Betsy
Old School Grand Master
Have you missed me?..
We've been visiting Crete so get yourself comfy for some sunshine, some bikes and some cats..
I picked up this Suzuki Ignis Hybrid in the airport.. small cars rule here, the last thing you want driving through narrow village roads or passing a local in a battered old pick-up truck on a mountain pass is a big-ass car..
This is the first year i've had a modern smartphone.. google maps is just a revelation for travelling! .. the places where we stay are often on "unnamed roads" which i can't type that into the Nav.. additional confusion with the Greek alphabet and their Pi, Omega and upside down f'kin triangles!! .. it's more like a maths equation
..I dropped a pin on google maps and it took me straight there.. our house was here.
This is our first house in Kalami** (more of that later) nestled in the trees on the outskirts of Kalyves
..the view from our balcony, the cicadas were deafening! .. the mantis were in their millions!
The first night we drove into Kalyves looking for somewhere to eat.. it's a very traditional Cretan village, i spotted some tables and they invited us in, we were starving having not eaten since leaving the house at 6am.. we ordered lots of food, there was just us, a large Greek family and a young Greek couple having a romantic evening meal.
A small band set up, a guy on keyboards, a guy on guitar and a guy on bouzouki, i thought "Ow! i hope this isn't going to be some tourist bullshit" but i couldn't have been more wrong, it was very traditional Greek, folks were taking turns to sing songs, even the restaurant staff came out for a sing.
..after a couple of hours Sarah said 'i wish they'd clear our table' so eventually, i asked for the bill, at which point they cleared the plates immediately and brought out a small vase of ice-cold Raki and 3x shot glasses.. we obviously didn't know the dining etiquette
Kid was like, "Hellooo!!"
Personally I've never really liked Raki but this village Raki was different, no aniseed flavour, made with herbs.. when it was gone, they brought out another bottle and 3x free desserts..
The Greek dancing started, just the old fellas then the younger women joined in.. i was applauding at the end of one song.. an old timer came over and said "i'm glad you liked it, our timing was a bit out, the old folks dance a different style to the younger folks" .. What the!? .. I'd drunk 2x 500ml Mythos and 9x shots of Raki.. like i'm going to understand the intrinsic nature of Greek dancing..
We had to leave to car and walk home through the dirt.. we got home at 2.30am.. having walked off the alcohol, the boy and i went night swimming.. Deserves a quiet night
..bikes spotted around the village
..this is the legendrey DEAL it's the Greek version of Ti DEAN but it's made of steel
I wanted to explore this abandoned village while we were in **Kalami.. it's not mapped so i spent hours searching satellite images
https://filmfreeway.com/1385354
..eventually i found the coordinates on a Greek hiking forum, it was a different 'Kalami' at the other side of the island .. the fk?! no wonder the sat-nav doesn't work properly.
..lots more to come
We've been visiting Crete so get yourself comfy for some sunshine, some bikes and some cats..
I picked up this Suzuki Ignis Hybrid in the airport.. small cars rule here, the last thing you want driving through narrow village roads or passing a local in a battered old pick-up truck on a mountain pass is a big-ass car..
This is the first year i've had a modern smartphone.. google maps is just a revelation for travelling! .. the places where we stay are often on "unnamed roads" which i can't type that into the Nav.. additional confusion with the Greek alphabet and their Pi, Omega and upside down f'kin triangles!! .. it's more like a maths equation
..I dropped a pin on google maps and it took me straight there.. our house was here.
This is our first house in Kalami** (more of that later) nestled in the trees on the outskirts of Kalyves
..the view from our balcony, the cicadas were deafening! .. the mantis were in their millions!
The first night we drove into Kalyves looking for somewhere to eat.. it's a very traditional Cretan village, i spotted some tables and they invited us in, we were starving having not eaten since leaving the house at 6am.. we ordered lots of food, there was just us, a large Greek family and a young Greek couple having a romantic evening meal.
A small band set up, a guy on keyboards, a guy on guitar and a guy on bouzouki, i thought "Ow! i hope this isn't going to be some tourist bullshit" but i couldn't have been more wrong, it was very traditional Greek, folks were taking turns to sing songs, even the restaurant staff came out for a sing.
..after a couple of hours Sarah said 'i wish they'd clear our table' so eventually, i asked for the bill, at which point they cleared the plates immediately and brought out a small vase of ice-cold Raki and 3x shot glasses.. we obviously didn't know the dining etiquette
Kid was like, "Hellooo!!"
Personally I've never really liked Raki but this village Raki was different, no aniseed flavour, made with herbs.. when it was gone, they brought out another bottle and 3x free desserts..
The Greek dancing started, just the old fellas then the younger women joined in.. i was applauding at the end of one song.. an old timer came over and said "i'm glad you liked it, our timing was a bit out, the old folks dance a different style to the younger folks" .. What the!? .. I'd drunk 2x 500ml Mythos and 9x shots of Raki.. like i'm going to understand the intrinsic nature of Greek dancing..
We had to leave to car and walk home through the dirt.. we got home at 2.30am.. having walked off the alcohol, the boy and i went night swimming.. Deserves a quiet night
..bikes spotted around the village
..this is the legendrey DEAL it's the Greek version of Ti DEAN but it's made of steel
I wanted to explore this abandoned village while we were in **Kalami.. it's not mapped so i spent hours searching satellite images
https://filmfreeway.com/1385354
..eventually i found the coordinates on a Greek hiking forum, it was a different 'Kalami' at the other side of the island .. the fk?! no wonder the sat-nav doesn't work properly.
..lots more to come
