Winding Down

Hi everyone, this may be the last post. We've been down to Kalamata, with the intention of visiting relatives, and continuing on to tour a loop of Mani. We ran out of time, and the heat has really kicked in, with mid 30's plus daily now.
We visited Evangelio, whose hubbie passed away a few weeks ago, in Zevgolatio, a village to the north of Kalamata. As per the custom in villages, a rooster was despatched for lunch, definitely free range.
Then, we caught up with cousin Despina and hubby Yiannis, who were very hospitable to us. Daytime temperatures are too hot for any non essential outdoor activities, but I had a swim each evening around 6-7pm.
Returned to Athens via Skinia, a village next to Marathona, north of Athens. Managed to drive right through Athens etc twice without a GPS, I surprised myself.

We are relaxing now for the arduous flight home, and having pleasant evening meals in the platias. Should be home Thursday morning, hope to see you all soon.

Here are some pics, they're nothing special, but better than nothing.

Evangelio and son Yiannis, looked after us very very well in their time of sadness.

Looking out over the village to the foothills of Taigetos, the huge mountain (range) east of Kalamata.

My private beach, I swam here with no other person in sight. Very nice.

Looking back at Kalamata. The waterfront near the town is a continuous strip of commerce, crammed with humanity, but once the hills start, you can find lovely quiet spots. 

For the cyclists; here is the bike path along the esplanade in Kalamata, it's quite well used.

Despina, Yiannis, and Despina. Fine hosts and good company

Samaria Gorge Revisited

Hi again, everyone. We've just completed two day test drive of the new model Ford Fiesta. This car, according to some reviews I've read, is better than the 208. Now, I didn't really warm to the 208, and the Fiesta was pretty good, especially for a 1000cc engine (amazing really), BUT! the 208 leaves the Fiesta for dead. Really, there is no comparison. I don't think I'll ever take a review seriously again. 

You've gotta have a go, see for yourself. Sometimes diamonds, sometimes dogs. Elafonissi was promoted as one of the world's top beaches. Hmmm, Sandgate in Brisbane could be ahead is some points. Water ok, nowhere deep enough to really swim, too many ***** people, poor facilities. But, the journey there was of interest. Later on Friday, we visited Milia.....a real diamond. No point describing it, but we will be back for a booking on the next trip. I thought it would be some kind of retreat, but lots of the guests were using the place as a base, with most places of interest not more than an hour away. We loved the setting, the philosophy, and the vibes. 

Saturday, we drove into the mountains, to revisit Samaria. We walked this gorge circa 1981. The place is superb, it's potential not even touched even yet. It would be a great bike ride, 30-40km ride with about a 1500m climb, could descend  another 30-40km to the Libyan Sea coast, take the boat out. Would be an epic. There are so many opportunities here yet to be discovered.

Ok, first pic, here is the Elafonissi Hilton. Desolate, barren, rock strewn collection of worn out caravans, in the baking sun and wind blown dust. Just proves, like the car reviews, you just have to make your own assessment. For me....assessment....a dump.

True believers: A French family of four (dad had the bub in a trailer), heading expectantly towards the nirvana of Elafonissi. To get here, they had to cross mountain ranges, deal with heat, flies, thirst, and with about 10 kms to go, their faces glowing with happy expectation. I wondered last night, where they would be camping, what they ate, and hoped it was better than I thought. I'm full of admiration for adventurers such as these. Vive la France!!

You can read about Milia on the internet if you're really interested. Here is one of the restored houses. It's a lovely spot, I commend it to all of you.

The fantastic view from the terrace of the restaurant.

Beautiful, wild mountain heathland, full of herbs and ozone. I loved it here, and hope to return to wander among it.

Ahhh, true spirit. Can you imagine what inspired the constructor of this garden ornament (It is big enough to sit in, has a seat and moveable joystick)? Of course, it's universally acclaimed as an oeuvre d'art, a true masterpiece. Or, is it really just a left over from the Hellenic Air Force?

