Folegandros

Folegandros

What a wonderful way to shrug-off the commercialism of Santorini! Folegandros is one of smallest islands in the Cyclades - barely 12 km in length and just under 4 km at its widest, with a population of just under 700 friendly people. The ferry arrived at the small port and we took the bus up to Chora (also spelled Hora - the name of the main village on most islands). We wanted to check out a hotel that we had found on the internet so we didn’t interact with the domatia at the port. The terrain that we observed on the short drive is so rocky and rugged it was hard to imagine that people can even exist in such a bleak place, and then we arrived in the village! Chora is so pretty- the Lonely Planet says it best “The delightful Chora, complete with a dozen pretty little churches and a medieval Kastro filled with whitewashed houses draped in bougainvillea, draws you in with unassuming charm to its meandering main street that drifts happily from leafy square to leafy square.” The hotel we were interested in was in the Kastro but the reception was closed for a couple of hours so we found a seat in the first “leafy square” and were immediately engaged by a delightful Romanian waiter named Jannus (sp?). He frowned when we told him that we want to stay at the Kastro Hotel and said “It is too expensive”, he suggested a couple of other hotels. We did wait to see what was available at our chosen hotel - we were offered a small room, no view and no way of making coffee in the morning for 50 euros. So we walked to the other side of town (about 1/4 km) to look at the hotels that Jannus had suggested. Both new hotels but build in the Cycladic style. The first one was absolutely gorgeous with a swimming pool, and fabulous view at 85 euros, the lowest they would go was 80. The other one is located right next door, so it has the same stunning view, also a swimming pool and the room is almost as nice but only costs 40 euros - so we took it, and we love it! Truth be told, we love almost everything about Folegandros.

Our days begin with us sitting in the leafy square sipping coffee watching the children trudge off to school, people going to work, and the cats stretching and yawning as they find the perfect perch on which to start their day. It feels like we are apart of the village life. In the evening we find ourselves at a tiny restaurant that sits at the intersection of three narrow lane-ways. The tables are situated in such a manner that people walking by pass between the diners. There are homes all around so we are treated to more everyday village life. There is one little girl, Madeleina, who we particularly enjoy, she is 18 months old and her parents own the ice cream shop around the corner. Every night she comes running into the square and sits on the restaurant’s doorstep. One of her parents is always right behind her and she tries to convince them to sit with her on the step. We went there the first night at Jannus’ suggestion and we’re trying to work our way through the menu! Everything is homemade by Irene and is quite delicious. With food so good we are reluctant to try any place else for fear of wasting an appetite.

Our first full day was spent wandering around the village, we walked up the steep path to the large church of the Virgin, Panagia which sits perched on a cliff-top above the town - yet another amazing view. Yesterday we walked in the opposite direction of the port for approximately 3 km to the beach.
After a nice swim, we relaxed in the sun and had a visit from a great dog who wanted to wrestle with us. Madeleina was at the beach and she came over to play with the dog - or in her words “bow”. By the time we walked back to our hotel we had probably spent about 5 hours in the sun and we have the colours to show for it - Brenda, brown - Robert, red.

The landscape between Chora and the beach is also very rocky but the rocks have been used to build walls as well as to create terraces on the hillsides, shelters for shepherds, and folds for the sheep, goats and donkeys. As we walked along we were amazed at the extent of these carefully crafted structures, some of which must be centuries old, mostly abandoned, and yet some are obviously still in use today. Robert was completely intrigued by the layout of the walls and buildings, as well as the enormity of the work involved in their construction. (Perhaps the landscaping job waiting at home will benefit from any inspiration he feels.)

When we got back to the hotel we had a swim in the pool to cool off and then had a wee rest before going into the village for dinner. In one of the squares we recognized a couple from the ferry; Robert had seen them struggling with their luggage and had carried it up the stairs for them. They invited us to join them for a drink, so we sat down and shared our stories. Their names are Carmen and Enrique, they are from Spain and have travelled the world but have not yet visited Canada. We invited them to visit us someday and they returned the invitation to their home in Spain. We thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them, they a are very interesting couple who told us many wonderful things about Spain - especially about the food! As we are planning a trip to Spain in a couple of years it would be nice to keep in touch with them, certainly we would like to have them visit us in Vernon.

