Today is Mother's Day, and as I sit in my flat looking out onto the green fields, sheep, and a darkening gray sky I figured I should do a little bit of updating.
This afternoon I Skyped with the parents and Aunt Kay, who are currently finishing up their 'camping' trip in Dogwood, California. 'Camping' in an RV of course, haha.
A few weeks ago I returned from a trip to Crete, Cyprus, and Istanbul. It was amazing. It was beautiful. I have over 1,200 pictures of awe-inspiring sights, beauty, and culture to remember.
DAY 1
Thursday 11 April, 2013
I went with a close acquaintance I met here in Utrecht. Her name is Alexis, and she is from California.
Crete is the largest of the Grecian islands in the Mediterranean, and our only hopes for the place was sunshine and beaches (it delivered). The picture above is of Alexis in our own little private room, including a television, bathroom, stove, refrigerator, and table. I mention these things because this is the first time I've stayed in a private room when traveling, and it felt like luxury- all for 10 euro/night! It was located in Agii Apostoli, about 5 minutes outside Chania, and so much more pretty.
This first night was simply finding the hotel and enjoying what I think was the best Greek meal of our trip. It was just a hole-in-the-wall, run-of-the-mill fast food Greek place. I'm not sure if its deliciousness was due to the hunger we had in our stomachs, or that we were trying real 'Greek' food for the 'first' time, or that it was actually the best of the trip, but:
The tatziki was light, the sausages were delectable, the fries were lightly crunchy, and the pita was fresh. A nice thing about every place we went to in the Grecian islands was that nearly all the beers were served with a frosted beer mug. The ultimate level of class, if you ask me ;)
DAY 2
Anyways, the next morning our main goal was to go to the beach. First. We went to a nearby market and got some fresh bread and Greek yogurt and happily slid that down with some fresh orange juice. I found out that I really really enjoy Greek yogurt now.
We soon found that the hotel was about 50 meters from the ocean. And by ocean, I mean the hotel was placed between three distinct gorgeous beaches facing the east, north, and west. Our hotel owner, George, had tried to convince us to take some buses or taxis to some amazing looking beaches, but we were more wondering about why we wouldn't just take advantage of the three beautiful beaches laid out before us?
We stopped by a liquor store to pick up some cheap tourist stuff and headed to the beach:
And then spent the next four hours working on our tans. It was glorious to feel the sun, blue skies, mountains, green foliage, and crystal-blue water.
After roaming beaches #1 and #2, we decided that we would head into downtown Chania (pronounced like "Hah-Nya" with a hard beginning "H").
We wandered the old-town district (Presenting, Chania harbor from the old church tower ruin):
Discovered some ruins (There was a gate which we kinda broke through to wander through here, but definitely worth it):
And meandered down the typical-Greek looking passageways between buildings (we were offered three shots of differently flavored Raki from an incredibly friendly shop-keeper. He got our business, to say the least. Parents, you have a gift from there!):
Then we walked through the 'New' part of Chania. There are an incredible number of tourist restaurants along the Chania harbor seaside, and that is where we encountered the most active restaurant-waiters trying to get our business.
They would walk up to us with one hand out saying, "Hello, would you be intereste-" After the five previous restaurants saying this,
"No, thank you." I would interject.
"I would just like to have a conversation with you, Sir, I am trying to be friendly. Sir, ca-"
"No. Thank you." Really? Don't even try to guilt trip me.
And the key would be to just keep walking.
Actually, by the end of this week-and-a-half adventure, we discovered the best way to 'fend off' the more insistent restaurant waiters was just to say, "Thanks, but we just ate." Thank you for that initiative, Alexis. To which they would more often than not respond, "Well maybe tomorrow, sir?"
We discovered easy ways to take advantage of the restaurant people, but I'll get to that later.
Anyways, we made it to the end of the jetty surrounding the harbor just in time for sunset, and it was beautiful.
This was the view walking back from the Lighthouse we watched the sunset from. We met two people from the US Military while out there, and spent the rest of the evening with them: Kiki and Jiggy.
The view from the restaurant we ended up eating at, where I had Greek pork fried in wine. Tasted pretty great.
This is us inside the second bar of our four-person, unofficial pub crawl. The city was packed with US Military people. And I'm pretty sure we heard the song "Thrift Shop" at every place along the night. Probably twice. It's a little over-played these days.
