Matala

We took a ferry to Iraklion. Although I've been to Crete in the past, I do not recall Iraklion. Now I know why ... it is large, noisey, dirty, smelly ... need I go on?? So we rented a car and drove to Matala. If you want to know why I chose Matala, this web site about says it all - click here

If you own a boat and are looking to name it, here is one you probably haven't thought of.

The beach at Matala is lovely - although filled with tourists you can still find a good spot to lounge. And if you are thirsty there are bars lining the water front. The caves are now a major tourist attraction rather than merely sleeping accommodation for young travellers. They were fun to explore though and I can certainly see the attraction. The sign now says Roman Burial Ground, but there are no signs of dead Romans in the caves.

Yes Joni, the scratchy rock n roll is now replaced by CD players, the Mermaid Cafe is no more and the starry dome in lessened by the city lights, but all in all I'm glad I came to see what I missed in the early '70's.
Oh yeah, we did find a left over hippie whose face is leathered by the sun and who plays old Cream and Jim Morrison and the Doors kind of music from his house - very very loud (an nostalgic). Perfect on an evening when the wind is in from Africa!
(In case you don't know, the above references come from Joni Mitchell's "Carey")

Santorini

Ah Santorini. Everyone we spoke to said "you HAVE to go to Santorini". So here we are. The ferry ride from Naxos takes about two hours. It arrives at the port in Fira, the capital city. The first think you notice is that you are at the sea level and the town is barely visible at least 1,000 feet straight up a rock cliff. The ride up to the town is dizzying with hairpin curves and busses and vans cutting off the road from opposing traffic when they make their turn around the hairpins. Once on top the view is phenomenal. The town sits on the edge of the cliff, like they say "between the sea and the sky".

We had to laugh today at the above photo. The tour bus was turning left onto this road, but couldn't make the turn because this car was parked there. He was honking and honking and no one came. He tied up traffic in both directions on the main road while he waited for the driver of the auto to return and move the car. About 10 minutes later a girl in an orange dress came running, hopped in her car and drove away, allowing the bus room to turn. I'm sure glad I wasn't that girl in the orange dress!

This is the view fromthe city to the old port. You can see the stairs winding their way up to the city. One can walk, take a donkey up, or take a cable car from the bottom.

Today there were eight - count them - EIGHT - cruise ships in. Oh my, the number of tourist was unbelievable in town. This town IS very touristy - shop after shop after shop after shop after shop ... the prices in the restaurants are high, accommodation is very expensive and I think the majority of shop sellers and waiters are getting a bit tired of serving all of us. You can probably tell that despite the beautiful view, we are not impressed and wouldn't advise people to come here. Look in a book, see the beautiful views and save your money. Now, having said that, tomorrow we are taking the local bus to Oia (pronounced Ee-a), a village on the north west coast. Perhaps our view will change after that trip.

Bye Bye Naxos

Comment for this photo: Use your imagination!

P.S. Look at the smile on D's face!



And yet others get the ol' baker. This is the same baker that we met 4 years ago. He is still grumpy but I can make him smile.

So every evening we go for our early evening cocktail which happens to be ouzo. And every evening we go to the Captains Cafe which is right across the road from the port. We sit and watch the ferries come in and go out and watch the old Greeks fish off the end of the pier. Tonight, our last night, we called our waiter Vassilis over to chat. He and his twin brother Nikos run the family bar. They work every day from early morning to late evening from April until October with ne'er a day off, and they don't complain. In fact, they like it. AND he is the same person that served us 4 years ago AND he remembered me to the point of the fact I've changed the colour of my hair (I now have foils)! We said our good-byes, the brothers trying to get us to ensure we will visit them again in one year's time.

On the way home we stopped into our patisserie - Rendezvous. Our cute little server from 4 years ago is not there anymore but a jolly old fellow (whom I believe may be the owner) has served us many many times this year. He was also sorry to hear we would leave the next day.

Perhaps we should stay!

What would a trip to Naxos be without a stroll around the Portara. This is a trademark of the island. Over to centuries the people have given it the name Portara - meaning huge door. It is a marble gateway into what was once a temple dedicated to Apollo. The temple was built in the 6th century B.C.


A walk through town in the evening. Even the Greek Orthodox priests need to line up to use the ATM.

Here is the Proof! Debbie does swim in the sea. We have moved from our "Greek beach" to the tourist beach. It is more sheltered, fine grain sand (no need for our little water shoes) and in the afternoon that is all one can do - put your hot body in the water.

