Crete - Sitia to Agios Nikolaos

The visitor can see everywhere the holy tree of Athena with the silver -green leaves standing there playing with the wind and receiving in rest the hot sun rays, transforming its juice to the magical elixir of life and health, the olive oil. From cretesitia.gr

 We had driven past Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nickolas) on our way to Sitia and drove back today to take a look.

First we followed signs we had seen to an archaeological site just east of Sitia. A narrow road, of course, and we found it in a location that allowed visual communication with the fortress at Sitia.

 

Unfortunately the gates were locked and it had a sign saying the site was closed. What a pity, as I could see there were information boards in there!

Just one board out by the tower entrance.

The road west gave us views of the coast and, frequently, views of the snow capped mountains of the interior.

This little roadside church, snugged into the side of the hill,

advertised outdoor cooking courses.

This might be considered a "seaview", but it was a "peeview" (when you gotta go....)

We took the "old road" in, rather than the new highway, and it took us directly in to the harbour area. Hungry, we stopped for lunch. Ever adventurous we had a club sandwich and a greek salad (guess who had which). The guy serving, in his 70s at least, was also cooking, with his brother, similar age. We were in no hurry, luckily, and I sketched. I made the mistake of asking for a white wine and got half a carafe. Sad but I couldn't finish it .... driving.

Had to walk the docks.

Lots of pleasure yachts and a smattering of working fishing boats.

So colourful and covered in buoys and nets.

Some big boats that obviously need some work and

some, traditional, wooden boats getting the work they needed.

Makes me think more of a marmalade sandwich than of a sailboat.

From the harbour (left of the map) we walked across to the "lake" and then along the sea front (right/top of the map). Then around the bottom and back to the marina.

Tug on the opposite side of the pier where the cruise boats come in.

"The lake", it is actually open to the sea through a narrow passage under a bridge.

Looking back at one point I noticed this sculpture.

Zeus, the chief god in Greek mythology, spent his infancy on the island of Crete. He was nourished by milk from a goat called Amalthea. Zeus accidentally broke off one of his nurse's horns. He blessed the horn so that it would always be full of what its owner desired. So came into being the concept of Amalthea's horn, the Cornucopia or in English the 'horn of plenty' - a symbol of abundance.
Speculation: The Minoan diet included octopus which was plentiful in the surrounding waters, and images of those creatures appear often in their art work. Is this why the sculptors, Nikos and Pandelis Sotiriadi, have made the horn of plenty resemble a tentacle? From ipernity.com

Driving, we kept seeing this sign. An exclamation point denotes a dangerous situation not otherwise indicated by a road sign.