Monday, May 30, 2016

Crete

We left the island of Naxos a few days ago, and were sad to go! It was definitely our favorite thus far, and we loved the kind owners of our hotel. We even got a fond farewell from grandma, who was always around, either sitting in the shade on the deck or puttering in the kitchen.

The Champion1 highspeed ferry which we took to Crete was an amazing boat....seemed more like a cruise ship, and it really motored along at 70km/hr. When it docked, it was there no longer than 10 minutes, so people had to be ready to get off and on, with no dillydallying. In fact, there was a fellow whose job it was to double check the destinations of all the people not heading downstairs to disembark, and he usually caught someone who hadn't paid attention to the announcements!

The main ferry terminal on Crete is in the city of Iraklio, which has a reputation of not being attractive, so most people stay long enough just to visit the Palace of Knossos, the capital of Minoan Crete and just 5 km out of town. The ruins were unearthed in 1900 by a British archaeologist, who then spent 35 years and L250,000 of his own money excavating and reconstructing sections of the palace. The Palace had an advanced drainage system, including a flush toilet adjacent to the Queen's bedroom! The ruins were not the most impressive we have seen in Greece, but the Archaeological Museum, which we saw afterwards, had an amazing Minoan collection, including pottery, jewelry, figurines and frescoes.

Our favorite thing in Iraklio was the fabulous Cretan restaurant recommended to us by our hotel front desk staff. Everything on the menu was different than we had seen before, and we devoured the "slow cooked young goat, boneless, with added yoghurt in the end", zucchini flowers stuffed wih Cretan soft cheese, and a large Cretan salad (tomato, cucumber, fresh onion, purslane or artichoke, rye rusk, sea fennel, olives, pepper, capers, Cretan cream cheese, and sea salt). Wow, what a meal...so good that we booked a table for the next night, and tried some other items! This restaurant is rated #2 in the city on Trip Advisor, and they deserve it.

Yesterday morning we donned our backpacks and headed for the bus station to make our way to the seaside town of Chania, which is a popular destination on this island. We spotted another couple about our age with similar backpacks (most backpackers are much younger than us), and they turned out to be from Vancouver BC. We seemed to have a lot in common, so visited on the bus trip, and then had an enjoyable dinner with them later.

Chania is lovely, with an attractive Venetian harbour and many little shops and restaurants. Our hotel is higher end than we have had up until now, so we are feeling pampered. We will stay here for a week, and will be hiking the famous Samaria Gorge on Wednesday. We booked it through a tour group, so will be dropped off at the start of the hike, then picked up at the end. The weather is hot right now, so we will be drinking lots of water and trying to get through the 16 km trail at a good pace, in order to avoid being out too long in the heat. Will report back on how it goes!

Yesterday we also made some necessary bookings for the rest of our trip, and we'll be flying to Athens next Sunday, then onto Izmir, Turkey. We have a hotel booked in Selcuk, the closest town to Ephesus. After two days there we will fly to Istanbul, where we have five days to sightsee before heading home.

Naxos town & Temple of Apollo
Beach near our hotel on Naxos
Chania, Crete - Venetian Harbour
Sea sponges for sale
Local beach in Chania
Would be fun to try all of these!
 

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Naxos photos

Temple of Demeter
Goats on the move!
The old and the new.
7th century kouros near Apollonas
Russ standing beside it!
Marble quarry
Took this photo from an area where all the discarded cut marble pieces were dumped- wish my backpack was bigger!
 

More Islands...

Yasas from Naxos! We really like this island - it is a great combination of beautiful scenery, lovely beaches, small villages and lots of tavernas with interesting food. The size of Naxos town is nice too, as it is walkable but has enough attractions to keep you busy. We rented a car for the first two days here, and scooted all over the island. It is the largest island of the Cyclades, and very mountainous (highest peak is Mt. Zeus at 1004m), so the roads are windy and steep - fun in a little rental car with a standard stickshift! There are large marble quarries on the island, and the road gives you a great view of the slabs that have been cut away from the mountain. We had fun finding several marble "kouros", huge statues of youths from 6th and 7th centuries B.C. that were abandoned and left lying in the spot they were carved.

