Day #25: 25 July 2013

Today was our last field trip L I cannot believe that four weeks have gone by so quickly. We started our day off with pottery making. We went to the village of Thrapsano where we had a pottery workshop run by Ploumakis and family. It was so amazing to see how a lump of clay could be turned into something so beautiful like a vase or a pot with one’s hands. The guy was so talented with making the pottery and he made it look very easy. When I attempted to make my pot, it did not turn out as well as his did. He ended up having to help me make mine. It was also fun walking around in the shop of their pottery because everything was gorgeous and completely unique!

Showing us How to Make a Vase

All of the Dried Pottery

The Pottery in their Natural Setting

After pottery, we went to Labyrinth located in Choudetsi. Labyrinth is a lira museum operated by Ross Daly who has the largest collection of liras in Greece. Labyrinth is unique to all other museums in that it is used as an educational school to teach people about playing the lira and to practice. Also, all of the liras in the museum are available for people to play and touch because that is what musical instruments are meant to do – be played. It was interesting to see how even though all liras had the same basic shape with a hollow chamber and strings played with a bow, each country applied their unique design to the lira. In Crete, the traditional lira is pear shaped.

Liras from Greece

The Motorcycle that Mr. Daly Rode Around Greece

Our next stop was the Kazantzakis Museum. We watched a video in the museum about his life and then saw materials from his life. I did not realize how many books he wrote and in how many languages. Kazantzakis was a very important man for Greece and not only reflected their rich cultural history in his writings but also was able to embrace Crete’s desire for freedom and had political positions. After the museum, we went to Myrtia, the local village. We had some local Greek delicacies including fresh pita, pork, chicken and beef/lamb souvlakia, French fries and Greek salad. The meal was delicious and hit the spot considering we were all very hungry.

Our last stop was the Boutari winery. The winery was a branch of the main one that grew grapes specifically in Crete. The property where the grapes were growing was gorgeous and it was so much fun being able to pick the grapes directly off the vine and taste the grapes pre-wine. The wine tasting was also interesting because we had our first glass while watching a movie about the history of wine and about the brand Boutari. Overall, I did not really like the Boutari wine, but it might have been more of a personal preference. However, the experience was very interesting and I loved seeing all of the oak barrels full of the wine.

Some Merlot Grapes

Boutari Wine Cellar

Wine Tasting!