A Week On Crete, Days on Naxos and Minutes in Athens!

My Grecian Yearn

A Week On Crete

If I’ve ever been anywhere where just a week was painfully short it was Crete. It is a much bigger island than I imagined and there are so many things to do in addition to the requisite beach days with basking in the sun enjoying azure Aegean Sea as a backdrop. Crete is densely packed with options for nature lovers, cat lovers (they’re everywhere), gardeners, beach fans, foodies, history buffs and just plain old wanderers like me. Bronze Age Minoans left their mark in Knossos while the Venetian stamp can be seen in Rethymnon’s and Heraklion’s old ports and Fortezzas. Famous Cretans include Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ and lets not forget that Crete was heralded by the ancients as the birthplace of Zeus.

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The nicest way to see Crete is to rent a villa and hire a car. Crete is an easy place to drive, even in the largest city it is nothing like driving in other European capitals. The traffic can be heavy inside village centres but that’s usually where you want to park your car and get out and walk anyway. Since the island is big it might be smart to rent a villa at one end of the Island and explore the surrounding area and then shift to the other end of the island to do the same. I think it would be easy to spend a couple of months on Crete and not run short on enthusiasm for the place.

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Almyrida Villa

We rented a Villa with a pool just east of Chania in a small seaside resort called Almyrida. The owner, George was great and the place was clean and large enough for five of us. Close to the beach, restaurants, shops and hillside villages we enjoyed time at the beach and around the pool with a mix or touring by car. As a special treat we hired a chef and had him come to the Villa to cook for us one evening and so we got a first hand view of the preparation of traditional seafood, vegetable and lamb dishes.

Chania

Popular with Brits and Germans in particular Almyrida is a great location to explore from. Our first wander was in the city of Chania (pronounced “Hania”) and was a great place to start savoring Greek culture.The cobbled streets, narrow and crammed with shops and people meander through the old quarter where there are many great restaurants and bars for sampling the superb Cretan food. Street markets are common and you will find everything from fruit and veg to live rabbits. Eating is definitely an activity in itself on Crete as the food is fresh, delicious and spiced to perfection. Lamb, goat, seafood, fish and typical Greek dishes prepared according to the tradition never disappoint.

Road Trips Through Gorges

While on Crete we read about a drive through the Therisso Gorge that recommended a stop for lunch at a restaurant with a beautiful garden and lookout on The Valley below. Once again the scenery was rivaled only by the cuisine. All around us were olive groves which along with grapes, melons and tomatoes are the main stays of Cretan agriculture.

Knossos

Another outing was along the east coast to Heraklion to see the ancient Minoan city of Knossos. The drive was pretty and we managed to have lunch in a small village where once again, the food was great. We also squeezed in a winery, although we just missed the tour we visited the shop and I bought some local spices.

The natural beauty on Crete is stunning and the views from the coastal highway are unbeatable. I had one more look at it after my friends drove me to Rethymnon where I caught a bus to Heraklion for an overnight stay. Heraklion is a bustling city with a very modern shopping area in the center of town and the night I was there the streets were full of shoppers, diners and teens just hanging out.

As our week on Crete flew by it was clear that we could only explore a fraction of the Island before it was time to say goodbye to Crete and my UK friends and head solo for Naxos.

Fast Ferry to Naxos

With more time I definitely would have looked at a slower route to Naxos with some stopovers along the way, including Santorini where we stopped to let off and take on cars and passengers. Built on the top of the rocky crags of the island it looks like a dusting of salt from a distance but up close it takes on the shape of the white plaster buildings common to Greece.

I sailed with the fast ferry company Sea Jets on one of their large catamaran boats. They hold around 200 cars and sail at up to 40 knots but beware in a rough sea passengers often spend at least part of the time between islands with their head in a barf bag which is unpleasant enough just for those who don’t get sick. Also if you book online you can’t pick your seat and the computer assigns you one and I believe its also one of the most expensive ways to take a ferry Its airplane style seating and the food on board is expensive and bland.

Naxos is one of the Cyclades Island which include the more popular islands of Santorini and Mykonos. I chose Naxos as I had only a week before I had to leave Greece for Rome and I had heard it was quiet and less travelled. I read that the island has not been a tourist destination as it is the most fertile of all the islands and it’s economy has been made strong by agriculture.

