Food Fridays - Chania

Ah, Greek food.  Lemon and orange trees brighten the streets with fruit and blossoms.  Fishermen sell their morning catch right on the docks.  It feels like they truly live off of the land and sea here.  While on the island of Crete, we tried to find a few dishes that are purely Cretan and encountered an intoxicating after-meal custom.

Every meal starts with bread.  Sometimes plain, sometimes with a tasty tomato spread, or sometimes with a few drizzles of olive oil and vinegar.  Oh, and this is our first Greek coffee, so thick, it practically oozes out of the cup.

A traditional Cretan dish of fried snails.  This was an appetizer, so we were expecting maybe 5 or 6 snails, but got this instead.  We're good with snails for a while.

Deliciously fresh steamed muscles in a white wine sauce

Wine marinated lamb.  So tender you could pry it apart with a fork.

Pork gyro platter from the best gyro place in town.

Greek salad with a huge chunk of feta cheese. 

Grilled cuttlefish

Freshly caught grilled snapper

Cretan pies filled with a creamy local cheese and smothered in honey.

Fresh anchovies

Seafood platter for one...I don't think we could have finished the platter for two. 

Every meal ends with free dessert and a complimentary dose of raki (think Cretan vodka).