Jumping right in after a standard breakfast, we endeavoured out into our local village of Archanes to see what we have missed as we traipsed about the island. There were several cute shops that avoided the standard tourist items and tilted towards handmade items. All very cute! We also went into the free Archanes Museum which had some nice exhibits about the Minoan presence in the area.
After wandering around, we immersed ourselves in the local culture and got coffee next to all of the old Greek men. Some of them were playing a game that looked like backgammon, but was different. Almost in reverse? Where all of the tokens started on one side and you had to get them to the others? Google could probably solve this, but we didn’t put that much thought into it.
We then tried to visit the little church at the top of the hill that lights up each night. However, our path was blocked by the road being closed due to wildfire danger. Alas. So we headed over the other hill to another town that had an olive oil factory tour. It was a whole 5km away, so of course it took 20 minutes to get there over the winding mountain passes and the road closure that forced us onto a dirt road through the olive groves.
It was very cool seeing the tools that they use to get the olives off the tree, which is a stick with a motorized spinner at the end that hits all of the olives into the net at the bottom that looks like a Christmas tree base. This is an upgrade from the original tool they used, which was jurt a stick they hit against the branches. The harvest is split into three seasons of early, middle and late. Early harvest is green olives that have the strongest, almost peppery flavour but require 10kg of olives to make 1L of oil. Middle harvest is when the olive is half-green and half-black which has a milder taste and needs 5kg to make 1L. Late harvest is all black and only needs 3kg for the same 1L and tastes the same as the olive oil we get in Canada.
They also mixed some different balsamic creams in for the tasting which was very pleasant. Especially the one with some orange, so we got a small tin if the middle harvest (100ml to fit within carryon limits) and balsamic and orange cream. The shopping done, it was home to the villa for frozen pizza, chill time and a swim.
We then went out for dinner at the regular time, aiming for 7pm in the village. But it was much more of a ghost town than usual. There was a live music setting up, but by the time our dinner was finished at 8, they hadn’t fully started playing. We hung out in the plaza until 8:30, when it started to fill up in earnest, but the kids weren’t going to last any longer. So up the hill we went to deposit them into bed. Emily and I are going to try to go back down for the festivities, but we will see if we can find parking, as it was a zoo down there as well left. Wish us luck!
Tomorrow, we head back up to Athens. We will try to hit up as much of the party as possible tonight and tomorrow before we go, though!
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