This would be our 2nd Cretan walk and this time we’d be walking with Julie2 up in her village Limnes, near Neapoli in NE Crete. Julie2 has lived in Crete ever since I’ve known Jane so at least 15 years and soon after I met her she bought her house in Limnes and I remember going to see it for the first time. We were all very sceptical about her plans to develop this fallen down wreck of a building, with no roof and no windows. However, she’s a determined and creative lady and she did exactly what she said she would do and now has a lovely, cosy house in this traditional Greek village.
She has an eye for rescuing old stuff and her house is full of fascinating artefacts from Cretan life. I also love her roof terraces where, today I could see huge bunches of grapes hanging from the vines. Apparently a bumper crop this year. It was here that we met Julie to go for our walk.
We’d had a hard day sunbathing on the patio and snorkelling in the heat of the day but by 5pm when we met Julie, it had started to cool down considerably.In fact at the end of the day it had clouded over and become very windy and the sea dramatically choppy.
The idea today was to take Julie’s dogs for a walk. She now has 4 dogs each of whom she has rescued somewhere along the way. So now we have Patch, Baby Dog, Gracie and the latest arrival Aris. They were all excitedly waiting for us in Julie’s courtyard and as we arrived they all started barking and howling. In such a quiet village, where you can practically hear the man right at the opposite end, sneeze- this is quite a noise. The sooner we were on our way the better!
It was a treat for them all to be able to go out together and it was also a turn up for us to be doing a walk with quite so many dogs when both Jane and Enid are allergic! Joyce was put in charge of Aris, Julie2 had the lively puppy Gracie and I soon became responsible for the little one- Baby Dog. Patch meanwhile was allowed to lead the way on her own.
Our walk took us round the little back lanes of the village. Over the years we’ve seen it change here and many of the old buildings have now been renovated. However, there are still incredibly picturesque corners with flower filled pots and old weathered doors. The Greek villagers, who like to sit outside their houses in the evening, eye us with an air of suspicion although when we smile and say “Yassas”they smile back and say hello too. Sometimes they add some extra words and I’m never quite sure whether they’re friendly words or rude!
As we leave the village we pass some rough arable land and it’s strikes me that they make use of every little bit of land around here. There are sheep and goats and little plots of veg growing in every spare corner.
The walk then joins a dusty path covered in pine needles running upto and then under the main road between Heraklion and Agios Nikolaos. Its lined with Eucalyptus and pine trees whose fragrance can just about be caught on the light breeze. It’s lovely walking in the evening sunshine and everything now is starting to glow. There are still some threatening clouds around but somehow that just makes it more dramatic.
As we walk Julie tells us about some of the history of the dogs she’s now looking after. She’s not exactly an official dog refuge but people seem to know that if they dump a dog with Julie she can’t bear to do anything but look after it. And when you get to know them a bit you can see why and I soon became very found of my little charge Baby Dog who walked like a princess (according to Enid)!!
As we walked further on we started to walk through the olive groves belonging to the villagers. Some of these trees must be hundreds of years old and some of the paths are ancient donkey tracks as well. We make it to Julie’s land where we find yet another dog- Nikki. She’s very excited to see us but doesn’t get on with the other dogs and so the rest of us stay outside the padlocked gate as Julie goes in to feed Nikki. Julie owns this piece of land which has olives trees on it and she also uses it to grow various crops through the year. It’s a bit late now but this year she’s had courgettes, onions, potatoes, cucumbers and corn on the cob. The views from up here to the mountains and across the olive groves to the village of Choumeriako are stunning.
We walked back the same way but did a little detour at the end past an old church. Baby dog needed to be carried a little on the way back and so now I was put in charge of Gracie. This lively pup was lovely but practically pulled me all the way back! Even Enid was now put in charge of Aris. He’s not a well dog but Julie is trying to look after him and get him medication to sort him out.
When we get back to Julie’s the dogs are all worn out and in need of some water and a rest. We meanwhile have worked up an appetite and go out to one of our favourite restaurants. This is the Old School House in Limnes itself. It literally is the old school house complete with the old school desks and some wonderful old photos of the school kids on the wall. The surroundings are very atmospheric with Cretan music playing as we sat in the school playground enjoying our meal.
The guy is friendly but apparently he isn’t from the village so no one seems to visit his restaurant. We last came here 2 years ago and had the place to ourselves then. The same was true today. Its such a shame because the food is some of the best we’ve had in Crete.
He has a lovely menu with worry beads attached to it to help you think as you choose! Today we ticked that we wanted:
-Dakos – crispbread roll thing with olive oil, feta and tomato on it
-Fava – split peas with onion and olive oil
-Creamy garlic potatoes – the best anywhere
–Greek salad – of course
-Grilled belly pork
-Village sausage – tangy and herby
-Cheese pies
-Beef burgers – meaty and herby
-Stuffed courgette flowers – aromatic
It was all absolutely delicious and you’d have thought that would be enough. However, like many other places here, and perhaps because we are with Julie2, we then get different freebie puddings! So along comes watermelon and honeydew melon, melt in the mouth, orange cake and just cooked, fudgey chocolate cake.
What a walk. What a feast!
Walky Talky 