Aegean Odyssey Day 6

RETHYMNO, CRETE -- Woke up around 8 a.m. after sleeping about 11 hours. Calves were so stiff I could hardly walk. Self examination revealed the blister on my left foot was worse than ever. Hips, feet, arms, and shoulders, however, which all hurt badly after our return from Samaria Gorge last night, were all OK, and with proper care I will recover quickly. Diane is not doing so well and with here injured knee will likely be in bed most of the day. 

Breakfasted on pita bread, feta cheese, olives, and two cups of coffee. Took a couple of dips in the pool and sat for awhile in the jacuzzi, where I found some jets to work my calve muscles. Then, made appoints for hour-long full-body massages for both of us. 

Went to the mini-mart at the resort to get Diane provisions for the day and stopped at the front desk to ask where I might find three local dishes my friend Dimitri had recommended -- stifado, burburistus, and kokoresti -- which I was pretty sure I would not find in a touristy taverna. After the pro forma delay in helping me, the front desk clerk warmed at little at my question and recommended a taverna called Zisi's, which he said was about a kilometer down the road and were he was pretty sure I could find at least one of those items. I am a pretty good judge of distance and was starting to think I had somehow missed the place until I had gone about a mile and saw it just ahead of me (and a check online later revealed it to be about 1,500 meters). It was worth the walk, however, and a very pleasant taverna that had one of the more obscure items on my list, burburistus, which I promptly ordered, to the waiter's obvious surprise and amusement. It is, in short, a Greek version of escargot, but cooked in olive oil and not butter and much more generous in it portions, coming with three dozen snails rather than the more effete French six (an image appears at bottom). With toasted bread and a half liter of red wine the tab was just 9.80 Euros -- and then the waiter brought me some honeydew melon and watermelon, a dish of yogurt with candied pumpkin, and a flask of raki with three shots in it! Overall a very pleasant and affordable experience. 

Cut over to the beach on my way back, walked about halfway back along it, and had a dip on the way at a secluded spot where no one could run up and grab my bag without me seeing them approach. (Above top, a view of the shore from the main road through the area of Rethymno we are staying in; above center, a picturesque ruin -- and a fixer-upper that we will use as a the basis of our relocation to Crete?)

Back at the hotel had a one-hour massage and then a some time in the excellent steam room and dry sauna, followed by a dip in the pool. 

Diane and I then went to dinner at the taverna across the street from the hotel, to Arhodiko Restaurant, which is clearly a place that caters to a German clientele and is much less particular in its treatment of people from other lands. I did not have a good feeling about it, but it was close and Diane was still have trouble walking, so we gave it a try, and I had the first bad meal of the trip there. Gyros should have been a safe bet but what I got were tepid, dry, little chips of meat, not the hot, succulent ones I would have hoped for, along with cool fries that I did not try to finish. Diane had the moussaka and said it was good. 

Worked at little at the hotel and then passed out early, probably around 10:30.