As we walked through the village this morning we saw Madeleina and her dad - she pointed at us and said “bow”! I guess she’s accepted us!

Today is our last full day here and it is raining. This is the first rain they have had in 5 months and we are happy to see it because everything is so dry. It started to get a bit cool in the square this morning so we had our second cup inside the little cafe but were driven out by the thick cigarette smoke. Robert is reading his book, although I don’t understand how he can concentrate with all that snoring going on ;-), I am catching up with our blog.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we have to leave this magical place. We will catch the 1:20 pm ferry back to Santorini, and then the 6:15 pm to Heraklion (also spelled Iraklio) on Crete. Monday we will visit the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and Palace of Konosos. On Tuesday we will take the bus west to the village of Plantanyas where we will stay for 2 weeks. We are looking forward to staying put for a little while and perhaps having a couple of quiet days.

We’ll write more as our adventure continues and will endeavour to create a web page for some of our photos if internet access is more forthcoming on Crete.

Opa!

R & B

Santorini

Santorini

Arriving at Santorinit is very exciting. We were on a high speed ferry with closed decks so we didn’t really get to appreciate the thrill of slowly entering the caldera topped by beautiful white Cycladic buildings that seem to tumble down the hill. Instead we raced across the sea into a port at the far end of the island. We knew that we would see the view later when we left the island on a slower ferry. A different kind of drama enfolds as one disembarks from the ferry - first is the mad rush of passengers, it seems as though there is a prize for being first off! Then come the domatia (people with rooms to rent trying to convince new arrivals that their rooms are the most desirable and the cheapest); we were approached by a man who made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. I quote - “Clean room, air conditioned, great view, separate bathroom - 35 euros”! So we said that we would take a look and we climbed into a nice air conditioned bus and started the hair-raising ride up the multiple switchback road to the top of the caldera - the driver talking on his cell phone, steering with one hand and passing slower vehicles the entire way! The room was “okay” but the view was quite lovely so we decided to stay.

The house is located on the opposite side of the island from the caldera, we saw gently sloping hills, scattered homes and the sea; so much quieter than the expensive side. There was a very large covered deck that we shared with 2 other rooms, only one of which was occupied. This couple from Austria, Heidi & Josef, were also “picked” up by Gregorious (sp?) from the same ferry we arrived on. We really enjoyed getting to know them, they travel to the Cyclades every year and are very knowledgeable. They are like us in that they want to get away from the crowds and experience the quite spots so they shared lots of valuable tips with us. We will stay in touch with them.

Our time in Santorini was spent mostly trying to capture the incredible beauty in just the right light; we rose before dawn to walk up and over the hill - to watch the affect of the rising sun on the buildings, the effort was well worth it. This is a stunning place and before the crowds invade it is very peaceful, we feel very fortunate to have seen it at its best. We also took the same hike in the evening to watch the sun set - different light but equally beautiful.

Leaving the island 2 days later involved a ride to the ferry port in Gregorious’ own vehicle - an old, 70’s two-door hatch back that rattled and belched its way down the hill - passing vehicles for no reason other than that they were there - how typical! I guess it’s more important to impress new arrivals than those who have paid up and are leaving. As we waited for our ferry we watched him “work” the new arrivals. Soon we boarded the slow ferry that made its way leisurely passed the 5 huge cruise ships anchored under the white tipped cliffs. We bid Santorini a fond farewell and where on our way to Folegandros at last.

Filling in the blanks.

