Day 7 found us in port at Heraklion (Iraklion is the Greek spelling), the largest city on Crete and one of Greece's major urban centers. We boarded a bus for a journey to  the Lassithi Plateau, on the eastern part of the island.  This is a large agricultural area, very picturesque and famous for its windmills.  Unfortunately, the sails have been mostly removed in preparation for winter, so we only got to see the skeletons. Google Greek windmills and you will get the picture.  The mills are used primarily for grinding grain.

The area is very hilly and steep.  It was very interesting to see how the people have terraced the hillsides to make farmable land.  There were lots of sheep and goats everywhere, along with lots of olive trees.

Our first stop was at the beautiful Greek Orthodox monastery of Kera, perched high on a mountain.  It was built in the 17th century and houses many ornate and beautiful icons.  Sorry, but no pictures, as photography is forbidden.  We marveled at the steep climb and great difficulty the early inhabitants must have had in just reaching the site, let alone hauling up supplies and building materials.

Bird of Paradise flowers at the monastery.

Lassithi Plateau from the monastery

Windmills, minus their sails.  There are hundreds of them!

And of course, we had "mezes" (small plates) at a wonderful outdoor cafe.  Betsy loved the cats!

Good food and good company!

A typical Minoan small meal - extra virgin olive oil (of course), fruit, vegetables, bread, and cheese, along with wine.  Meat is typically only served on Sunday, and is usually goat or lamb.  We have learned to appreciate good olive oil! 

We were good kids and cleaned our plates!  The wine was yummy, too...

We explored a small local grocery store after lunch, and were surprised to see quite a few American brands and products.  Betsy was NOT impressed by the dried, salted fish stacked in open barrels!

Back on the bus and a return to Heraklion.  We had free time to wander around and explore this ancient city.  

We followed the "Yellow Line" to the center of the old town.  We were on a quest for gellato.   

Bob and Betsy found a local special treat, but I stuck with plain, yummy gellato!

Beautuful flowers are everywhere....

Dock side at the port.  An interesting mix of fishing and pleasure boats

25h of August Street is a very nice, pedestrian-only shopping street.  We strolled along, checked out shops, and bought some gifts for people back home

Mike checked out Bob and Betsy's special treat, too.  It was a pastry rolled around a wooden cone and baked to form a cone, sprinkled with your choice of coatings, and filled with soft serve ice cream.  A yummy but messy snack!

Beautiful architecture in very old historic buildings

Lots of stone buildings with beautiful architectural details

The above pictures are the town hall

Local police officers schmoozing with a cute local girl

Back on the boat, and a little help from a tug as we head for our next port of call

The pilot coming on board to take us out of the port

All clear and headed for Rhodes.  More Trivia competition tonight for Team Martin, after our "round table for 7" dinner.  Dick is still trying to get his own fruit punch, but so far our faithful waiter is winning!