Thrift Shop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes
After five (and an attempted six) bars, we finished our journey at Senso, courtesy of Jiggy. It was a good night out, for it being the only big night out of our trip :) A taxi ride home at 4am and some good night chats, we were ready for bed.
DAY 3!
We woke up entirely refreshed the next morning, going back to the market for some tasty bread and yogurt (this time with meat), and ate breakfast out on our private patio in the sunshine.
We asked George about local places to see and he recommended going to Lake Agias with some bikes. We rented ourselves some bikes and headed off in the direction of the Lake. It was over a small mountain hill (I say 'mountain', because even on the paved roads of Crete, those hills were very, very steep in some areas. We got off our bikes a couple times heading up through the steep little Greek towns.) Once on the other side though, it was a blissful downhill coast through orange trees, blue skies, and fertile foliage.
Downhill selfies, as Alexis was ahead of me videotaping the bike ride.
Directional signs (thank God, because we were on some rather rural roads along the way). Pronounced something like, "Lake Ah-jya".
This is where we spent our early-afternoon; at Lake Agias, drinking Banana milkshakes and eating feta tomato bagels. Alexis was hunted by two geese while we were here, and has a video of them slowly stalking her down like Veloceraptors haha.
This was the road we took down from the little mountain back towards Agii Apostoli. It was much easier to find our way home this way. No brakes! Go hard or go home!
And, of course, after returning our bikes and grabbing a little snack, we headed back to the beaches again.
Another hour or so of sleeping on beach #3 led to us wandering the peninsulas between the beaches. It was slowly getting to the time of sunset again, so we then planned to explore around the peninsulas until the sun was positioned right in front of beach #1 again. I should draw diagrams of this, haha.
Wandering around the peninsulas:
Leading to:
One of the most spectacular sunsets of my life:
This moment will stick out to me for a long time, I think. Everything was just... good. It was beautiful weather, I wasn't worried about school, relationships, clothes on my back, friends to talk to, food to eat, where I would sleep for the night, or anything really. I loved everyone who had impacted my life leading up to this point. Alexis, sitting next to me, was a great amount of fun to talk to and banter back and forth. My parents, I love them so much, I can't even fathom... Wow. Somewhat emotional writing this, actually. Yay Matt. The opportunities I have been presented, the times we live in (I was able to fly to another part of the world essentially just to talk with people from everywhere and lay on an incredible beach and eat another culture's food. Wow.), along with my incredible fortune just to be here in Europe at all. I loved every moment of this trip and am so grateful.
But enough of that.
We got hungry and a bit chilly, so we went back to the hotel for some clothes and some money, and wandered over to the Artemis Hotel for dinner. We were the only ones there! Such a pity, it was a beautiful hotel with fountains into the pool and lined with hammocks, palm trees, and a pool bar. I ate some delicious Musaka after raving reviews from the waiter. He said that he ate it almost every day, and after consuming the Musaka, I don't doubt that statement in the slightest.
Alexis and I had just finished commenting on how hospitable and gracious the Greek people seemed to be throughout our trip so far when the waiter walks over with a 'complementary' dessert of Greek yogurt, honey, and some sort of fruit that maybe resembled a date? I'm not entirely sure, but it balanced bitter and sweet tones throughout and made me and Alexis more than happy with the experience.
We then returned to our hotel room with the expectation to go out once more for one last Greek gyro, but after finishing American Wedding near 2am in the room, we passed out with little resistance.
DAY 4
The next (early, early) morning, we finished off the last of our bread, meat, and yogurt in downtown Chania at the harbor.
We took our last bus on Crete to the airport, which we then finished up another hour or so of sleep. Before long, we got on our 16 Euro RyanAir flight and were blasting off to Cyprus! You can barely see the beaches we went to in this picture off in the distance. I'll find a better picture somewhere. Either way, it was a beautiful day to leave.
This afternoon I Skyped with the parents and Aunt Kay, who are currently finishing up their 'camping' trip in Dogwood, California. 'Camping' in an RV of course, haha.
A few weeks ago I returned from a trip to Crete, Cyprus, and Istanbul. It was amazing. It was beautiful. I have over 1,200 pictures of awe-inspiring sights, beauty, and culture to remember.
