Taverna in the Mountains

The 30 minute drive from Myrtos to the mountain village of Christos rewards travelers with some spectacular scenery nearly the entire way.  You'll pass through verdant valleys, gorgeous gorges and cliffside villages including the village of Christos that you can see in the distance well before you arrive there. 

In truth, we never actually arrived in Christos as our singular target was the Taverna Agia Peraskevi located just minutes before you arrive in Christos.  I had found this restaurant with a simple Google search, but to my knowledge it's not on anyone's top 10 blog list or in any guidebook, but it was one of the culinary highlights of the trip for us.  

And not just for the food, which was very good, but not the absolute best we had in Crete, but primarily due to the ambiance - the vibe is like a moutain tree top fortess meets secret religious hideaway, boasting a small chapel with an altar - and the super friendly staff - George, one of the owners along with his wife, could not have been more welcoming and genuine. 

In addition, the way you are introduced to the menu is by accompanying George into the kitchen to view the various meats, fish, chicken and vegetables that they have cooking in their clay pot ovens.  You literally point to the food as you are viewing it as it cooks.  It couldn't be any more different from a stuffy 5 star restauant elsewhere in the world. 

But let me back up for a moment.  We decided to combine our dining experience with a stop off a couple notable villages along the way.  One of which is the "Ghost Town" of Kalami. The villagers had to leave because the government planned to construct a dam that would have flooded the town.  While the dam was never completed, many people left in haste leaving furniture, TVs, clothing, etc. It's super creepy to walk around it, but also super fun for the kids (and me).  There are apparently 10 people who still live in the village - and we think one of us was yelling at us to get lost - but we can't be sure.  Click here for more about Kalami. 

 We arrived around 8pm and we were the only dinners there.  The owner, some workers and apparentlys some friends were sitting around chatting and playing cards.  We assumed we were just on the early side as people in Crete tend to eat their meals latter than we do in the US, but what we found out later was that they have a certain amount of food for the day and when that is gone, they close (which, it turns out, is how a lot of restaurants in Crete operate).  Well since they had such a big lunch crowd they didn't have a lot left.  We were feeling guilty that they were staying open just for us, but then a local couple arrived and so we didn't feel quite so bad - although they did eat and leave before we did. 

After we picked out our food (see Francesca below choosing her meats) we got a tour of the mini chapel and altar and were given instructions on how to hike up to and explore the aqueduct that lead from a mountain spring down to the restaurant providing all of the water.

The food arrived fairly quickly and it was all quite tasty. 

Here is a short video of the Taverna and some of it's really cool features.