Discovery of Crete
After last year's DITA project , part of the team (Geoffrey, Nicolas and me) with Fabrice (a blog reader who became a friend) is currently traveling across Crete. And we gradually discover the richness of this region where life is incredibly good . We thought that you would like to read a little about our discovery of this beautiful region, and that it would be a bit of a change from the eternal selection of bags for back to school 😉
So we're going to talk to you about fashion (a little), and travel (a lot).
First week: Rethymno
After our arrival in the night in Heraklion (and a first sleepless night with… Belgian professional footballers who decided to settle in Crete), direction Rethymno. Why this city?
Well quite simply because according to my little research on the internet, it was the city which had best preserved its ancient character , in particular its Venetian and Turkish past.
The terrace of a restaurant makes you want it, doesn’t it?
It is a city dating from Antiquity, which was powerful enough to afford the luxury of minting its own currency. The architecture was significantly influenced by the Venetians when they controlled the island.
Rethymno without nightclubs.
Rethymno with nightclubs.
I had chosen accommodation on Airbnb, and I did not at all expect such quality from the place where we were going to stay…
First, location. On vacation, I have an absolutely essential criterion for choosing accommodation: the city center . I hate taking public transport to go out, and we have to be able to do everything on foot , especially coming home from the evening.
In this respect, we were served, because our guest house was in the heart of the old town, with everything you need (excellent restaurants, shops, bars, clubs, walks, swimming) within a radius 5 minutes on foot. I was immediately charmed by this old city center, made up of very small adorable streets (there is no room for cars to enter them). Restaurant terraces are beautiful and frequently include green roofs which give a unique ambiance and some fresh air.
The old city center is entirely made up of these kinds of small streets, sometimes with a green roof to keep things cool. Cars cannot circulate, hence the very appreciable calm.
The size of the streets, the color of the houses, the little hidden fountains: everything contributes to giving a very human, simple and warm side to this old city center. Seeing neighbors putting chairs in the street and drinking glasses of Raki (a local alcohol resembling Italian Grappa, which has caused some damage to the team), children playing in the alleys, or wild cats eating a leftover meals further reinforce this convivial side that I find absent from Paris.
We therefore carefully discover our guest house , extremely spacious, with character, in the heart of the old town. I would also like to take this opportunity to highly recommend this place, because Eddie and Dominique are two fantastic hosts. Besides, here is the “lunch” that awaited us when we arrived:
Cretan salad in all its splendor!
Nothing to do with supermarket feta: it's creamy as can be.
Assortment of three fish and seafood.
And fig dessert. Photo filtered a little hastily under Hipstamatic, because of the glasses of white wine and Bardouin pastis which had their effect. Dominique is a cook who totally amazed us!
The private terrace of our apartment, lemon tree included. It really is a very, very nice guest house.
The super spacious apartment.
Cretan food
It's impossible to ignore Cretan gastronomy as we are lovers of good food. The huge Greek salads are obviously excellent in addition to being inexpensive (generally between 4 and 6 euros).
It's ultimately a very light and pleasant cuisine, because starchy foods such as cereals, potatoes or rice are rarely used, which suits us well . On the other hand, vegetables are cooked in a wide variety of ways: marinated, boiled, grilled, in meatballs, with feta, and always with a drizzle of delicious olive oil. There is something for every taste.
Grilled peppers, peas, olives, beans: it’s delicious.
And it’s great for sharing with good friends.
Red meat is quite expensive, however, which leads people to eat a lot of fish. The famous Cretan diet is ultimately quite simple to understand: a relative absence of cereals, but an abundance of vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, and olives. (don't worry, BonneGueule is not going to get into food criticism (yet), Eddie Huang does it much better than us ).
I was delighted by the quality of service in the restaurants, and it will be very difficult to leave a restaurant without leaving a tip. Indeed, all restaurants aim to do more than is expected , and they always offer you a little something: a glass of raki, a large platter of grapes, watermelons and watermelons. for dessert, or even a small slice of honey and coconut cake. Bonus if you ask the pretty waitress to drink the raki with you!
Moreover, the restaurants in the old town are very charming and rival each other in character: fountain or small pond on the terrace, green roof or enormous convivial tables.
Rethymno is clearly a city where you will eat well and healthy.
Nightlife in Rethymno
It's time to reveal a secret: the BonneGueule team loves going out in the evening and going to bars and clubs. It’s a truth that we must finally admit.
So it was with great interest that I walked the streets the first evening at 11 p.m., curious to see where the places that were moving were.
The quality of service in the bars is impressive : iced water is systematically served, the waiters happily offer you shooters and they always bring you a few cucumbers or olives to nibble on.
Likewise, clubs are what a club should always be: fun, friendly and open. Entrance is completely free, there are no menacing bouncers acting out, and the male/female ratio is the last thing on Cretans' minds.
The emphasis is enormously placed on the quality of service inside (we always come back to this): we drink from… glass glasses (and not sponsored plastic cups). Bottles of water are systematically placed on the tables and replaced as soon as you leave the table for 5 minutes. We are happy to offer you small pieces of vegetables to snack on. The bartenders are super smiley and sometimes, there are even petals of various flowers placed on the tables to delicately perfume the place. Amazing.
And I remind you that entry is completely free... Whereas, in my opinion, most French clubs play enormously on these unbearable effects of selection at entry, of artificial queues, of false feelings of privilege of having the chance to enter the place to be granted the right to spend a fortune there... it's quite the opposite here, where we completely find Cretan hospitality and goodwill.
The results of our nightlife in Rethymno are therefore very, very positive.
And fashion in all this?