Filling in the blanks

Our last entry was just a teaser as we were experiencing our first Greek Ferry challenge and had to deal with that rather than write our blog. It turned out that the “official” September ferry schedule that we had picked up from the “official” Greek Tourism Information office was wrong. We had decided that we would take the Monday morning 7:00 AM ferry to Folegandros (as indicated on the schedule), when we phoned the number on the listing, to find out what terminal the ferry departed from, we were told that they do not go to Folegandros! This was at about 5:50 Sunday afternoon and of course all the travel agencies were closed so we could not get any information. The internet wasn’t any help either because you can only book 4 days out and we could not find a general listing of ferry schedules. After exhausting all the avenues open to us we decided to arrive at the port by 6:00 AM and see where we could get to. So, here we are on a high speed catamaran destined for Santorini. According to our Lonely Planet reference book there are daily ferries from there to Folegandros; so we’ll spend a couple of days in Santorini then go to Folegandros for a few days before going to Crete. (we hope!)

We had a bit of adventure just getting to the ferry this morning. We’ll need to go back to yesterday afternoon and our arrival at the bus terminal from Delphi. We were standing in the taxi line-up waiting for our turn. When waiting for a taxi n Greece, you take the one that arrives when it is your turn; we were very lucky to get a young man, Bob, who is probably one of the few honest Athens taxi drivers - and probably the only Greek named Bob. He spoke very good English and was very personable without being pushy and “in your face”. We asked him what he would charge us to take us to the port the next morning. He said about 11 euros, compared to about 8 euros for the Metro and we would have had to walk about 6 blocks with our luggage at 5:00 in the morning. (fortunately the drugged/drunk person who was passed out on the street the night before had been repaired and moved on by the police and ambulance crew) It seemed like a no brainer, so we asked him to pick us up at 5:30. He arrived on time and as he drove us to the port we had a very nice chat with him. He is trained as an electrician but drives his own taxi because the pay for electricians in Athens is very low - 700 euros a month! Robert asked him about his work hours, he works 7 days a week from 5:00 AM to around 3:00 - 4:00 PM. He said that he is young and he’s working so hard for a better future. At the port he went into the Coast Guard Office to get the day’s sailing information - such a thoughtful young man. He came back to the car and from the information he gave us we decided to take the 7:15 ferry to Santorini, As he pulled the car out and backed up to turn around he backed into a Coast Guard vehicle that was backing out of their lot. There were no running lights or reverse lights so the vehicle was impossible to see in pre-dawn light. The damage to Bob’s car was at least 2000 euros, in his estimation. We offered to be witnesses for him, but he said that since it was the Coast Guard he couldn’t win. He got out of his car and was faced with 4 young stone faced Coast Guards - wearing side arms. We felt just terrible for him and wished that we could do more than just give him a generous tip (which he tried to refuse). As our ferry pulled away from the pier we could see that he was still there, so not only is he out the money to repair his car he’s not making any money today, and probably won’t be able to until his car is repaired. Bob is having a very bad day.

We don’t feel that we did Delphi justice in our last blog so we’ll fill in the blanks - as Robert puts it “dotting the Delphi i”. The bus ride up was punctuated by an exciting air display as we passed a military air field, - a couple of attack helicopters hovered close by, two jet fighters passed low in front of us as they landed, and a small plane performed some air acrobatics - loops and barrel rolls - what fun!

Getting to Delphi is easy, just head out of Athens, turn left at Thebes and then turn right to Delphi. The terrain changes from flat sea level, to fertile agricultural lands, to rocky “goat friendly” slopes during the 3 hour trip. As you round the corner to Delphi you are treated to a vista of a valley filled with million olive trees that stretches to the Sea of Corinth on the left, and the magnificent Temple of Apollo on the right - WOW! Soon you enter the narrow crowded streets of the charming village and you know you’ve arrived in a special place. The shops cater to tourists so there is no shortage of tacky window displays, but the shop keepers are quite charming and effusive in their greetings and invitations into their stores. We never felt pressured, just welcome - so of course we left some of our money there. Our little gargoyle (Nik) suggested a long established family run restaurant for dinner where we were seated on the terrace with an uninterrupted view of the valley with the sea off in the distance. Our meal was magnificent - a shared salad, moussaka for Robert and lamb with lemon sauce for Brenda. We had a couple of moochers come by - two kittens who were quite verbal in their demands for a taste of our dinners. Of course we shared. After dinner we strolled through the quite village and were pleased that we didn’t have to step over any passed out druggies. The village of Delphi is built on the side of Mount Parnassus so the streets are terraced and connected by stairways, this provides a nice bit of exercise for after dinner strollers and it also ensures that almost everyone has access to the view. So all in all, with the archaeological sites, the charming people, the views, the goats and the food, Delphi is high on our list of places to return to.

