In honour of the passing of Uncle Geoff I decided not to post yesterday and just reflect a bit on a life well lived. We hope that the celebration of life went well and no doubt he was sent off in style.
High speed ferry from Santorini to Crete...just over 90 minutes! Two hulls.
Yesterday we basically wandered around Heraklion, delighted to be on Crete after all these years of trying. The city is fairly small with about 120,000 souls, and the central old town which was largely built by the Venetians is quite a rabbits warn or maybe more appropriately a Minoan Labrynth. The locals are justifiably proud of their city and their heritage...we spoke to quite a few in our couple of nights here. A few shots from our stay...
A highlight was a visit to the Knossos Archeological Museum. It really helped to set us up for our visit to Knossos this morning. A few things I picked up for the girls!
We'd found a nice little apartment built into the waterfront Venetian protective wall and we were nicely greeted with a bottle of Cretian wine and a nice view out over the harbour.
Our hostess even made a reservation in a very good restaurant for us last night which specialized in foods from the area. Everything produced locally.
A real foodie experience accompanied with some amazing wine! Annemarie's porkchops caused a stir as they were delivered with a paper covering while they smoked from a small braisure underneath containing herbs, sage and rosemary. Kathy had a delicious dish of young goat meat and I enjoyed a a pork dish cooked in oranges and wine. Amazing!
We toasted both Uncle Geoff's life and Caitlin's 30th birthday, both celebrated on the same day. It added a feeling of family to the meal. We had an interesting conversation with our server, Evangelina who is of Egyptian and Phillipine parents, speaks 4 languages learned on the streets in a less prosperous part of Athens. She's studying business at university and alternates work with semesters to pay her way through. Very sharp with a quick sense of humour. I suspect that she will be just fine!
This morning we picked up our car, after considerable delay. The car wasn't back yet. Ah the pleasures of travel. The bonus was the long conversation I had with the young woman, Evita, at the rental shop. She explained that the economy in Greece is still on its head and that it's not healing very fast. She told me that about 90% of Greeks want to leave the EU but that their corrupt politicians want them to stay. They would like to return to the drachma and feel that there would be a better life forward that way. Her father's pension has been reduced from €1500 per month to just €900, and it could go lower. An interesting insite evita, a single mom, Erin's age with a 5 year old told me that she has learned much in life already and has learned about making adjustments on the way. I have a sense that she will be ok as well.
Our car arrived and we headed through the tragic south to Knossos, a place I've wanted to visit for over 40 years. Not the most spectacular sight, but having studied the Minoans in Mr. Allen's elementary school class, well, I just had to come here. A few photos from our visit.
We drove south from Knossos...
So much greener here than the small islands.
...and we decided that the road signs were drawing us to the hill town village of Piros where we hoped to find lunch. Annemarie and Kathy went for a look see while I parked the car and I returned to find that a lovely elderly lady, Maria, had hooked and reeled them into her quiet establishment.
She tried to make us a memorable meal, but we were set on a light lunch of salads. So then the fun begins. First she's brought us a plate full of delicious, sweet local white grapes, probably picked from a neighbours garden. Everyone seems to know Maria! They all say hi as they pass by. These grapes are so good!
Now she's gone next door to a small store to purchase our cold drinks! Oops, she must have realized that she needs something else and off she gone again to another store...ah, to get some really yummy bread. And then into the back kitchen where she starting to prepare our salads. She tells me it's ok in Greek to come in and watch and take a photo or two. We smile a whole lot at each other!
She brings us an egg plant dish on the house to share, followed by another plate of fruit! What lovely person she is, and surprisingly nimble too.
She drops by to check on us regularly as I write this. A French couple and then a couple of women with a Greek guide have arrived. A good sign. It's Sunday and all the men are sitting in the bars and cafes discussing football and politics. A click and a whoosh tells us that she has turned on her gas burner to fry up some pork chops for the other guests. It's all very cosy and small town. Exactly the sort of experiences that we had hoped to share with Kathy. You can only really do this properly with a set of wheels to get around in. Maria joins us again and graciously consents to a photograph.
From here we plan to drive the narrow back roads to our destination, enjoying the scenery and seeing what we can find. A swim is likely at the end of the day and we will be sharing three beds in room tonight. That should be cozy! We will stay there for two nights with plans to tour the area tomorrow, maybe find a remote beach on the south coast of Crete! After all, we have finally made it here!
Later: We arrived safely at Kalamaki and were greeted by our hosts Katherina and Manolau with big hugs. They brought us ice cream cones, raki and wild figs from the local hills. What a wonderful greeting!
We sat and talked for almost an hour before we were even shown our simple room. We were told much of the local history and news. The biggest message was about the spirit of the place...people travelling through as guests. A Camino moment for sure. A very welcoming couple. No buses come here so the only way to arrive is by some sort of car. We are going now for a swim then some dinner and at some point I'll try to load some photos and post this. Our view.
I'll share a few sunset shots tomorrow. Believe me, it was magical, but I'm too lazy to load this all over again:). Pretty funny. I have both ladies cranked up about taking photos. Should be some interesting results!
Yamoos!
1 comment:
Fantastic meals and a kind hostess--what more could you ask for?
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