Road Trip Day #1: Anogia and the spud-peeling taverna

Our last stop of the day was Anogia.

We parked the car at the foot of the village and started looking for somewhere to stay. After twenty minutes hard slog uphill we found some apartments - Arkadi - and rented a room for €30. It was just about the size of the double bed itself, but clean and comfortable.

They had a shared fridge in the hall filled with Coke, Sprite and Water, with a price list, and you left your money on top on the honour system.

After we rented the place we went and sat at a kafenion in the upper village square, where our presence as tourists was duly noted by all and sundry having a good look at us, and by the local boys constantly riding their bikes around our table.

The kafenion distinguished itself by having a clock outside, which claimed to come from Kensington Station in London, and have been made in 1879.

Later, we headed down into the lower village for another drink - meeting an American couple from texas. They amused us by talking about another young couple they knew - "About your age. They just graduated". Oh yes, we nodded, we are about that age.

For dinner we went to a place called the Taverna Prazini Folia. The outside was a lovely flower-covered courtyard, but it was a bit chilly, so we headed inside. This is when we began to think we had made a mistake in our choice of dinner place. Still, we giggled and got on with it.

The owner had virtually no English, and instead presented us with a printed multiple choice menu card in English and a pen. You had to tick what you wanted, and indicate the number of dishes.

There was an old dear sitting in the corner watching a TV that was blaring out, and once we had ordered she sat there in the same room as us peeling the spuds for our dinner!

Despite the weirdness - which included a display of dolls in traditional Cretan dress which was a little bit à la Il Forno in Gozo - the food was gorgeous, and it turned out to have been a good call to visit there after all.

We didn't have the best of nights sleep however - the apartments were directly opposite the upper village square, where the party was going on until the early hours.

Then a massive storm erupted.

Then when that cleared, the party got started again, with the last people leaving the kafenions just as we emerged to pack the car up again for our second day on the road.

Comments

[Vince]

That clock looks all of about two years old to me - Like it was ordered from the same catalogue that weatherspoons get their 'antique' pubware. Sorry to shatter the illusion. I like the Il Forno dolls - Were there any 'Twin Pixies'?