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Chrisoskalitissa is the name of a 17th century white painted monastery on the southwest coast of Crete. It's build on a rock overlooking Stomia Bay and the Libian sea. The name means "golden staircase", and it is said that one of the 90 stairs to the top of the monastery is made of gold, but that only a person without sin can see it. I'm afriad that neither I nor my friends saw any gold on the staircase during our visit. Another story tells that it did exist but that the monks were forced to sell it in order to help the Patriarchy of Constantinople to pay off its debts to the Sultan during the Turkish occupation. You can have a nice view of the surroundings from the monastery after you climed up.

The monastery can be reached from Kisamos over a spectacular road which is also a bit scary from time to time, because it takes you so high up in the mountains it's hard to look down.... For those of you who want to stay over: there's not much accommodation around. We stayed at a nice hotel which has a tavern across the street with nice views over the sea and towards the monastery in the background. It's just a little back from where you came from, and it's called Glykeria rooms and tavern. They are the only two buildings there, so an opportunity for a nice sunset and a star filled sky in complete quietness. It's a small place with 10 rooms all with balconies facing the sea. It's run by a very helpful, funny Swedish woman called Frida, who happens to be also a great cook, both in the evening and in the morning at breakfast time.

The Kochilas Taverna is located near the Chrisoskalastissa monastery and overlooks the monastery itself. You can see the taverna on your left hand side as you drive from the north to the monastery. We ordered a chicken souvlaki, a boureki (oven dish with zucchini, potatos and myzitra - a goat cheese), lamb chops and bifteki (a kind of meatball). Everything we have ordered tastes delicious, especially the boureki, and the fries are quite tasty.

Our verdict: a 9 out of 10

Opposite the Kochilas Taverna is the Zefyros and here we had really a very different experience. On the sign in front of the taverna was written in very large letters "boureki". Boureki is a dish with only vegetables in it and it's one of my favorites. That's why we try this Zefyros Taverna. But unfortunately there is no boureki. There is moussaka says the man working here, but moussaka is something quite different: a dish with pork. I do not understand why he brings it up. So we order something else: a tzatziki, peppers, tuna salad and a fish. Old bread is put down on the table to combine with the starters. I must ask for small plates because we have not received those so we can "enjoy" the appetisers. All the time the man working here doesn't say one word and he has got the same expression as "grumpy cat", very unfriendly. It's not often like that thank you. The tuna salad is unimaginative, the tzatziki is like yoghurt with a little garlic, the peppers (from a jar?) are cold and not tasty. The fish is not great. The bill comes without cash register receipt, so you wonder if tax is paid. We get nothing extra (a raki or fruit or something sweet), so no tip. Really crappy tent. Next time we go to the other side of the street again.

Our verdict: a 3 out of 10