Chania Farmers Market

Chania’s historic Municipal Market building is closed for renovations, so on Saturday morning we walked over to the Minoos Street Market.

Minoos Street ran alongside one of the old Venetian fortification walls. The market stalls were set up along both sides of the entire street - it was about the length of three American football fields!

Much of the produce was similar to what we’d seen in Nafplio: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and lettuces. Onions and tiny heads of garlic were sold in bunches, their dried tops tied together. We bought some beets and a watermelon. The vibrant dragonfruit were a surprise - I was tempted, but decided we already had more produce than we could eat in a week.

There were a LOT of olives - including some Cretan specialties:, the tiny koroneiki that are grown for oil and rarely eaten whole outside of Greece; the large green chalkidiki (donkey olives); and our favorites, the black, wrinkled, salted olives from Chania.

I also spotted a few more Cretan specialties:

• graviera, a hard cheese similar to gruyère and the second most popular cheese in Greece after feta

• live snails, to be cooked in olive oil with rosemary and vinegar (Cretan escargot!)

• dakos, the dry, crunchy barley rusk (twice-baked bread) used in salads and meze

There were several cafes on Minoos Street with outdoor tables and grills in the street with souvlaki skewers. They were quite popular, and the souvlaki smelled wonderful. Perhaps we’ll stay and have lunch one Saturday.