rocks

Is it fall yet?

Look at this beautiful autumn color!  It’s in our neighbor’s yard so I think technically we don’t need to rake the leaves when they fall on our side. 🙂  Click it if you want to see it a little bigger.

Those wires are attractive, aren’t they?  I don’t think we can do much with them, but I guarantee they will be strung with festive lights for most of the summer.  Par TAY!!   You’re all invited.  Cold beer and sangria in abundance.  And tri-tip. Mmmm.

…. and YES it must be fall, we’re trying to take Christmas pictures.  Mostly we just got Christmas Fail pictures.

They’re making me laugh, so I’ll share one:

Cannot get all of us looking at the camera at once.  The one time we had all dogs and one cat looking at the camera Bob and I both had our eyes closed.  Goob layed down in the next shot.  Sigh.

Home again

Oh, what a lovely trip that was! We saw lots of beautiful places and ate lots of beautiful food.

Beth and the birthday girl

This is me and Margie, the Birthday Girl, in front of a very old fountain in Heraklion/Iraklion/Iraklio

Things I learned in Greece:

  • There are at least three ways to spell anything in Greek.  Heraklion, Iraklion, and Iraklio are all the same thing.  Road signs are no exception.
  • Yogurt, cheese, bread, tomatoes and olive oil are all better there than here.  Way. Like, no comparison. Who knew?  Must be the soil, because the ingredients are all the same.  Their restaurant tomatoes were all better than my homegrown.  I didn’t know that was even possible.
  • Goats and sheep can climb trees.
  • Locals like to play chicken on the one lane roads with the tourists.
  • The Mediterranean Sea is not bathtub warm but it’s so beautiful it doesn’t matter.
  • Greeks always drink a shot of Raki after dinner.  It’s AWFUL.  Made of grape leavings, reminds me of grocery store vodka.  If you eat a lot of rich Greek food and then have MORE than one shot of raki, you will probably be hurling/yakking/spewing at 3 a.m.  Bob can personally verify this.
  • The spiders on Crete make the largest of spiders here seem small and slow.  Eeeek!
  • Rock walls can be works of art.  That was, I think, my favorite part of the trip.  All the beautiful stone walls, old and new.  The really great ones look like they are fitted together with no mortar.  Seriously, they were works of art.
  • Greek people don’t seem to care too much about coffee.  We couldn’t find a coffee maker.  The restaurants and stores all featured NesCafe like it was something good.  Bleah.  I missed my Seattle’s Best for sure.
  • Greek restaurants overcook just about everything but it doesn’t seem to really matter.  Rare meat is not an option there.  Crisp tender vegetables do not exist.

rockwall3

Gorgeous rock walls.  One side of the island has this red colored rock, the other has a gray color.  Two tectonic plates met up here.

Here are some of the eight gazillion pics.  Bob took the bulk of them – if it’s scenery and beautiful, he took it:

Beaches  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/BeachesCrete#
Samarian Gorge Hike http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/SamarianGorgeHikeCrete2009#
Heraklion  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/IraklionFountainAndPort#
Knossos  (birthplace of the Minoan labyrinth myth) http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/KnossosPalaceCrete2009#
People http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/PeopleShotsCrete2009#
Sailboat trip  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/SailboatTripSoudaBayCrete#
Glass factory in our village http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/GlassFactoryKokkinoChorio#
Various architectural shots  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/OldBuildingsWallsInterestingArchitectureCrete#
Flora and Fauna http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/FloraAndFaunaCrete#
A few villa shots   http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/Villas#