by Justin
Northern Nordland is a place of sprawling landscapes, amazing wildlife, and some truly incredible fjords. Now, you’re probably thinking I’m going to branch out and go on a rant about the Vikings, or maybe boats, or something else of that ilk and surprise you. You’d …
While the last post was certainly fun, Lofoten has more than birds going for it. So, despite my definite personal preferences, I’ll be moving away from birds this post to explore the rest of Lofoten. The birds around here certainly have the right idea, though …
I will say, while I’ve been excited for a lot of my trips, going to Norway was high on my list for many reasons. A lot of my favorite wildlife, like ptarmigans and stoats live here, and I’ve wanted to travel above the Arctic circle for a long time now. Even with my anticipation, though, I still didn’t quite expect just how fun this trip would be until I was on it. Norway was everything I hoped for, and then some. Rolling green meadows, beautiful water, dramatic mountains… you name it. It was an amazing place, and I’m very excited to share it with you over these next few posts.
The first area I’d like to share with you is the Lofoten region, a place of history, natural beauty, and wonderful wildlife! The striking scenery is a mix of rolling green fields and deep fjords, all of it surrounded by tall peaks. It was incredibly beautiful to see the landscape here, which was just so dynamic; every time you went around another corner, you’d find a secluded channel or mountains spearing up into the clouds or even rolling meadows filled with thousands of wildflowers. I had a lot of fun in this region, and I hope that this guide to birding there will help you do the same. If you’re not as interested in birds, though, there’s another post coming later about the rest of Lofoten, but until then, sit back, relax, and enjoy the wonderful birdlife of the Lofoten archipelago.
Because I obviously hadn’t been here before, I thought it would be a good idea to recruit a guide to the region. Enter Martin. He was a great guy, and was super nice, as well as very helpful in guiding us around the region. His birding background comes from working as a conservation advisor for BirdLife Norway, and as such, he was remarkably good at finding pretty much any bird you ask him to (bird cooperation permitting, of course). He doesn’t normally lead regular bird tours, as his knowledge of birds in the region is mostly directed towards personal and professional birding experience, but he was a very skilled guide, and we were lucky to have him to show us around. As if that wasn’t enough, he also brought snacks to share and introduced us to one of our top three snacks from this trip, Walter’s Mandler, a candied almond chocolate bar with a truly unique and incredible taste. They were good enough that we brought some home from the trip, and it’s safe to say they haven’t lasted very long. He took us to three main habitats on this excursion, and I’ll detail the best birds from each one to showcase some of the wonderful birds Lofoten has to offer.
There were three main habitats we went to in order to find birds on this outing, and while all of them were fun, I’ll start with the forest. While we didn’t go into any deep forest areas, we were still able to find some wonderful forest birds, despite one in particular avoiding us (curse you, long-eared owl). We mostly found small passerine birds, and there was an amazing selection of finches and similar birds to find. Around the middle of our trip, we stopped by the side of the road near a river to look for some smaller birds. We got out of the car, had some tea, and waited by the side of the road while Martin played the sounds of a bird we were looking for on his phone, trying to draw one out. We were looking for a Bluethroat, but while we waited, we saw (and heard) plenty of other fun little birds. A few minutes in, we were standing near a small bridge, surrounded by short pine trees, and Martin identified the call of a Brambling in the area (while still listening for a Bluethroat, mind you) and pointed us in the direction he heard it. Bramblings are small, whitish-pink birds with little spots, and I noticed one sitting on top of a nearby pine tree, across the river. It took me a little bit of time to orient my camera, so it flew to a farther tree while I was lining up, but I eventually tracked the little bird and was able to photograph it for a little while before it flew off. A little while after this, I got to see a Chaffinch, another small bird, this time orange with gray markings. This one was a little less cooperative, and it soon flew off as well, preventing me from getting a photo. Around this time, we have started hearing response calls to Martin’s fake Bluethroat, and after three or so minutes of searching, a small bird showed up in one of the nearby trees. We were in luck. I immediately got my camera out and started photographing the bird. Bluethroats are small, sparrow like birds, in shades of brown and gray for most of their body. Their chest markings, however, are anything but drab. They have primarily blue and red-orange chest markings with black accents, bright enough to be seen from long distances, and incredibly striking up close. As if that wasn’t enough, they have wonderful little white “eyebrow” markings that dialed their cuteness up to eleven. I was incredibly excited, and I probably took enough photos of this one bird to fill half of my memory card, but it was worth it. I’d wanted to see one of them for a long time, so it was great that I got to check that bird off my bucket list. Once we got back into the car, Martin offered the family a bar of Walter’s Mandler as a celebration, and we drove off to the next birding spot.
