In the city of the Venetians and Turks on Crete and in the Watermill Valley - Réthimnon and Myli Gorge

We drove along the coast to Réthimnon, a coastal town where Venetian and Turkish heritage is evident.

We strolled through the Venetian harbor, which is surrounded by numerous taverns.

So we came to the Fortezza, the Venetian castle that was once built to protect the city.

Unfortunately, some savings were made on the expansion and so it did not withstand the Turkish attack of 1646.

As in other parts of the city, the former church was converted into a mosque, the Sultan Ibrahim Mosque. Today it is used for exhibitions, among other things.

The area was quite extensive. Originally, it was planned that the entire city population would move into the protective walls, but they initially did not want to do this.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Fortezza was almost completely built up, but not much of it can be seen today.

From the fortress we went into the old town with its small streets and beautiful buildings.

What is special here are the many Venetian portals.

Behind one of them was a traditional bakery that has specialized in the production of puff pastry for several generations and, according to its own statements, makes the best baklava ever.

When we looked through the door, we were kindly invited in and were able to watch the large doughs being spread out on tables between blankets. We also recognized the baker, whom we had already seen in a documentary about Crete on TV.

We bought a packet of baklava to try, and we actually really enjoyed it.

In the centre of the old town is the Rimondi fountain, of which only remnants remain. However, water still bubbles out of three lion's mouths between Corinthian columns.

We strolled through the old town and passed several churches and former mosques.

Afterwards we drove to the Myli Gorge, which is only a few kilometers away from Réthimnon.

There were once numerous watermills here, of which only a few remains remain today.

From our parking lot we hiked down into the gorge and passed a small church built into the rock.

There is also a tavern in the gorge, where we took a short break. A cable car stretches across the gorge so that the tavern can be supplied with food. Otherwise, the only way to get here is on foot.

We walked a little further through the gorge and came to a restored mill building.

A little further on there were only dilapidated houses belonging to a former village that are slowly being reclaimed by nature.

We followed the path to a small waterfall and then turned back.

On the way back we chose a different route to cross the river, which led past the tavern down into the gorge.

There used to be a bridge here, but only a few posts remained. There was also a sign indicating that a maximum of 20 adults were allowed on the bridge...

We crossed the river over stones and the remaining wood and reached the other bank without falling or getting wet.

After we climbed out of the gorge again, we drove back to the hotel.