For the petrol heads, here is our Feisty Fiesta. The wind was blowing fairly strongly, and we could actually hear these first generation turbines turning in the wind. I think I'm now suffering from low frequency syndrome, I think I'll sue the Greek Government. (Yea, goodonyamate!!)

A wall of rock, an incredible view as we approached Samaria Gorge. We did this walk more than 30 years ago. It's about 20km from go to whoa. At the completion, the only transport is a fishing boat along the coast to Hora Sfakion, where one can catch a bus back to Chania. It's quite a trip, we must do it again, hopefully, next year. The mountain is called Gigilos, takes about 4-5 hours to complete. Could spend a few happy days here.

General view looking down the Gorge of Samaria. The last of the snow has just melted, must be magic in April/early May.

Lunch: Local spinach pies, chips in local olive oil (makes a difference), home baked bread, and fresh salad with local ingredients, all organic.

Beautiful, beautiful rock wall.

Not quite snouts in the trough, but you get the idea. The "farmer" had spread the feed along the road, but this goat was smarter (and bigger) than the average goat, and had worked out how to eliminate one step in the food chain. Actually, the smaller, black goat (must be evil) was even smarter, he just jumped into the back of the ute.

Tomorrow, an easy day cruising down town, and hoping to get a swim in. We'll give you an update from Athens. Bonne semaine!!

ps, Happy Birthday Bruce!

Chania, Crete

Thirty minutes in an A321, and we arrived at Chania, Crete. Good flight, good aircraft, and a very pleasant place, a complete contrast to Athens. 

Short final, looking south over Souda Bay. This area has seen a lot of action, not all of it ancient. Australian and NZ troops were involved in the Battle of Crete in this area.

Fish market, lots of variety, including sword fish-it's reasonably big, about 750mm long, not including the bill.

The sign says; Fish shop. You can see two resident cats that spend the day in the ceiling of the shop. The first cat is easy enough to spot, but if you look carefully enough, you can find the second.

Meet Stelios, our host for dinner. Quite a character. Socialist, but running his little business. He told us absolutely seriously, there had to be blood on the streets to sort out the crisis. And he meant it. True Cretan spirit.

This must be fairly unique. St Nicholas Orthodox church, at one stage a mosque. It has a minaret, and a bell tower. I am surprised that the minaret has survived... I'm glad it did.

View of Chania from the lighthouse on the breakwater, mountains in the background. Postcards show snow on these peaks during winter, they look beautiful.

Another view of the limani, with clear water, and the neo-classic buildings. Chania is a great little place, and the Cretans are all very very nice to us. At the end of each dinner, all the restaurants present a small dessert, and a bottle of Cretan raki, with the appropriate number of glasses, as part of the Cretan hospitality. Tomorrow, we are driving our one week old, bright red Ford Fiesta down to Elafonissi, a highly regarded beach destination in the south west. On the way, we'll be visiting various villages in the mountains, including Milia, which I'm keen to check out. You can read a bit about it here, if it interests you further:

http://www.milia.gr/EN/

Here is the link for Elafonissi:

http://www.west-crete.com/excursion-elafonisi.htm

Athens Update

Hi everyone, we've just had about a week of low intensity in Athens, heading into Thiseon for a couple of evening meals, at nightfall, beneath the walls of the Acropolis. It's my favourite place in Athens, authentic food, some street entertainment, great views, and very inexpensive. A large main course here, 6.50 euro, about $8. I feel a bit guilty at those prices, many here are peddling hard.

Here's the view, sensational:

We have booked flights to Chania, Crete, for four days, it's a good spot, we visited there in about 1977 or 1979. You can organise to do the walk of Samaria Gorge from here, but I think we'll hire a car for a couple of days, maybe visit Malia. Check out the link below for further info and some pics.

http://www.greecetravel.com/crete/chania/western-crete/


Next week, we'll take a car down to Pirgo and Kalamata, more on that later.


At the risk of boring 80% of you, but you can skip this, here are some more pics of bikes that caught my eye. Lots of steel frames, as I mentioned, and honest, working bikes. One doesn't see too many carbon road bikes, they are quite a minority.