Next up, grasslands. This took place in more than one spot, unlike the forest, where we saw all the birds within a hundred feet and fifteen minutes of each other. Near the start of the trip, we stopped in a small grassy field near some marshland to look for some ducks. I didn’t have my camera out at that time, and we were joking with Martin to break the ice. Eventually, the topic of owls came up, and I made a comment about how, back home, it was nearly impossible to photograph them, and it was like they were trying to mess with me. Fast forward about five minutes, for some reason, my camera is still in the camera bag, and we go up a small hill. There’s this rustle in the bushes, followed by a muffled whooshing noise, and a short-eared owl flies out of the underbrush ahead of me, close enough that I had to have almost stepped on it before it flew. It was the closest look I’ve ever gotten at a wild owl. I got close enough to see the individual down feathers on its back. It was a beautiful owl, and while I’m sad I didn’t get to photograph it, it was still an amazing experience, and a good sign for the rest of the night. A little while later, after driving away from a small lake, I stumbled upon (no, not literally, I only almost stepped on one bird) another really interesting find. A Eurasian Golden Plover. This bird oozed elegance; it was a small, relatively thin shorebird with incredibly striking markings. It had a black-and-gold triangle pattern on its body and had a black chest that complimented the feather pattern beautifully, making it look remarkably regal. I’d heard about these birds, but I didn’t expect them to be as beautiful as they were, nor did I expect to find them on our trip, but I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. Another great prairie bird we found was a curlew. Now, curlews weren’t uncommon in the slightest, we probably saw upwards of fifty on this trip, but this one was unique for one reason. Earlier in the trip, Martin commented only minutes before on just how rare it was to see a curlew chick because of how protective their mothers are, not to mention how short they are and their tendency to stick to the tall grass. We were in luck, though. We were just driving down a little peninsula to get a better look at some grebes when Martin pointed out the window into a field. There, in the recently mowed grass, was a mother curlew, and as we looked closer, we spotted a little fluffball walking behind her as well. We slowly opened the car windows, and I snapped several photos of the little brown ball before they both walked back into the tall grass. It was so cute! It was tiny, fluffy, and just awkward enough to be hilarious, making for one of the cutest, funniest birds on the trip, as its legs and beak were just a little too big for it, causing it to waddle around in a decidedly adorable fashion. It really was a shame when it walked back into the fields of tall grass, because it was really fun to watch.
The last habitat we checked out, as you could probably guess given Norway’s typical terrain, is wetlands. The place is full of them, both fresh and saltwater, and they come packed with some of the most exciting birds in Norway. Just after the owl, Martin and I set up a scope pointing into a bird marsh. There were plenty of fun ducks there, including widgeons, pintails, and plenty of other small waterfowl. We weren’t looking for ducks here, though. We were there for Black-Tailed Godwits, a small, relatively rare wading bird that Martin had found in the area recently. When I heard that he’d found some, I immediately perked up. I have always had a soft spot for cool wading birds, and I’d been curious about what these ones looked like for a long time, so I grabbed the scope to check them out the moment Martin was done lining it up. I spent a long time watching the godwits just walking around and eating worms from the lakebed, but we eventually moved on to the next place, a horse-racing track with a large pond set into the middle of it. The track is used once every year or so for a horse race, but otherwise, it belongs to the birds. And boy, were there a lot of them. All the duck species from before were present, but there was one notable addition, Common Shelducks. These large, colorful ducks are amazing. They manage to be cute and elegant at the same time, and have a very interesting orange, white, and green palate that makes for a unique refreshing look on a duck. We watched those for a while, but just as we were about to leave, another, even cooler bird showed up. The Northern Lapwing. If you didn’t know, lapwings are a very peculiar type of wading bird with two features that set them apart. First off, most lapwings have some sort of head ornamentation, and secondly, they often have wing spurs that are used in diving attack runs to protect their nests. So, yeah, weird birds. The Northern Lapwing fits the first of these descriptions quite well, having a beautiful crest swooping back on its head that would not be out of place on a pheasant. While they don’t have the cool exposed wing spurs, they do have one other thing to make up for it, in my opinion. The entirety of their back and wings are colored an iridescent blue green tone, making for a VERY striking bird. These birds are remarkably pretty, and I was extremely happy to see one, if more than a little confused, as I had no idea lapwings of any kind could be found anywhere other than Africa. I spent a long time watching the little bird run in and out of the bushes and was so intent on watching it that I actually failed to notice its chick, which my parents said popped out of the bushes sometime while I was focused on the adult. I was immensely happy to see a lapwing in the wild, which was something I’d wanted to see for a long time, but until now, I had no idea you could find one in Lofoten (it’s not like I’m disappointed, though).
