Vacationing in Greece always offers a treasure chest full of comforts and culinary delights.   A day of Greek cuisine on the island of Crete consisted of a variety of mouth watering dishes. An excerpt from my travel journal of Crete in 2009 revealed the following delicious day of delicacies! How’s that for alliteration? 🙂

In Chania, Crete, we ate “Giartoula”  at Taman Taverna after seeing the outdoor Maritime Museum and going out on the lookout tower. “Giartoula”–I’m going to take a wild guess here that that means “yogurt sauce” because “giaourtee” in Greek means yogurt.

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www.travel-to-crete.com/restaurants/chania/tamam/

[One son] ordered rabbit in Mavrodaphne (wine) and it tasted like nutmeg.

{Another son} ordered Giartoula–baby lamb in yogurt sauce, feta and tomato sauce.

{Youngest son] ordered french fries in Cretan goat cheese.

My husband and I split “Taman salad”–slaw, tomatoes, shredded carrots, shredded relish, dill, avocado sauce and walnuts.

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This video will show you a similar Lamb in Yogurt recipe. (without the feta and tomato sauce). We have not tried this recipe…just including it for variety.

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Later, at the villa, I made us a “pikilia” tray for our happy hour on the balcony.

 My Happy Hour Pikilia at a Cretan Villa: toast with herbs, cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Villa Creta wine and my husband’s frosty mug of Mythos beer. I chopped up some sage, toasted the bread, and  fried the Cretan cheese in butter. I squeezed lemon on it, put salt, pepper, oregano, rosemary and wild sage….and olive oil!

Stories of Greece, (the islands, villages and Athens) and many other countries and cultures (and recipes) can be found in the book, A Magic Carpet Ride by Gina Michalopulos Kingsley Click on this link. Proceeds go to charity. Subscribe to this blog for more travel and recipe updates, too.

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Carpet-Ride-Michalopulos-Kingsley/dp/069271393X 

Villa Creta website:

https://www.cretetravel.com/hotel/rooms/villa-creta/