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Archive for April, 2008

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Living like the Gods in Crete

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

This was the view that greeted us from the roof terrace of the Doge Hotel in Chania on the first morning of our holiday:

view from Doge Hotel

The dive itself isn’t bad either:

Doge Hotel

But our holiday really started when we checked the bags into the hotel late at night, and—after a long-ish bus ride and a quick shower—hit the uneven pavements of Chania’s Old Town.

It was coming up to midnight and only a few subdued lights illuminated the narrow alleyways. We were about to turn around the corner, away from the quiet back entrance of the hotel, when we spotted a few people sitting at tables outside a taverna. From their happy faces we concluded that it was a good one.

Taverna 'to Xani'

“Is it not too late? Are you still open?”

“Please,” the grey-bearded patron indicated a free table next to the entrance, and before we could blink it had been spread with crockery, water, bread and some of the finest olives we have ever tasted, and we were poring over the extensive menu.

Somehow the patron didn’t leave our side and yet managed to keep the remaining guests happy. Gently he guided us through the many options. Having just arrived, a plate of mixed mezedhes seemed adequate, but as for the main courses, my eyes were bulging as I took in a list of dishes and ingredients largely unknown back in the UK, even in ethnic eateries.

Mixed Starters

In the end, the choice was both easy and obvious: the first two items on the page were a Sfakiote Goat stew and lamb cooked with yoghurt in a clay pot. It met the patron’s approval, as did leaving the choice of housewine to him. The fine young retsina he served by the ‘half kilo’ (a kilo is the usual measure for barrel wine in Greece) complemented what was one of the best meals we’ve ever had, rounded off with a generous measure of raki and home-made halva on the house.

I broke out in a sweat thinking of what it would end up costing us, but truth be told, we had inferior food at higher cost. The name of the taverna? ‘To Xani’. Seek it out if you’re in the area (it’s directly opposite the old synagogue). To my knowledge it isn’t featured in any of the popular guidebooks.

Lamb with Yoghurt, Goat Stew

Only one thing could have made this evening even more perfect: a short stroll down to the harbour where there was a tiny rock café playing Iron Maiden.

Posted in Greece | 1 Comment »

There’s something to be said for package tours…

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

We haven’t even started yet, and already we’re running into problems.

Apparently, roadworks in the mountains have cut off the Vrisses-Frangokastello route and now we’ll have to either double back to Rethimnon and take a taxi, find an alternative bus route from there (with 3+ changes) or travel down to Palaeochora and ferry-hop from there to Sfakia, basically travelling around in a circle.

Neither option appeals and I’m cursing the day I made the bookings. What possessed me to start the trip in Chania?

As if that wasn’t enough of a headache, John is missing in action (as usual) and gods know what time he will show up so that we can travel to the hotel at Gatwick. And I’m an adapter short.

Grrr.

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Last Hurdles

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

I’m brushing spiders out of my hair while writing this, and the bits of bark that have fallen into my collar and lodged themselves in my bra straps are itching.

Time for a bath. Time to put on the washing machine again, because of course the workmen would wait until the day before we’re going on holiday (and an entire year before that) to call around to fix the holes in the fences on either side of the garden, which the storm tore sometime in the spring of 2007.

Meanwhile the garden has grown into a jungle, fed by the daily rains, and I have scratches on my hands from clawing vegetation away from the rickety back door (we lost our gardening paraphernalia after the flood last June).

But at least we now have new carpets! The man finished laying them last week, and since then we have only set foot downstairs with socks on.

Cue the outdoor men with their muddy boots.

Anyway, tomorrow we shall be away and I couldn’t care less about what is going on in Tadley or with the house. But until then it seems that a thousand little things need my attention.

I finally have a printout of my 1/3rd revised novel, and I was going to spend some time on plot development while on holiday, but since last week at least two other novel excerpts have landed in my inbox, demanding critiquing for the writers’ group workshop that happens while we’re away. Grrr. I think we should have a word limit for workshops.

