Heatwave!

We lost count of how many consecutive days we've had over 40℃.  It might be seven or eight now.  It's the locals that we feel for, 'is not normal', they sigh.  It must be tough having to cook and clean for all us tourists!  We're coping well, we cool off in the sea multiple times each day, head out early in the morning for coffee, seek shade, have a late dinner each night and sleep in air-conditioned comfort.

Hot work - heat haze and goats

Scorching but fabulous Chrissi island

Shade, shade, shade

No matter the temperature, the water is always sublime.

Chrissi island's cedar trees

Our first morning in Ierapetra we head out early to a kafenion for coffee, and we learn a valuable tip;  sit near the locals, they know where it might be even a fraction of a degree cooler.  At first we choose a 'shady' table overlooking the square, but within a minute we're looking at each other, 'nope, too hot'.  We look around and see (mostly) old men sitting along the side of the building.  We move to a spare table, sit down and can immediately feel the slightest waft of a breeze. Ahhh, like magic it's much better there.  Efharisto, kyrios!  All over Greece, it's only ever men who sit in the kafenions in the morning, sitting in the shade drinking coffee, reading the paper, and chatting.

We tested our theory a few days later when we drove west of Ierapetra to the lovely seaside village of Myrtos.  We arrived in the scorching mid-morning heat, parked the car and walked along the sea front lined with tavernas, deciding which one to sit at.  They all looked pretty, but it was SO hot.  Minutes earlier we had walked down a side alley and past a nondescript little kafenion with three or four men sitting outside chatting.  We walked back and sure enough, in the shade of the old buildings, the tiny kafenion Livyko had the faintest swirl of air.  I don't know why it seemed so much more comfortable than just 20 meters away along the sea front, but it did.   And as well as being the slightest bit cooler, we had great Greek coffee and a slice of fresh-Greek-deliciousness.  It was wonderful!  From this day on, before deciding where to sit, we'll always check to see where the locals sit.

Sit where the locals sit!  This is the traditional garb of the shepherd;
black shirt, breeches, long leather boots, and katsouna walking stick.

We usually prefer to eat dinner early (by European standards) but in this heat we don't even think of food until 9pm.  It's still 35 degrees as we walk through old town Irepetra to Napoleon's taverna.  The town is alive, children playing in the street and in the playground, families still swimming in the sea, tavernas are busy, old people sit on the step outside their homes, and shops are still open.  After dinner as we walk home around 10.30pm the scene is the same; children still playing happily in the playground, riding bikes and playing football in front of the ancient Turkish mosque making the most of the night air.  The babies and children of Crete stay up much later than we do!

Ierapetra's astonishing small museum is housed in the old Ottoman school
building.  

Taverna Napoleon in Ierapetra

Myrtos

After three nights at Popy's lovely marbled-floored apartment,  we take to the mountains in the hope of knocking a few degrees off these scorching days. We arrive at Villa Kerasia, at the foot of Mt Psiloritis,  and find that it's hotter than at the coast!  It's 45 degrees; so much for our plan!

We care not though, the Villa, the setting, and the beauty of the surrounding area and a million olive trees seduces us immediately, AND it has a pool into which we promptly ...... fall.

Villa Kerasia kittens

45!  Again!  

Beautiful Villa Kerasia

At the foot of Mt Psiloritis is a little haven surrounded by olive groves.

We spent hours under the pomegranate tree and in the pool.

Babis owns Villa Kerasia, and he has interesting stories of the history of the area and his villa and the years taken to restore it.  He was born in a village just 8 miles away, he farms the nearby olive groves and has a vineyard that produces the wines and raki that are served each night on the dinner table at the Villa.  Villa Kerasia was built in Ottoman times, it's a listed property and before restoration could begin Babis needed approval from Athens.  The approval took three years to receive, and the restoration work took four years, the result is stunning.  Beautiful stonework, original features; carved stone lintels, arched stone doorways and window recesses, and the original stone olive press is a feature in one of the sitting rooms.  Babis's research unearthed some photos taken throughout the past century that show the approximate age of the pomegranate tree, the almond tree and the grape vine on the terrace.

There are only six rooms at the villa and breakfast and dinner are served around a communal table. Hot summer nights sharing dinner under the grape vine with lovely Danish, German and French families was a highlight.  We called it the United Nations of Villa Kerasia.

The location is stunning, and it's quiet in the mountains. The only thing we can hear are the birds and cicadas.  And that view across the hills.... it's olive groves as far as the eye can see.

FUN FACT:  The Olympic Gold medal for the hottest recorded temperature in Europe is held by GREECE!  48 degrees in Athens in 1977.