Biking in Rural Crete

One of the many reasons that we booked this remote, rural farm, is the chance to do some biking. Our hosts list 2 bikes, ready and able to go. We had some delays with flat tires and mismatched air pumps, repair pieces hard to come by in this rural spot. To be sure, we've booked in the off-season when the bikes have been long-put to storage. And bear in mind the whole time we are trying to get biking, our host Manolis is working on a broken water system for the town, trying to keep us and his family filled with water, all while working his own 4 plots of land and selling in the Heraklion market 3 days per week! So, we are patient, happy to hike, read, snooze, and by our 5th day the bikes are ready. Thank God, without them, we were quite stuck for this type of adventure!

Our first ride has us going to Thrapsanos, the village in the distance we can see that has a freshwater lake just before it. We've watched the ant-like cars wind their way through the valley so we know that it is flat, with no killer hills, which I hate! The road is lined with olive groves and vineyards all managed by hand.

We choose a beautiful day, with picnic lunch, thermos of tea and coffee, a light breeze and 15 degree temperatures. It is absolutely invigorating to be on the road! We are giggling at our great fortune. Bike riding through olive groves on Crete!

It's only a 5 km ride to Thrapsanos, and we come upon the lake quite quickly. It's about the size  of Musie Pond, and as soon as we pull up, the ducks and geese come. We think they've come to expect a public with food offerings, they come so quickly. There has been stonework done around the lake, walls, walking paths, picnic areas, an arboretum planted, but it's all neglected and overgrown,

crumbling. We find out later that again, the money has dried up, and someone introduced Koi goldfish into the lake and now all the feeder species are gone. The Municipality is researching ways to get rid of the Koi without poison.

Another day, we ride into Kastelli for groceries, another 5km one way, and we pass by this little roadside church which Marc spied one day on his WALK home from Kastelli, having missed the one afternoon bus. It's a tiny, ancient structure, with benches, saintly icons, prayer books, votives, a broom. Someone obviously cares for the place, there is a candle lit. Villages have 10s of churches, smaller chapels and roadside shrines. And yes, the older, black-shrouded women pass by uttering their prayers and blessing themselves.

Bottom left is the larger church  and the graveyard in Kastelli. Cretans bury their dead above ground, with traditions of photos, amulets, trinkets, oil wicks burning, plastic flowers, and at the head of each grave is a glass compartment where cleaning supplies are kept. 

The even larger church in Thrapsanos.

The rural Economies rely on innovative ideas to keep tourists coming and money flowing. Interior Crete is not nearly as visited as the northern coastal towns,  which are filled with resorts for the sun-seeker, both Grecian and International. Pottery has always played a big role in Cretan arts, dating
back to the Neolithic times and the Minoans. We pass by a series of abandoned cement buildings with great paved lots, wired with electricity, some with glass windows,  seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We come to know this was a project that ran out of money, a pottery museum, the art of clay pottery is alive and well in these villages. 

Our picnic spot today. What once was a thriving lake area, complete with arboretum, stone paths, benches and picnic tables is now an abandoned overgrown mess. I find the largest lavender plant ever, Marc bush whacks his way to  a bench. While eating, we get spied by a gaggle of circling birds, hawk-like, one flies low over our heads with prey in its talons, Marc can feel the whoosh of wings rustle his hair. They are startled to find us there, the prey sees his moment and escapes. A beautiful few days of biking!