Life's Been Good To Us So Far!

Back to Athens airport via the tiny Naxos airport. Once in Athens we had a five hour layover that let me do many blogs. Originally we had a 2 hour layover which given our previous mad rush we decided to extend the time. A bit. We really don’t know why but we got access to the lounge so we had a great place to hang out. Found our cab driver in Rhodes who spelled Brant’s first name correctly. He told us what a crazy summer they had and happy it was finally slowing down. Our airbnb was inside the walled old town. Happily, our cab driver actually lived there as well so he was he able to drive his cab inside (you can only drive inside if you reside there). As it turns about 6,000 people live inside the walls—-not just tourists who think this is a cool place to stay. It is the oldest continually inhabited walled medeievel city in Europe.

It seemed a very mysterious place to arrive at late at night and find that lockbox and wander into the a tiny alley between 2 houses. But all good once inside with a stocked fridge and a basket of food and chilled wine. And an easy walk to a restaurant with the standard set of cats waiting for you to drop your food.

The airbnb is owned by a German woman who has lived here 20-30 years and clearly loved her Greek home. She has remodeled and rebuilt and continues to maintain her airbnb while living next door. So glad she gave us the tip that at noon they would allow tourists to walk the top of the wall around the town. Her sweet dog Balou was our guard dog through our stay. Once you patted him he stopped barking.

We had fun winding our way through old town, except when the cruisers disembarked. We walked many miles all around Rhodes town. We even checked out the casino but had no luck. Brant bought a new wallet from someone crafting the wallets. She had lived in Florida briefly where she learned to speak English fluently and Madrid where she learned to speak Spanish fluently. She says the best way to learn is to pretend it’s easy. Very annoying as I struggle to learn Spanish.

Our neighbors in Los Barriles gave us contact information for another couple from LB who summer in Rhodes every year. Enjoyed having a nice pasta dinner with them. Our first cab driver told us that in Greece everyone loves pasta…so true. Not sure we ever saw a restaurant that did not have pasta…

As we had no car we hopped on a bus that took us to a place called Lindos. We had to slowly (and I do mean slowly) wind ourselves through a skinny alley (shops on both sides)with lots of folks to eventually get to the entrance to the archaeological site. So glad Brant got advance tickets. If we did not have those tickets I am surewe would have been in line for an hour or more. Actually I am pretty sure we would have given up and gone to the beach. As it was we had time for a nice stroll through the place (clever store placement) then a long descent to cafe, bars on beach, a nice swim and a slog back up the hill to the bus.

Rhodes is a big island and we saw only a small slice. Seemed a bit more citified and actually enjoyed that. We worked in one more island by catching a boat out to the island of Symi then getting back with a half hour to spare to catch our cab to the airport to head for Crete.

Symi was a beautiful island with different architecture from what we had seen. Another great place to wander and eat and drink.

Would we come back: Maybe. So many other places to visit but this is a great jump off place to Turkey. I think we would have enjoyed exploring more of the island. And it seemed like a nice place to live.

We came up with a brilliant idea….cancel our day trip to Santorini and instead take a ferry to Koufonisia for the night then on to Santorini the next day, returning to Naxos that evening. Ano Koufonisia turned out to be a spectacular island but sadly the Santorini ferry was delayed and our trip there had to be canceled. So many had told us not to go there because it is crazy busy with cruisers. We tried to pick a day (as advised) without a cruise but as it turns out, we could only find a day with less cruises. So remember we are here in the shoulder season and , every day had 3-5 cruises arriving—-about 10,000 or many more people by boat everyday. I was surprised you can actually find all this info on a site. I think Santorini in May sounds good to me—-for a whole week. We met a couple and several other people who have avoided Santorini for the past 5 years for this reason——our taxi driver said they were a brand name—yup, a victim of their success! Still, will look forward to returning in the off season.

Koufonisia Islands is a group of islands at the southern tip of Naxos. Ano Koufonisia is where we landed, grabbed our backpack and started walking toward the place we rented a bit away from the tiny port (a mile or so). Quickly we were picked up by the manager (owner?) who dropped us off only to tell us to get back in car when we asked to rent bikes. A half hour later we were on our fat tire Ebikes and peddling back to our beautiful little condo. We had a great time exploring on our bikes. Without a doubt the prettiest beaches on our trip thus far. Most of the beaches seemed pretty remote accessed generally by footpaths but most of the time there was a bar/ cafe. We were always shocked how reasonable the prices were at these spots. Mainly we were really mesmerized by the beauty and peacefulness of the island.

Would we come back?; We both would love to come back here someday. It is a very special place. We met a man from Berlin who works for an NGO. He was traveling alone and said he had been coming here for over 20 years (he was in his 40s). He travels all over but says he always ends up coming here when he just wants to relax. He spoke passionately about how he loves watching the colors change in the ocean….we so agree with him. He spoke English fluently and also Spanish because much of his work is in Latin America. We gave him our VRBO site and maybe we will see him again this winter. We think he would like LB.

I had to be a bit careful with beach pictures. Here many people are nude and I do my best to avoid taking their pic as they are really not appreciative—understandable given that I don’t even like to have pics of me in my bathing suit. On any given beach I would say 5-90 percent are nude. I like that it is mixed because it becomes so normal (as it should be.) And normal to be with or without a bathing suit I mean. It does make sense to not have to toss a wet bathing suit in your back pack——but us, oh my, we would look like such newbies with our white bathing suit imprint. After nearly jumping in nude (but then a large group showed up) I decided to check if it was actually legal. Actually there are no real rules…I kind of don’t ask don’t tell approach—-so not exactly legal but……