Now, for somewhat of an oddity. In fact, it’s one of the cutest oddities you’re ever going to see. While I couldn’t mention it in one of the above sections because it’s not exactly a bird, I do feel obligated to do so nonetheless. One of the highest things on my bucket list, though I severely doubted it would show itself, was a stoat. Luckily for me, while driving between two birding spots, my dad spotted something moving in a nearby trash can. It originally looked like nothing was there, but as we waited, a little stoat poked its head out of the opening in the can. It was amazingly cute, just sitting there in the opening with its little paws on the can’s rim, poking its head up to take a look at us. I immediately opened the car door and started snapping as many photos as I could, ecstatic to finally spot one of the animals I’d wanted to see for the longest time. It may have been the only thing to take up more memory card space than the Bluethroat. And the funniest part of the whole thing is… I found a bucket list animal quite literally in a bucket. Nature has a great sense of humor sometimes.
All in all, Lofoten has a wonderful cast of wildlife, and, as my friend the stoat kindly demonstrated for you, it is quite literally everywhere, so keep your eyes open. Another benefit of being in Loftoten, specifically during the summer months, is the lighting. Lofoten, due to it being above the arctic circle, has multiple weeks where the sun doesn’t go down at all, meaning that even on a midnight wildlife tour, which is when the animals are most active, you’ll still be able to see perfectly well, and the sun’s lowest point seems perfectly aligned to provide lighting for photography. So, do yourself a favor if you go to Lofoten, make sure to enjoy the wildlife while you’re there, you’ll get to see some wonderful animals. There is some truly great wildlife up there, ranging from stoats to Bluethroats, so there’s something for everyone. Unless you like parrots, then you’re out of luck, but if you like parrots, why would you look for them in Norway of all places? Anyway, obvious lack of parrots excluded, Lofoten is a haven for pretty much any type of bird you can find, and if you go birding there, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. Good luck, and happy birding, everyone!
After we went to Lake Garda, I made a comment to my family that there was no possible way the Dolomites could do better than Lake Garda. If that were the case, this would’ve been a particularly boring blog post. Fortunately, it seems the Dolomites …
After our time in Portovenere, we took a drive to Lake Garda for the next leg of our trip. What I noticed first when we drove into this region was the mountains surrounding the lake. These weren’t ordinary hills; they were a giant set of …
Now, in the last post, I mentioned that there was an option for getting the beauty of the region without the crowds. If you are waiting for that, here you go. Enter Portovenere, what is known to the locals as the sixth town of the Cinque Terre (and yes, I know that Cinque Terre means five towns, don’t bother me about it). This town has all the charm and beautiful houses of the Cinque Terre, but without the tourist swarms. How is this possible, you may be asking me, and the answer is simple. The train doesn’t stop here, and neither do most of the large cruise ships, so the only ways to get here drive in yourself, take a bus, or take the ferry. While this may not seem like a huge difference right off the bat, tourists are lazy, and taking a 10-minute bus ride is apparently not worth it for them, since they only want a selfie in the towns. Please, don’t be like that, Portovenere is amazing, and it gives you an authentic taste of what life on the Ligurian Coast was like before the Cinque Terre became tourist towns. Speaking of authentic taste, I will also (as usual) give you recommendations for what to eat, with one small twist. I have photos now, so I will get even more hungry writing these posts.
