http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni A BootsnAll Travel Blog Fri, 09 May 2008 18:58:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I'm in the process of writing up the Greece entries. They'll be backdated and can be found in the Greece category, for ease of navigation. The write-up proper starts here, then follow the right-hand link above the entry to get to the next one, etc. http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/trip-writeup.html Hm, I see: an entry I wrote while still in Greece has not been posted. That is because of the crappy Wordpress layout. For most blogs, a highlighted 'save' option means the entry is published. Wordpress saves it as draft. I doubt that I'll ever get used to it, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/comment-spam.html Palaeochora is overrun with semi-feral cats which will shirk away when you approach them, having doubtlessly been at the receiving end of many a kick and cussing. They don't bother the locals, but they have an eye for tourists. Sit anywhere at a table in the open air to enjoy your ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/cretan-cats.html There was no build-up. I had expected everything to be closed, but quite to the contrary, the street was lively as we stepped out at 10 p.m. to look for some entertainment. We settled on what was quickly becoming our regular: Cosmogonia Bar where the locals outnumbered the tourists, the atmosphere was ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/dont-be-the-lamb.html “Lemme see: e-s-t—estiatorio, restaurant and p-s-i-...p-s-a...psarotaverna—fish restaurant! And also g-a-l, gala-something. Probably a milk bar as well. They tend to have stuff I like.” We were studying the signs along the Pebble Beach Parade in Palaeochora, looking for refreshments. The promise of a milkshake alured me, so I walked closer to ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/its-all-greek-to-me.html In many towns and villages around Crete, plane trees line the streets, their branches trained to grow near horizontally with the aid of weights tied to their tips. During the hot summer these trees offer welcome shade, as well as gaudy splashes of green. In the smaller settlements they are ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/urmentrudes-dwelling.html "Kotopoolo, kotopoolo..." Sophia fell silent, shaking her head. She had made it sound like the clucking of a hen. I thought that 'pollo', the Spanish word for chicken, was derived from the Greek, but it makes no sense. 'Pollo' (po-yo) doesn't sound like any noise a chicken would make. But I ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/kotopoolo-kotopoolo.html Crete in spring recalls the flower meadows I played in as a kid. But childhood memories tend to be exaggerated. You would never get that many flowers blossoming all at the same time. According to the guidebook, it is the climate that forces such an exuberance on the vegetation. The summers ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/a-walk-around-ayia-roumeli.html This is Milos in Frangokastello, Region Chania, Crete. And this is the view from inside the old mill: There is nothing like an ancient windmill on a secluded beach to listen to Black Sabbath on a full moon night. But when the moon climbs higher into the sky and the crest ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/sabbath-night.html Thimia, the woman in charge of the guests' wellbeing (ours and that of one other bloke), carried a tray over before we had finished sitting down and placed a plate piled high with pastries and toasties on the low table. The heady smell of chocolate hit me from what had ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/denni/the-long-way-round-to-frangokastello.html