Athens on the other hand disappointed us. The tourist sites are impressive but the squalor and decay of the surroundings and the population are all too apparent. Bob told us that almost 1/3 of the population are non-Greek and that they have influenced the deterioration of Athens. You see graffiti everywhere - except on the official monuments. Migrant workers have taken over areas of the city and ghettos have grown around them. We won’t be back to Athens.

More to come,

R & B

Delphi Bells

We’re back in Athens after a quick visit to Delphi - the Centre of the Earth. We arrived in Delphi in the early afternoon, as we were dragging our suitcases down the narrow street a little guy who looked kind of like a Greek gargoyle invited us into his hotel and offered us a room at a price that we were happy to accept. The room was spacious, had marble floors and a huge balcony with a fabulous view over beautiful valley of olive trees that stretched out for miles. We quickly freshened up and headed to the Temple of Apollo and to the museum, walking all the way up the site to the stadium at the top and then on to the museum. This was Brenda’s third visit to Delphi and she was impressed by how much has been done to bring the museum up to world class standards. The differences at the site were not as profound, the biggest change being that the stadium is now completely roped off and out of bounds; it makes sense to try to preserve the site for future generations, but it was so impressive to have been able to stand in the middle of the stadium rather than just view it from one corner. Robert was suitable impressed with the sense of realism and energy in some of the sculptures and statues, particularly The Charioteer bronze. If you are not familiar with this statue may we suggest that you Google it and have a look. This morning we awoke to the the musical tone of goat bells as the resident herd foraged their way across the hill side beneath our balcony. The second set of bells we heard were from the Greek Orthodox Church reminding us that it was Sunday morning. Shortly after the bells the sounds of the priest singing the liturgy rang out over the village. It was a stunning way to start the day. We had a quick breakfast and then walked over the Temple of Athena, that happens to be just down the hill from Apollo’s sanctuary. Our trip to Delphi was too short - we both just loved everything about the place. Tonight we are turning in early because we’re going to the port first thing in the morning to hopefully catch a ferry to somewhere - details to follow.

Good night from Athens.