The town of Portovenere is an artistic masterpiece, with the dual charm of a Cinque Terre town and a quaint medieval sea village. And, as I mentioned earlier, it isn’t connected to the train route, so it is also possible to get a photo that doesn’t have a never-ending tide of tourists in the background. Matter of fact, it is probably the only place you could get a sunset photo of a Ligurian town without being trampled by a horde of selfie-snapping tourists that want your spot. So, if you want to experience the charm of the coast and its towns, or even if you just don’t want to deal with tourists clogging your view, this town is likely your version of a Ligurian coast vacation. At a glance, it looks like the Cinque Terre towns, but its unique nature shines through in two locations. The first unique feature is the church, set atop a sea cliff at the corner of the town. The church was positioned carefully to disguise the next feature from invaders or pirates. The second feature a large fortress atop the hill around it, a beautiful, sprawling construction of ancient stone bricks that sits atop the hill like a massive, rocky spider, with its outer walls sprawling down towards the harbor. Once you go in through a gate in one of those walls, you get to enter the town, with its thin, cobblestone streets and colorful three-story buildings crosscut by thin stone staircases leading up then hill, topped off with the massive fortress sitting atop the hill like a crown.
Possibly the prettiest part of the town, though, was lord Byron’s grotto, a crescent-moon shaped, rocky cove cut into the area behind the church. The grotto was filled with ice-blue water and beautiful waves that lapped up onto the rocks in a constant whitewater percussion. With just five minutes in this cove, it’s easy to see why this area is called the bay of poets. In fact, many people take a page out of lord Byron’s book and go for a swim here when the mood strikes them, I even saw some people just jumping in with normal outfits on. Regardless of how you choose to enjoy the grotto, I am pretty sure you will love it, but if you don’t, I have two things to tell you. The first is that you completely and utterly baffle me, and the second is that you should still give the rest of the region a chance, it’s wonderful.
Another wonderful beach in this area is Spiaggia Del’Olivo. The water there isn’t quite as rough as it was in the grotto and was a little clearer as well. It was by no means a fancy beach, but it was a nice place to relax and have a beach day. We went there on our last day in Portovenere, and were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful, rocky beach letting out into the crystal blue water, with a nice view of the islands off the point of Portovenere (I’ll get to those soon) and some sailboats bobbing lazily in the water. It may not have been anything you couldn’t find anywhere else, but it was definitely a nice beach, and if you have extra time, I recommend you give it a visit, as its a fun way to spend a few hours.
Another great way to enjoy the beautiful coast in this area is by boat. We took a boat ride along the coast one of the days we were here, and it was very fun, as there’s a lot to see here. The first place we went on our boat tour was actually the islands just outside the harbor from Portovenere. At a glance, the islands were fairly normal, trees, seagulls, and a lot of rocks. Once you looked closer, though, you might notice what made these islands unique. A WWII-era military base, complete with tunnels, hidden docks for warships, a lighthouse, and several gun towers. The first island didn’t have a ton of military infrastructure, but it did have a cool harbor for loading warships, complete with tunnels, a pulley system, and several lookouts discreetly carved into the rocks above. The other island, though, was a lot more unique, having both a massive lighthouse as well as an entire set of harbor buildings made from cobblestone bricks, now slowly being overtaken again by the island’s vegetation, and now manned solely by seagulls. On the side of the base is a large stone bunker, carved out of solid rock. It came with a massive stone roof that covered the entrance to protect from bombing, but the stone was so thick, and the opening so well placed it probably protected anyone inside from pretty much anything but a perfect shot with a remote-controlled missile. We couldn’t dock on this island to investigate, but I assume the bunker is now home to either a covert military project or an entire air force worth of seagulls. It seems too well placed to pass up, and if one such party isn’t using it, I am almost certain the other is.
The next place we went was the harbor in La Spezia, one town over from Portovenere. There was a lot to see here, and, as such, it was quite fun to cruise through. The town is home to the same typical coastal Ligurian house you are probably accustomed to by now, along with more modern buildings farther in. By far the most interesting part of the town, though was the harbor, for all sorts of reasons. The harbor is a massive trade center, and as a result of this, you will often see one or two cargo ships loading and unloading at the port. If military boats are more your thing, don’t worry. The harbor is also an active military base, and, at least when I was there, had a fair number of military vessels, (likely destroyer-class, but don’t quote me on this, I haven’t studied military ships in a while) and if you are lucky, you might also get to see the submarine stored here or some of the vertical-takeoff jets. If you don’t like the drab gunmetal gray side of boats either, there’s still probably something here for you, though, as the harbor is also the main place where Riva yachts are manufactured. It’s quite fun to watch the process through the giant hangar-like doors of the buildings where they are made. Additionally, if you are feeling shellfish, you can make everyone look at the mussel farms, as the harbor has a massive amount of them, which also doubles as a filtration system for the seawater in the harbor. All in all, the La Spezia harbor is very fun to hang out around and boasts a great collection of aquatic fun!