Reading doc files on screen makes my eyes bleed, not to mention doing it on the little EeePC—so that’ll be more printouts to lug along.

Further to our travels: in the joyful anticipation of experiencing Greek Orthodox Easter in Crete I have forgotten about the six weeks of Lent that precede it. If memories from boarding school are anything to go by, meat, cheese and other delicacies are off the menu during that time—except that Greek Orthodox Lent is a good deal stricter than the Catholic version.

I may have to revise our taverna plans during the first ten days of our holiday—in fact I may well have to sneak foodstuff into our self catering kitchen—whereas during the final Easter Weekend I expect those establishments to remain closed.

Oh well, there’s always Macca’s.

Posted in Greece, Tadley Times | Comments Off on Last Hurdles

Terminal Trials

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

I write this in sympathy as, for once, we have been spared the tribulations faced by passengers going through Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 these past few weeks.

Yesterday, about 5cm of snow left hundreds of passengers stranded overnight, where they slept on thin mats and under cardboard boxes after having spent the day doing the rounds from check-in to baggage claim as their flights were cancelled at the last minute up to five times in a row.

Many papers were leading with pictures of passengers huddling under thin blankets and headlines declaring the Terminal Five shambles a national embarrassment and as bringing shame to London.

In my opinion, the shame belongs firmly in the laps of the world’s least favourite airline whose bosses are responsible for operations at the new terminal. From what I read in yesterday’s Evening Standard, nine out of ten of the thousands of lost luggage items that have accumulated may never be reunited with their owners as staff shortages and renewed glitches continue to pile up.

I read the article with incredulity, wondering what could possibly have caused these renewed delays until one Swiss family pointed out laconically: “Our flight was meant to go at 7pm but we were told it was delayed until after nine this morning. This was apparently due to the snow which had fallen in the morning.”(News, p.5)

In all fairness, I don’t remember when snow last settled in London. It may have been as long ago as 1990 when I broke my little finger in a snowball fight that escalated in Hampstead Heath. But snow and frost in April are not unprecedented and an international airport ought to be prepared for such eventualities.

Snow-bells

Meanwhile, we had fun waking up in a winter wonderland with the sun glittering on sugared tree branches and the kids’ laughter ringing through the windows. Even the ‘hood’s cynical teenager joined in the frolics, their usual sullenness forgotten.

I had missed the news on Saturday evening as we were seeing some mates, but the snow had been forecast to a generally incredulous response.

“My son was practically bursting with excitement,” sighed one of the blokes in the pub yesterday, “so of course I promised he could drag me out of bed if it really should snow. And he did: at 7 am! But we were the first people out, all was quiet and there were no footsteps on the ground. It was magical.”
Washing

Posted in Neither here nor there, Tadley Times | Comments Off on Terminal Trials

Crete Itinerary–Yippee!

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

John has work commitments (what else) and with just two weeks at our disposal, we decided to stay in Crete rather than travel around. Having a plug to connect the laptop to is a requirement, so I reluctantly gave up on several eco-villages.

One of my influences in devising the itinerary was a Swedish-Greek guy I met at Eastercon. He raved at length about Greece, but when I asked him what his most favourite place was of all, he didn’t hesitate.

“Chania!”

Chania turns out to be both a town and a region on Crete, so my mind was made up.

We’ll travel from Heraklion to Chania after our arrival on Friday evening the 18th and stay in a traditional 15th century Venetian townhouse in the old town.

The next day (Saturday) it’s on to the only bus to Frangokastello (fortunately it leaves at two in the afternoon) where we will stay in an old mill directly on the beach for five nights before ferry-hopping to Palaeochora at the South-Western tip of Crete where we are staying at a charming little homestay (with communal kitchen) for Greek Orthodox Easter and the remainder of our holiday. There might even be an opportunity for some whale watching!

Two weeks and one day to go 😀

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