R & B

Athens

Athens! A huge modern bustling city of 10 million that has roots reaching back to the 5th century BC. This is the end of our second day in Athens and we have been very busy. We arrived from London at 6:20 pm on September 10 and took a bus from the airport to Syntagma Square in the centre of the city. Our reservation was at a hotel which Brenda had stayed at 11 years ago when Sheena and she were here with a group of students. She was confident that she could find the hotel (with a map), so off we set for the 1 km walk, dragging our suitcases through the darkening streets of Athens. After taking a couple of wrong turns and going down some pretty scary streets we arrived safely at our hotel. Athens at night is not what she remembers, we’ve seen police buses with officers in riot gear, carrying automatic weapons. During the day it’s a different story, it does not feel as threatening and there is so much to see. The National Archaeology Museum was our first stop; we spend about 4 hours there and just barely scratched the surface. Their collection of items from Ancient Greece is so extensive one could spend days there. We toured the sculpture, bronze and prehistoric collections; rooms and rooms of statues and gold - truly amazing. We highly recommend a visit there if your are ever in Athens. After we left the museum we walked towards Syntagma Sq with a couple of hours to spend wandering the Plaka before our dinner engagement with Cynthia and Maryanne from Vernon. We enjoyed a wonderful meal at a little ouzerie and had a great visit with our friends. As we were walking back to our hotel there was a boisterous parade of people following along beside us - it looked liked they could have been demonstrating in favour of Communism or Socialism - who knows?? The best part of the parade was a dog who ran ahead of the demonstrators with his tail held high and joining in with the noise. He also had the very important task of chasing all the motor bikes that zoomed past - and believe me there are tons of motor bikes so he was very busy. This morning we set out for the Acropolis, this time taking advantage of the new Metro System as the heat and all the time on our feet is starting to take its toll; we also knew that there would be lots of walking once we arrived. After the long hot trek up to the top of the Acropolis we stood on the rocky hill in awe of the Parthenon, the Temple of Nike and the view of Athens reaching far into the horizon. To stand on the hill that holds the ancient origins of this great city and to see the extent to which it has grown is amazing. From the Acropolis it was an easy walk down to the Plaka for a bit of shopping - some fresh fruit (yum!) and a little something for Cadence. It was also time for a coffee break, so we sat and enjoyed a a bit of bum time and some people (and dog) watching. Then off to see the changing of the guards and the Parliament Building and the Metro back to the hotel to freshen up. For dinner we walked over to Omonia Square, which is the closest square to the hotel, and enjoyed our first gyros. What a deal - we each had a delicious gyro, a beer and we shared an order of fries - the entire meal cost us 8.70 euros. The night before we paid 20 euros each! We are heading up to Delphi for an overnight on Saturday, we’ll return Sunday evening to Athens and then leave for the Islands on Monday. We’ll write again from Folegandros.

For now we say Adio,

Robert & Brenda

Highland Journey

On Friday, September 5 we left Glasgow and traveled northwest towards the Highlands. Now, you can't just go heading off into the Highlands without a good breakfast to sustain you through your journey, so we stopped for a traditional full Scottish breakfast. A full breakfast consists of an egg, 2 slices of the best bacon you have ever eaten, a sausage, a potato scone, beans, half of a cooked tomato and toast - with some minor alterations depending on who is serving it. Being well stuffed we were on our way. Our journey took us along Loch Lomond, but since we had spent time there 5 years ago we carried on, enjoying the lovely scenery along the way.

Our first stop was for a cup of tea at the railway station in the small village of Crianlarich. Not much seemed to be going on in this little place, but the station master told us that the Hogwarts Express stops there on the way to Glen Coe where the Harry Potter movies are shot. When we got to Glen Coe we certainly understood why this magnificent area would be the back drop for the movies. The open sweeping vistas of the heather covered mountains are spectacular. This area, besides being beautiful, has the sad history of a horrific massacre in February 1692 when 38 men from the Clan MacDonald of Glen Coe were murdered for apparently not pledging their allegiance to the new king William of Orange. Forty of their women and children later died of exposure because their homes had been burned down. We stopped many times along the way to try to capture pictures of the constantly changing beauty of this area. We got to practice our bog jumping techniques a couple of times as we wandered off the road to get the "perfect" photo.

Arriving in Fort William on Loch Linnhe (a sea loch) in the late afternoon we were fortunate to find a little B & B. Accommodation was scarce because there was a race up AND down Ben Nevis the next morning. Fort William sits at the foot of the Ben, tallest mountain in Britain at 4406 feet. This may not seem like a very high mountain, but when you consider that the race starts at sea level you can understand the challenge. Apparently, participants in this race are turned back if they have not reached the summit within 2 hours. We heard that some even finish in around 1 hour 30 minutes! No, we didn't participate in the race ;-) After a visit to a local pub for a pint, we found a Chippie and took away fish and chips that we ate while sitting beside the loch enjoying the sunset. The next morning after a full Scottish breakfast we were off again.

Our drive took us along the shoreline of Loch Ness to Inverness and then on to Culloden, the site of the last battle fought on British soil. We spent considerable time going through the brand new extensive interpretive centre and walking on the battlefield. There is a profound feeling of sorrow evoked by walking through the battlefield; actually standing where the brave Highlanders faced their enemy and so many of them fell.