Although it was getting to be the middle of October, there was still plenty of sun and the sea was warm enough for swimming but it was not crowded and it was easy to find a beach chair read the afternoons away. In the mornings I explored the seaside resorts close to my hotel in Agio Prokopios. Many places were closed for the season but there were enough shops, restaurants etc open for the stragglers. I rented a hotel room in the beautiful Liana Hotel across the street from the beach and the price included a warm staff, an ocean view, private deck and a full breakfast.

Athens for a Flight

I arrived in Piraeus, which is the port for the city of Athens. The metro to Athens is very close to the Piraeus ferry dock and in minutes I was standing under the lights of the Parthenon in Monastiraki, the pedestrian square next to the Athens market. I stayed in the Cecil Hotel minutes from the Monastiraki metro stop that would take me to the airport and my flight to Rome early the next day. Monastiraki square in evenings is full of locals and tourists, eating, visiting, shopping and just hanging out with friends. It’s a good place not to eat or shop and also a place to hold fast to your purse. Better food and more reasonable prices are generally found off of main squares, down side streets and if there are lots of locals it’s generally a good sign. The airport is a 10 Euro, 1 hour long metro ride from Athens and for early flights like mine its a very efficient way to make it to the airport on time.

Walking in the English Countryside

Not my first walk in England but my first on the South Downs Trail which stretches a long way from Winchester to Eastborne on the south coast of England.

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Map of complete South Down’s Trail

With only three days to walk I was limited to but a small portion of the trail.  I started on the outskirts of Brighton and walked eastward toward Lewes covering about 5o km of beautiful countryside.

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Devils Dyke the longest dry valley in England

Unlike other walks I’ve done in England and Portugal, this one was not organized by a walking company. I visited the South Downs walk web-site, got some maps, made a first night reservation and set off. Most importantly I packed very light, small back pack and a camera.

Somewhere in here the Devil and his wife are buried.
I followed the trail with a slight detour (OK so I got a little lost) along the ridge of the Devil’s Dyke enjoying the warm sunshine and the slight mist of low lying fog. On I went, up and down, through villages and farmers fields until I arrived at Pyecombe where I had arrived later than planned. I politely called my accommodation to say I would be late and Sally Brown owner of the Shepherds Hut offered to pick me up at the local pub which rescued me from the dark. Only ten or so minutes from Pyecombe, her lovely farm would have been difficult to find so I was very grateful for the ride. Sally is a great hostess and served an emense full English to get me started on day two.

Shepherd’s Hut
Cosy Little Home for a Night
Sally’s lovely farm
…and garden.
Day Two

I walked about 16 km through fields and up and over the Downs and back down into the valleys. Lots of other walkers and plenty of livestock to keep me company. Although it was the last of September there were still beautiful gardens and wild flowers and walking along the ridges of the Downs allowed me to look down on the misty fields below.

Windmills above Pyecome
Mist in The Valley
Styles for Walkers Safeguard Livestock
At Housedean Farm I caught a bus into Lewes which is off the South Downs but I really wanted to see this lovely old village. It is well worth the detour to see the medieval castle, the Tudor buildings and the town garden. I stayed at the White Hart Inn on High Street so I was close to everything I wanted to see. Henry VIII gave Anne of Cleve’s a house in Lewes before he chopped her head off and I even spotted Frida in a shop window sporting a very unenglish unibrow. An interesting display of pre-war children’s books and magazines caught my eye as did Dutch pottery and doors for very short people.

Day 3

On my last day of walking, I managed to return to the South Downs Trail from Lewes. It had rained in the night and some of the paths were muddy but the sun was out and things soon began to dry.

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I walked to Rodmell, the town where Virginia Woolf and her husband had a cottage near the river Ous. This is where Virginia waded in with her pockets full of rocks. The National Trust has opened the house and visitors can see where Virginia spent her last days before her suicide. It was quite stirring to realize that she lived in a time when women were very devalued and those attitudes combined with her immense intelligence must have made life unbearable for her.

Having short distances to cover each day meant I was able to visit and enjoy many of the sights along the way. Definitely something to consider when planning my next walk.

Glasgow – Lancashire

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Museum of Modern Art Glasgow

Flying to Glasgow takes less than an hour from London and the flight was cheap as chips as Dawn would say. In no time, we were off the plane and in a rental car and motoring our way to Dawn’s cousins’, Robert and Julie. In our honour Julie held a kitchen party with all her good friends and it was so much fun meeting so many interesting and wonderful Scottish women.

