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Post by bazfaz on Feb 7, 2010 7:23:33 GMT
The weather is not kind to us today, for the first time. Winter storm this morning - rain, wind, thunder, lightning. Have I left anything out? Oh snow. Well, there is snow on the mountains in the interior of the island that we can just see. It only just occurred to me that this is why the are called the White Mountains.
I believe our next door neighbours and ourselves make up nearly 50% of the foreign tourists in town. We haven't seen her since Friday night at the taverna. She had way too much raki and has spent the entire day yesterday in bed. Her husband had a headache but at least got up. They have learnt the lesson: if you empty your raki glass that means you want it to be filled. We only sipped half our glasses and so felt better yesterday morning.
There was talk of the four of us driving in their rental car to Kissamos today. But I think rain will mean the drive is nasty through the mountains and when we arrive at Kissamos on the coast rain will make it unpleasant to walk round. There is a museum to visit there but museums in small Greek towns usually only have third rate fragments because all the good stuff has been shipped to Athens. So it could be an indoor day. I could write. Mrs Faz could use the computer to gain mastery over the French subjunctive.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 7, 2010 17:06:48 GMT
So how has your day of rest from the absolutely fabulous, mouth-watering, beauty-everywhere Paleochora been? ;D
Gosh, Baz, when you first started this thread I was wondering if lovely vistas and walks were going to compensate for limited groceries and probably not enough to do. !!! You all seem to have found vacation paradise. Any idea if the place is difficult during high season, or do you think it must be pleasant all year round?
It is so much fun to read this thread, jealousy not withstanding. Does the food in the taverna always get served family-style, or is that what you all requested? Are there NO homely locals? What a bunch of good-looking people!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2010 18:02:48 GMT
The bad weather had to hit sooner or later. Since we are all on holiday with you, I do believe that we deserve at least one dull unappealing photo of the view.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 7, 2010 20:19:40 GMT
Mrs Faz says she'll try tomorrow for a photo to please the sadistic side of Kerouac. We didn't take the camera when we walked this afternoon because of the danger of rain hitting it. Then the rain stopped. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Bixa, we wouldn't want to come here in high season. Thousands descend. Now I believe that we and the couple next door make up about 50% of the foreign tourists here. The apartment we rent goes for 45 euros a night in high season. We have it for 350 euros a month, heating included.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2010 9:06:39 GMT
Oh, the weather must be so foul today that Baz has not even left his bed. Or else the Greek economy has collapsed so badly that they have pulled the plug on the internet.
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 8, 2010 13:23:07 GMT
K, Mr and Mrs Faz are on holidays.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2010 13:27:09 GMT
What a pitiful excuse!
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 8, 2010 17:52:52 GMT
We were up as usual. I was working. Then we went out for another walk. Photos will follow.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2010 18:09:48 GMT
Oh damn, I thought you had gone on that drive with the others today and would have a tale of landslides, wild beasts and having to choose which member of the party to sacrifice.
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Post by lola on Feb 8, 2010 20:01:40 GMT
If all it takes to master the French subjunctive is a computer and a rainy morning, I need a link to that website.
Please ignore my jealous bleatings, baz, and keep it coming.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 8, 2010 20:46:38 GMT
Our neighbours are very generous and drove us to our walk. They then drove up towards the village of a German atrocity in the war. Then came back and picked us up.
Mrs Faz is possibly saving the French subjunctive for another long holiday. But she has made a start on deleting unwanted old emails. Dealing with the photos on the computer is still to come. I will want to use the computer for my work in a couple of days which will cause a conflict of interests.
This is not a lazy holiday.
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Post by lola on Feb 8, 2010 21:19:16 GMT
Ok, make that "envious bleatings." I'm not really the jealous type.