Yesterday we went on a day tour to the islands of Delos and Mykonos. It took us three hours to walk around the ruins on Delos, and we were surprised at the size of the area that has been excavated. Although the island is tiny, it was estimated that 30,000 people lived there at the beginning of the 1st century B.C., so it was a thriving community.

Mykonos was about what we expected, a bustling resort town with shops and restaurants plugged with cruise ship passengers (5 ships were there yesterday!). Physically it is attractive, but we were quite happy to leave after 3 hours. On the plus side, we sat in a shady cafe and had the best gelato ever!!

I have neglected to comment on our time in Santorini. It was amazing to stay on the edge of the caldera, in our little "cave" room, and the views were out of this world, as were the prices for food! Since our room was surrounded by more expensive accommodations, the restaurants in our area were also expensive - about double the prices we had paid in Sifnos. Aside from that, we enjoyed the ruins (yes, more ruins!) at Akrotiri (city buried by volcanic ash in 1613 B.C.), and spent an enjoyable afternoon exploring the village of Oia, which is perched on the northern tip of the island. Unfortunately we were unlucky with weather, and the second day we were there it was very windy and actually rained! We had a glimpse of a sunset the first night, and that was it. The Asian brides seem to have discovered Santorini, specifically to have their wedding photos taken. It was amusing to watch them negotiating the main pedestrian path, wearing runners while their new husbands carried their fancy shoes for them.

Tomorrow we are off to Crete, where we will spend about a week. A few photos of the last week.....

Bye for now!

Proof that we were there!
P.S. The food continues to be wonderful, so our "foody" friends should continue to be jealous. We have eaten more octopus in the last few weeks than we have in our entire 60 years!

Santorini sunset
Our view
Oia on the left,
Just one of the happy couples we saw!
Oia
Oia - the famous view.
Foot passengers!
Inside of the ferry - where are the cars?!


Saturday, May 21, 2016

Food Photos

A few pics of the fabulous food we've had lately....enjoy.

Grilled octopus & chickpeas
Stuffed squid
Grilled mackerel
Chickpea balls
Seafood salad
Santorini Greek Salad- the best yet.
 

More Sifnos Photos

 

We walked up to this church - beautiful marble deposits on the way!
Windmill supermarket
View from our room, & our rental car
Frequent visitors
This cat was begging to have her picture taken!
Lunchtime view at a beach taverna in Vathy
Monastery of Chrysopigi
 

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Sifnos

This is our last day on this beautiful island. We have really enjoyed the peace and tranquility here. Our room has a very private balcony with a fantastic view of the bay and surrounding mountains. We see all the ferries coming and going (chaos, with cars and people unloading at the same time!) and there are goats frequently foraging in the brush right beside our building. They have been fun subjects for photography!

We decided to rent a car for 3 days, and that turned out well, as we were able to get to all the areas of the island, and access more remote villages and beaches. It was great fun, and we never knew what would be around the corner...a herd of goats with their shepherd (he had an amazing smile & yelled hello to us in Greek), a guy riding a donkey sidesaddle, old windmills, and countless churches of all sizes (there are 365 on this little island & I think I have photos of nearly all!) and of course the incredible vistas of aquamarine beaches and bays.

Last night we visited a farm to take a cooking class, but really it was our host (Georgis) doing the work, and we watched and took notes and photos! The menu included goat in lemon sauce, meatballs with tzaziki, fava beans (turned out to be split yellow peas), green salad, and honey pie for dessert. The highlight was when he handed me a basket and took us out to his 4 acre organic garden for a tour and to collect everything we would need for the meal. Due to the lack of rain on the island, plus the cost of irrigating, he tries to grow everything without water. He uses seeds that are "ancient" and encourages the roots to grow deep. Everything we saw was green and healthy, and the soil looked bone dry. We were able to taste fresh chickpeas, almonds, apricots and plums. The meal turned out to be wonderful, and since he provided us with recipes, we hope to be able to make some of them when we get home!!

Tomorrow morning we will be taking a ferry to Santorini. We know it will be much busier and hectic, but we're also looking forward to chatting with English speaking tourists again. This island seems to be popular with the French.

Bye from Sifnos......

Village of Heronisos
Tiny church below Kastro
Old windmills near Kastro
Village of Faros