When we arrived in Lassithi we decided it would be lots of fun if we went for a hike up Karfi, a small peak with a spectacular view of the plateau and the northern coast of Crete.

The road to the hike began near the village of Tzermiado. The road was a tiny one lane road that winded itself up slowly up the mountain leading to a Stavros Church. We were supposed to get off the road before we got to the church and take a dirt road, but we misread the instructions. We knew we had misread the instructions when we reached a dead end

and I had to do a three point turn in my Nissan Micra (huzzah for small cars!).

The hike began in a small valley near a much smaller church off the main road.

The hike was extremely easy to follow

with lots of goats pointing the way

The guide book claimed that there was plenty of shade on the mountain for a picnic. We found no shade except for this tree:

I suppose if you consider that you are on a mountain top in Crete which was deforested in the Minoan era the mountain looks downright lush with this lone tree providing shade …

There were many pretty flowers, that I could not resist taking pictures of.

We finally reached a fork in the road with a sign that pointed to Karfi

The only problem is that Karfi was in the opposite direction of the arrow (or so we think based on our guide book) and looks like this

Unfortunately we only discovered our mistake on the way down from this other peak.

At the top of the mountain

we took a group photo

Unfortunately, in our first attempt, I tripped and fell before I could get to my spot next to Andrew. Funnily enough the camera was able to take a picture of the reaction of my wife and Andrew to my fall

Which looked more gruesome than it was.

While on the top of the mountain I did put together this 300 degree panorama that looks kinda cool

The way down was uneventful, and after my fall, I wasn’t that interested in taking any more pictures.

Agios Nikolaos is the home of a bottomless lake (60 meters in depth). What’s interesting about this lake is that it has the same urban legend about Jacques Cousteau that Santorini’s caldera has. In both locations, the bottom is invisible to the naked eye. In both cases, there is a legend about some connection to Atlantis. In both cases, Cousteau, ostensibly, came to survey the bottom and was unable to see anything because it was too dark. In Agios Nikolaos, this is proof of the lake’s mystery and connection to Ancient Atlantis. In Santorini, this is proof of the caldera’s mystery and proof of our relationship to Ancient Atlantis…*

So here’s a couple of pictures of the lake:

When we went down to drink some coffee we passed by some old fishing boats, and I could not resist the temptation to take some photos

In the cafe, I took this picture of the lake.

While I was drinking my Frappe metrio me gala, I took advantage of my 10x optical zoom to take this picture of the waiter (owner?)

The frown he has on his face is very similar to the frown’s I saw in Venice on the paintings in the palazzo’s. My wife has this theory that we Roussos’ who have a similar frown, must be descended from Venetians. A book on genealogy in Santorini that my mother read has the same theory. My father agrees with this theory, but adds an addendum, that the Venetians who were our ancestors were originally Greeks who had migrated to Venice and then resettled in Greece! So we Roussos’ are still really Greek …

* Turns out Cousteau did visit both locations…

After our visit to Spinalonga, my wife, our friend Andrew, and I went for a swim in Plaka.

The beach area was pretty, and the water was very clear and very chilly.

Getting into the water took time

But once in the water we were able to swim and the swim was quite pleasant.

So much so that my wife, who was skeptical of the whole idea of swimming in Greece in April, joined us.

With the Agean as a backdrop, I could not resist some attempts at artistic photos…

Thankfully, NetApp is still paying my salary….

I did find three hand drawn rocks, and I tried to arrange them in an interesting way, sort of as if three buddies were chatting with the sea as a backdrop. Not sure whether I pulled it off…