Aaaah, Crete!

We arrived on the island of Crete Tuesday evening, although it's pretty big and doesn't really seem like an island.  We took a bus from the airport to the main bus station where our host met us.  Then we walked to their apartment where we'd be staying for the next two nights. Dimitris and Elenia were a wonderful couple, full of fun.

About 9:30 after we chatted for awhile, they took us to a small fish restaurant owned by one of their friends. Dimitris took us through the back door through the kitchen so we could take a peek in the fridge at the catch of the day.  We let Dimitris order for everyone and then the food just kept coming! We started with something to drink, followed by bread and olive oil. Then fried calamari (squid) and octopus - tentacles and all. I couldn't do it but Val tried it and even took seconds.  Maybe he could be on Fear Factor.  The french fries that followed were yummy, seasoned perfectly. Finally the main course, fish.  Three kinds, two fried and one grilled. The whole fish, including the head.  Dimitris offered us the eyes - generous host that he is - but even Val declined that. We also graciously declined the intestines.  Three hours, several beers and two glasses of wine later, Dimitris' friend came and sat down and brought us a local after dinner digestive drink called raki, along with a sweet.  We found out this is customary after dinner treat.

Despite our late night Val and I got up Wednesday morning and did our jog along the beach.   So beautiful! On my right were snow capped mountains rising up about 6000 feet. Panning across I saw green meadows with the first of the spring wildflowers at the bottom of rocky hillsides with white washed houses perched where you can't imagine anyone building anything.  Looking further to the right I saw the fabulous northern coastline.  Words can't describe - or pictures show - the colors of the sea.  Deep marine blue fades to aquamarine then to the clearest of greenish blue in the shallows.  It's early season here; the small villages who cater to the tourists are just preparing to open.  Most won't until next week.  And also the beaches in Hania are quiet and we have the beach to ourselves for the most part.

Thursday morning we headed south to Imbros Gorge.  We parked at the top of the gorge and hiked two hours down to the sea. The buses to bring us the 15 km back up to our car aren't running this time of year so it's either a 20 euro ($35.00) taxi ride - literally highway robbery - or hitchhike.  We walked a mile up to the main rode and were lucky to get a ride from a friendly Greek fellow who didn't speak much English but who dropped us at the parking lot of he restaurant we ate lunch at and where we left our car.

From there we drove a few miles to the next village where we found a room for the night.  Not too much was open, but we got a quaint room with a balcony overlooking the coast.

It was nice to relax a bit.  And gear up for the next day which was a six-hour hike along the rocky coastline, through meadows with ruins of a monestary and wildflowers of every color as far as we could see, around villages with shopkeepers getting ready for the summer tourists and along beaches with water so clear we kept trying to capture it on camera. It was part hiking, part scrambling up and down rocks and by the time we hit our last switchback up to the trailhead I was VERY ready to call that trek done!

A nice dinner and a 90-minute drive back to in time to meet up with our second host, Hamdan, a Palestine Arab who has been living in Greece for 17 years.  Hamden speaks 3 languages fluently - not unusual for people from other countries.  We vow to learn another language! Today, Hamdan took us on a tour of three beaches: one a rocky, unspoiled beach where only the locals go.  Another, a gorgeous white sand beach that was wonderfully unpopulated today but which will be crowded with thousands of tourists in a few short months. And another, out-of-the-way small beach with a heavy surf, waves crashing against he rocks.  We stopped for dinner on the way back and then dropped off our rental car.   Tomorrow we're out early, catching the bus for a three hour ride to where we're to catch a ferry to Santorini.  Only three more days in Greece - this has been a highlight of the trip, can't believe it's almost over!

In Search of Open Spaces (Val)

To date, our journey has brought us to big cities, beautiful coast lines, mountains, and small villages. Although we both appreciate the history, culture, and architecture in the big cities, we find ourselves mostly attracted to open spaces and high places just like we do at home.

In Bangkok (population 14.5 million) our favorite place was Lampini Park - a large green oasis in the heart of the city with lakes, jogging paths, etc. much like Central Park in NYC.

View across the lake in Lampini Park in Bangkok

Some fun exercise equipment in the park

Another view of Bangkok from Lampini Park

In Kuala Lumpur (population 7.2 million) our favorite place was KLCC - again, a large green oasis in the heart of the city with incredible views of the KL skyline and Petronas Towers (now the third highest buildings in the world)

An unusual tree in KLCC park

KLCC park was a hub of activity for joggers and others seeking a bit of solace from city life

Enjoying our visit to Kuala Lumpur

A view of Petronas Towers (3rd tallest buildings in the world as of the time of this blog)

In Singapore (population 5.2 million) our favorite place was the Botanical Gardens which were among the most beautiful we have ever seen although we also appreciated the views from high places.

View of Singapore from the top of Swiss Hotel, Stamford

A quiet place in the Botanical Gardens in Singapore

Brenda looking lovely in the Orchid Gardens in Singapore

So many beautiful Orchids

One of our favorite spots in the botanical gardens in Singapore.  We learned that Singapore sets just 70 miles away from the Equator which explains the tropical beauty (and the sweltering heat)

Night time view of Singapore and Sky Park from the top of the Singapore Flyer (claimed to be worlds largest ferris wheel)

Again in Athens (population 3.1 million) we have found our favorite places to be the open spaces around the city. Although we have certainly appreciated the history and atmosphere around the Acropolis and the Plaka, our favorite places have been Filopappos Hill and Lykavittos Hill which are a couple of the highest places in the city with breathtaking views of Piraeus Bay, the Acropolis, and the enormous city.