We had an incident at our new beach the other day. A German fellow was staring intently into the water when his girlfriend entered the water. He told her to get something from shore which turned out to be a camera and together they got close to the surface of the water and started taking photos. Nosey me swam up to them and asked what they were looking at - it was a JELLY FISH which swam into the shallow water. Ìsn`t it beautiful` he said and he started to pet it...(a bit weird if you ask me but ...). As the day went on more and more people started to take photos of the jelly fish (so I always knew where it was when I was swimming). Then some children were looking at it by the shore. A large Greek man entered the water to see what everyone was looking at, saw it was a jelly fish, went to shore, picked up a child`s plastic pail, re-entered the water, picked up the jelly fish in the pail and deposited it on the sand on shore (I was hoping that young German man didn`t see this!) And so, the jelly fish was drying out in the searing afternoon sun. When I finished swimming and was entering the shore, I thought I`d look at this sea creature to see if it was yet dead. A young child (a regular Greek swimmer) took a paddle from a paddle ball game that everyone plays on the beach and was rolling this poor jelly fish back into the water. He did wait until the big fat Greek man was out of site before he did this. He kept flipping it and flipping it and flipping it until finally it flipped into the sea. It looked like it was regaining conscienceness by the I wandered away. We swam in the same bay this afternoon and there was NO jelly fish, so it must have swam back to it`s family in the deep sea.

Our Drive

We rented a car. That was the easy part. Driving it on Naxos roads was the difficult part. The car rental girl gave us a map with different routes to take. We jauntily set out. The Greek drivers are something else. Drive too slow and they drive right up on your tail and beep their horn yet they will park their car in the middle of the road, blocking traffic without a thought.
We also noticed that the left hand side of their cars were always scratched and dented. There is a very good reason for that...their roads are not wide enough for two vehicles in many, many, many, many ... spots. Do they slow down in these narrow areas??? No.
We chose the mountain route to begin with. Naxos contains Mount Zeus - that may tell you the height of the mtns. We stopped at a town called Halki. Once we found a spot to park, it was very interesting.




We enjoyed a wonderfully huge greek salad in the local taverna. And of course, did a bit of shopping. This is the town that has the oldest Citron distillery which we toured. Citron is their famous liqueur made from the leave of a tree similar to the lemon tree.

Arrived back in town to view another spectacular sunset.

We successfully navigated the roads on day one, so ventured out on day two to drive on a larger main road along the coast. The road did let two vehicles pass in most spots but the coastal road rose up into the mountains so high the lack of oxygen was making me dizzy - and I was the driver! We drove to Apollonas, a picturesque little town with a sandy beach and many tavernas lining the water. Of course, we stopped to eat.

On our way home we stopped at a Kouros, a sculpture made of marble of a young boy which is 9 meters long. The marble was apparently defective so they decided not to use this carving and it lays where it was discovered.

No driving tomorrow. Just lounging about at our favourite little beach and enjoying the salt water of the sea.

Ya sas!

Week 1

The moon and "first star I see tonight" as seen from the taverna at which we ate tonight.

Difficult to see, but while we were eating the clouds rolled in and thunder could be heard in the distance. Suddenly the rain poured down with everyone scurrying for cover. Our waiter knew it would rain ahead of time as he cleared all the tables prior to the deluge.

Getting into Greek time means market in AM, then a coffee, then lunch on our balcony which consists of fresh bread, ripe tomatoes, cukes, and Greek cheese with extra virgin olive oil for dipping. Then bathing suits and beach to take our daily dip in the sea. Back for a shower then down to our favourite bar for an ouzo prior to dinner.

Another evening we ate at Vassilis, a taverna which has been in operation since 1951 (that's not so old is it?) The waiter was the gandson of the original owner
the family tradition continuing.

Saw this fixer upper - good location - close to shopping, walking distance to the beach, thick walls, good to resist heat in summer and keep heat in in the winter ... what do you think, should we buy?

This is our little beach - almost private - and one used only by the locals (and us). It is a bit rocky on the feet so we went out and bought water shoes and now we are as happy as clams. And this is where you'll find us midday when the temperature is too hot to do anything other than swim in the Mediterranean. The water temperature is perfect and it feels like silk. We do stroll over to the larger sandy beach with all the tourists but to swim, we prefer our secluded little spot.

The sunsets are breathtaking.

Considering a concert again tonight although eating a slow dinner at Visilis may win over. No rush, we have many days yet.

Naxos

It was 4 years ago that we saw this Island and things have not changed much. The weather is fabulous - 27 and not a cloud in the sky. The Mediterranean is warm and very inviting in the midday heat. The castle is still showing performing artists and last night we saw Greek folk dancers. They performed under the stars and we got to taste various Greek wines and liqueurs as part of the evening.

Naxos on my mind

Just found a couple of web cams of Naxos Greece. If you pull it up don't forget there is a 10 hour time difference between Whitehorse and Greece.

Downtown Naxos Town


The "other end" of St. George's Beach