Sisters and Sisters

Julie and I had a great time, just the two of us.  But we could have been more organized, so we ended up missing some things because they were closed before we got there.  I took the whole week off that she was here.  We took a long trip to the eastern part of Crete where she had never been before.   This was her second visit to see us and her fourth time to Crete.  I think she likes it here.  I'm hoping she is able to come once more before we leave.

Morning coffee overlooking Chania.

Trip to the Botanical Park

Grape Arbor at the Botanical Park

Grapes at the Botanical Park.  We hand lunch here, they served fried olives and tomatoes.  Julie really like them and has been making them for herself.

Kritsa from our Hotel room

View from our drive north of Aghios Nicolaus

View with solar panels

View of shore line north of Aghios Nicolaous

The small island is Spinalonga.  It has a fortress on it that was used most recently as home to a Leper Colony.  The colony closed in the 1950s.

The village where you take the boat to Spinalonga.

The pier where we caught the boat

Julie enjoying the ride.

The boat ride.

Spinalonga from the boat.

Inside the Spinalonga Fortress.

Julie hiking on Spinalonga.

Spinalonga

Spinalonga

Spinalonga main gate.

Pretty tree on Spinalonga

Bastion at Spinalonga

I can't remember where this was taken.

Sisters at Meso Potami Lasithi

Taverna decorated with tomatoes.

And pumpkins

Sisters with wine and Raki

Tourist stop near the Lashithi Plain

We did not Ascend the stairs, but I am curious.

Dinner at home.  Unfortunately it wasn't as good as it looks!

Just Lee and Us

We continued to eat as much as possible.  Thassa the dog ate many pairs of flip flops.  Lee and Grier spent day after long summer day going swimming, drawing, and reading, bike riding, playing music, and playing backgammon.    I went to work.

We went on two camping trips together.  The highlight of one was watching a Cycada turn from a grub to a winged insect.  Three chairs around a tree, in the dark, and a flash light and an hour and a half later it had wings.  We were so hungry we had to make the 10 steps to the taverna before we saw it fly away.  I checked on it later and it was gone, so it must have flown up into the tree.  The highlight of our other camping trip was playing games with friends at the taverna and swimming by moonlight.  We are forever spoiled concerning camping.  I’m not sure if we still be able to convince ourselves to go to a campground that isn’t on the beach and doesn’t have a built in Taverna complete with all the usual suspects (Greek salad, souvlaki, tzaziki, boiled greens, fresh French fries, wine, Raki…) about 10 steps away from our camp site!

Grier and Lee went on a 10 day driving tour of Crete and to a wind surfing camp. I went to work.  It’s a good thing I like my job.  The summer flew by and then our trio came to an end.  Grier and Lee left for the states in mid-August.  It was painful to see them go but I had the fun of preparing for a visit from my sister Julie.  She was only here for a week, but there was no grass growing under our feet and I didn’t work.  We continued to eat.  

An outing and  nice luck in a mountain will age.  Thassa is being a good dog under the table.

Sheep pipes at Omalos Plateau

Angelic Leland in the 4,000 year old Olive tree

Our campsite at No Problem Campground

View of Aghia Galini from the beach next to No Problem camp ground

Aghia Galini

Grier and Lee waiting for me

Moon from Aghia Galini

Agia Triada Minoan Site

Pretty beach on the south coast

Nice view of the south coast

Martin and Lee

Wonderful discussions on whatever topic floated through our minds. It seems like when you get Lee and Martin together there is never a shortage of interesting discussions to have.  So much so, that it was difficult to look around at the scenery because we were so involved in our discussions.  I’m pretty sure they were discussions although someone listening in may have asked what we were arguing about.  At any rate they were extremely fun.  Sometimes Lee and Martin delved into things that I was unsure of what we were talking about.  This is not a reflection on them; it’s a reflection on me.  It was physics, math, computers and inventing things and the possibility of being able to do a particular thing or not, and what would happen if you did and Martin saying yes, yes and Lee saying; What?   Or the other way around…

These are some pictures of a hike we went on.  There were lots of ropes ladders and rocks.  It was lovely and best of all cool and there was water flowing in the stream.  Lee and Martin went ahead; Grier and I were a little slower.  For example, we found a perfect spot for a nap.

Martin and Lee did their best to help us out concerning picture management on our computer.  Martin set us up with an Apple Tower thing.   I understood what he was saying as he did it, but now have lost all memory of what he did.  We will have to invite him for a visit when we go back to Poulsbo to get us set up again!  Lee tried very hard to educate me concerning how to work photograph files on our Apple computer.  I am used to a PC and have challenges with the Apple logic.  Lee was patient but was getting tired of showing me things over and over and over.  I definitely feel like an old dog trying to learn new tricks.   The upshot of all this is that I am painfully slow at finding and attaching pictures to our Blog.  It’s fun to write the stories, but painful to dig for the pictures.

I have no pictures of Martin, but he really was here.  He is a photographer and took many pictures, but always managed to stay out of any pictures I was taking.  I'm not sure how he did it.

The beginning of our hike down Patsos Gorge

Shortly after we started, Grier need ed to take a break.

Yes, he fell asleep.

Tree becoming part of the rock.