When Brant planned the trip he was very worried about a 2hour connection as we had to claim our luggage and move it to another airline. We did not realize it was 2 different airlines initially. SO of course, everything went wrong. The first flight was about 45 minutes late. Sadly the luggage was also late, another 40 minutes or more. As we checked the screens we could see final boarding call before we even got through security, but we thought lets go for it! Sadly our bad luck continued, our boarding passes would not scan. Security was incredibly backed up and far pickier but not as adept at finding things as Istanbul. It appeared they were training a group of new agents. Every single device had to be powered up. Every item had to be in a separate bin! For example, Brant’s belt had to be in its own bin. The agent became angry when I prematurely went through scanner (I was unwisely trying to speed the process and the woman behind me as well). A very loud argument (in Greek) ensued with the agent—I decided to try to quickly slip away not wanting to be a part of this threesome when security arrived. I told Brant to take off running. He did and once I extricated myself I did too….oh and of course, we had the last gate! We ran and ran and ran around wheelchairs and even one walker (must have run out of wheelchairs?)…… then we were told to get on the bus (our private bus all to ourselves), when another couple calmly joined us from Vienna, their 22nd trip to Naxos. We suspect the plane was held for them, not us. But we made it! That was when I realized I had failed to wait for my IPad and had gone running without it. The flight attendant assured me she had done the same thing at the same airport and they had a great system for getting it back. She was correct…I did it get back on next flight through Athens. The police officer was so happy when my pin that I had to give to him opened it when I called. Very awkward to give to him but he assured me, I am POLICE OFFICER! The same man was there when I picked it up. Wow tough job. He was constantly answering phones, trying to decipher what they were saying and honestly just seemed so happy when he could actually help someone. When we left he said, “Bye Bye!”—I kid you not. I said, Bye! Bye!. Sorry a long story—-but so funny (until I realized IPad gone).

Our driver at Naxos airport who works with the property management was very friendly and informative. After a quick walk through winding alleys we got to our apartment. When we rented it we were concerned about noise factor but 80 reviews said not a problem. The first night we sat on the deck listening to a large group of young women doing an ABBA sing along. We kind of wish we went out to street to watch at bar but on deck we could laugh all we wanted without hurting any feelings—and trust me, it was hilarious. Sadly, the techno pop that did not turn off till 3 am did require ear plugs. We were surprised that 80 reviews could be wrong but when we mentioned the 3am music to the rental property the late night music stopped and all was good. (Suspect they were violating a noise ordinance).

We have chosen our places to stay to try to get a variety of experiences and it has worked very well with mainly very pleasant surprises—-like the beautiful fruit, wine and crackers left for us at this apartment. It was fun to be on the “main drag”. Fun to watch the boats and people—then step out door to shops, ferries, restaurants and bars.

We did not realize it would be so tough to organize ferry day trips. It was surprisingly expensive as well…for example, 86 euros per person one way to Santorini. As it turns out there is much to do on the island that I would not have wanted to miss.

One day we explored to the northern part of the island via sailboat—much of which cannot be reached by road. Lots of jumping off the boat for swims and a little cliff jumping. Beautiful relaxing day… We met a couple on their honeymoon. They were from New York and now living in Dallas. They were trying to plan a move to Sicily. I also met a woman from North Attleboro, Mass—my hometown. She literally lives around the corner from where I grew up. We were so shocked. We actually knew same people in town—still there after more than 50 years! Great also to hear the energy and excitement in the young people on the boat. There were people from France, Germany, Czech Republic, Canada and the US on the boat. Sign language is important here.

One day we rented a car and explored the island. We could have used the local bus but decided I like to stop way too often for that to work. This is where Zeus spent his child hood (born in Crete ). Maris had told us it was a great hike to mountaintop but that our hottest day during the trip (90s)with no shade on the trail so we opted for rabbit stew, rotisserie chicken and aperol spritz’s in a beautiful village in the mountains.

We also found an outdoor movie theater and watched “Where the crawdads sing”. All in Greek subtitles! They had excellent food and drink without US movie prices. We enjoyed walking through the downtown….So many bakeries and fish shops…

We spent time swimming and relaxing on the beach. As in all of Europe you just rent those loungers on the beach. Maybe we need to start that service in LB?

The flight started easily enough….one person to check you in, one gate that the same person in charge of it. Remember Wings TV series? . A short walk to the little airplane….

So the question, would we come back: I would like to do the hike to Mount Zeus. There were really nice beaches here but not as nice as our next island. I think the answer is maybe. It is a great base to start out from to explore this area but I think probably works better to just move from one island to another if that is your goal.

This was just a great place to wander around and try to get lost in the little streets. Naxos has a nice combo of modern and old….and the people were so friendly and helpful here.

Warning: It’s a long story but we are here at the airport for 5 hours and lets just sayI am happy I have knitting, a blog, a sketchbook and all the wine I want (actually we aren’t sure why we have that but we are not complaining). So be prepared, it’s a great time to attempt blog catch up.

I suggest for your soundtrack while reading this: the Olympic Fanfare and Chariot of the Gods by Vangelis who sadly recently died due to COVID.

Arrived at Olympia a bit later than we meant to but that’s okay because we have the routine down. Stayed at Leonidaion Guesthouse (great location and a comfy room) where the proprietor told us of his upcoming vacation plans—motorcycling from Patagonia to Brazil then off to San Francisco where he was motorcycling with friends from San Francisco to Tiajuana . We felt the need to give a few written recommendations including that he should head down to LB for a visit.He made us feel like we have a pretty unambitious trip planned. He was doing this in 6 weeks. His reasoning: he usually only takes a 2 week vacation but for 2 years COVID caused him to miss his vacations for 2 years. Makes sense!

We picked up our ticket for the Olympia ruins (where the original Olympic Games began). Due to our Unneda Waterfall trip we area a bit delayed so the ticket sales operator was very concerned about our late start. We had until 8 and we assured her (over and over) that it was fine. (I told Brant that telling her we once did the Louvre in less than 30 minutes would not be reassuring). Slightly embarrassingly, we zoomed through the museum then out to the ruins where they played the Olympic Games for about 1400 years. Seriously—way over one thousand year of competition with all kinds of crazy sports! It was put to a stop as Christianity gained popularity in about 300 AD. The Christians marched in and put an end to the false gods of Zeus etc. —-as Olympics was seen as a pagan celebration (for some understandable reasoning given the sacrifices etc.). Once again, off with the heads of the statues. It seems this would have been difficult to do—chisel, machete, exactly how did they do that? At least, unlike the Acropolis that was blown to smithereens by some general in some war, this spot was further destroyed by an earthquake after the Christians got done with it. I guess after that the “pagans” lost interest in pursuing the games. So as always happens , it became buried in dirt until 1829 when a French archaeologist began excavations. In fairness to that General back in Athens (Ottoman, we believe), how was he to know they were storing all their kegs of gunpowder up at the acropolis?

