fertile valleys filled with farms, livestock and LOTS of olive trees. The
locals will tell you that the best olives in the world (the least acidic)
are grown here.
About 5,000 years ago this was once the center of one of the world's
earliest civilizations, The Minoans, named for King Minos.
Headed out of town and up into the hills to see the Monastery of Panayia
Kera, first established in 961. Now a convent, the chapel has frescoes and
paintings dating back to the 1300s.
Next we continued still higher to the Lassith Plateau. A mountaintop area
known for its scenic views and old villages. Along the way we passed the
windmills that dotted the landscape and a town that had been abandoned to
make way for a dam and reservoir.
Stopped for a traditional Greek lunch - all that was missing was Anthony
Quinn dancing - but if one tried hard, it was easy to imagine. No wonder, as
we soon learned that Crete was the birthplace of Nikos Kazantrakis, the
author of Zorba the Greek.
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