After La Spezia, we continued along the coast to Lerici, the final stop on our boat tour. This coastal town was rather like Portovenere, and even had a castle, too. The castle itself, at least compared to the massive cobblestone monolith of Portovenere’s castle, wasn’t anything special, just a beautiful tower covering the peninsula that split the town in two, but the town itself was very impressive. It was composed of two massive half-moon shaped harbors bisected by the castle. The left harbor (at least the way we approached from) was an old Ligurian sea village, with the same beautiful, three-story fishing houses, owned by both the fishermen and the rich. You could actually tell which houses were original pretty easily, as the normal ones were connected on the sides (a remanent of when heating was extremely expensive, as everyone could pitch in to heat up the building due to the connected walls), but the ones owned by the rich were not. These were arrayed in a crescent around a long, trailing harbor that cut back around the coast in a semicircle of rainbow colors set onto a beautiful background of rolling green hills and crystalline blue water so beautiful I almost couldn’t believe it was real. We stopped over here and got off the boat to walk around the harbor for a little bit while the boat driver picked up some oysters from the market for us to try. I didn’t really want to try them, though, so I picked up a pinsa slice from the market as we walked around and took photos. In case you were wondering, a pinsa is essentially a pizza, but with more airy dough, cut into a rectangle instead of a circle, and is more traditional in the coastal regions of Italy. It was great, and I ate it on our way up to the castle to take photos from the balcony across the town’s older harbor. The other side was not as cool, mostly being just concrete harbor walls and more modern waterfront villas, but it still was a nice area. A little further down, that area got nicer, and evened out into a row of beaches, where we ate lunch on the boat. Thankfully, I didn’t have to just sit there and watch others eat the oysters, though, as there were other things available as well, such as several flavors of focaccia and a lot of wonderful dips. Every different focaccia was like a little fireworks show of flavor, with the pops of salt and the little pockets of rosemary or tomato, it was amazing. I found it remarkably hard to leave any focaccia for my parents, it was just that good. I could’ve eaten it for hours, but eventually, the focaccia ran dry, and we had to go back to the harbor in Portovenere. All in all, if you want to see the coast around Portovenere in all its glory, you will want to take a boat tour as well, I will put the link here.
Now, before I go, I bet you all are thinking something along the lines of “wait, he mentioned food being more prominent, where’s the food?” but don’t worry, I’m getting to that. Despite Portovenere being so close to the Cinque Terre region, the food is not a tourist trap. The food here is the real deal, and even if you don’t think pasta is a course before you get here, you will leave knowing it is and wishing other places lived by that philosophy. The first place we went was Antica Osteria del Carugio, and, while I don’t have photos because I only thought of the food photography thing after having dinner here, you will just have to live with descriptions here. Me and Mom, as expected, had pasta here, but Dad wanted to try something unique. The pasta was simple but how well made it was blew me away. I got a bolognaise, which was exceptional, and the pesto pasta Mom had was probably some of the best pesto I have ever tried. My Dad, ever the outlier, had Tre Testaroli, a dish made up of three flatbreads The first had oil and parmesan, but the other two were more unique, with one having pesto (as was expected, this region was the pesto capital of Italy) and the other having walnut sauce. It was quite fun to eat, and each flatbread had an individual flavor, with the pesto one being herby, the cheese one being simple yet delicious, and the walnut sauce was sweet enough to be a dessert. Speaking of dessert, I don’t remember what dessert we had here, maybe a tiramisu or something like that, but I do remember it was great. I can definitely recommend this place for traditional cooking and wonderful flavor, it tastes like home (if home had access to a constant supply of fresh pasta and some of the world’s best pesto). The second place we went was Palmaria, a restaurant above the town at the largest hotel here. It was here we discovered that in Italy, pasta is a course of its own, a trend I can definitely get behind. For our first course, we ordered two pastas for the table, a white lamb ragout, and a pumpkin orzo with truffle and shrimp. The ragout was incredible, with and packed full of delicious flavor, I could’ve lived off that for a very long time The other was also wonderful, and while I would never have thought of truffles and pumpkin put together, the result was incredible. I loved it, and I would’ve eaten more of it, but if I did, I probably wouldn’t been able to eat for a week, it was that rich. The next dish I got was a gulf fry bowl. Yes, you heard me right, I ordered a bowl of deep-fried food at a restaurant located at a five-star hotel. I don’t regret it, though, as it was very traditional of the region, as well as being one of the best things I ate on the trip (and that’s not saying that the food on the trip was bad, it was insane, as you have probably noticed, a trend that will only continue later,) I am just saying that it was that good. We also got a wonderful desert here, a tiramisu semifreddo shaped like a coffee bean. It was insane and had so much flavor packed into a bean-shaped bundle. Safe to say, I enjoyed the food here, a trend that will only continue on this trip.