Folder with child seat, Bergerac (wet weather too..pretty keen, or pretty lean)

Working steelie in Orleans, changers on the down tube. Bar tape is a bit thin though.

Could take this one home with me, very nice. In Paris

Can't take this one home, though....! Spacious road, Champs Elysses. You can see a couple of other bikes in the background, they are truly a part of the landscape

Don't like these, but interesting, has a belt drive. From my experience, 16inch is the smallest wheel I'd ever consider. 20 inch is completely fine, 16 inch a bit toey and choppy, definitely wouldn't go smaller. (An interesting aside; this pic was taken at the Pont de l'Alma, where Lady Diana had her car accident.)

This one is for Alan; like Oz, quite a few steel frames running either single speed, or even fixed. Wouldn't be too bad in Paris, fairly flat with a couple of exceptions. Even has toe straps, and a Brooks saddle-mon dieu! Another bike I'd have in my collection.

Got the blues, too

Ultrafolder at the Tour Eiffel. Would be just ok for short errands in town, which is probably what this chap uses it for. Helmet is unusual, and can't say he gets the smiley award for today. Baguette was probably stale.

Nice Brompton, nice owner too, a very keen bike advocate (sorry, just realised this is a repeat, but it can stay)   Salut Philippe!!!!

Police bikes, I didn't dare photo the riders, but they were two tough looking ladies, probably not the type that moonlights at the Moulin Rouge (never know, maybe they do one of those uniform routines)

Bike space in Paris

Bike route underneath the Pont Neuf. There was a steady stream of bikes along here, far outnumbering pedestrians. You can see how dangerous this sharing business is, someone should ban it....oops, Hobart Council already has. Good to see Tassie leading the way.

Au revoir Paris

Itinerant worker on the streets, minimum pay in France, 10 Euro per hour.

Nice little brompton, hmmm, wonder if it could live in peace with my Bike Friday

Sarah and Simon, Despina and Zoe heading for lunch

Many Parisiens interact with an underworld, in the bowels of the earth. Perhaps they meet the legendary lizard people. This is one of their access points.

Voted best meal of the trip, and it's not french. Fresh penne, aubergine, tomate; simple, but cooked to perfection.

Same restaurant; I ordered a half bottle of red. The waitress presents a full bottle, and then explains we can drink down to the white marking. Don't think you'd see that too often in Oz. (Could have rorted it with top up of water. Bit useless, the water is almost as expensive as the wine)

Last morning on our lovely private balcony. L'Opera in the background, our favourite breakfast cafe/restaurant under the red canopies on the lower left.

This is where the lizard people change tunnels.

All I want is a room somewhere...just keep it plain and simple. Wouldn't it be loverrrrerleee!!!

A window into the world of the Louvre. Always wondered what everyone got up to at coffee break.

Think about this; this young lady appears in my photo, but I'm not in hers.

We're now back in Athens, after the late night flight. We already miss Paris, it is such a good place to hang out. It's far from perfect, but we enjoyed it immensely. 

Streets of Paris

Having a great time seeing the sights, they are still wonderful. Lots of eating and drinking, and having fun with the language.

Here's what happens when you leave your car in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Usually, it would go unnoticed (well, disregarded) for days. These chaps remove a car in minutes, one vehicle lifted onto the flat tray, another trailed behind. Wonder what the fee would be, certainly enough to buy a lot of cheese.

Quite a few of these around the town, a poignant reminder of less happy days, and the freedom we seldom give a second thought to.

Local trumpeter.

Now, a few car pics. This is the concept car at chez Renault..and, it's electric. Renault have several models of electric vehicles on the market, they are leading the way in this area.

How about this? 7000 euro gets you this four wheel electric vehicle, I think I could have one in the carport. Takes two in tandem, would be great fun for short trips around town.

Another new model, electric, with a fantastic name. 14,000 euro, the government puts in another 7000 to encourage use of electric vehicles.

I was surprised to see a Hairservices counselling room; this poor chap hadn't completed his recency record....no hope for him.

Some say the French are all front, that there is nothing behind that fancy facade.....perhaps it's air-conditioning.