Thursday, August 31, 2017

Travel diary: Summer vacation on Crete, Greece


Hello lovely people,  a few days ago I came back from my summer vacation on the greek island Crete. We had an amazing and relaxed time. We stayed in a little village, a 2 1/2 hours drive from the airport and the more touristic towns. But the way was worth it all! Our village was quiet and small, with some family taverns and only one little supermarket. But we got everything we needed there, fruits and veggies, noodles, rice, almond milk, tomato sauce...What I really loved is that most of the veggies were harvested on the island, same as the yummy olive oil, honey and dried herbs. So good to buy local and it was much cheaper than here at home. 
We lived in a cute Air bnb house at the edge of the village. It was so peaceful and beautiful there, we felt very comfortable. Also our Air bnb host Jenny was so friendly and we could use the pool, too!


View from our balcony: Olive trees, hibiscus, oleander and the pool. Perfect for cooling down, the weather was always about 30 degrees.
This view! Every day we ate breakfast/lunch/dinner on our balcony and had this amazing mountain view ... ♥
In the little village Sivas you can find a really cool shop! Botano is a shop full of spices, herbs, tea and some nature cosmetics/soaps. I went there several times and never left empty-handed. ☻
Look at this cute interior! You could also serve yourself with some harvested tea blends with herbs from the island.
Some of the things I've bought: Tandoori Masala spice, Cold, Flu and Immune System tea, Cretan summer tea, wax creme, jasmine soap (the scent is heavenly) and Citrus Forest tea ♥
More of the shop's inside. So lovely. And there was a sleeping cat on the bench ( :
In the afternoon we went to a Kafenion in our village. The boy enjoyed a mountain herb tea and I had a frappé and some homemade cake. During this vacation I started and finished reading "The Alchemist". Still don't know what to think about the book...
Our favourite spot to eat "outside" was Kipos Garden Taverna. A family restaurant where the guests sit in the hosts garden. The restaurant was a little bit outside of our village, but it was so worth it to dine there. That's prob why we went there two times. Every tavern we saw or visited in our village served lots of yummy vegetarian dishes.
I enjoyed "Kipos Salad" which is basically made of shredded lettuce, spring onions, goats cheese, olive paste, pomegranate seeds, honey, mustard and oil/vinegar. This salad was soo good, combined with white wine & the homemade garlic pita breads - a dream.
The cats were keen on Robin's bifteki :D