Betsy's Self Indulgent Holiday Photo Thread..

[Betsy]

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

 

[Betsy]

This is another village where we ate called Aptera, every single meal in the villages ends with lots of free Raki..



..views of the mountains



Hello..







5 days later we moved on from the peace and tranquility of Kalami and i drove to our next destination on the outskirts of Chania Old Town.

..stay tuned

 

[Betsy]

Because the previous house^ was so damn cheap, we rented this fancy-ass house in prime location Chania Old Town for 5 days.. the top balcony is the doors from our living space and the bottom balcony was the doors from the front bedrooms.









Out of the doors was the roof terrace to the top right you can just about see a minaret which rings a bell around 6pm..



The street below the balcony


Chania is a mix of Venetian and Turkish with traditional and modern architecture, old town has historic monument status.. it's built.. according to the archaeological research, on the ruins of ancient Kydonia, Kydonians are supposed to be a pre-Hellenic tribe.

During the ancient period (3.000-2.800 B.C.) the old harbor was used by Minoans, as a crossroad of all five continents.. it was conquered many times during the past by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Turks, Hebrews, Egyptians, and Arabs, till the end of the 19th century, when it was liberated... so a good mix.

The city comes alive at 11am and goes to sleep at 4am.. (my teenagers preferred hours) i took these photos at 10.08am and the streets are still deserted.





Harbour

 

[Betsy]

In the footsteps of Anthony Bourdain.. i walked from Old Town to Bougatsa Chania, most of the city is pedestrianised so i just left the car on a dirt banking on the outskirts of the city for the week and walked everywhere..

Bougatsa dates back to Byzantine period and became popular in Crete following the Greco-Turkish war in the early 20s when a population exchange saw Greeks living in Turkey returned to Greece..



Anthony will elucidate..

Celebration of album artwork at the Chania Fim Festival









Lambo..





..

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Excellent write up and photos as usual, we have come to expect nothing less. See you soon

 

[Betsy]

Last one..



Hand rolled gelato at Domenico's


Mixing


Spreading.. its stainless steel above liquid nitrogen





Rolling..





I had espresso (with a shot of espresso) Sarah had pistachio and the boy had strawberry and mango with coconut milk and yogurt base



Tourist shot of the lighthouse at sunset



Oh come on... Don't yawn.. it wasn't that boring!


fin.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

@Frankenorange 2002

 

[Frankenorange]

And the Alfa. Like the one i had but mine was red. There are some dreamy cars from that period and races up they look amazing.