But back to the Olympics ….. the modern day Olympics resumed in 1896 (in Athens, not here). No longer pagan, just capitalist! Four years later the first woman competed in the Olympics, in 1990 (AD that is). So here we are a few thousand years later admiring the incomprehensible ability of the Romans to build, sculpt, and infrastructure these communities only to lose all these abilities in the Dark Ages. While it seems impossible this could happen again in this digital age…..I think perhaps youth feels differently . Climate warming? Overpopulation? Polarization of communities? More demagogic leaders? Could another dark ages happen? ….okay time for an Aperol spritz. Or a liter of wine (that’s how they sell it in the restaurants here—-my kind of place).

So would we come back here again? And please remember we don’t at all regret any place we have been thus far, but we are talking about a return trip. No, probably wouldn’t come back. We lucked out to have a beautiful evening with that golden light to see the grounds with just a handful of people—-with our soundtrack playing softly on Spotify—who needs audio tours? Also this area was not as pretty or dramatic as other places, but perhaps the flatter land is what allowed them to build a stadium for 35,000 male spectators (women not allowed to even watch the games). I did notice you could come here and join a marble carving work shop which I think would be interesting. And as in all travels here, lots of friendly kind people….

Okay—-here we go—-another BFG breakfast and OTD to Delphi. Brant says he thinks some company caters these breakfasts throughout Greece. He might be right but they sure do seem like a lot of work…lots of cheese, cold cuts (lots of them), eggs 2 ways, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, sausages, rolls, bread, toast, risks, yogurt, honey, fruit, muesli—-each set up the same.

It’s important to keep Siri and Miss Waze on their toes! Neither thinks we have a good sense of direction but I think they have gotten used to us looking for the nearest beach. Neither has been a starlet with directions as they sometimes tell us to to turn left over a cliff. I told Brant I think they are trying to kill us so they don’t have to navigate for us anymore.

Yet another beautiful beach at Sandhill. Comes complete with bars for getting a cold beer and sand bars for drinking the cold beer. Alas, too early for the cold beer so we headed on to lunch once again. Interestingly the menus seems very, very similar at each restaurant. Mousaka, pastichio, gyros, souvlaki and pita everywhere. Fortunately the menus are very large. And Brant has sorted out which is the best beer…Alpha or Fix.

Well, if the ruins you are going to are the center of the world (per the Greek Gods) and the home of the gods and you start at beach level, prepare for a steep climb to a beautiful place.

Same routine but a classier place, tiny elevator, dump luggage, admire view, set off for ruins. We definitely saved the best ruins for last in my opinion. As we slowly walked back down the frequently slippery big steps we could hear strains of music as the sun was setting. At the base in the agora was a chamber orchestra/ Greek tragedy being performed. We kept walking slower and slower so we could hear it (for free). When we got to the bottom (in the agora) a woman was quickly going up to the last of us hikers. I thought she was telling us to leave quickly, but no —-she was telling us that we could quietly exit then come back in and circle to the back to see the last of the performance. (This was in Greek but a nearby guide noticed we were puzzled and came and told us). I loved noticing the huge smiles on a couple college age students (French I think) who quickly took her up on the offer and joyfully watched—-music majors I bet.

It really was beautiful especially in the setting. For some reason one of the performers with her beautiful voice brought tears to my eyes. It was hard not to think a woman like me many many years ago (but shorter with no rights at all) may have been sitting on the rock bench by the agora listening to some ancient sort of instrument played (remember we did those museums fast) while worrying about her son’s poor performance in the wrestling championship and thinking what dinner she could fix to help him feel better about it. Interestingly there were the most American folks here of all the places since we left Athens. (Still US folks—or Canadian seemed to be less than 5 percent of the visitors.)

A nice dinner, BFGB in AM, and off we go! Next stop Kalambaka….

Would we come back: Definitely for a performance we were interested in seeing. There is also skiing nearby—not surprising given the elevation. I think the ruins with a coating of snow would be beautiful.

WARNING; THE CONTENTS OF THE NEXT FEW POSTS MAY GET A BIT TEDIOUS. IT SEEMS WE OFTEN FORGET WHAT WE DID ON OUR MANY TRIPS AND USING THIS TO TRY TO RECALL IT IN A PLEASANT WAY. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SKIM THROUGH AND Just CHECK OUT THE PRETTY PICS. And if that gets tedious, just pour yourself a nice drink and tell us you enjoyed it!

We have now entered to “stay one night at each beautiful spot phase of this trip” for the next five nights. A feat not to be taken lightly on a 5 week trip! It quickly became mountainous (and more and more beautiful) as we left Athens. The roads were good and we actually preferred the country roads to the toll roads. Especially when we got the opportunity to stop at a roadside fruit/vegetable stand! We pointed but for whatever reason she decided what we should have, piled it into our bag, we paid and ate whatever it was along the way. Brant thinks perhaps she just gave us the stuff she was trying to get rid of but I think she was trying to show off her special stuff. She told us all about the stuff—in Greek.

We took a side trip out to a little beach that looked like a perfect Athens escape (45 minutes away)and was reminiscent of the movie, “ think of later”. It might be the perfect place to stop after arriving in the Athens airport. Then in about another hour we were at Nafplio which on first glance did not seem exceptional but the town had it all. A promenade next to the water, a pedestrian only town with many steps, cute shops, cafes, and a very long walk up to the fortress guarding the won. In fact this town had 3 fortresses guarding it. Our hotel room looked out to one on an island. We were shocked at what a terrific room we had on the water for about 50 dollars including 2 big breakfasts.

The problem with the town is that it’s hard to choose which bar to have the Aperol spritz (Brant votes for the one that serves free nuts) then even more difficult to choose a restaurant, which occur at frequency of every 10-20 feet. The one I chose after extensive research had an hours wait so we walked a bit and easily found another. Yup, I was forced to order squid ink pasta and I believe buckwheat groats with calamari and shrimp. On top of that a stray dog (which is very uncommon here because I think that cats evicted them) threw up next to our table. They offered to reseat us but we knew how busy they were and at the end they gave us a 10 percent discount. Despite language barriers the service has been good everywhere and the people kind and thoughtful. This was definitely a Greek family vacation town (as well as a romantic weekend town)—-lots of kids having fun. We finished the night with a free concert in the town square.

After another BFG breakfast we were off to Monemvasio. The drive once again through beautiful mountains to walled pedestrian only town. There were places to spend the night and of course more restaurants and bars.

