Date: 2017-10-07
Start: Kalamaki
End: Rethymno
Distance (km): 73
Climbing (m): 1200
Road condition & traffic: very good, paved the whole way. shoulder in some spots but very small or none in others. light traffic for the most part, but got a little heavier towards Rethymno.
Weather: 22-34C, varied with elevation. mostly sunny, side/tail winds for the most part, not as strong as the past few days
Stops: cookies/water stop near turnoff to Agia Galini (gas station). lunch at To Sideradiko, excellent! details below
Accomodation: AirBNB in Rethymno Old Town using a coupon we’d been saving
Notes: After my last post, we went for pre-dinner drinks at a beach bar just steps from our hotel and watched the sunset while we played some backgammon. Met two women from Germany who had taken a spontaneous 10-day trip to Kalamaki and were on day 2, chatted with them for a bit.
We asked around about moussaka, and heard good things about the restaurant next to the beach bar, Aristidis Taverna, so we gave them a try, and it was indeed quite good.
Slept well despite a few mosquitoes (our room had a mosquito net, but we chose not to use it!). Had a yummy breakfast at the bakery next door and a Greek coffee back at the beach bar.
The sun was back out along with the heat, though as we climbed over the hills from south Crete to north Crete, it got a bit chilly in spots. The traffic was light and the scenery was beautiful, more barren than I expected in this area, but it was a difficult ride with all the climbing. Starting to regret being lazy in Greece the previous two weeks, as our legs have lost some fitness!
We came across a small taverna and decided to try it out. We were the only guests at 2pm for lunch, though soon after a French couple sat down next to us. When we arrived, the chef (owner?) Niko called for someone to help us, and a woman came out and said to come inside to see the dishes. Fresh on the stove, she showed us 6 different pots with different kinds of stewed meats and vegetables, plus several pans of baked items. We chose the chicken with egg noodles and pork with leeks, plus a piece of spinach pie.
A sign on the restaurant explained (in English, so I guess this is somewhat of a tourist place) that Niko cooks all the food fresh daily and much of it is from local farms. We were both very impressed by the meal; the spinach pie was the best we’ve had in Greece so far, by a mile. And the chicken and pork were excellent. They gave us raki after the meal, and I tried just a sip because we had another hill coming up, and it was also one of the best I’ve had in Greece.
The bill was a bit more than we expected, but I suppose that’s because the sign is in English. I wish that, like we did in Croatia and Turkey, we had learned how to find the truly local places. But in Greece we have been lazy, and Greek tourism makes it very easy to be lazy, so we have mostly been to the places that target tourists. Still, it was one of the best.
We continued on to Rethymno and really enjoyed the thrilling descent into the town. We passed a few other cyclists on the road today; one guy was coming up the hill on a racing bike faster than we were descending. It seems Crete has a few local cyclists.
After checking into our AirBNB, we explored the city. It’s more touristy than we expected, but nothing at all like Santorini, so we are enjoying it. We had a dinner of mezes at several different places and enjoyed walking around randomly after dark, stumbling on a basketball court with kids playing and riding bikes as well as an alley with art galleries and a photo exhibit.
We will take another rest day tomorrow, as we only have about 70km more to Chania, where our ferry leaves on Thursday. I expect we will spend the day exploring the town, and I may spend some time looking for work and/or brushing up on my skills.