Our First Holiday!

Well, I haven't had much to write about for a while.  Our time has been spent running the shop and helping Les adjust to his new home...a time consuming but worthwhile exercise!  However, our good friends Bjorn and Aase from Norway returned to the lovely island of Crete last week, and we had decided to take advantage of their offer of a day trip: so we shut the shop for the first time during our 3 seasons, and headed off for a Grand Day Out...

We has some discussions about where to go, and as luck would have it, we bumped into Devon, the Thompson holiday rep at Elounda Blu.  He told us about a lovely village called Mochos, in the mountains above Mallia...so that settled it - a trip along the road, then up through the mountains and onto Lassithi Plateau.

The weather was glorious, and Les was left (much to his chagrin) at the apartment with loads of food and the full run of the entire space inside and out...he still wasn't impressed, but resigned to it with a 'woof'!

chatting all the way, we reached the roundabout on the far side of Mallia and followed the signs for Mochos.  It was quite a good road, but very twisty, and as we reached the top, we saw signs for a convent, so decided to take a look...

When we drove round the corner, the views were breathtaking, and at first we thought the convent was closed, but Aase tried a small gate at the side, and it was open, so we walked slowly into the grounds...
A lovely nun informed us that we needed to alter our clothing as it was not acceptable, and pointed out a small room where we ladies could cover our heads and borrow longer skirts, and the men could put on long pants.
The men being men, decided they would wait for the pictures and not go in, but Aase and I did as we were asked...

As you can see, even on the way into the convent, the artwork was beautiful!  (That's Aase, and I'm the one in the white scarf above).  The grounds are stunning and there is a small gift shop which has some wonderful icon and religious gifts that we loved.  we felt it would be unpopular to take pictures inside their church, but it was so moving it actually made me cry!  Dedicated to the virgin Mary, there is a wonderful mural of the Ascension on the walls which is a wonder to behold!  Anyone who is interested, I strongly recommend a visit!

We wandered back outside and looked at the views - just so stunning from that vantage point, and there was the accompaniment of goat bells from the herd on the mountainside...even the roses were in bloom!

We thanked the nuns for allowing us to look around, and made our way back to where the boys were waiting, and went into the small hut to leave behind the skirts and scarves we had been wearing.  as we emerged from the room, we spotted a Gryphon Vulture just taking to the air on the thermals from the mountain.  I quickly grabbed my camera and got this...

until I downloaded it, I had no idea that there was also what appears to be a Merlin also on the wing!  We got back in the car after watching the vulture for several minutes, and headed down into Mochos...but the view from the convent has to be shared before I 'drive' you  on with our adventure...

Mochos is a delightful place, with a big central square, lined with tavernas and restaurants.  We made an fantastic discovery there too which I'd like to share...but that's for the next Blog!  Stay tuned and see the next instalment in the next 2 days!