Tsikoudia, Hania, and more

One thing that always surprised me about Greece is their adoration of the drinking.  By drinking I do not mean an all out, drunken feast. I mean a deep tradition in their wine, tsikoudia and ouzo.
Case in point..middle t of he morning, stop work and have a drink..

Alexis and Paul, stopping work to have an ouzo break.

Generally, tsikoudia is the drink of choice. I haven't seen too much ouzo drinking in Crete but everywhere we go we are offered tsikoudia. Yesterday, I had three shots of it while hanging out with Yianni and Georgia. Theo was busy doing school work, Manoli was playing with his new friend Stellios and Paul and I were catching up with Georgia and Yianni. We were welcome with tsikoudia- ended up having 3 1/2 shots of it. This stuff is strong. The rest of the visit was a blur- wish I could tell you more. This was around one in the afternoon. In some villages, we are welcomed with tsikoudia and a small ION chocolate in a green wrapper. In some restaurants we have been to, it is served afterward. We have had it chilled and room temperature. Did you know, just like wine, each person's tsikoudia tastes different? Some is a bit more fiery than others, sweeter, etc. It depends on the village and person distilling I think.

Yianni showing Paul how to make a tsikoudia distillery - we could use blackberries instead of grapes he says

Tsikoudia and peanuts

this time of year, it seems everyone has basil in their store in a cup- the basil is very strong

Here is a good link about tsikoudia: http://www.completely-crete.com/raki.html

LATER IN THE DAY

CAFE 

Two cutie pies! This is Mano and his new friend. This is  Stellio, the son of Georgia and Yianni who are Paul's elementary school friends in Crete. The boys are drinking Gerani, made a few villages over.  More about softdrinks in Crete, check here  http://www.organicallycooked.com/2011/09/soft-drinks.html  

One speaks Greek, one speaks English but playtime is a common language

 These two have big and beautiful eyes!

Last Night

We went to Hania. More on that later- we are really getting into the history of Crete and right now are learning about the Venetians. We visited an old Venetian fortress and the Limani or he Hania port. 

We'll go again and have a lot more pictures. I had a horrible headache so didn't get much out of it in terms of photos. On a separate point, we are completely on Greek time. Midnight is when the kids actually go to sleep since we are out and about until then. 

More pix later...off to the beach