First Evening in Naxos

Feeling pretty good right now, for a couple of reasons.

1) My watch is fixed, yay! I am unreasonably happy at having a functioning timepiece on my arm again. I may have an issue here but we'll explore the 12-step program later. One of the shops on the waterfront was able to locate and install a battery in my watch, and now I am happy.

2) I loooooooooove a good meal. Based on several recommendations, I went to To Kastro for dinner. Dinner

for one in Greece is difficult - I want to order about twice as much as I can eat. I restrained myself to a Naxos salad (cheese, tomato, caper, onion & olives) and a mackerel entree. (and yes it was the whole fish!!!) I still shamed myself to the point that the proprietor? manager? offered to debone my fish!!! He did and brought the remains back despite my protests that I was full. It was delicious but I could not eat any more. So he helpfully sent over a digestif! :-) I think it had a flavor of mastic, but I'm not sure. He came over and chatted for a while which was fun, then sent over a 2nd glass of digestif... yeah I'm sleeping well tonight!

So, plan for tomorrow: villages. Maybe beach before if I get up. I haven't had a good night's sleep since Sunday night, so we'll see.

To Greece and Then to Naxos!

Here I am in my first full day in Greece. It's hard to believe I'm here!

The trip to Greece went fairly well. The flight from Chicago had quite a bit of turbulence at first, so dinner came a bit late.... which meant little time for sleeping, unfortunately. After arriving at Heathrow Airport I went through security back in to Terminal 3 to use the Admirals Club where I had a nice breakfast of pumpkin muffins and coffee. Then I had to take the bus to Terminal 5, go through security, and wait for the gate for my flight to open. On the advice of the lounge attendant I allowed 2 hours to change terminals, which was only a little too much time (!).

I met Charlotte at the square in Glyffada and we went to her place to drop[ off my bags. We then went to a Cretan restaurant, which was pretty good overall, but the tzatziki was a little bland.

Back home to pack the additional items from Charlotte (towel, tanning lotion & tix!) then hit the hay for my 5:30 am alarm. Sometime in the middle of the night a car, maybe 2 cars, was screeching around the street outside Charlotte's. It was so loud it woke me up and it took a while to get back to sleep. Argh.

Very easy getting to the ferry this morning, the taxi took me directly to the correct gate. It was a nice ride. I had a family next to me until the first stop at Paros, they had 2 small children who were adorable and very enetrtaining when I got bored!

The hotel owner met me at the dock in Naxos and drove me to the hotel. He is very nice, and gave me some tips on sights, hikes etc. The room is actually like a little apartment, with kitchenette - very convenient! After walking all over I stocked up some yogurt and coffee for the next 2 days.

The old town is a MAZE ing. Ha, I'm so punny. I would love to know how far I walked, becuase all of the streets are narrow and winding and make no sense. I ended up in the same place several times without knowing how I got there! I hope I can find the Venetian Museum again tomorrow night - I got a ticket to the Bouzouki Evening which has wine, music and dancing; it promises to be a very cool experience.

So, I'm taking a short break now and catching up on email, blogging and possibly a nap. The shops are closed now and it's wayyyy to early to eat, so I may as well have a break! I'm also looking at tomorrow's possibilities... maybe heading to a village... stay tuned!

And I'm Off...

Just barely made it to the Blue Line before the rain started - a couple of drops hit me and I groaned while stepping up the pace for the last 10 yards. Whew! As I rode the El to O'Hare, I could see it really coming down. By the time we started to go underground at the airport, though, it stopped.

I was selected for additional random screening at security. Hmm. Apparently TSA wanted to hold my hands. As they were 1) still attached to my body and 2) free of any naughty residue,* I was free to go in a jiffy.

Now sitting in the Admirals Club. I'm mourning the death of my watch battery and wondering how to get a new one. Maybe I can get one in Heathrow... not seeing anything that might be helpful here at O'Hare.

So - 10 hours until I'm in Heathrow, 17 until I'm in Greece. I can't wait to get some tzatziki.

*My hands are attached to my body and free of naughty residue. TSA is not attached to my body; I cannot speak to their residue.

Unpack... Launder... Pack

I'm heading back to Greece at the end of the month, this time for a bit of island-hopping: Naxos, Mykonos and Santorini. I'm taking two weeks for this trip, which is freaking me out a little as I have never taken such a long vacation as an adult! And it's going to be rough being away from my cat for that long; now that she's a senior cat, I worry about her a lot.

It's also a challenge as I just got home at midnight from a 5-day business trip. Which means I have 5.5 days in the office before I leave, and just over a week to unpack from that trip, launder everything (including the sheets the cat puked on this morning, sigh) and repack. Hopefully I do a better job packing than I did for the past trip, for which I forgot several key items including half of a suit! But since the packing list for vacation reads: swimsuits, flip flops, dresses - it should be easier. I just have to resist packing all of my cute shoes!