Anyone who has read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series will be interested in the next place we visited. Clava Cairn is the inspirational site for the stone circle that Claire enters to travel through time to Jacobite Scotland. It is located just a mile from Culloden and aside from it's connection to the novels it is a magic place in its own right. The cairns are the site of a prehistoric cemetery built about 4,000 years ago. A gentleman we spoke to at Culloden recommended we visit the cairns, we are so pleased that we did.

We spent Saturday night in the seaside village of Nairn at a lovely old hotel that seemed to be a converted grand house. Sunday morning after yet another full Scottish breakfast we continued on our way to Fort George. This huge fort was built after the Battle of Culloden as a safeguard against possible further Jacobite uprisings. Fortunately it never saw battle, but it continues in use today as the regimental headquarters of the 3rd Scots Regiment and currently the Black Watch are housed there as they prepare to be posted to Afghanistan. Our next stop was to the town of Elgin to visit the ruins of a thirteenth century cathedral.

Our final night was spent in the Cairngorm National Park in the village of Grantown-on-Spey. The B&B we stayed in was built in 1863 - we got the room with the 4-poster and paid way more than we wanted to, but choices were limited. The full Scottish breakfast they served included haggis and blood pudding. (Yes, that's 4 full Scottish breakfasts in a row!- yikes!!)

Sunday morning dawned a bright sunny day with bright blue skies. We headed back towards Glasgow along the Whiskey Trail. With 3 Scotch lovers in the car this journey could have taken many days, but since this was the last day of our trip we chose only one, the Dalwhinnie distillery to visit. Just stepping out of the car we sensed the "Angel's portion" - during the aging process up to 1/3 of the barrel of the whiskey can evaporate - this is called the "Angel's Portion". The aroma around the buildings and in the shop is delicious!

From the distillery we drove to Perth for a bit of lunch and then carried on to Stirling Castle. We were in awe as we approached this spectacular castle perched high up on the hill above the city. This is yet another truly amazing place. The gardens and green spaces are lovely, the buildings are well maintained and extensive restoration continues. It was great to see the representation of everyday life in Stirling Castle.

Our final stop on the way home was for a curry supper, delicious food and believe it or not we had haggis pakora!

Glasgow Fox

Our visit to Glasgow began with a fish & chip dinner on the way to Harry's house from the airport yesterday. We had an uneventful overnight flight from Calgary to London and a very long 4+ hour layover in Heathrow, so after the fish & chips and a large beer we were ready for our bed and a good night's sleep. This morning we woke to a beautiful blue sky and sunshine so we hurried out for a "wee stroll" to take advantage of the uncharacteristically sunny day. Our six hour walk took us to a couple of lovely city parks that were once large private estates owned by tobacco/slave trade lords.

While sitting in a beautiful walled garden in The Rouken Glen (the last park we visited) we were surprised by a little fox that seems to live in the garden. He seemed quite comfortable with people around and sat still for a few photos.

Tomorrow we leave on a road trip that will take us up the east coast to Fort William, then over to Inverness and Culloden. Whether we return along the west coast or down the the centre of Scotland through the Great Glen remains to be decided. Harry, Robert's brother, will be driving so we don't have to worry about driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

For those of you who don't know, this is the second leg of our two month journey. The first part we spent in Calgary visiting our beautiful little grand daughter, Cadence, and her parental units - Michelle and Trevor. Our trip was planned before Cadence was born and that is a very good thing, because otherwise we may not have been able to pulled ourselves away from her.

We leave Scotland on September 10 and fly to Athens; after 5 weeks in Greece we return to Scotland on October 23 for the final 2 weeks of our trip.

We will be making regular posts to this blog as we go along, so we'll let you know when there is a new chapter in our adventure.

For now, here's a couple of photos of Cadence and us as well as the little fox from today.

All the best,

Robert and Brenda