THE "UN-Crete" blog!!

Zdravo, and this time it's Kathy, reporting from Macedonia. When last you read our story, we were returning from beautiful Crete, where we'd had an amazing time. Now, it's time to tell you the rest of the story!

So...We got off the bus from thessaloniki into one of the coldest spells Macedonia has ever seen...temperatures here in gevgelija in the teens and winds out of the north, from across snow covered mountains, at up to forty miles per hour. Snow has blanketed this beautiful country except for right here, where we get the weather without benefit of the snowy beauty. But Allan and I, ever resourceful, knew this was coming so planned ahead. We erased all the movies on our thumb drives so that we could fill them with new ones to snuggle up under a blanket and watch.  What we didn't plan on was that not only would we be frozen, the internet would be as well!! So no movies....and no internet...and since I'd done the same to my kindle..no books!

So what has this weekend looked like? Lovely! We celebrated Orthodox Christian Christmas eve with our family downstairs Friday night, have been doing lots of yoga (to keep warm) , cross stitching, doing laundry and hanging it out, just to watch it freeze solid, no dryers here in Macedonia! Our bedroom's temperature is 38 degrees,so we pretty much hang around the living room. Allan has been finally, after thirty years, by popular demand from our kids, been putting to paper the story of Fang, saber toothed tiger cub, I made REAL chocolate chip cookies ( no chocolate chips here in Macedonia) and drinking Starbucks coffee..chips and coffee in care packages from the kids..thank you!

Yes, it's true..we've been able to travel and experience some pretty cool things..but it's also true that there is no place like home..and this is home for now! However, if you have any to spare, please send heat!

Allan with Starbucks and chocolate chip cookies!!

LIVING LIKE A CRETAN!!

Zdravo;
Or, maybe Ya-su!  Both are "hello"  You will hear the latter in Greece, or more specifically, Crete where Kathy and I spent a few days in early January, 2017.  If this is what a cretin is - well sign me up!  Crete, is, quite simply, amazing.  It is a large island to the south of Greece, somewhat closer to Turkey than Greece, with a long, important history for this region.  On this island, the Minoans founded their Bronze Age Empire that spread across the Mediterranean and left us with many fine examples of  shockingly beautiful art and buildings, but no decipherable language, or strong clues as to why they just said "Ya-su" (conveniently, also Greek for "Goodbye") and disappeared. An Englishman named Arthur Evans decided to Make Crete Great Again in the 1920's in the excavation of a palace in Knossos, that is quite controversial even now.  I'll spare you the 3400BC or so history, as you can look it up, but here are some images from or visit to Knossos and the rest of this fantastic place.

Palace open gallery, reconstruction

Kathy and I at Knossos

 Reconstructed ceramic vessels of amazing external detail

 Left - stairs to Heaven, perhaps.  Actually the Palace was multistoried using a wide variety of new engineering methods.   The basic stone stuff, seemed best.  Right - a complex staircase.

Left - Fresco of acrobatics with a bull.  Perhaps the reason for their demise. Above a frescoed ceremonial room, or perhaps a really fancy laundry.





Meanwhile, closer to our own time, Kathy and I stayed in Chania, and explored the area a bit.  Chania has seen the Venetians, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, and at present Greece.  This is a wonderful place worth a visit to those seeking beauty wrapped in history with the considerable benefit of great food and plenty of hot water in the shower.  Some images:

The iconic Venetian lighthouse, 15th C.  

Our walk into town, old cedar, I think.

Mosque, and nearby hammam.  Ottoman, 16th 

 Above, L - R.  One of a zillion small beaches, with storm approaching.  Kathy went in the ocean, at least up to her ankles.  Deeper than I ventured.  Chania town center.

Left - Chania town harbor.  And - drumroll -  the lighthouse at nightfall -  worth any visit!  Crete was just amazing and could not do it justice here, so go see for yourself.  When you are there, just Ya-su the heck out of everyone, you'll get a warm reply and probably some rakia to share.  Postrav - - Al