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Post by fumobici on Feb 9, 2010 3:26:02 GMT
Loving this thread. And of course I'm getting jealous. I'm told that one can avoid the subjunctive in spoken conversation and be perfectly understood- as a philistine In Italy the use of subjunctive mood is to a large degree a regional thing, the further South one travels, generally the more it is heard in spoken language. In Tuscany an American conspicuously using the subjunctive correctly is like doing wheelies- fun, but maybe a bit of showing off. And really quite unnecessary. Was that a thread highjack? Eeeks.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 9, 2010 7:23:34 GMT
To satisfy Kerouac, photo of a threatening sky. It did rain in the mountains yesterday though the coast was pretty clear.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 9, 2010 9:44:44 GMT
Having satisfied Kerouac that the weather is not all sun here our friends drove us down to Sougia. In the past when I have been taking a ferry I have often looked with envy as we passed a little place like this: a small hotel, some rooms to rent, tavernas and a line of tamarisks on the beach. It would be wonderful to return for a stay but now it was all closed up except for the fishermen who live there. The little harbour has half a dozen fishing boats plus an excursion boat belonging to someone called Captain George. Also in summer a little ferry does the route along the coast and puts in to a jetty here. 2500 years ago there was a subterranean upheaval which tilted the island of Crete. You can see the result here: the old waterline is 7 metres above current sea level. Our hike started in the gorge leading away from the harbour. It goes under impressive overhanging cliffs. After a while a footpath leaves the gorge and zigzags up the hillside to this bleak moorland. The previous day's rain had turned the path to mud and it was unpleasant walking in the mud with sharp stones to crack your skull open if you slipped. The reward was this view of Lissos bay. The path does go down and then up again and leads all the way along the coast back to Paleochora. I would go no further but Mrs Faz descended a bit for a better view of a ruined temple and a threshing floor. I wonder where they grew the wheat? Lissos now only has a couple of houses and it must be a lonely life. In the hill above you can see the entrances to old rock tombs. We then retraced our route back to Sougia. I am tempted to spend time here in May when all the wild flowers are out. Or maybe September when the sea is warm. How to decide?
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 9, 2010 16:17:18 GMT
The colors! I love that first picture of the lowering sky, but it's all so beautiful.
Wouldn't this be the time to strike a good, pre-emptive deal in Sougia? Well, once you decide between May & September, or maybe both.
Keep having fun, and stay sure-footed. (the photos made me think of L'avventura!)
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Post by spindrift on Feb 9, 2010 16:46:45 GMT
I would say May and Spring flowers every time. I have longed to spend the month of May on Paxos but never got round to it. I was always there in July or August when the flowers and herbs have withered on the burnt earth.... so go in May ;D
Your photos are really THE BEST! I can almost smell the sea and the plants...I am so happy you are enjoying yourselves.
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Post by bjd on Feb 9, 2010 16:59:01 GMT
It looks great, Baz. I have never especially wanted to go to Crete, but you are making me change my mind.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2010 17:17:48 GMT
It's looks great. It's not too hot there right now is it?
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 9, 2010 17:57:40 GMT
deyana, it will be a little chilly at this time of year, but not too warm, no.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2010 19:14:55 GMT
The terrain is lovely and clearly more colorful now than in the middle of summer, when I would expect the colors to be washed out and many things dusty.
But I'm sure that taking a dip the warm sea must be magnificent whether in the middle of the day or by moonlight, when the season is right.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 9, 2010 20:34:19 GMT
For anybody who wants a holiday in this part of Crete, I would say that the winter period would be best in Paleochora. But May to September would be great in Sougia when there is some life in the village.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2010 15:54:16 GMT
It must be nice to be in a village today while the Greek city mobs roam the streets with the heads of decapitated bankers and government ministers on pitchforks.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2010 20:43:46 GMT
I spent two days at Captain George in Sougia in October 2008. The village was completely dead.
I'm planning to spend a week in Paleochora next May. I have already booked a flight to Chania.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 10, 2010 21:39:39 GMT
Askar, you know Paleochora well so there is no call for me to tell you anything. We love Haris Studios. Of course staying here in winter we get a great deal.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 11, 2010 8:16:18 GMT
A stark warning on the beach not to go starkers.
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Post by lola on Feb 11, 2010 16:13:16 GMT
Is there a similar sign in Greek?
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 11, 2010 16:34:36 GMT
Is there a similar sign in Greek? No. Few Greeks would strip off. It wasn't always thus. Weren't the original Olympics held nude?
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Post by lola on Feb 11, 2010 17:25:05 GMT
Is there a similar sign in Greek? No. Few Greeks would strip off. It wasn't always thus. Weren't the original Olympics held nude? Yes, and don't forget all the naked statues. None of that mixed-sex foolishness at those Olympics, though, to complicate things.
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Post by spindrift on Feb 11, 2010 18:26:35 GMT
Yes, Nude and probably Greased as well!
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