Crete - Greek Independence Day

My plan for today was to take a bus ride, either to a village inland or to a beach to the West. I hadn't decided which. Over coffee I was scrolling through facebook and found it was Greek Independence Day. I went out on to the terrace and there were very few cars on the road...must be a public holiday. There go the bus plans, they are different on weekends and holidays, less frequent.

March 25 celebrates the Greek Independence from the Ottoman Empire in  1832 and is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus. From nationaltoday.com

So instead I read and I painted.

Photo taken yesterday

Painted today.

I also took 3 plein air sketches and

 added colour

And got ready to tackle the Chania lighthouse

 

I needed to use up the lentils that I had purchased for the Vegetarian Pastitsio so for my last Greek recipe I made a Greek Red Lentil Soup. Although I did look up a recipe, I just did what I usually do with soups and added things I wanted to use up - some rubbery carrots and a bit of red pepper, smoked paprika because I didn't have turmeric, the last of the cherry tomatoes.

Luckily the apartment has an immersion blender so I could make it into a nice smooth, cream soup.

 

What made it Greek I suppose was that it called for copious amounts of oregano and at the end you add lemon juice and sprinkled the bowl full with feta cheese. Anyway, it is delicious and made far too much, I will be eating it all week.