Mitsos, Kounoupidiana

One of the geographical features of Crete is the series of deep, narrow and stony gorges that run down from the snowcapped central mountains, mostly to the south towards the Lybian sea.

One of these, the Imbros gorge, is around five miles long and played a significant part in enabling the evacuation of 20,000 allied servicemen and members of the local population, following the Nazi occupation in 1941. Not only because of its history but also for its beauty and the opportunity of some exercise, we spent the day there. It is, indeed, beautiful, peaceful and rugged and can be walked in either direction. We chose down!

At the bottom is a taverna at which a taxi may be taken back up the start. Eventually. On this occasion we avoided the light lunch and stuck to our plan to go out to dinner.

We chose Mitsos, one of around a dozen restaurants in Kounoupidiana a mere three kilometres from our base, partly because it was rated #2 in the town on Tripadvisor and partly because, unlike #1, it was open.

It is a BBQ restaurant, or 'Psistaria', and there was plenty of meat on the menu. We ordered a salad, dolmades, bougiourdi - a spicy baked cheese dish - enjoyed the breads and excellent 'Nectar of Crete' balsamic and then chose the meat dishes.

Two 'portions of Lamb' and one mixed grill. All well-cooked, soft and tasty, but in such huge quantities we later asked the waiter if they were all intended to be sharing dishes and perhaps we had over-ordered. 'No, we eat a lot' was the eventual reply.

It can't be unusual for tourists to ask for something in which the excess may be wrapped and taken away as they have pre-printed boxes for this already prepared.

Suffice to say that the three stray (?) cats that live outside our temporary home were pleased.

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