As you can probably tell, Portovenere is a wonderful little town, with all the character of the Cinque Terre and almost none of the tourist traps. I loved this little town, and if you go there, I am almost certain you will like it as much as I did. There’s just something about it that I can’t exactly capture in words, but, for your sake, I did my best. I hope you love this little town as much as I did.
The Cinque Terre region of Italy has some of the most iconic sights in the world. You’ve probably seen pictures of it on your friend’s computer as a lockscreen or something like that. Almost everyone has, even if they don’t know it, but most of the photos …
Now, I think I have covered inland Crete pretty well, but a lot of you may be asking me “Isn’t Crete an island? When do I get to hear about the water?” Don’t worry, I’m getting to that. I will also mix in some recommendations …
One of the most fun things I did in Crete was go on a guided hike through the Platania Gorge. This spectacular gorge has a lot to love about it, but there’s one thing in particular that sets it apart from the rest of Crete’s spectacular landscape, Griffon Vultures. These spectacular birds are some of the highest-flying birds in the world. The wingspans on these things are massive, ranging between 5.3 and 9.2 feet in width. So, clearly, being the bird enthusiast I am, I had to take a hike to go see them. When I first heard that I could see these amazing birds here, my Dad helped to book me a tour. The company we chose was Staori Ecotourism Experiences, and I personally recommend you go on a tour with them as well. The tours are run by Haris and Eleni, who are both very nice and quite knowledgeable about the area, and there is no better way to go looking for Griffon Vultures. They take you on a tour of the Amari Valley, one of the most picturesque places in Crete, with lush, rolling green hills that seem to stretch on and on until they hit one of the island’s mountains or slope down into the rocky areas closer to the azure-blue waters of the island’s many beaches. If you would like to book a tour, click here.
If you choose to go on the tour, they will likely take you to the start of a trail that leads up into one of the more mountainous areas, through jagged cliffs of orange and yellow rock. Once you reach a certain point (which the guides will point out), you will be able to start seeing the vultures. I showed up there relatively early, and I got to watch in awe as close to twenty massive vultures took off from the outcropping and began to circle slowly around our position. It was incredible, watching as these birds, which had a wingspan larger than I am tall, floated gracefully on the wind like they weighed nothing more than a sheet of paper. It seemed almost effortless, too, and their slow, elegant, whirling flight paths traced a series of expanding circles in the sky around me. Then, I started to notice some of the late risers, tucked into convenient cubbies in the rock face. I also noticed the chicks, just waking up and walking out to the edges of their nest caves (which functioned very similarly to apartments) to get a look at the world around them. It was so cute to watch the adorable vulture babies climb over onto the rocks and stick their curious beaks out at the world. Granted, they probably had none of this in mind and just wanted breakfast, but I still think the way they poked their heads out of the nest was adorable. To their credit, though, the scenery on the hike was wonderful, too, so they had good taste. There were beautiful, giant orange cliffs stretching over verdant green valleys, and bent olive trees hanging over the trail. The trail was rather difficult and surprisingly steep in places, but the combination of amazing views and beautiful vultures made it quite worth it. Also, I may just be out of shape, since the old ladies in this area come up this trail quite often during olive season to harvest olives from the trees here.
After negotiating the rather steep downslope, when we got back from the hike, the guides offered us a sampler of homemade cheese and fresh apricots from their yard. The cheese was quite good, but the apricots really stood out. They were perhaps some of the most flavorful apricots I have ever had! I am very picky with my stone fruit, and these sure met my standards! After the apricots (which I probably ate too many of), we drove up Mount Psiloritis (more commonly known as Mount Ida) to look for bearded vultures. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any. But the mountain was beautiful, and the view over the valley was exceptional. Overall, I very much enjoyed our tour, and I think it was a great way to explore the wonders of Crete and get in some good birdwatching while you are at it!
I hate soft cheese with a burning passion. Or at least, I did, until a cooking class in Crete changed my mind. I was walking down a small cobblestone path through the abandoned olive mill of Kapsaliana, enjoying the gardens as I went to the …
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