career paths, this is not true for the Greeks. They have to take an entrance exam before they enroll in the universities and depending on what parts they pass, that is what they will do with the rest of their lives. For example, Vanggeli loves history and archaeology but only passed the teaching and German parts of the exam so that is what he was destined to teach; he really didn't have a choice in the matter. Not only that, but certain scores on the exam will warrant where you go to school. If you get a really high score, then you might go to a four year university for that occupation but another score might only get you sent to the technical school. While he explains that their education is free (meaning no charge for classes and books), he would much rather have our system than his own. I have always bashed the American system because I thought it was all just centered around money, but this put it in a whole new perspective. I can't imagine not really getting to pick what I did with the rest of my life! Also, Vaggeli was a teacher and made the comment that a years salary for a teacher is 12,000 euros (about $15,000). We thought American teachers had it bad; I can't even imagine how someone could live off that salary alone.
Oh and one last thing, the gravity is different here in Greece. I may not come back in all one piece. That is all.
I love this picture. It looks like Jesus is coming.
He is ridiculous. The biggest smile I have ever seen in my life.
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