The next day saw us downtown shopping in all of Dawn’s old favorite spots and although we had only a day we managed to see many of the highlights of Glasgow central and had tea in an old tearoom at the top of a department store. I tried cheese and pickle sandwiches and scotch broth. Sunday night we took Dawn’s cousins out for dinner at the Old Brothy, beautiful interiors and fabulous food. We had a great time and it was late before we got home to Robert and Julie’s lovely row house. It is a good size and they expanded the kitchen to make it one with the dining room. These old houses are cold but with the sitting room door closed and the family cozied up on the couches it is warm enough with a sweater.

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Singer Sewing Machines came from Glasgow
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Christmas time in Glasgow
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Police call box, there when you need them.

Monday, Dawn and Robert went to visit other relatives and Julie took me around to the art gallery. My ignorance of Scottish art and artist is huge and I wish we had spent more time there, but it only means that I have to go back and I have a added Scotland to the “longer visit” list.

Lanchashire

Two years ago I met a mother and son from Lancashire in Nicaraugua. I have kept in touch with Emma Jane and her son Archie and when she saw that I was in the UK she invited me to overnight on my way back to London. Dawn was flying home from Glasgow and I had decided to take the train and so the invitation fit well with my plans. EJ kindly drove 1 1/2 hours to the town of Preston to pick me up and take me home to Lawton her village next to Colm (pronounced COWON). As I arrived early in the afternoon she took me to see the local sights including a castle ruin where the Bronte sisters were said to have frequented as it was within walking distance of their home. The old manor house is said to have served as a model for the manor in Wuthering Heights. Emma was most gracious and made a lovely tea in her terrace house kitchen dating back to the early 1900’s. The area was mainly for wool production and weaving. I met Emma’s parents and they have lived in the area all of their lives. They have a back to back duplex with lovely furnishings and carpeting.

Three weeks in the UK have flown by and now I am winging my way home to what I understand is a frosty, snowy weather system. Kunal is picking me up at the airport and I will fly back to the island tomorrow morning.

 

Brighton by Storm

The wind swirled, the leaves danced and the English Channel erupted onto the beaches of Brighton last night. I know because here in Heathers lovely little flat the windows rattled and the rain hammered. Sounds not unfamiliar for someone from the West Coast of Canada, and just like at home they make for a cozy comfy feeling as you drift off to sleep.

Debbie Huddlestan thank you for having such a warm and welcoming daughter. Heather greeted me at her flat in Hove, had a whole slew of things for us to do and was gracious and fun just like her mother. We cried a few tears in her mother’s memory but we also had some good laughs and we forged a friendship that will last for years to come.

Heather, who was once a student of mine, has been very adventurous. A little girl from Port Hardy, British Columbia, Canada, population 5000, she crossed the North Atlantic and has made the UK her home. With a good job and her own flat and a gang of great friends she has built a life for herself full of interesting places and events. I’m so proud of her and I know her mother would be too.

While Heather was still at work on my second day in Hove I was invited to her friends home in Brighton to accompany them to a record shop extravaganza. YES a record shop, as in all vinyl! Alison’s flat was gloriously English. Street level, very narrow hallway leads to office and bathroom and the rest of the space is taken up by very narrow stairs leading up to bedrooms and down to kitchen and sitting room. Of course the building is hundreds of years old and who ever thought some fool would want to wrangle a queen size up the inches wide stairs of a row home. Down the stairs is the kitchen and living area with a beautiful little garden patio for summer. Inside a low ceiling and a gas fire and typically English fittings we returned from the Record store bash for a delicious lamb dinner and plenty of Prosecco.

Brighton itself is home to a famous Pavillion that combines French and Chinese architecture from the 1800s resulting in what became known as Chinoisierie. A synergy of styles, colour and form where the sum of the parts is greater than the hole. I didn’t visit this time as my time with Heather was short and we had lots of other things to do. After a great walk we met up with the “girls” at a 16th pub for bangers and mash, good comfort food for a dark November afternoon.

Sunday lunch is impossible to escape, nor would you want to. Heather and I found a great place after another long walk on the Hove Promenade and settled into roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings. All slathered in a delicious gravy and washed down with a pint.

Goodbyes said and promises to stay in touch with Heather and my new friends from Brighton, I am now on the Hove to London Victoria Station train where I will stop up at a rented flat for the next six nights.

