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The steady drone of chain-sawing from nearby and distant olive groves can only mean that winter is fast approaching. For (as Pooh would have noted) chain-sawing means wood piles, and olive logs, and wood stoves (zompas), with maybe a little something simmering on the top. And cosy evenings with shutters closed, and crosswords, music, books, or DVD of your choice as temperatures fall and winds rise outside.

Crete though has an average of 300 days of sunshine annually, and statistically 22 of these fall in November, so don’t put the walking gear away yet. But shorter days require shorter walks, and this one, from Krios beach over to Vienna, approx. 45 minutes each way, is ideal.
Krios is 9km west of Paleochora, at the end of the road, although the E4 footpath continues to Elafonisi (see below). There’s a twice-a-day bus (around 7.00am and 2.00pm, check in the bus station), or drive/take a taxi ; the 2-hour walk through Koundoura is uninspiring once the road leaves the coast, and not recommended.

As with Kadros, we first visited Vienna with Tony Fennymore, and his notes, included here, will provide much information as to what to see and look for there. From the car park and taverna on Krios beach, walk along the shore to a rocky promontory, and climb over this to a small sheltered bay with a rock islet offshore. At the far end of the beach the path heads inland, way-marked with cairns and E4 black/yellow paint, climbing to join a rough track. Leave the track at a cairn, and take a path, left, gradually losing height, eventually veering left down a rather loose gully to reach the sea.

Vienna is a fascinating place, where “there would appear to be a partially man-made anchorage out of a natural, protected harbour, and the remains of a Hellenistic/Roman sanctuary.” On the shore are the broken remains of several marble columns, which Tony believed once formed a temple here. “The actual building appears to have been located just a short distance back from the shoreline, where there is a raised platform for a room, with a ramp down to the sea, and the columns appear to have formed a portico/arcade at the front.” Where the columns came from, or how they arrived here, is a Stonehenge-like enigma, as they “are of marble or a type of red granite which does not appear to be of local origin.”

So why was a temple built here? Tony thought that it “could well have been a sanctuary or place of worship, and acted as a place of pilgrimage when voyaging around the headland”, and where libations and offerings were made before or after a long and hazardous sea journey.
Shards and fragments of pottery are everywhere, the remains of vessels once containing oil or wine. Tony speculates on the importance of the natural cave in the outcrop high above the cove. “The cave is no doubt the ‘key’ to the site, although there is no evidence whatsoever of any human habitation or use of the cave as a place of worship. In ancient times it could have been deemed to be a ‘home’ of one of the Gods/Goddesses, and it may have been capable of producing natural sounds, ie. from the wind – a sign that the Gods were speaking, or a Siren.” The Sirens were mythical sea-nymphs who lured passing sailors to their deaths with their sweetness of song. Odysseus, who possibly passed this way, filled his crew’s ears with wax, and lashed himself to the ship’s mast, to avoid such a fate. The climb to the cave takes around 20 minutes, and provides a fine retrospective view of the bay, but nothing of historical importance.

The water level in Hellenistic times (323 – 67BC) would have been far deeper than now, due to the raising of the level of the shoreline at this end of the island. “The cove/lagoon has a natural mole to form this protected anchorage, and it would appear that rocks have been cleared away from the cove so as to facilitate the mooring of boats. No doubt the cove was an ideal lair for pirates, and the site would have been looted.”

Water was of course essential, and “to the east of the platform is evidence of a well or pit, an important feature insomuch as the anchorage could well have been a stopping place to replenish water supplies of the boats.”

So what happened here? “From the various positions of the columns, the sanctuary was either badly damaged by an earthquake, or some attempt has been made to remove the columns for re-use.” That is, the site was destroyed and ransacked. Quietly contemplating before walking back to Krios, sitting on a column brought here over two thousand years ago, only one thing is certain – we shall never really know ……

So, ‘kalo xeimonas’ – have a good winter, and remember the words of the poet Shelley:
“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind ?” In just a few weeks time the almond blossom will be appearing, and soon afterwards the cherry trees will be “hung with bloom along the bough.”

The 10km walk from Krios to Elafonisi is described in our book ‘Ten Walks around Paleohora’ by Bob & Lynne Tait, available from ‘To Delfini’ bookshop in Paleochora.

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Technorati Tags: Bus Station, Cairn, Cairns, Car Park, Crosswords, Drone, Footpath, Gully, Marble Columns, Music Books, Olive Groves, Paleochora, paleochora rooms, Rocky Promontory, Rough Track, Shorter Days, Shutters, Taverna, Walking Gear, Wood Stoves, Yellow Paint

Here is a local Greek/Cretan dish which, sadly, you do not often find in many tavernas in Paleochora. I really don’t know why as its very simple to cook and really quite delicious.

As with all Greek dishes, everybody has their own recipe passed down from one generation to the next so none of our recipes shared here could be called definitive. Also, tradition has to be made so feel free to change/add/evolve the recipe and post your results as comments.

For this dish for 4 people you will need the following:

* 1kg. Lean pork
* 1kg Leaf celery (this is the thin-stemmed, very green leaved celery)
* 1 Onion
* 3 Cloves garlic
* Couple tablespoons of flour
* About 500ml dry white wine
* A few glugs of olive oil
* salt & pepper

First, cut the roots off the celery and discard. Put the stalk & leaves into a sink full of cold water keeping all of the leaves on – everything.

Next, finely chop your large onion and very finely chop your garlic. Slowly sauté these in olive oil in a large saucepan.

Cut your pork into generous cubes of about 4 or 5 cm. Add it to the saucepan, turning the heat up a little to seal it. Careful not to burn the onions & garlic!

When the meat has sealed, sprinkle your flour over and stir into a claggy roux. Then, slowly pour in the white wine, stirring to avoid any lumps forming. The sauce should not be too thick by the time you have finished this.

Turn the heat right down, add some salt & pepper and let it slowly cook, stirring occasionally.

Time to wash all of the dirt from the celery and chop it into 3 or 4 cm lengths, leaves and all.

Blanche the chopped celery in boiling, salted water for about 10 – 15 minutes so that the leaves are well wilted and the stalks softened. Drain the celery, retaining the water it was cooked in.

Final step…Add the cooked celery to the pork & sauce and stir it in. If the mixture becomes too dry, add some of the celery water (you may need to do this again so keep the water for now)

This should then be cooked very slowly on the hob for as long as it takes for the pork to really tender. Maybe an hour or 2. Keep stirring every so often and adding some celery water to keep the dish from becoming too dry when necessary. Adjust the seasoning when the dish is cooked.

This can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days and freezes OK too.

Tip: If you end up with a lot of celery in the saucepan after serving, keep hold of it. Having been cooked with the meat & the wine, its delicious. Tomorrow, add water or stock and blender it into a soup or use it as a ‘pesto’ on some penne pasta.

This article first appeared on The Paleochora Site. A site about a small traditional village on the south-west coast of Crete, Greece

Technorati Tags: Chopped Celery, Cloves Garlic, Cold Water, Couple Tablespoons, Cretan, Cubes, Dry White Wine, Flour, Garlic, Greek, Greek Dishes, Green Onion, Lean Pork, Lumps, Olive Oil, Onions, Paleochora, Salt Pepper, Saucepan, Spin Spin, Stalks