Crete - Rethymno, Valentine Lunch, Othonas Taverna

 Valentine lunch!, yes that is how far behind I am in posting on my blog.

Rick said he would like to take me out to lunch so we thought the harbour side restaurants might be nice for that.

We could get there by walking through the regular town streets but far prefer the old town.

As we walked we saw men carrying bunches of flowers or single roses and vans delivering flowers and balloons.

Rick talked about how busy Valentine's Day was in the florist business and he does not miss that craziness (along with Mother's Day) at all. He was surprised that it seems to be embraced here.

Greece has not traditionally celebrated Valentine’s Day, as the state religion in Greece is Greek Orthodox. There are two days in the Greek Orthodox calendar that are devoted to Saints who celebrate love. The first is the celebration of Saint Priscilla and Saint Aquila, which takes place on the 13th February, and honours a couple who travelled with St. Paul, helping him to spread the word of God. The second feast day celebration is on the 3rd of July, and is devoted to Saint Hyacinth (or Agios Yakinthos). Like Valentine, Hyacinth died a martyr, and his day is a celebration of love because of his true love and devotion to God which cost him his life. from mykonos.com

The restaurants beside the harbour are large and

and have fancy inside facilities too.

We looked at a few menus and picked one that was quite busy and had a view of the lighthouse.

We were whisked to a table and given glasses and water and then didn't see a server for about 15minutes. We ended up leaving and continuing on our search.

The restaurants around the old Venetian harbour

were in the shade and a bit pricey,

great view though.

So we dove back into the old town and ended up stopping at Othonas Taverna.

We ordered from the Meze menu

According to the waiter everything was made in house.

The bread came with olive oil already on, warm, with a fish row dip and olives. We were also served a little cup of pea soup ("on the house").

We ordered 4 meze to share. This is the fried graviera cheese and the flagera with honey for dipping. Both delicious. The mushrooms in a creamy garlic sauce were also fabulous but the giant beans were not as flavourful as I have had them. With a half litre of wine between us, we were stuffed.

Rick asked for the bill and then we were given an Apricot Cheesecake and Raki, "on the house". One sip of the Raki was enough but the cheesecake was light and lovely.

The view from our table. There was a retractable awning that was opened for the sun but closed when it started to spit rain.

It was a very enjoyable lunch, tasty, authentic Greek food. Great service and I have done some googling and found that the complementary dessert and Raki is common in Cretan restaurants and tavernas. I also checked it out on Trip Advisor and found that we had accidentally found the #4 (out of 330) restaurant in Rethymno.