Following Linda and Russ: Greece

Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Goodbye Greece, Hello Turkey

For anyone wondering, we survived the Samaria Gorge and were so glad that we were able to experience it! You certainly need good footwear, as it is downhill and rocky all the way, with the first several kms being quite steep. Once you're at the bottom it is spectacular, with the rock walls towering above you. Signs warn you to walk quickly and not stop due to the danger of falling rocks! The trail crosses the river several times, so you have to hop across on rocks or stepping stones. At the end of the trail, near the 13 km mark, there is a nice rest stop where a fellow was selling freshly squeezed orange juice - that really hit the spot!! From there it's an easy 3km walk to the village of Agia Roumeli on the south coast of Crete where we caught a ferry to Sougia and met our bus. Needless to say, nearly everyone on the ferry was sound asleep for the one hour trip!

While in Crete we also did a day trip to the southwest part of the island, to a beach called Elafonisi. It is a gorgeous spot, with light turquoise shallow water and lovely sand. There is a small island that used to be accessible only by wading through knee deep water, but now there is a sandbar leading out to it. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate the day we were there, and there was a very strong northerly wind blowing - while it wasn't cold, it made it impossible to sit and enjoy the few hours we had. We DID get in for a quick swim, but it wasn't the beach experience I had envisioned! The bus trips on these tours were exciting, as Crete is very mountainous, so our driver (same guy for both trips) had to do some tight manouevers to get the bus around the switchbacks and through some narrow tunnels. It was a good decision not to rent a car!!

I am happy to report that I did get my perfect beach experience though, and it was on our last day in Crete. We took a local bus to Stavros, a beach famous for the dancing scene at the end of the movie Zorba the Greek. The local tavernas (one named Zorba's of course) proudly display photos from the movie, so we will be watching it once we get home! The beach is small but protected, and very calm clear turquoise blue water. I was very reluctant to leave, that's for sure.

Sunday was a travel day, with two flights and about six hours in between where we sat in the Athens airport. We had booked a hotel here in Selchuk, Turkey and also arranged transport from the airport in Izmir. There was a moment of worry when we arrived and saw no one holding a sign with our name on it, but then an announcement came over the PA for Linda Haas to report to the Information desk. There we were met by Nedim, the manager of our small hotel, and he had made the hour long journey by hitchhiking to meet us when the prearranged taxi driver phoned in sick. We liked him immediately, and he insisted on paying for the transportation, as it was his obligation to look after us. We have a room with a view of an ancient temple that has only one remaining column, and that column has a stork nest on top. This town is full of storks - we love it, as we remember walking in Spain and seeing all of the empty nests in September and October.

The Turkish breakfasts provided by Nedim have been interesting, consisting of fried eggs, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, green and black olives, a variety of breads, four types of cheese, blackberry jam, fig jam, halvah, and Turkish coffee to top it off. Not bad! We needed that fuel for our visit to Ephesus yesterday - it took us three hours to cover it, and we were amazed at the size of it. Nothing we have seen up to this point comes close, and it is even more mind boggling to see the area that hasn't been excavated yet. Today we took in the Ephesus Museum as well as the Basilica of St. John (built over his tomb) and the Castle, which is located high on a hill near the Basilica, and is apparently where St. John went to write his gospel.

We woke up this morning to news of another bombing in Istanbul, this time targeting police. Since we are flying there tomorrow morning, we will be very careful about where we go, and avoid crowds.

On a positive note, Russ has found a new hobby - there are many cats hanging around the outdoor tables here, as there were in Greece. Last night the owner of the restaurant provided Russ with a small bottle of water with holes punched in the lid, to use as a deterrent. These cats don't seem to have a good memory, so Russ was getting a huge kick out of squirting them whenever they came near....poor kitties!

Will post a few photos - bye for now.

Samaria Gorge

Canyon we drove through to get to The start of Samaria Gorge

Elefonisi Island

Wind surfers at Elefonisi

Stavros

Happy Linda!

No comment needed!

Ephesus

Young storks

Adult stork

Ancient aquaduct in Selcuk, taken over by storks

Tomb of St. John

Castle in Selcuk, olive tree and oleander in foreground (Maureen oleanders are everywhere in Greece and Turkey!)

View of countryside from castle

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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!

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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!

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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!