More Patsos Gorge

Pretty waterfall.

The trail had ladders ropes and chains to help you get ofvr the rocks in places.

Swimming hole

Swimmer

Person thinking about swimming.  I only got my feet wet.

An interesting rock

Hiker on the way out of the canyon.

Sweethearts 3

Lee and his girlfriend Katie came on June 1, 2014.  We got to keep Katie for two and a half weeks and Lee for two and a half months.  We also had the fun of Katie’s mom Luann and sister Jacqueline visiting us for 5 days during the time Katie was here.  We were cozy in our small house, but really didn’t spend much time there.  We had time together on beaches, in the mountains, on boats, NS IN then.  But, I think I remember eating the most.  We were all very enthusiastic eaters.  Katie especially liked the taverna on Stavros beach where the tables are made of large wooden wire spools and are covered with umbrellas make of palm fronds.  Best part, besides being about 50 feet from the water, is that your chair is in the sand and you can bury your feet or sift the sand with your toes as you drink the wine and Raki, and of course eat the food too.

Luann, Grier, Lee, and Jacqueline really like seafood.  So Grier was able to order as much seafood as he wanted with assurance that it would be eaten and enjoyed. When it’s just Grier and Suzanna he doesn’t get seafood as much as he would like.  Suzanna has difficulty, to say the least, eating seafood and we usually like to share all our dishes so…

I think, in some cases, it is not a bad idea to let some time pass between an event and writing about it.  In this next case what seemed somewhat miserable at the time, now seems more humorous.  We went on a spectacular boat ride around the peninsula farthest to the west to the Island of Gramvoussa and then for a swim at the beach at Balos Bay.  The scenery was gorgeous, the weather perfect, the hike around Gramvousa up to the fortress fun and interesting.  So what could be miserable about this?  RELENTLESS LOUD LOUD LOUD MUSIC.  Now you may wonder what is so humorous about that?  Well, I said relentless, but there was one blessed few minutes of silence where we could actually visit with one another and we thought maybe just maybe they will give us a break.  We were wrong, they had just forgotten to start the music over again and also must have thought that it wasn’t quite loud enough before.  So, imagine the relief of silence and then suddenly there was a deafening SCREAM.  People had terrified looks on their faces, some stood up and looked around to see if someone had been injured or murdered.  Then the song started, “I Feel Good!” James Brown, remember the scream at the beginning of this song?  Now imagine it coming unexpectedly out of silence as loud as you can imagine it.  Once we caught on to what was happening, uneasy laughter started and then some rather uncontrollable laughter.  But, all said and done, I would not recommend this boat ride even if we did get a story and something to laugh about from it!  I would pay the price to hire a silent boat.  

The smiles of Mom and two daughters were lovely despite the decibels.

The Loud Boat from Gramvoussa Fortress.

Balos Bay from the fortress on Gramvoussa Island.

We had a beautiful drive over the mountains and stopped at the top of the pass at a Sfakian Pie taverna on the edge of the Imbros Gorge.  It was a beautiful sunny day for a beautiful sunny picture of Sweethearts #3.

 Petromarula pinnata endemic to Cretan gorges and rock walls.  Imbros Gorge.

                                                   Wonderful food and expressions!

 Friendly fish eaters.

 An old neighborhood in Athens from the Acropolis.

Seafood market Athens.

 Fruit and vegetable market Athens.

Athens Acropolis.

Miniatures and Donkey Stairs

Our last Blog was on August 12.  And even then we were three months behind in our stories.  I was trying to decide whether to skip and catch up to what we are currently dong now or start back in June when Lee and Katie came.  I decided to do a bit of both, so from here on out the Blog stories won’t necessarily be in chronological order.

There is an old set of stairs that used to run from the harbor up to the city gates of Chania in Byzantine times.  The stairs are are still there and you can walk up them.  Donkeys could still walk up them too.  I really liked those stairs the first time I saw them but didn't realize the first time I saw them that they were the access from the sea to the old part of the city at one time.  I only realized this after we visited the Naval Museum in Chania.  There is a diorama of Chania in the Byzantine times.  It shows the donkey stairs, just as they are located today.  So, why am I telling you this?  Those of you that have come for a visit have likely seen the Donkey stairs because I never tire of telling people about them and showing them.  I also like to walk up them.  So beware, if you come for a visit, you will be likely to see these stairs and I will try to get you to walk up them.  Also, I will try to get you into the museum to see the diorama that show the stairs.  This is a more difficult task because it has limited hours of operation.

I really like old stairs because you can do something that the people that lived there so long ago did too.  I have likely also showed many visitors the display of miniature buildings and churches in Vrises that were made by a local artist.  The same artist that made the church that we bought that sits on our front porch.

A few weeks ago, Grier approached the subject of the Donkey Staris and the miniatures.  He was very kind but wanted to let me know that he had noticed that many of our visitors didn't appear to be as interested in the stairs and the miniatures as me and that I might want to consider that maybe these two things aren't necessarily very high on the list for places to visit for everyone. 

In the future, I will try to restrain myself.  I have many pictures of the stairs and miniatures, but will restrain from putting them in the Blog for now.  But they may creep into the Blog when you least expect them!