SO the question—Would we come back? Yes, we left with much more to do. We would have liked to hike up to the castle. I think an evening cruise on the Corinthian canal would be interesting. Floating in the sea on the beach at Korfous would be wonderful after a long flight. And definitely, overnighting at Monemvasio would be unforgettable.

We spent 4 nights in Alonissos and wish we could have been there another 4—maybe 40. This says a lot as we lost our electricity twice (hence explaining the many candles in the home) it had a shower that was basically just a shower head in the bathroom ceiling with a drain in the center of the floor. It had what I called a Barbie doll oven with cooktop. No screens, with railings on the stairwell that felt as though they would break. And a slant on the old slate floor that mimicked the effect of too much ouzo. Did I mention the washing machine that had to be pried open with a knife and the drain hose had to be placed in the toilet when you used it?

BUT it was a magical spot. SO quiet and dark with shutters closed that we once slept till 10. At night you could hear strains of music from the town until about 11 and then it was suddenly completely quiet and still. I made mushroom risotto on the Barbie doll cooktop with leek sausage and we ate out on a patio set with candles (thanks Brant). It was a 2 min walk to a restaurant with a spectacular view….and of course many bars. There were so many footpaths we were still finding new trails the day we left.

The island was covered with pears, pomegranates, apples, figs, blackberries and grapes. I had my coffee and just reached over the railing for figs. And the food was excellent! One of my favorites was Vlita (described in English as local greens sautéed). I was finally able to find someone who told me it was amaranth, I’ve tried to grow without much success but now I need to try again. A bowl of vlita, grilled halloumi with tomato and bread is a perfect dinner. Of course you have to have a house wine—which in many places was excellent (and sometimes not)—but only 3-4 dollars!

This was a great place to sort of relax. We kept saying we would just spend the day relaxing on the balcony but hard to resist exploring such a beautiful place. A hike to the beach, a rented motorboat to explore the coves with a swim in the cove, etc. And we got our wash done! My cat came every morning and evening for a little milk and I worry about who will feed him now. (Though he looked well fed).

After 4 days we hopped on the local bus, loaded our luggage and headed to our ferry. Beautiful ride to Skiathos. We decided against walking up into the hills of Skiathos and instead took a water taxi to another beach for dinner then came back and wandered around a bit before we headed to Naxos via Athens. This is the area where the first Mama Mia was filmed (actually most on Skopelos, a neighboring island). Yup, lots of Abba at the bars, day tours to the movie spots and a theatre in town playing it several times per week. Very tough to get that music out of your head.

An easy drive to Volos (well it was easy for me) where we stayed in a nice hotel on the ocean hosting a medical conference. Could definitely spot those docs—busy on their phones and dressed conservatively—intermittently meeting up with the poolside family. Asked a 5 year old Greek girl how the pool was and in precise English she said, “Perfect!” Yup that would be Maris. Then she whispered to her mom, “Mom, it was perfect right?”

As we had no need to attend the conference we took a long walk along the boardwalk or malecón? Excellent lunch with a delicious herb. I asked waiter who was trying so hard to understand us. He put a great deal of time into finding the name and having written down in English. It was Critama—an herb only grown in Crete. Took a dip, watched a sunset. We even tried Tsirisoupolis which was actually a free drink from the hotel. It’s okay but I liked it better when honey and herbs were added. We loved watching how folks came to the beach after work to stand or float in the water and chat with their friends.

We have it down, BFGB, toss the luggage in car —then off to the ferry. Drop off car, roll luggage down to the port and power vampire at the cafe before hopping on our 3 hour ferry to Alonissos. Enjoyed meeting Brits waiting for the yacht to be prepared for their sail vacation. It was on that ferry ride that I wrote about 4 entries then published sadly without pics.

The ferry zips into a tiny port and we are a bit disappointed when we realize our air BnB is on the top of high point on the island. It’s a curvy scary ride where he drops off at the top of a cobblestone square where the pedestrian only town begins. A man asks if he may take bag… I say well I don’t know where I’m going yet. He says he does and he will take me there…. Ok so off we go. Down windy paths and steps littered with figs to a shuttered little house on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Dimitri tells us there is no wifi,everything is expensive, we should rent a car…. When he leaves we are feeling a little disappointed, as though we have made a mistake.

But then we go to dinner on a rooftop and wander through the cobbled streets listening to jazz coming from a bookstore. We realize there is a bus running every 20 minutes and foot trails everywhere. Then we go back to our shuttered little house and sit on the balcony looking out over the town and the ocean. The full moon rises and we think….nope not a mistake!

Down the mountain once again, SIri had had it with us at this point—telling us to turn left through guardrails on steep mountain passes and routing us through wall scraping paths into cobblestoned towns where it becomes unclear if you are on a road or in someone’s outdoor market. No one yelled at us so I think we were fine…. You might want to ask Brant’s opinion on this. He thinks Siri decided to kill us. We decided to change to Ms. Waze for a while but she only deals in Greek words and that alphabet is not friendly to the average GDI as opposed to those former sorority/fraternity members.

For the first time it was challenge to find a restaurant for lunch, we were definitely in the farmlands of Greece. We found a town and a restaurant but finger pointing and pantomiming seemed somewhat unsuccessful but perhaps a waiter? who spoke a bit of English brought us 2 toasted sandwiches with chips and a big beer for the 2 of us—total—5 dollars. He knew the menu was useless unless we ordered a Sigma Neu, or a Sigma Alpha Epsilon…… We thought he did not understand what we were asking for when he zipped away on his motorcycle with coffee drinks balanced on the handlebars of his motorcycle but he was back quickly to make those sandwiches. I think he thought we were very lost….

Suddenly we were at Kalambaka. Huge boulders the remnants of an ancient lake or debris from a rushing river created these monolithic rock towers. Monasteries are perched on the very top—-and of course we dumped our luggage, admired view and headed out—-to tackle the steps up to the monastery. We earn those cocktails! Not surprisingly it is a favorite among rock climbers—one German rock climber used his phone app to get us on the right trail. Not sure how he walked with all those carabiners hooked to him. It was unique and beautiful but and slightly odd. Not surprising much filming happens here—-Game of thrones for example

So drinks, dinner, BFGB and off we go again——next stop the mushroom museum in town before we head to Volos. I know what you are thinking—-a mushroom museum? But it was great! I could not resist sharing my “Mushrooms of Maine” post with one os the staff. She caught me off guard when she asked if I spoke Spanish. She told me she was a latina at heart and had was self taught in Spanish. She had been to Mexico City and hoped to return. We had a wonderful conversation about Mexico and mushrooms. Once again we are reminded what a globally connected world we are in—-surely this will eventually convince leaders what a waste of money war is! Or how much easier to get underground resistance in place.We hope we get to show her around Los Barriles some day. The casita will be waiting for her.