DAY 1
Thursday 11 April, 2013
I went with a close acquaintance I met here in Utrecht. Her name is Alexis, and she is from California.
This first night was simply finding the hotel and enjoying what I think was the best Greek meal of our trip. It was just a hole-in-the-wall, run-of-the-mill fast food Greek place. I'm not sure if its deliciousness was due to the hunger we had in our stomachs, or that we were trying real 'Greek' food for the 'first' time, or that it was actually the best of the trip, but:
DAY 2
Anyways, the next morning our main goal was to go to the beach. First. We went to a nearby market and got some fresh bread and Greek yogurt and happily slid that down with some fresh orange juice. I found out that I really really enjoy Greek yogurt now.
We soon found that the hotel was about 50 meters from the ocean. And by ocean, I mean the hotel was placed between three distinct gorgeous beaches facing the east, north, and west. Our hotel owner, George, had tried to convince us to take some buses or taxis to some amazing looking beaches, but we were more wondering about why we wouldn't just take advantage of the three beautiful beaches laid out before us?
We stopped by a liquor store to pick up some cheap tourist stuff and headed to the beach:
And then spent the next four hours working on our tans. It was glorious to feel the sun, blue skies, mountains, green foliage, and crystal-blue water.
After roaming beaches #1 and #2, we decided that we would head into downtown Chania (pronounced like "Hah-Nya" with a hard beginning "H").
We wandered the old-town district (Presenting, Chania harbor from the old church tower ruin):
They would walk up to us with one hand out saying, "Hello, would you be intereste-" After the five previous restaurants saying this,
"No, thank you." I would interject.
"I would just like to have a conversation with you, Sir, I am trying to be friendly. Sir, ca-"
"No. Thank you." Really? Don't even try to guilt trip me.
And the key would be to just keep walking.
Actually, by the end of this week-and-a-half adventure, we discovered the best way to 'fend off' the more insistent restaurant waiters was just to say, "Thanks, but we just ate." Thank you for that initiative, Alexis. To which they would more often than not respond, "Well maybe tomorrow, sir?"
We discovered easy ways to take advantage of the restaurant people, but I'll get to that later.
Anyways, we made it to the end of the jetty surrounding the harbor just in time for sunset, and it was beautiful.
Thrift Shop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes
DAY 3!
We woke up entirely refreshed the next morning, going back to the market for some tasty bread and yogurt (this time with meat), and ate breakfast out on our private patio in the sunshine.
We asked George about local places to see and he recommended going to Lake Agias with some bikes. We rented ourselves some bikes and headed off in the direction of the Lake. It was over a small mountain hill (I say 'mountain', because even on the paved roads of Crete, those hills were very, very steep in some areas. We got off our bikes a couple times heading up through the steep little Greek towns.) Once on the other side though, it was a blissful downhill coast through orange trees, blue skies, and fertile foliage.
Downhill selfies, as Alexis was ahead of me videotaping the bike ride.
Another hour or so of sleeping on beach #3 led to us wandering the peninsulas between the beaches. It was slowly getting to the time of sunset again, so we then planned to explore around the peninsulas until the sun was positioned right in front of beach #1 again. I should draw diagrams of this, haha.
Wandering around the peninsulas:
But enough of that.
We got hungry and a bit chilly, so we went back to the hotel for some clothes and some money, and wandered over to the Artemis Hotel for dinner. We were the only ones there! Such a pity, it was a beautiful hotel with fountains into the pool and lined with hammocks, palm trees, and a pool bar. I ate some delicious Musaka after raving reviews from the waiter. He said that he ate it almost every day, and after consuming the Musaka, I don't doubt that statement in the slightest.
Alexis and I had just finished commenting on how hospitable and gracious the Greek people seemed to be throughout our trip so far when the waiter walks over with a 'complementary' dessert of Greek yogurt, honey, and some sort of fruit that maybe resembled a date? I'm not entirely sure, but it balanced bitter and sweet tones throughout and made me and Alexis more than happy with the experience.
We then returned to our hotel room with the expectation to go out once more for one last Greek gyro, but after finishing American Wedding near 2am in the room, we passed out with little resistance.
DAY 4
The next (early, early) morning, we finished off the last of our bread, meat, and yogurt in downtown Chania at the harbor.
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