Social activities photos

The first night we went out for a short walk in the old town and we sat at nice oriental place, where we enjoyed their delicatessen and smoked a bit of nargile ...

On Tuesday the 15^th of November we went for lunch at nice local restaurant where we tasted traditional Cretan dishes. We had a good time and it was an opportunity to talk to each other and get to know us better ...

Just after lunch we left to visit the historical Monastery of Arkadi. We had an excellent guide, Ms Eleftheria Gioumbaki, who presented us a lot of information about the history of the Monastery and its museum. In brief, the Arkadi Monastery is situated in the foothills of Psiloritis Mountain (Mount Idi). During the 1866 rebellion, the monastery served as a Cretan stronghold in which hundreds of Cretan fighters and their families took refuge as the Turks advanced and had the upper hand in the proceedings, it was here that they were surrounded by the Turkish army that lay siege for two days, finally the defenses were breached on November 9^th, 1866. As the attackers poured in, the ammunition stores in the monastery were exploded deliberately on the orders of the Abbot. Hundreds were killed in the internal blast, Cretans and Turks alike, this enraged the assailants that they put most of the surviving defenders to death. There are celebrations annually on the anniversary of the 9^th of November blast.

In the evening of the 16^th of November we went out to a local restaurant with Greek music and we had a great time and a lot of fun! We tasted traditional Cretan dishes, we laughed and danced till late at night ...