Trick... Treat....

I got on the flight from Athens to JFK this morning (or, in US time, yesterday). There were a couple and a guy also waiting to get on; I heard them talking, and they had all tried to get on the flight the previous day. Fortunately, we all got on; I was super lucky and got a business seat which made the flight go by very pleasantly. Going back to economy transatlantic is going to be a bummer!

Immigration and customs at JFK was relatively quick and painless. It was only when I hit security for the domestic leg that things slowed down. There were only three lines for the whole terminal, and it took a good 25 minutes to get through. Which in the end was fine, as the flight I'm aiming for next has been delayed. So I'm sucking the life out of the Boingo connection I paid for by surfing the web! All in all, it's been more treat than trick so far. Fingers crossed!

Being Flexible, and Waiting

I'm at the Athens airport, waiting to see if I get on to the flight to JFK. Since I'm standby, my cousin has been checking seat availability for me and when we got back to Athens last night and checked email, it appeared that today is my best chance to get to the US until possibly Wednesday. As much as I'd like to spend 3 more days in Greece, I have a work commitment on Wednesday so felt it best to try to get home today. I'm kind of proud of myself for going with the flow as well as I have! and it's part of the adventure.

It was a great week in Greece. For such a short time, I feel like I did and saw a lot. And ate a LOT of cheese pies. :-) It was great hanging out with Charlotte, too; since I just saw her in July, it's not much longer between visits than it would have been if she were still in the U.S. I know I'll be back for another visit, but I think there will be a longer gap this time, which will be weird. I know it won't matter to our friendship though, and besides - we'll be gossiping and staying in touch through email and texting until then.

So... we'll see where I post from next!

Driving to Heaven

What a full day Friday was! The wind was really blowing, and the bay was very choppy. As we walked around the waterfront to the car, a wave crashed up onto the walk and drenched our shoes and pants! The whole walkway was wet, and now we knew why.

We hit the road around 11 am, and after some searching, found the German War Ce

metery just west of Hania. Over 4,400 soldiers from WWII are buried there.

There's an equally large cemetery in the other direction that is the last resting place for Australians, British and Greeks who gave their lives. The German cemetery bears a message of peace that one cannot help but take to heart, thinking of the terrible losses.

We drove on to a monastery, which we somehow passed by, and over a curvy, narrow road up a peninsula. When we reached the town at the end, we got out to stretch our legs and relax our muscles, which had been tensed up during the ride! We decided to take the road back that went down the middle of the peninsula, and it was less nerve-wracking.

The drive took us down the gorgeous we st coast of Crete. We could see beuatiful blue water, and, as we drove, a kri kri (native goat) in the road. Then a dog, tied to a donkey, tied to the side - we took this as a sign to stop in the small town for lunch. The first taverna we approached was closed, and a man sitting out front gestured to us; I wasn't sure what it meant. We walked to another tavernawhich also appeared closed. As we started back to the car, a little old man came hustling up - he owned the taverna and would open it. He asked if we spoke German, and although we said no, his German was better than his English - and our Greek! - so we ended up using German.

He offered fish or "cutlet" (pork), salad, bread and wine that he had made. Sounded good to us! So he made our meal, right then and there! It was funny to be the only ones in the taverna except for the owner and his wife, especially when we had our meal and they sat there watching us eat! It was so good though - everything was incredibly fresh. We were very lpeased with our lunch, and with a unique experience.

From then on, the roads got crazier. Twisty, turny, high on the mountainside, somtimes with a guardrail, sometimes not. The scenery, when I looked, was stunning; it also made my stomach flip to see how high we were. At one point, the road climbed and the rail was so low that it looked like we were driving into the clouds.

The road finally began to descend, and before long, we were at Elafonisi beach. Gorgeous. There is no other word. Some of the sand was pink, and there were volcanic rocks poking out of the deep blue water. The mountains rose behind us. We walked the beach, wading in the water, taking in the beauty.

Too soon, it was time to go back if we wanted light on the mountain drive. We chose to go up through the middle of the mountains, and it turned out to be a less stomach-turning route. The villages were a little bigger on this road, too.

Dinner in Hania was back to Tamam. It was too cool to sit outside, so we sat in the dining room that was once a Turkish bath. Originally we were giong to order all different food, but we ended up getting the tzatziki again, and a variety of croquettes. Everything was delicious once again.

After dinner we wandered the town looking for a place for a nightcap. In trying to find a place we saw early in our wandering, we stumbled across a bar - a proper bar, which is rare in Greece - and it had an amazing selection of beers! Charlotte ordered a Hoegaarden and I haad a Saint Landelin Blonde. A nice way to wind down a busy day.

Today, we're sticking to Hania, checking out the sites, a museum or two, and the shopping. Then back to Athens, where I'll be for.... I don't know how many days! The flights are pretty booked so it looks like I'll be there a little longer than planned. Stay tuned!