Would we return: If I learn to rock climb I would definitely return to Meteora. Perhaps to see it in the snow? They sometimes get a meter of snow in the winter.

I was sad to leave the ocean but Brant once again picked the perfect place in the mountains. The roads became increasingly more narrow until we were driving on cobblestones and realized we were in the middle of the town square which apparently is okay to do here…at least I think those were friendly waves from the shops. In the mountain I could see a deep gorge that looked so otherworldly that I was adamant we find before it got dark. So into another teeny tiny elevator, dump luggage in room, open shuttered doors to beautiful view and zoom back out the door. Some creative map reading located the gorge. Another place for the Ewoks to fly through….

Yet another dinner at a beautiful cafe with a few cats sitting right next to me (I wonder why?). For the first time in a couple days we heard English spoken at another table. A couple whose husband just decided to come to Greece while in the midst of a road trip in Tennessee and booked tickets for a week later. They were talking about how the wife had spent time there since a child when they ran into a local they knew. Moments later a group of Greeks joined their table and slipped into perfectly fluent Greek—both of them. Wow—-wish we could do that! Inspired me to get back to my Spanish .

So we have developed a strategy for this part of the trip, hike in the morning before the buses arrive and hike in the evening after the buses leave. We have had castles completely to ourselves, but have questioned whether we are on the right trail at times. We reserve the middle of the day and after dark for eating, drinking and driving (somehow that doesn’t sound right).

The ruins at Mystras have an interesting if not typical history. After kicking out the Romans, some Greek guy with lots of power (and I assume strong slaves by the looks of the big rocks) builds a really awesome castle/fortress which of course requires lots of people to keep fixing/ feeding/cleaning up so a town “flourishes” on the land below the fortress. It is such a cool (literally because its in the mountains) place that it attracts lots of artists and architects. It becomes such a popular and cultural center where everyone wants to live there so of course multiple wars ensue to gain ownership. The Venetians get it (bet the food was great), then the Ottomans take it over, but alas the Greeks get it back. Fortunately now no war needed to enjoy, just tickets and strong legs. Makes so much more sense (though not as exciting)to make money off tickets, restaurants and hotels than plundering…..

Once gain, BFGB shared with the cats, load car and we are off. We thought our room was a terrific bargain at about 55 dollars for 2 including 2 BFGBs . Now time to head to Olympia, home of the original Olympics—-but first a stop along the coast. And the question: Would we come back? Very beautiful there, very interesting to see the countryside of Greece and if we returned would do more extensive hiking but would probably go to a new place first.

So would we go back to this area:Yes I think we might. There was clearly a great deal to do in the area, food was inexpensive and delicious——and we need to rent an ATV and find those falls! Next time….

It was an easy 1.5 hour flight from Istanbul to Athens with a tasty lunch included. (Note I said lunch was included). A nice cab driver took us to our apartment In Athens. He was shocked that I knew what avogolemono soup is, but he told me it was “mama food” and should not be in a restaurant. It is funny how many cab drivers love talking about food….which is great because that is what I love talking about.We got tips on where to get Pakistani and Guatamalan food in Brooklyn,too. I think food is its own language. . The apartment Brant found was perfect—-right down to a balcony with a view of the Acropolis… easily accessed in the “go find the lockbox somewhere “ routine that we have perfected. I think the region was Plaka and it was really a perfect neighborhood. Very quiet at night, easy walk to the Acropolis, great restaurants, shops, and grocery stores steps from our building.

It was a beautiful day when we got there, but decided to check out the laundromat and the grocery store and hold off on tourism until tomorrow. Unfortunately it was too beautiful to resist walking up to the Acropolis. Then we couldn’t resist a drink while seated on the walls of the Acropolis while the live theater performance began. Then we could not resist hiking up to Aerophagus as the sun began to set. Unfortunately, very sadly , someone could not resist pickpocketing Brant. We have traveled many places famous for pickpocketing (Rome, Cuzco, Paris, London, Guayaquil, Mexico City) and as a result do all sorts of stuff to protect our “valuables”. Sadly it only takes one golden sunset on a warm sunny day to let your guard down and have someone notice. No one should ever grab someone else’s stuff, but they do and we will just leave it at that. Fortunately we have expected this to happen after many decades of travel so we did have copies of everything. We did our best to not let it color our view of Athens but…..and the laundry did not get done that night…and we were a bit weary and wary the next day,

So in summary: we enjoyed Athens. It was easy to get around, the people were helpful and friendly (except one), the prices were reasonable (unlike Rome) and like Rome (though not as majestic) it was always fun to see scattered ruins through the modern city. There were very few crowds except while walking up to the Acropolis which was a pretty easy walk. We enjoyed exploring the neighborhoods (even if it included doing a police report)—by the way, don’t skip this because it’s a hassle because you may need it in unexpected ways. We had to present it with the international drivers liscence to allow us to rent a car. We also had a great tour of the city and out to a beautiful temple of Poseidon by the shore.

We ended our stay with a wonderful dinner at an excellent restaurant on the terrace top of a building, The Balcony restaurant. Definitely worth a 20 minute cab ride….fortunately it was just 3 minutes from our apartment. Afterwards we went to a bar that was mainly outside on the sidewalks. Young people,some with prams, enjoying the warm summer night.

We always ask ourselves at the end of each visit, would we come back here? Well I think we would for some sort of special event—concert or one of those destination weddings but now that we have been in the more rural parts of Greece I think we would just head out to those beautiful old towns and sparkling water. More on that later…..

I could add an absurd number of pictures as it is truly a photo every 5 steps but trying to limit to a few favorites. We have learned in Greece that it’s also common here to say “Bye bye!” I did not realize that when I said that in Turkey but now have heard many many times in Greece. Soooo I found a way too large tablecloth or bedspread that I wanted to buy because it had elephants on it, It seemed however to be much too large for my carryon. He offered me one much, much smaller for 10 euro, I offered 5 euro, he said “Good buy!” I reached for my wallet thinking he was impressed with my bargaining skills, but realized in fact he was saying “good bye”. He took the fabric and tossed into the pile and turned away from me. Hmmm…perhaps bartering not common in Greece—I think he meant good by! I said, “Bye bye”

After saying good bye to Maris we headed to Istanbul. The more we visit Brooklyn the more we like it. We talked about how New York truly has a little bit of every country. While its a very pricey place to live you never really need to travel because everything is in New York. So why travel? We decided to test the theory.