Just this morning I went for my morning run in Lykavittos Park and ran to the top of the hill (equivalent to about 1/3 of the Manitou Incline) and, for a few minutes, enjoyed being the only person at the summit overlooking the Parthenon on the Acropolis and watching the city below come to life.

Lykavittos Hill is the mountain in the background behind the Acropolis.  Our Athens host lived at the base of Lykavittos so we were able to enjoy climbing to the top of the hill where we had awesome views of the city.

So there you have it, we are country folks in the big city! We have done pretty good navigating public transit systems and keeping our bearings as we walk around these strange cities but we continually find ourselves seeking peace and tranquility and, most definitely, high places.

The view from the top of Lykavittos Hill

Looking from Philopappos Park open space towards the Acropolis.  Athens has preserved many open spaces around the city for all to enjoy.

We found ourselves in places like this more than the city below

Yet another view from Lykavittos in Athens

What Can We Fit Into 18 Hours? Part II

Since we only had a day in Singapore, we wanted to make every moment count.  So, we were up early, had a small breakfast at the hostel, stowed our bags in the lobby and headed out.  The day was sunny, hot and - you guessed it - humid.  Singapore has the highest density of any city in the world - 19,000 people per square kilometer. And I think most of them were out that day, traveling to work, walking the streets, driving in the crazy traffic. Even with all those people, it's a clean city and seemed to be well-organized and well-run.  There are cameras everywhere and lots of rules and regulations accompanied by the disclaimer that if you don't follow this rule, there will be severe consequences.  I might be being overly dramatic, traumatized by my first run-in with the immigration officers :).

One thing we noticed is how expensive Singapore is compared to how inexpensive Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, to a lesser degree, was. And how geographically close those countries are. We're thinking we might have gotten spoiled with the inexpensive pricing for food and lodging and our budget might need to stretch as we get to Greece and Spain and the weak dollar against the euro. 

Armed with a map and a camera - yes, we looked a little like tourists - we spent the next 12 hours touring the city on foot and by train. We visited the Botanical Gardens which were absolutely beautiful.  As always, we promise pics when we can post them again.  Within the Botanical Gardens was the National Orchid Garden which, if you can imagine, had every kind of orchid I'd ever seen and many I've never seen. Colors, aromas everywhere. Sometimes walking along, we got a whiff of some perfume and just stood there for a second enjoying it.

Another highlight of the day was the Singapore Flyer, the largest "Ferris Wheel" in the world. To call it a ferris wheel, though, doesn't do it justice. In fact, they call it an observation ride because instead of the usual open seat you'd find on a typical ferris wheel, here about 10 of us stepped into a gondola-like car that moved slowly around so that we had a 360 degree view of the city.  From this vantage point we were able to see the Sky Park at the top of Marina Bay Sands hotel. The sky park spans the length of three buildings and is shaped a bit like a cruise ship. It sits a top these three buildings - an oasis of green, over 75 floors up in the air. We timed the ride on the Singapore Flyer to be able to see the city lights in the dark and so got off the ride about 8:30.

And after that amazing ride, we high tailed it back to the hostel to pick up our bags and make our way to the airport for our 2:00 AM flight to first Doha, Katar (a small middle eastern country just east of Saudi Arabia) and then a connecting flight to Athens.  We enjoyed our time and now are ready for the second leg of our trip: Greece, here we come!

What Can We Fit Into 18 hours?, Part I

Our Singapore experiences started with a bus ride from KL.  For about $12.00 each, we bought tickets on what turned out to be a nice, comfortable bus where we kicked back, read, napped and relaxed for the five-hour ride.  We made a few stops where we managed to spend the last of our Malaysian ringgits on fruit, Mentos and chocolate :)  Two nice guys behind us helped to navigate the stops we made at the Singapore border.  We had to take our luggage through customs and then reboard the bus.  As we were waiting to reboard, Val took a few pictures of the Immigration building and then left to talk with the two guys about transportation once we got to our destination.  He left the camera with me.  A few minutes later, two uniformed men approached me and asked if I was taking pictures because that wasn't allowed.  They asked to see my passport and made a call.  Presumably to the office who monitors the activities of suspicious characters masquerading as clueless Western tourists.  Meanwhile, Val is now wondering what's going on and the bus driver is telling us we have to go - or at least I think that's what his flurry of words and the scowl on his face meant.  Turns out we didn't get hauled away, they just made us delete the two pictures while the entire bus watched the show. Darn tourists.

We had an address to the restaurant so we splurged and took a taxi once we got off the bus.  We were going to have dinner and ask couchsurfers for a good, inexpensive place to stay one night, but we were a bit early so we decided to find a place before dinner.  We were lucky to get two beds in a six-person room all to ourselves.  AC, free breakfast, all for only $48.00 - we felt like royalty!  The two other hotels we checked out were $300.00 (the one the guy in Phuket suggested) and $500.00/night so we felt pretty good about where we ended up.

This group of people were just as interesting and welcoming as the group the night before in KL.  We spent the evening sharing travel stories and learning about our different countries.  I left about 10:00 and went back to the hostel.  Val stayed another hour or so to chat.  A great way to start our visit in Singapore!

"What Can We Fit Into 18 Hours? Part II" next . . .