On the West Coast of Canada we have just finished the warmest winter in over 100 years? Global warming...who knows, but it has been warm and I cut the grass for the first time earlier this month. We have started our long season of bike rides and are looking forward to many more this year. I even have new tires on my old bike to break in this year!
Ever since I was an undergrad at university, come March and April I always get very itchy feet....time to travel!!! Over the winter months we kicked around all sorts of ideas and slowly our travel plans have taken shape. It started with Annemarie planning a trip with her sister to visit family in Holland in late September, and it just grew from there! From Holland it looks like AB will travel on to meet me in Greece for an island hopping experience with much of our 3 weeks centered on Crete and a few lesser traveled islands...Milos, Naxos and perhaps a hop up to Lesvos just off the Turkish coast...'the island of women'. Truth be known I would also like to show Annemarie Thira (Santorini) with all of its dramatic volcanics driving deeply down into the Med. It is one of the most significant geological sites that I have come across in my travels. I understand that this is what has driven its tourism, and while I know it will be dramatically changed from my first visit in 1975, none-the-less it is an amazing site! We will experience another amazing (and less touristed experience) volcanic island on Milos. But I would like Annemarie to experience Thira...sit together with chilled glasses of Cretian white wine, crack a few pistachios as the sun takes forever to set into the Med...has to be one of the top 10 sun set locations in the world.
I have long wanted to travel to Crete and have managed to miss it on various other travels in the area. If we stay away from the NE corner of the island we will miss most of the mass tourism stuff. I understand that the rest of the island is fairly traditional with excellent gorge hiking, high mountain villages, soft & sandy beaches and not to be forgotten remains from the Minoan civilization, many of these in the south central part of the island well away from the better known site in the north. Already looking forward to waking to the Mediterranean sun and that special , difficult to describe brilliant light that I have only seen in the eastern Med.
Between now and then...a teaching assignment for AB at the university, some weekend camping, lots of bike riding and many long walks. Its a very nice life style on the Island! I'm using a week of my vacation this year to take a series of long weekends through the summer to help facilitate some of these activities. Will watch for good weather weekends and pounce on them!