Istanbul felt instantly exotic, but easy to navigate—even with few English speaking people. I suppose a great part of it was the large number of women wearing burqas, which I never completely adjusted to, but it certainly added to the mystery of the place.

It was an hours drive to our hotel which was actually within the old town—which is no vehicles—so into a buggy again. For unclear reasons we were upgraded so after quickly checking out our hotel we were off to dinner (which happened to occur about 3 hours after we woke up).

So this a HUGE city—in size and population—twice the size of New York City, and a third larger than LA. It is spread out over the ocean front of the Marmara sea along the Bosphorus strait on the continent of Asia and Europe. I didn’t fully realize the geopolitical importance of the location until I saw the ocean “parking lot” of tankers and container ships waiting to be tugged through the strait—-about a thousand per day. At the end of the strait, the tankers pop into the Black Sea. It’s a small sea with just a few countries along it’s coast —among them, Russia and Ukraine—hmm interesting huh?

While we did lots of walking—-20,000 is our top number we also used public transit. Our favorite was the ferry which was about 40 cents a trip. We happened to be there for Victory Day which is when Turkey took Asia Minor or Anatolia from Greece. Lots of music, food, people and flags everywhere (which was our tip off that it was a holiday0. Regardless it was an organized easy place to get around. And always food was nearby. It was definitely a city of contrasts—women in shorts next to women in full burqas—often chatting together. People tried to help us (like trying to buy tickets from a machine) but their method was to just say things over and over in Turkish so it generally wasn’t that helpful. We left with so many more places we wanted to explore.

This is special baklava made for victory day. We also had baklava with water buffalo ice cream—-interestingly it’s made to be a little chewy. Chewy cold ice cream—-very interesting. Also some stands served ice cream with a magician—-very odd and unexpected—-the little girl in front of me cried when he gave it to her took it away and pulled from her then served it upside down. Kind of made me want to cry too—I knew exactly how she felt. JUST GIVE ME MY ICE CREAM 🙂

The Tokapi palace was huge. We literally walked for miles through garden and palace. I think I took a hundred photos of just this place. We had never seen anything close to it in our travels. It was so old and yet I felt I could have furnished it with West Elm and DWR then cuddle up with a good book.

This was a place we left with many more things left to do. Maris had warned us the airport was complex with 3 security check points before even getting to your gate. On the second check point they found a tiny pair of scissors in my knitting (which was not of concern atthe previous 4 airports), they kept standing there holding the scissors and not giving me my luggage back. I could not understand what they were saying—nor could they understand me. Finally, I said “Bye Bye!” And waved good bye to my scissors. She laughed, zipped up my bag, then waved and said “Bye, Bye!” You don’t need to speak the language but you did need some patience and a sense of humor.

Our property in Baja Sur has many gnarled sprawling trees that we were told were wild plums. In fact they are called cyrtocarpus edulis and really are not a plum at all. Sadly many have been bulldozed away in Baja Sur but the former owners of our home kept them and in fact called the property, Los Abrbolitos, which is little trees. Actually they are pretty big trees now. And the fruits are called ciruela something—sorry, I forgot that second word.

Here is what we have learned from living here year round: the tree looses all its leaves in winter. Which is nice as that is when you enjoy the warm sunshine. As soon as the humidity and a bit of rain starts, the trees flower, fruit then finally begin to leaf out. It is amazing how these trees that may only get 1-2 rainstorms all year (and no irrigation) continue to grow and produce fruit. Some years they get no rain at all!

I have been surprised to find relatively little written about the tree. Here is the most important thing I have learned from lots of practice : in the heat of the summer the best breakfast is a cup of coffee with lots of milk to cool it then one by one, picking the prolific yellow fruits. You must pick them when soft. I bite the top off and squirt the sweet fruit into my mouth. It is sweet, pineapple, peach and nutty flavors. The iguanas clean up my mess… as I discard the skin and seed. The flavor is addicting and goes well with Sauvignon Blanc in the evening.

Here is what we have learned from talking with those who live here: Many local people love the nuts inside the fruit. The fruit has a small hard seed…. Pistachio sized. The seed is cracked open with a small hammer. The nuts are collected and eaten plain or used to decorate cakes and pastries. The birds don’t seem crazy about the fruit but they work hard to get that nut. After about 15 minutes of trying to extract the nut using my molcahete, I finally extracted a tiny half crushed something. Have to say it was one of those “it’s the journey “ moments. Perhaps I needed a larger sample size. Our gardener (which I really hate saying), told me there is a blind woman in a nearby town who opens the nuts quickly, beautifully, and perfectly with a tiny hammer. He goes there to buy them from her. I guess I need to find her!

What I have learned from reading: They are trying to grow the tree in other areas given its very low water needs. I have also read that Mexicans cook the fruit in chilis, water and a bit of sugar to make a sort of chunky sauce—-sweet and spicy. My goal is to make that and serve if with roasted pork or perhaps with a red snapper off the grill? I am always searching for a flavor I have never had before and while the tropical cherry was certainly that this is one that is new and lovable.

Well, I had a couple more great pics to add, but the flight is about to take off so I better close. I had hoped to also do an entry about the wonderful foods we have found here so will need to save that one for my next post. I do feel there is tremendous potential for unique fruits eaten locally but not on the menus here…….to get on those menus! Lots of complex and unique flavors to explore…… Perhaps even a wild plum wine could be made from these fruits? If so I will need help picking. Any volunteers?

Believe it or not there are several more projects, but as I am tired of trying to find these pics I am sure you are more tired of waiting for your computer to download them. Part of the reason we bought this house is that we thought it would be fun to figure out how to do these projects in another country. Yes, fun at times, frustrating at other times. (Not sure we could do without google translate). Has been interesting to put this blog together (more interesting for us then you I am sure). For the most part, we have met some great people who work hard, have great ideas and best of all have a terrific sense of humor (which is appreciated most of the time). Well, the birds are pecking at the window to be fed and I have a fig tree and flame vine to plant so I better go…..

