The island vacation paradise: Crete, Greece

Crete is home to some excellent historical locations and some fabulous not - to - be - missed natural wonders. While there are many, many more things to see and do in Crete, this is a sampling to provide food for thought. Here's a small selection of what to see when you're in Crete:

1. Samaria Gorge
This natural ravine has amazing rock formations and is a nice, relaxing day out for fit people. Not appropriate for people with limited mobility or stamina, as once you go in, the only way out is by foot (or donkey, if you're lucky). It ends at the sea, so take a bathing suit with you to take advantage of the beautiful beach while you wait for the ferry home.

2. Knossos
Inhabited for thousands of years during Minoan times, Knossos was destroyed almost 3,400 years ago. Like many ancient sites, it's not been 'perfectly preserved' but it's an amazing example of what humans did long before the internal combustion engine. Located near Heraklio, Crete's capital city.

3. Sea Turtle nesting
Spring and early summer is when sea turtles return to their birthplace to lay eggs. This is an amazing event, but if you want to be part of it, you must be aware that it is night work. The turtle nests need protection and volunteers are always needed.

4. Aptera

The archaeological site of Aptera is fascinating in many ways. It's within walking distance of the inhabited village formerly known as Megala Chorafia and recently changed to Aptera (which the ancient site has always been called). This tiny (relatively speaking) site contains structures from ancient roman times, the Turkish occupation, and WWII. Because of its position overlooking the Souda Bay, this was a great choice for people since ancient times to protect the land they'd claimed. Most of the site is protected by a fencing and can be visited during 'open hours' but some of it is openly accessible any time you please.

5. Zeus' cave

55 kilometers from Heraklio sits the birthplace of Zeus in the Psiloritis Mountains. It's a cave, so don't expect it to be a palace. This is where they myth holds that Rhea hid Zeus from Chronos, who had a propensity for eating his children.

Frappes are an iced coffee drinks usually made with Nescafe. Seems easy enough - you drink a drink, right? While that's true, there are some frappe faux pas you should know about before you do something silly (at least to the Greeks.)

As the cool wet winter loses its battle to the intense Cretan sun, natives and tourists alike turn to the foamy iced frappe to keep them going. Being coffee enthusiasts, we gladly joined in the frappe fray. We were surprised by how tasty something made with instant coffee could be. We slurped our way through the first iced glass.

"That was nice," we thought, "let's have another." We summoned the waiter.

His brows drew close together and he pursed his lips. "You want two more?"

Even in this different culture, the social cues were shouting that we'd gone astray, leaped outside the bounds of convention. This waiter was working hard to process our bizarre request.

A little meekly, I confirmed, "if it's okay, yes, we would like two more frappes in the same way."
His eyebrows reached up as he concluded that while we were clearly weird, we were probably not dangerous. Away he went.

We did drink that second round, but it was the last second round we ever drank (publicly, at least.) We soon learned to slowly sip the frappe, "as slowly as the ice melts," our waiter patiently explained. Much later, I asked a native friend about our coffee gaffe. He laughed and said, "You drink your coffee and you're done. Maybe later you can have another." If you absolutely must have a second round - here's a tip: go to a different cafe.

Olive picking is winter work. Cretans begin picking in October or November and finish around January. The most common local variety, koroneiki, is small - about the size of a dried cherry.

Even before we arrived on the Greek island I knew I wanted to pick olives, an exotic experience for a Midwestern girl. I mentioned my wish to every Cretan I met and while most thought I was joking, one offered to make my wish come true. I dipped my toes in the ancient olive tradition on two sunny, windy November days.

We spread tarps under trees as young as 30 years old and as ancient as several hundred, wrapping the sheet tightly against the trunk and weighting the sides with big rocks. Then we used what looked like a child's sand rake to 'comb' the olives from the thin branches. My guide countered my need to pick the tree perfectly clean, "We must leave something for the birds."

There are two striking scents one notices when picking olives. The tarps, used by the family year after year, smell of old olive oil. And amazingly, the floor of the olive grove is carpeted by thyme, which is crushed as the tarps are dragged from tree to tree. The savory smell made my mouth water.

Once we'd cleaned 3 to 5 trees, we dragged the loaded sheet to a box with a large tube coming from the bottom. We dumped the olives into the box and they fell out the hole into sacks. The olives must be pressed within 24 hours, so at the end of the day we took the bulging sacks to the mill.

The mill looked like a garage from the outside. Inside, there were numbered stacks of sacks. Some stacks had fewer than a dozen bags, some towered over me. Each stack belonged to an individual, who would return after a day or two to retrieve the oil from his pressing.

The olives were washed and a vacuum sucked off the loose twigs and leaves, which could alter the taste of the oil. The clean olives were then fed into a temperature controlled holding unit, where they were crushed and stirred for several hours. The stirring encourages the oil molecules to coalesce.

When the mash was ready, it was fed through a tube into a centrifuge, where the oil was separated from the solids and the water in the mash. Water went through one tube, solids through another. The oil, the whole focus of the endeavor, was put through a filter or three. The last one was a water filter to 'wash' any remaining residue from the end product.

The final oil was pumped from a tube into vats marked with an individual batch number to indicate which grower owned that oil. The mill takes a percentage of the oil as payment for processing. That oil will be sold to a cooperative or bottled and sold by the mill.

At this final station stood a robust old man - 90 years if a day. He saw that I was touring the mill and called me over to tell me about his station and the quality of the oil currently pouring in an opalescent green river. He tore a slice from a loaf of bread nearby and placed it under the minutes-old oil and held it out to me.

It was beautiful!
Renieris Estate Olive Oil from Crete
1/2 liter $13.99
Here's something you'll rarely see - An estate grown oil from one of the most ancient olive oil producing regions for less than $30/liter. The bay of Kissamos where Renieris is produced lies on the far West side of Crete and is just next door to Kolimbari, where there are more olive trees per square meter than anywhere else in Greece.