Around Oaxaca City

Around Oaxaca City

A Day Trip

The easiest way to see multiple sights in one day is on one of the many small van tours that hit the major locations around Oaxaca. In one day we were able to visit several towns, archeological sites and artisan shops where we saw the famous, green glazed, black and red pottery, tapestries, wood carvings, embroidered and woven textiles and a mescal factory. In addition we were fed a fabulous lunch and sampled several of the famous Oaxacan dishes that make the cuisine of this State some of the most popular in Mexico. We visited Santa Maria del Tule where we saw the 2000 year old Tule tree and later we walked along a mountain ridge overlooking valleys and distant mountains to see a petrified waterfall and to soak in mineral pools high above the valley below. We followed the route to Mitla to see the ruins there and stopped along the way at Yagul and Teotitlan de Valle where we visiting a textile shop where they demonstrated the making of natural dyes used in weaving and embroidery.
Santa Maria del Tule – the 2000 year old tree with faces and stories in the bark!
Tule Tree

Teotitlan de Valle – A Visit to a Textile Plant
Carding the wool.
Mortar and pestle for crushing dyes
Woven tapestry
On the loom
Oaxaca State Pattern “Estrella”
Tree of Life
All Natural Colors and Traditional Patterns
Las Tortugas
Dyed Wool
Beautiful Colours
Beautiful Blankets
Modern Look
Frida Kahlo

Beautiful Countryside…Blue Skies and Mescal Making

Mescal Country
Pit for burying cactus.
Grinding the cactus.
Fermenting stage
In the bottle
Local costumes

 Mitla…. Archeological Zona

Oaxacan Cuisine – Moles, Soups, Stews

Part of the tour was this wonderful buffet style lunch at a roadside hacienda. The food was the best of ingredients colour, spicing, texture and flavour that Oaxacan food has to offer.
  

Hierve el Agua – Petrified Waterfalls

Spectacular vistas, mineral pools for cooling off and natural rock formations created by springs leaving deposits of minerals that overtime have created formations that resemble cascadas (waterfalls).

Oaxaca City

 

Windows of Oaxaca

Getting to Oaxaca is great fun in one of the smaller passenger vans that runs between Puerto Escondido’s to Oaxaca City. The ride is pleasant, not too long (about 6 hours) and the views of mountains and valleys are quite spectacular. The vans are an inexpensive and convenient way of getting there as the bigger buses take much longer to get to Oaxaca as they don’t bob and weave their way along the narrow mountain roads as the vans can. A lunch stop about half way breaks things up nicely and the road side eatery frequented by the vans serves good food cooked outside over a wood fire.
 


Oaxaca is magical; markets, museums, and plenty of colonial architecture surrounded by beautiful countryside. Five days in Oaxaca flew by and there was so much to do each day and of course we didn’t get to all the places we hoped to. Between visiting museums wandering the streets and people watching in the Zocalo and various coffee bars and restaurants, we fell in love with Oaxaca and I hope to return for a longer period of time. Nevertheless we squeezed in the main sights starting with the museums.

Museo de Las Culturas de Oaxaca

This is by far the best museum in Oaxaca and takes you right through the history and cultures of Oaxaca state from pre-Hispanic times.  The museum itself is housed in an old monastery attached to the Templo de Santo Domingo.



Model of the Monastery and the Templo

 

 
 
 
Botanical Gardens
 
 Pre-Hispanic Artifacts
 
 

The Streets of Oaxaca 

Traditional Needle Work Meets Contemporary Stylin
Alena and I
 
 



Dancing in the Zocalo Every Wednesday

Textile Museum

Although this museum has a sparse collection what it does have showcases the famous weaving and patterns that Oaxaca is noted for.

 

Markets Abound

There are many outdoor markets in Oaxaca that sell everything from artisanal crafts, to locally grown produce and natural medicines. Sadly the markets that I remember from the 1970’s are gone and the locally made goods have been replaced by made in China type daily wares and household good, but the markets are still fun to visit and spend time people watching and sampling local cuisine from the food stalls.

 

Zocalo and Cathedral 

 

De Los Pintores Oaxaquenos

A small collection of contemporary paintings is housed in the museum of The Oaxacan Painters. Not a spectacular museum but there were a few amusing paintings that I couldn’t help capturing.