I keep thinking we are going to do posts about the uniqueness of where we are living here in Mexico. Somehow we keep managing to take a trip to some terrific place. It is wonderful to be able to do both. We spent a couple of weeks on the East Coast this time. Just 5.5 hours after take off, we were walking through customs which literally took only 5 minutes. Of course after that is the 6 mile hike to the cab line. Seriously I always feel like I’m walking to Manhattan in JFK.

Our first stop was Brooklyn, New York, where we visited our daughter. She has created a beautiful life there. She stays busy as an editor and having fun with a terrific group of friends. She kept us busy too though bit of a shock to go from Los Barriles to New York City. It is good to see the city opening up again. It seemed odd that masks were on in most little shops and stores but once you were in a crowded bar the masks came off! She came up with some great places to visit…new spots we would not have found on our own.

We reached 20,000 steps most days. Which was good because it allowed us to eat and drink freely! Wait, it was most definitely not free, but it was very tasty. We enjoyed going to Governor’s Island. Terrific place to walk and talk while enjoying the views. Only a few minutes of a ferry ride to a quiet island with hammocks and forts which seems like a strange combo to me. It is a 172 acre island that was used as a military post by the continental army in 1776. Now it has a James Beard Foundation award nominated oyster bar! Those soldiers could never have imagined….

While we were sad to leave, it was time to celebrate Brant’s moms birthday and Mothers Day in Charlotte. (Brant got very good with that Uber app). We also got to meet our very adorable niece’s son on Mother’s Day. It would have been a perfect day if it weren’t for realizing something I don’t miss….SPRING ALLERGIES! We enjoyed the retirement community, then spent a couple days in downtown Charlotte then off to the Appalachians where it was even greener. They had booked a quaint pine paneled cabin with beautiful views. I could have easily spent a week there curled up in a chair with knitting (oops that sounds old). I’ve always felt so very fortunate to have easy going in laws who love to travel and just love getting out and exploring. We have had many special trips with them and we will add this one to the list.

After getting some quick shopping done, requiring a gifted suitcase from the in-laws, we were back to LB. Such an early departure gave us time to stock up at Sorianna’s (kind of like Target). It was our first trip back to the states in about 8 months. It did not seem strange to be doing it and it did not seem strange to come back——instead we just felt fortunate we could do it.

After many years of visiting the Baja during months too hot to do much other than swim, snorkel, paddle, SUP, or sip a margarita, we are finally here at a time that is perfect for exploring the many miles of trails here. Most are shared with mountain bikers….who in fact I believe are the ones who have created most of these amazing trails.

We have learned the desert is full of surprises. The nicest surprise are the beautiful cactuses that sprout out of rocks. There are no towering trees but that opens up faraway vistas.

I enjoyed getting to know a group of women who love to hike. For several weeks we met once a week to hike. So many people with such varied interests makes for great trail talk. Gardeners, travelers, artists, writers…..guess this is why we feel at home here.

If you don’t take enough water and you hike long enough, the cactus all start looking like hearts….

This is an old cobblestone road from San Antonio to El Triunfo. The hike was organized through Facebook and I believe about 80 people showed up. The fine reward when we got to El Triunfo was sangria and paella at El Minero.

There are too many trails to include all here so will close with a pic of our first hike here about 18 years ago—- and revisited many times. This is flat top. I always feel like the trail up has been landscaped with cactus and desert plants. When you pop out of the trail on the top you really are on a Flat top. A perfect place for picnics or just to sit and watch the big birds ride the thermals….

After a great visit with friends from Virginia, we decided we might as well grab a flight if we were at the airport. We chose Mexico City. Given our quick decision, we did little research. Very quickly we realized that the city would require many visits to fully explore.

Brant loves ruins (I do too but not as much as him). So on the first day one we got up at about 4:30 AM so we could meet a guide and driver who took us to the Teotihuachan ruins. it was a bit over an hour to a “tuna” farm. While one of the benefits to going to Mexico City now was the “emptying “ out of the city to the beaches… we had to join that group for a bit and our driver had to work hard to get us there before sunrise.

It was a little chilly in the morning so they had started a fire. Very slowly as the sky lightened we saw hot air balloons rising until the sky was filled with close to 50 balloons. It was beautiful but also a unique landscape. Maurice owns the property and lives there by himself with no electricity. He told us he felt very blessed. He knew little English (we were impressed by the word blessed) but our guide spoke English, Spanish and French fluently. He reminded us of our daughter and knew they would have enjoyed chatting with each other. They shared so many of the same concerns for our world.

After an excellent breakfast of fruit, and arepas we headed down to the “lost civilization “. Interesting how a group of people built these huge structures then basically died off. Likely ran out of water and bit by bit fell apart. The Aztecs found their structures and took over the place but eventually that fell apart. I always think it’s a shame we can’t figure out a way to live in the ruins. Imagine having a pool on top of the pyramid? Pickle ball courts in the courtyards? And grow some maize etc . They always seem like sad places—ruins that is.

After only a couple hours sleep there is not much energy for sightseeing but we packed in as much as we could every day. It’s a great city for walking. Each day we walked about 18,000 steps. We could have easily taken more Ubers as they were very cheap and easy to use, but we enjoyed seeing the neighborhoods. Each “neighborhood “ had its own very distinct feel. We mainly explored 4 neighborhoods.

Polanco: where our Marriott was located overlooking a park that seemed bigger than Central Park . Beautiful upscale restaurants everywhere and lots of museums…. Not the “hip” area but beautiful and remarkably quiet.

Centro: this is the oldest area. It was about a 30 minute Uber ($4) from our hotel. The zocalo is immense but sadly cordoned off on our first visit with giant plates of plastic on the pavement. hmm? We wandered around watching dancers and checking out the buildings in the golden light until we got hungry . That evening I had outstanding kale pesto on homemade pasta. Brant had housemade sausages–excellent food at Amaya’s (even if we were actually in search of jazz club when we stumbled on it).. Brant later read that Vatican was lending Mexico City a replica of the Sistine chapel and they were building it in 10 days. on the zocalo. We were too curious not to return. Sure enough we saw the chapel going up and the zocalo was open! It was now filled with people listening to a free concert and many waving an Israeli flag. Strange combo: Sistine chapel being built amongst 1000’s of people many waving the Israeli flag on the night before Easter. It seemed to get increasingly more crowded and given that some officers had riot gear we decided to cab home after checking out a cool hotel.