Wherever I go, I can't help but carefully observe the clothes of locals of all ages. The same goes for our trip and let's be honest, from a clothing point of view, there isn't much interesting in Rethymon.
I looked in vain for local designers, but the rare high-end boutiques only have brands like Moncler or Calvin Klein... It is surprising to find quite a few fur and leather clothing boutiques for such a hot region, but nothing really convinced me. It’s clear that this city is not a shopping destination, and that’s a good thing, because that’s not what we came for.
Let's still note the style of the island's natives (sorry, I forgot the precise name despite my research), with black hair and very big beards, and dressed all in black, shirts wide open and revealing an imposing rosary. . A look in exactly the same vein as Gérard Lanvin in the film “Les lyonnais”.
This is exactly the style of some locals on the island.
Two Easy Vacation Outfits
We took the opportunity to take some photos in the streets of the old town of Rethymno. Here is a totally casual and relaxed first outfit for the holidays. A t-shirt, jeans, and airy shoes, it couldn't be simpler:
I'm wearing Rivieras shoes , Melinda Gloss jeans, a Benjamin Jezequel t-shirt, an Atamé bracelet and a Margote Céramiste bracelet .
(the jeans are new and therefore not yet relaxed).
Benoît has a gift with animals, you can see it in the cat's face.
I never thought I would wear these kinds of shoes one day, but their comfort in summer makes them simply addictive. As for bracelets, you are starting to know Atamé well. The other is a Margote Céramiste , a small, inexpensive and very nice artisanal brand, which has the particularity of systematically using porcelain in its pieces.
The t-shirt is therefore a Benjamin Jezequel (test coming very soon), an excellent, very affordable French brand, whose small sizes are very well cut. I particularly like the sobriety of the colors which contrast with the very technical work of the geometric pieces.
These photos were taken in a typical alley in the old city center where, as you can see, wild cats are abundant.
Here is a second, more formal outfit:
I'm wearing "Collection Privée?!" indestructible (this brand is no longer distributed in France), Melinda Gloss jeans, a La Comédie Humaine shirt and Atamé and Margote Céramiste bracelets. And I am in front of the Rimondi fountain, more than 400 years old.
I would like to take this opportunity to give my feedback on the fit of the Melinda Gloss jeans, which I have spoken very little about in the past. Well I must say that this unique semi slim cut is very pleasant and goes with many types of shoes. It is a "stone washed" canvas, which means that it has already been faded and does not have at all the cardboard feel of a new selvedge canvas. Not bad for those who want a change from raw denim.
I don't particularly like wearing my shirts tucked into jeans, but at least you can clearly see the cut of the butt and the size of the crotch.
It's a small check shirt, exactly what I like.
Ultimately, these two outfits are very much like my travel wardrobe: simple and no hassle, we're not there to spend three hours in front of the mirror before going out.
The Samaria gorges, seen by Nicolas
After a difficult awakening, we took the bus at dawn, armed with snacks prepared by our charming hosts. We doze off while the bus takes us first along the beaches then towards the peaks. The goats are becoming more numerous and the temperature is getting cooler.
8 a.m., we begin our 14 km hike down through the gorges. At the top, the view is breathtaking, in a diffused light, due to the morning mist, our eyes as city dwellers struggled to take in the immensity of the valley below: beauty.
Sunrise in the Valley of the Evil Goat.
The delicious smells of pine, a real Proust madeleine for Geoffrey.
The day before, we had started physical preparation with the excellent T-25 fitness program from American coach Shaun-T. Our aches and pains showed up from the start of the descent. The stone path put our balance and our soles to the test.
A real Cretan mule.
We reach the bed of the torrents which have dug the gorges. A tradition (superstition?) pushes walkers to erect small towers of rounded pebbles.
Click on the photo to have the panoramic view.
A few hours later, we arrive in the valley, a time chosen to take a well-deserved lunch break. Nicolas began to make a sandwich, but barely had a slice of bacon been placed on a Krissprolls cracker when a wasp, then two, then a hornet began to show their interest. A few moments later, a veritable army of yellow and black pests armed with sharp stingers descended on the slice of cold cuts, tearing it into pieces and disappearing with it. But the BonneGueule team won. Let's start walking again...
The gorges are only a few hours' walk away.
Under a stunning dodger, we discover the gorges of Samaria. The geology of the place is absolutely astonishing. The sediment strata appear to have been twisted like common cafeteria spoons. Huge sections of collapsed mountains lie in the bed of an immense torrent that has dried up for several months. We walk on a highway of white stones polished by the waters.
But in fact the rock is like marshmallow?
The end of the route is done... by boat,
because no road reaches the small village at the bottom of the gorge.
The mystery shoot?
The mountains opened before us. This is the moment we chose to organize the mystery shooting. We have photographed from every angle one of our next collab which will be released in the spring. Benoit, uncompromising, forced me to blur the photo...
(no, this is not a censored Japanese porn shoot).
This stop of around twenty minutes also gives us time to notice that the BGNS sneakers hold up without difficulty (but don't do that with yours!).
Benoit, always very clever, had not planned anything else for walking...
A few kilometers still separate us from the Mediterranean. The goats are everywhere, their agility is matched only by the kindness expressed by their looks ( note from Geoffrey: WTF? ). Arriving at the port, we feast on a Cretan salad before returning exhausted to Rethymnon.
I assure you that by zooming in on the photo, the one on the left looks super creepy.
Next episode: we don’t know yet! More seriously, we have just left Rethymno to settle in a small village near Heraklion, called Skalani. Apparently, it's a wine region, we'll tell you more about it in a future episode.
