Sunday, March 27, 2011

Last Blog: In Which Dave Finds Paradise

Well, my little Thunder Kats and Kitties, this may well be the last blog because I'm coming home!  I don't want to but heck, I miss you all.  Personally, I'd like to take you all, like the first tribe in Liberia, over here and leave the Teabaggers to their own devices. 

So a few nights ago we boarded the boat for Crete which, according to Nicholas whose familial roots are here, is like Greece concentrate.  The boat was really cool.  Here's pictures of the cabin:






Going back, we're not going to be so lucky and will have to sleep "On Deck".  The cabin was kind of a waste as there really was no time to play with all the stuff.  We docked in Crete at 5:30 in the morning
and, after they gave us all the traditional freashly squeezed orange juice and a complimentary bottle of Creten olive oil which they gave us at dinner, we disembarked.  By the way, dinner on the boat was really good, in a very elegant dining room and the best yet friendliest service.  When they found out that Nicholas was a Tsakiris from Crete we got lots of perks including a bottomless Chicouria bottle.
I was wicked impressed but Nicholas said "just wait".

So as it was so early in the morning we decided to have coffee and sit in a cafe on the quay at Chania.
It was a little stormy but the light was gorgeous, 






But our final destination was the village of Milia which was wayyyyyyyyy up in the mountains.  Milia was an ancient village, gone to ruin due to a cholera epidemic, that two local families decided to resurrect as an ecologically balanced, self supporting traditional community, eco-tourism style. Each tiny and unique house from the old village is a guestroom and they are beautifully and faithfully restored.  My room had a big fireplace and a shower built from the mountain rock.

Here's me in my doorway


 This seating area used to be a chimny for a fireplace but now it was a sky lit lounging place.



Check out this sink!


This was breakfast

What can I say about Crete?  It's delicious.  I've eaten some things you wouldn't believe.  Milia is particularly famous for it's food which is all organically grown and raised here on the farm.  They have gardens with vegetables and herbs and free running chickens, goats and sheep.  






Which brings us to Lucky the Dog.




Lucky is a small black dog of unknown breed with lots of heart.  He's chained here because he has a slight chicken chasing problem so he was being punished.  After he learned a good lesson he was released back to his job as village ambassador and official greeter.  He is all over the place and full of fun.  One day we climbed the mountain (yes, I climbed another mountain, wanna make something out of it?) and Lucky came with us all the way to the top.  He couldn't understand why we were so slow.  He kept running ahead and coming back to encourage us.


Nicholas on the mountain path.


Lucky, encouraging us.

I have to close now, the client in Athens who had me photograph his villa in Kardymili is being a royal pain and I must do for him so I can't tell you about our visit to Moanolis' farm, where we drank fresh goat milk and had a great time.  I can't even tell you about my swim in the Libyan Sea or several other things I'd planned....they'll have to wait...I might be blogging from home.  Here's a taste, a picture of me, this time swimming in the Libyan Sea showing the thumbs up, which I do primarily for daughter Lucy, who likes that kind of thing.  See ya on the flip side!



Monday, March 21, 2011

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Dave went mountain climbing.    Now that's a sentence I'll bet none of you thought you'd ever read!  That's right Thunder Kittens, I done climbed a mountain I did!  

Dave: The Intrepid Hiker of Mountains

Dave being egged on by Nick "Mountain Goat" Tsakiris.....Ariel Photo by Nicholas


So not only have I fought VICIOUS BEASTIES in my underdrawers (see previous post: What's In Dave's Pants) but that same day Nicholas succeeded in dragging me up the side of a mountain to the beautiful monastery of  Vaidenitsa way up near the source of a waterfall of sweet clean snow-melt from Mt. Tayetos.


Photo by Nicholas


 The name Vaidenitsa is derived from the Slavic Vodonitsa: voda meaning water, 'nitsa being a common Slavic word ending meaning place and, get this, there is even a rumor about the place being haunted by "the Ghostly Goat of Vodonitisa"!  We didn't see the Ghostly Goat himself but we did encounter, along the path,  much evidence of his presence....if ya know what I mean.  We walked around it.

All along the path there were beautiful flowers which I'm hoping Philip the Horticulturist among you can "comment" on for us all to see...Philip?  


 Nicholas photo


 Nicholas photo


                                                                     Nicholas photo

 
Nicholas photo




Nicholas photo

  The monastery was built around the beginning of the 17th century but all around it are incredible hand-built stone buildings and terraces that seem medieval.




 Nicholas posing for size comparison...The ancients must've been shrimps! ...Actually, they made the smallest openings they could to keep out the cold...ya see, ya learn something here at Dave's blog.



 Nicholas photo...just here 'cause I like it

And finally, here is another Pyrgos or tower that we encountered along the road to the beginning of the trail.  There are many Vampire legends in these parts as well, by the way, and this is where they live(d?) no doubt.




Sunday, March 20, 2011

WHAT is in Dave's PANTS!??!!

TRAVEL ADVISORY: GREECE

THIS was in my PANTS this morning!


Tonight I'm sleeping with Nicholas.  But not to worry Thunder Kats, it's not a gay thing....it's a coward thing.

 The End.......(?)

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A Short History Lesson and: The Effect of Chicouria (diesel fuel) On Intellectuals

Geological History According To Dave

Hello  my Thunder Kitties!  It's me Dave again.  Still in the Land of the Gods.  I thought, after broadening your horizons with the above, I would show you the pictures that the other folks who had enjoyed the wonderful time on Koufonnisi had taken.  We all reunited for yet another incredible meal at Maria's house in Athens and to show each other our shots from those days.  It was a party to celebrate a party we'd had only two weeks previously.....I love these people!  Anyway, if you'll remember, the time on Koufonnisi was as intellectually stimulating as it gets and at first I was slightly intimidated and fearful that they might  find out that I was an AMERICAN and reject me for being too dog dumb (see: Wikipedia- GW Bush) to even speak to or at least assume that I was the kitchen help but they didn't and we all had a really nice time standing around, smoking cigarettes and discussing "Le Film".   But one night, the Chicouria (rocket fuel) started to flow and I suddenly found myself at a teenage party in Greenwich Connecticut with the parents out of town.......let's just see......




Whaddawe fourteen??

 This is horta in it's natural state.  We took it home, cooked it up and ATE it.  It was delicious.

Here's our rock band picture with Paola getting into it.  She studied air guitar at L'Academia.





 Everybody's favorite picture of Maria.


Naturally, with two highly skilled professional photographers on board, it was Sparti, the painter, who took the best pictures!


Zoran in Hell

Michael at home