I mention the cab here because he gave us a tour of the city. He was very talkative and really tested the limits of our Spanish. We had to give directions to our hotel which seemed odd. He told us they have one park that people can legally smoke pot. Lots of police were at the park too. He thinks it’s a good way to do it. By the way, you can do ok with no knowledge of Spanish here but it sure does help!

The anthropology museum was giant and truly amazing. When there wasn’t an English translation the google lens came in handy. I guess it’s silly but did not realize how many different concurrent groups were out building pyramids. We walked to the famous Jumex which had a huge line so we “settled” for the free art gallery at Soumaya. Could not believe that such a terrific art exhibit was free.

Roma and Condesa (the hip neighborhood): One day we roamed around Roma (lots of roaming because gringos tend to eat lunch between 12-2 which is when restaurants tend to close in Mexico city. (No lunch here–just breakfast and dinner is served). Fortunately we found a tiny place serving delicious pita sandwiches. The owner had been born in NYC but had lived in Israel, Venezuela and Brazil. He was hoping to open a new place in Puerto Escondido where he can be closer to surfing…. the new life work balance. Smart. The next day we decided to more deeply explore the bar scene … so after a quick goblet of sangria near a plug for my phone (after visiting a dog park and discovering the cat cafe was closed)we headed to what was described as a dive bar. (Actually a Pulqueria with some little swimming pools). Again one of those odd combos… 4 story bar with a rooftop terrace with dancers and plastic pools that the kids really enjoyed, but no diving (thought that’s what they meant by dive bar). After that was the mescaleria with a band (in Roma Mercado) ….. ahh so many bars and restaurants and so little time. Beautiful old architecture in this neighborhood mixed with new (remember this is home of many earthquakes). Then finished off with ice cream and brandy near the hotel.

Easter Sunday and at the airport. A busy place today! Lots of the city is headed to Cabo. I was chatting with someone from the US before the trip. He was shocked we would go to Mexico CIty. He had heard it was extremely unsafe. We did not feel unsafe in the city but it is not to say there is not crime in this huge city. In fact, there is a city bordering Mexico City where there is little or no power or water and each day 1-2 women are murdered. They say it is the result of impoverished people taking over several hillsides. No police except for drug lords.

With that said Mexico City was truly a beautiful city packed with way too much to see and do. It seems like a crazy Mexican combo of Rome and NYC… at a third of the price with much friendlier people. (And tacos all over the place).

Brant spoke to a couple who had just arrived from Jamaica in the elevator at I’mour hotel. They were loving Mexico City and soon to go to Puerto Vallarta then on to Toronto. Brant asked why they were skipping the US and sheepishly told him they were concerned about gun violence in the US. And to the person I was talking to about the safety of Mexico City …. there have been 2 mass shootings in the US in the past couple days… so guess we all need to keep trying to make our world a better place… for everyone everywhere. Sadly we have had a couple of years of crime rising in inner cities, hopefully things will slowly improve but in the mean time, Brant and I feel so very fortunate to be having this opportunity. Travel helps with perspective I think. Interesting that a Californian might be fearing travel in Mexico while a family from Jamaica fears gun violence in the US. To a European the risk of being shot in the US has become unacceptably high and yet a horrible war is just a short distance away from them. We don’t really think of it on a day to day basis in the US, nor do most Mexicans I suspect. Most folks I know think they are safe where they live on a day to day basis, truly a privilege to feel that way. In the meantime it is wonderful to be out and about seeing people having fun and getting back a sense of normalcy. We have begun to meet more ” young nomads” in our travels and wonder if the definition of country may change some day? Perhaps that will help. In Roma there were young people from all over the world sharing a neighborhood. So interesting to watch how this goes—-and now we can certainly see why so many have chosen to move to Mexico City.

Several years ago we went to the “waterfalls”. It was a mere trickle though a fun ride so was shocked by the changes made by a big storm and a bit more water. This arroyo is less than a five minute ride from our home. It is a well traveled arroyo with dozens of choices for routes to the waterfall (initially).

Eventually as the gorge narrowed and the water became deeper, we had to “park” our ATVs. It was a perfect spot for a picnic before we began hiking up the arroyo to the waterfalls. Beach chairs were the prefect choice for keeping feet wet while eating lunch and drinking a nice cold beer!

We spent the better part of the day in this beautiful gorge. The temperature was perfect. Warm in the sun, cool in the shade. The scenery changed frequently: dry desert, lush green mountains, a smooth granite gorge, waterfalls—and then it all changed again when the sun began going down and the shadows changed the vista. At one point I said, this is as good as any national park—-except no entrance fee and only one other small group of people to share it with all day! With that said the area has become increasingly more popular and doubt this is always the case.

On a prior trip our friend found a great side trip to another waterfall. Surprising what a different waterfall it was. There was no clear cut trail which added to the adventure. Another good spot for a picnic……

I can not reveal the exact location of this ATV trip (I promised), but it is certainly no secret. When you find a beautiful place it is so hard not to share with others. And it will change….

When last here they had just built a zip line course in the canyon. For whatever reason the venture failed. The lines are gone but a few rusty stairs remain. On our last visit we could ride all the way to the base of the falls. This time giant rocks and more water made this impossible–and a far better adventure.

Garden follow up: This pretty little moth was enjoying the creek but I knew what was on her mind. She was thinking how about how much fun it was to start up those caterpillars on my eggplant and tomatoes a short distance away…thinking about how much better she has it than her relatives in Kansas. We are learning to share with pests–with use of some netting and neem oil–and getting some beautiful delicious tomatoes in the process!

I take an absurd number of bird photos and I am not sure why. I worried we would not have enough birds on our propertyas I loved feeding the birds back in Shingle Springs (so glad the new owner is a birdwatcher). Now I worry that I am not keeping up to the seed supply. Or I worry that their birdbath is empty. I also waste a great deal of time trying to get the perfect picture so I will just make this entry a photo album. Except that I will start with a video. This little guy was chirping on top fo the bloom of our agave incessantly, so I videotaped and palyed it back so he could hear himself. He was puzzled. He circled over our head several times before deciding to evacuate. That’s the meanest thing I’ve done in a long time. (He did return much later, try to see the flash of blue on his head).

As the main reason we cam to the Baja was for the beautiful coast so will start with the coast: