The Adventure is Over - for now.....

Images: My Partner and images of Sifnos, the island we have decided that we will return to.

Sorry to have delayed this epilogue, but our computer keyboard was not working well. SOMEBODY spilled a whole beer in it. Keyboards apparently do not appreciate Labatt's Blue.

At the end of each football season, when the playoffs were over and the kids had gone home, there was always for me, a sense of loss somewhat similar to looking at the carcass of the turkey after Christmas dinner. It was great, it was fun, but an AWFUL lot of preparation and hard work had gone into it, and now it was done. Our football teams needed to learn offense, defense, special teams, cadence, nomenclature, audibles, technique, formations, plays, blocking schemes, traps, stunts, pass patterns, kicking - the hundreds of things that you do to prepare... and then... it's over. That particular group will never play together again. This trip was a lot of fun, and a LOT of work and preparation. It is not surprising that there is now a similar sense of let-down.

SL did most of the work, researching hotels, B and Bs, ferry schedules, car rentals, airlines, and putting together a terrific itinerary. We learned some Greek and a fair bit of Italian. In fact, when we returned to Italy from Greece, we felt very comfortable, like we were speaking our native tongue - well OK, maybe not quite, but we got along well.
We learned to navigate roads in Rome, Florence, the Tuscan Hills, Naples, Salerno, Sicily, Bologna, Naxos, Sifnos, and Milos. We learned how to order food, how to shop, which kind of motorcycle to rent, how to ask directions, how to read signs, how best to organize our luggage, how to stay healthy, how to manage the buses, and how to survive the mind-numbing nightmares of terminals.
Like the Christmas turkey, a pretty ambitious undertaking, a lot of work, and now its over. Apart from terrific soup, there's not much use for the remains of the old bird. Of what use will we make of everything we have learned? What's the soup?

We are back in Canada. Canada is a wonderful place, clean, and safe. We look after people here.
Some things come to mind upon our return:
There are many people in this world who live very simply, and very happily. Here in Canada, we all seem to have a lot of stuff that needs care and feeding.

If you have seen the movie “Up in the Air”, starring George Clooney and our very own Ali Shipley, you will know that it is about a man who lives his whole life in airports and hotels. He lives out of a carry-on bag. We lived that life for seven weeks.
When you come home you have cars that need insurance renewed, emission tests, plates renewed: A house that needs the lawn and garden tended, the roof fixed, repairs to various HVAC components. Gas, hydro, tax, credit card phone, Internet, insurance bills. Our lives now seem very cluttered compared to our footloose spring.

SL did not do whatever women do each day to their hair, nor did she go to a hairdresser. She grew more beautiful every day. Truly. It is worth noting, however, that she did not cut her own hair with our nail scissors late one night after a kilo of Greek wine. She is still my best friend, and I don't think we fought once on the trip. It may be possible that we did and I didn't realize it, as I am not always quick on the uptake, but I don't think so. She's a great travelling companion.

This is the fortieth blog post. For those of you who followed along - thank you! It was a way of staying connected to all we missed and sharing with you our highs and lows - mostly supreme heights! For those of you who commented, you cannot know how much we appreciated it. We will continue to travel as much as our health and our wealth (??) allow.

Venice

Images: Doge's Palace; Canal and Gondola; Gondola Kiss; SL Canalside at Dinner

Quick, get out your bucket list. Check it. If visiting Venice is not on it, put it in NOW. Better yet, put a gondola ride in Venice on the list, cause you have to go there to take one. Unless it means bumping out attending a John and JB, or a Klaude and John (Thyme's Two) concert, put it in the top ten.

Venice is the most beautiful city in the world, and I challenge someone to knock it off the throne. According to legend, Venice was founded in 421 AD, and as we all know it is a city built on the water. There are no cars in Venice, just water taxis, water buses, boats and gondolas.

The city of Venice is built on a series of over 100 islands surrounding a lagoon. Early Venetians built in waterproof stone resting on a foundation of oak and pine timbers driven deep into the island subsoil to rest upon the compacted clay. This framework of wood was then faced with stone.

The Doge's Palace in Piazza San Marco is breathtakingly beautiful. While we were in the square, people were walking barefoot through several inches of water that bubbled up through the stone floor. The waiters just shrugged and said, "Il mare e oggi alto" - the sea is high today. The Doge's palace is a fabulous example of Gothic Venetian architechture, that, although it started out as a castle, has an incredible lightness about it. The beautiful mulit-couloured facades and lacy stonework gives it depth and airiness. The Bridge of Sighs, where it was said one could hear the sighs of condemned prisoners being led to their execution, gives it solemnity.

The gondola ride was unforgettable. We were told to kiss for luck under the bridges, including the famed Rialto Bridge. We floated down enchanting canals, past the now defunct women's prison - the first of its kind - past Casanova's house, past Marco Polo's house, past palaces and museums.

We ate sitting by the side of a canal. Starters of mixed antipasti. A piatto of pesche misti (plate of mixed grilled fish), grilled vegetables, cheese plate and tiramisu. Port to finish the meal and accompany the cheese and dolce (sweet). It was a lingering, romantic dinner that was one of the highlights of the trip.

A shout out to son Geoff, for advising us to stay on Lido island and commute to Venice, and to Carl and Linda for telling us about the 48 hour transit pass. We each took 6 ferry rides, including a long tour of the Grand Canal, and 4 bus rides, including the final one to the airport, all for about $60.

Tomorrow, a final post on the Lubert Adventure.

Bologna

Images: Porticos in Bologna, PJ on the steps to Piazza Maggiore; SL getting ready to buy prosciutto and olio d'olivia
For some reason, I think I was predisposed not to like Bologna. Perhaps it was an association with inexpensive sandwich meat. Perhaps I thought it was an industrial city, perhaps it was just because it is inland, not near the sea at all.
We arrived on Tuesday and the directions from Googlemaps were surprisingly good. My initial impressions did not nothing to dispel my preconceptions. Our hotel is actually quite nice, a pleasant surprise, but our first stroll in an attempt to find something to eat ended in us settling for a prepackaged sandwich at a roadside cafe while cars, trucks, buses and the ubiquitous Vespas (did you know that Vespa means wasp?) swirled by in a cloud of fumes and noise.
Dinner at the restaurant right next door to our hotel almost redeemed the whole day. We started with a parmeggian flan with asparagus, prosciutto, and a white wine/parmesan cheese sauce. If we hadn't already agreed to split each course, it would have been one of those, “You HAVE to taste this!” moments. This was followed by tri-coloured tagliatelle with truffled butter. I then had the pork with a white wine cream sauce, and oven baked potatoes, while SL had the eggplant parmesan.
The dinner sent us to bed with the promise of an exciting gastronomic day to come. Not so. Next day was not much better than the day before.
We set out on “The Route of Ham and Wine” - intent on seeing quaint villages, farms offering tours and samples of their products – Parma Ham, Parmigianno Regianno Cheese and Balsamic Vinegar.
Traffic jams, industrial stretches of road, and we finally got onto the Route, but we extremely disappointed. Maybe we have just been spoiled by all of the villages we have driven through, but we could not even find a place we wanted to stop to eat lunch. We found the Museo of Ham, but it was closed, and is only open to groups who have a reservation.
Back to the city, through construction and rain, to find all the restaurants closed, and we settle for a pizza and a glass of lukewarm beer served by a surly attendant at a pizzeria/bar on a busy street.
C'mon, it HAS to get better than this! So we start to strategically attack the night and the day.
We walk to the older city. Dinner at a jazz club where Joe Diorio, Mike Stern and Tal Farlow have played. Prosciutto. Parmigianno Regianno. Pate. Tagliatelle Bolognese to die for. A wonderful bottle of chilled white. Semi-freddo strawberry dessert. Twenty-year old Taylor port.
The next day, a hop on, hop off bus tour that helps us to understand the beauty of Bologna, home of the oldest University in the world. This is a city that venerates its teachers. The most ostentatious tombs, on the most public display, are those of its professors. O, to live in a world where schools have unlimited funding and the army has to hold bake sales......
Bologna was built with porticos running for many kilometres. The law stated that every building had to include a portico, and only the very rich or very powerful could apply for an exemption. Thus you have streets overarched with stone canopies supported by pillars that line the roadway creating mall-like walkways that go for blocks and blocks. It can be pouring rain, and you can walk Bologna without getting wet.
Architecture, museums, fountains, statues, parks – a lake! Bologna, forgive me. I will never take that sandwich meat for granted again.

Image: The Morpheus in Kamares - Our balconies were top left (green shutters), and the open area just above the sign.

Lest you Lubertadventure bloggees think that it's easier to get a rave review from your faithful blogger than to find a taverna in Greece, I need to post some not-so-hot places we have stayed. We have also raved about the food and the people, and to be fair, we have had the occasional rude waitperson, and the odd mediocre meal, but it is probably far more likely that you might be considering a hotel we have stayed at if you are going to make a similar journey than a restaurant.
Most recently, we stayed at the Savoy in Pescarra (Italy). Supposedly a four star hotel, but it reminded us of the squire who spent all his money on the gates to his estate, and nothing left to finish the inside. The lobby was nice, it had a pool, and quite swank restaurants, but the rooms were old, very tired, the fridge didn't work, the bathroom door was rotting away, and the whole room smelled musty.
Our hotel in Piraeus, the Glaros, was nothing more than functional, noisy, and threadbare. It was the priciest of all the places we stayed in Greece. The redeeming feature was the manager. He was incredibly helpful throughout our two separate stays.
We would not recommend either of our two hotels in Rome, but they changed our reservations so many times, that we cannot remember their names.
Places we would gladly recommend:

• Agriturismo Di Cabbiavioli, Castelfiorentino, Italy. Gorgeous surroundings, reasonably priced, nice accommodations, but we learned to ignore the manager, Stefano, who had a way of making you feel like you were an imposition...

• Cubalino in Sicily if you are adventurous and self-sufficient. Self contained house with laundry, kitchen, above-ground pool, patio. Off the beaten track so you must have a car. Right under the brow of Mt Etna!

• Hotel Olympia in Salerno is a great hotel in an AWFUL area. If you must be in Salerno, and want a clean, modern hotel, and can ignore the prostitutes who are rampant in the area, this is the place for you.

• Le Ancore Hotel in Vico Equense, Italy – beautiful, relaxing, with the most incredible view of Vesuvius across the Bay of Naples.

• Hotel Agio Prokopios in the village of Agio Prokopios on Naxos. Hosts Vangellis and Effi – fantastic! Pool, great location, room cleaned every day, laundry service, breakfast room, mini kitchen.

• Zac Marie Rooms, Adamis, Milos – Clean, functional, reasonably priced room.

• Pension Morpheus, Kamares, Sifnos. Host Kostas – great guy. Very helpful. Clean rooms, fantastic location. If we come back for a month, this is where we will probably stay.
  

• Locanda Dei Baroni, Vasto, Italy. Absolutely beautiful (see post). Hostess Rosa. Incredible décor, great restaurant. A bit more $$, but worth every penny.

• Hotel Il Guercino, Bologna, Italy. One of the most inexpensive hotels we have stayed at and one of the nicest. A very pleasant surprise. Don't pay the E16 for parking. It's easy to park outside for E5 a day. Don't look at the 4 different kinds of wallpaper that assault your senses when you get off the elevator, especially after a long cena con molto vino della casa.

Tomorrow - Venice, and our last stop.

Back in Italy!

Images: SL, PJ and Silver; Locanda Dei Baroni; Our Room; Hotel Restaurant; Our Table

We arrived at the port city of Patra after a 3 hour bus ride from Athens. The bus was clean and pleasant. Upon arrival, we were told by the agent at the ferry counter that our ferry had been cancelled, but not to worry because they had booked us on a different one. It seemed to be of no importance at all that the ferry was going to Bari not Brindisi. Now this is like being told that the plane you were taking to Quebec City was now actually going to Montreal.

We changed our car rental arrangements and settled in for the overnight ferry ride. I must admit that the ferry was a huge step up from the one we had taken over to Greece. It was more like a cruise ship - (did we tell you we have booked a one month South American cruise?)

It was 38 degrees C. when we arrived in Italy. That's over 100 F.
We drove up the coast in about three hours, feeling like true Italians as we ignored every sign, passed whenever we felt like it, drove at whatever speed our rental felt like going, and when we stopped for lunch, parked blocking three other cars in.

Our hotel is called Locanda Dei Baroni in Vasto, Italy (near Pescara). It is the nicest hotel we have stayed at yet. The hotel is beautiful, filled with antiques from the local museum including a life-size horse clad in 15th century armour! Our room is stunning. (See pics!)

We knew we had arrived in Italy just from the change in food. I have come to believe that the Greek are a simpler people than the Italians. The churches are smaller and less ornate, the houses are built for function, not form, and the food is less complicated. In Italy food is worshipped, and it shows.

We ate at our hotel and simply let the owners choose our meal and bring it out. Antipasto, prima piatto, seconda piatto, salads, breads, cheeses, proscuitto, melon, seafood, beef, pasta dishes, and of course vino della casa. Then came dessert accompanied by limoncello as a gift from the house. I sent my "complimenti a cuccina" and the chef was my friend for life.

At night we went to see the procession in honour of Saint Angelo. It was quite a sight, hundreds of families genuflecting and touching the hem of the lifesize statue of San Angelo who was carried aloft on a stretcher through town by four priests. The ritual was led by J.B.'s father, Bruce Harrison. I know that this will come as somewhat of a shock to JB and Dawn, who thought their father to be passed away lo these many years, but Bruce always was a character..... I wished I had taken a picture.....

On to Bologna, then Venice, then......... 386 Delaware Ave, Burlington ON!!!

Things You Need to Know About Greece

Images: Road Signs: Bougainvillea

We loved, and will continue to love Greece. We love the people, the food, and most of all the scenery! Sweet Lorraine thought you might be interested in some of the things we have learned.

1) There are no parking laws, parking by-laws or -parking rules in Greece. You park wherever you want, whenever you want. If you have blocked somebody in, by double-parking, they will honk their horn until you emerge from the traverna or bar, then you will chat for a while, then you can move your car to block someone else in. It is perfectly OK to park on a crosswalk. We witnessed the port police (two Baywatch extras in uniform) stand by a motorcycle that was blocking the exit to a ferry and blow on their whistles until the owner came. He shouted at them for disturbing his discourse on the state of the Greek football team until theywalked away, shaking their heads at him. We watched bus drivers patiently trying to manouever their huge buses around a car parked in the bus terminal under two No-Parking signs while the owner of the car ate a giro and had a beer in the car.

There is no such thing as a parking ticket in Greece. This is an exaggeration. I did see one in the archaeological museum in a glass case.

2) Order a Greek salad the first meal you have in Greece, then order the tomatoe and cucumber salad from then on. The only difference is the mountain of feta cheese that your arteries will be thankful is missing.

3) Roadsigns do not mean anything. This is true in Italia as well. No parking signs? It is to laugh..., but any kind of sign is truly an object of ridicule. You will be driving, say, from Bari to Foggia (go ahead say it - you will NOT get it right) and will pass a sign saying Foggia 68 km. Five minutes later there will be a sign Foggia 38 km, then ten minutes later Foggia 72 km. I am not making this up. Those were actual signs today. No one really cares anyway as they are pretty much obscured by oleander or bougainvillea - beautiful, and obviously so much higher up the food chain that no highway maintenance crew would ever deign to trim it back so one might be able to read the sign.

4) Learn two Greek words 1) Efkharisto, 2) Parakalo. That's actually three words, because Efkharisto means thank you, and parakalo means please and you're welcome. Accent the last syllable (par a ka LO). Grecians will forgive any egrecious mispronunciations if you get these two right.

5) Your hair will grow while you are travelling. Do not cut it yourself, especially if you have never, ever done this before. Exspeshhullly after a kilo of wine (cokeena CraSEE) at Captain Andreas Taverna.

6) I must compliment the Greeks on their toilets. Very clean.

HOWEVER, there are signs above all the toilets saying "Don't throw paper in the toilet". Now I understand a concern about certain feminine products or the Sat Ed of the New York Times, but NO paper? I asked my friend Kelly at the Old Captain in Sifnos, and she said, "No paper. None. Not used toilet paper. Nothing" Hmmmm. Not any kind of used TP????

I throw myself on the mercy of the Greek populace, cause I violated the Hell out of THAT rule...

7) Do not judge Greece by the port cities.

8) Visit the Greek Islands.

9) Do not believe anything that people tell you about Greek wine. It's good.

10) Order one course at a time at lunch and dinner. Our first meal could have fed Somalia. You can always order more.

Thank you Grecia. Your people and your land are a treasure that we will return to.

Love PJ and SL

Goodbye Sifnos

Images: SL and PJ Overlooking Chrysopigi; SL at Faros; Octopi Drying for Lunch at our Taverna

We have reached that time when we must say goodbye to our Greek Isles. Tomorrow we leave for mainland Greece, and we will be in Italia by Sunday after an overnight ferry ride.
We have been asked as parents, what particular time of our children's lives we found the best. We have always answered – this one. We were over the moon at their birth – as I am sure Ali and Steve are at the moment: I can recall nothing but fun being with them as they grew up: Now, as adults, they are two of our closest friends. We have been truly blessed with each stage along the way.
In a strange way, the stages of our trip to Naxos, Milos and Sifnos have similarly been different, but exciting in each their own way.
We wrote that the sights and sounds of Naxos would be hard to beat – our hotel was great, we had a swimming pool, a kitchenette, a local village along the beach, and great weather after the first two days.
Milos was slower, quieter, more primitive. Our hosts spoke no English. We rented a scooter and explored some of the most exquisite scenery we have ever seen, swam at beaches that are world-renowned, and learned to catch our breath each time we turned a corner to see mountains ringed with ancient stone fences sloping gently down to the azure sea.
Sifnos is smaller still. Our balcony overlooks the mountains and the sea. We hike for miles every day and have stopped trying to convey to each other our wonder at the beauty of what we see. We worry that we will take this for granted, that we will forget the sense of wonder we experience each time we see a new landscape. We dine more slowly each night – watching the sunset, savouring the seafood and the wine, slowing down. S l o w i n g d o w n. Goodbye Sifnos. Goodbye Milos. Goodbye Naxos. Goodbye Grecia!!

Absinthe - The Restaurant

Images:Absinthe on the Second Story; Nasos Behind His Bar; The Best Restaurant View in Kamares!

Absinthe
I had mentioned in an earlier blog that SL and I had gone to an Italian restaurant and found it a nice break from a steady diet of Greek dishes. Don't get me wrong, anyone could learn to live on fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, feta cheese, and olive oil accompanying fish that obliging jump straight from the sea onto the grill. How they brush themselves with olive oil along the way is beyond me. There is, however, a predictability to the vast majority of the restaurants we have eaten in – the same dishes, prepared the same way.
Last night, we were delighted to be totally surprised by discovering a new restaurant that had opened only a year ago in Sifnos called “Absinthe”. Absinthe, you may know, is the infamous liquor first distilled from wormwood that was the inspiration and/or downfall of many a famous artist and writer. Oscar Wilde had this to say about Absinthe. “After the first glass you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”
We were very surprised to find ourselves the only patrons in the restaurant, but that might be explained by the fact that the season is young, the restaurant is new, and it is not one of the dozen or so tavernas that line the shore throughout the town. It is tucked away across the street on the second story of a building that houses a number of shops below. This vantage point gives it hands-down the best view of any eatery we have seen in the port town on Kamares.
The pleasant surprises don't stop there. Almost every restaurant you visit in Greece will set the table with a cheap, paper napkin-like tablecloth with a rough map of the particular island you are on. Our server, a polite, friendly young man named Nasos, spoke excellent English, brought us fresh, warm bread, and set the table with beautiful placemats, plates and tableware. His knowledge and description of the menu convinced us to ask him to order for us, which he laughingly did.
The meal was excellent.
We started with a salad of shredded lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, walnuts, all seasoned to perfection with a delicious honey-mustard dressing. It was a welcome change from tsatziki!
Our main course was was pork marinated in a white wine sauce on a bed of rice and, to our surprise, a delicious chicken mango curry with a spicy, buttery sauce that would have satisfied the Punjab himself.
All of this, with a litre of red wine, for under $50.00, with all taxes and a generous tip. (Yes JB BOTH canoes and Canadians can tip!)
All in all, a wonderful change, but rest assured we have not given up on our Greek salads, mousaka, and souvlaki!

Cats

Images: The Proof! SL Training the Sifnos Cats

Cats
Any of you who know me will attest to the fact that I can't stand cats.

There will be the deluded among you who evoke images of me shedding tears at the demise of the cat of the hour – Delphi, Chester, Rocky I, Rocky II, Rocky III, but those tears were the result of the guilt I felt remembering how poorly I treated them – the times I rolled over in bed and disturbed their deep slumber on the top of my chest, or selfishly shifted my position on the couch after hours of staying motionless, interrupting their serene repose on my lap.

I would also remind you that I cry at every episode of American Idol.

Every single restaurant in Greece has at least one resident cat. No one seems to mind. They have the run of the place. People feed them from their plates, and the servers just step around them, or wait patiently for them to move.

You have already learned of Sweet Lorraine's sense of humour, hiding my things so that I cannot find them.

She has now learned Cat Greek.

There can be fifty patrons dining, and she can entice the cats to come to my table and meow pitifully at me throughout the whole meal.

I ignored them, but to no avail. They will only leave me alone after they have had their fill.
I now order an extra fish at every meal.

Sifnos

Images: Aerial View of the Mountains Surrounding our Village; OUr Beack at Kamares; The Village of Kamares

It is pouring rain today, our second day in Sifnos. Yesterday was cool and windy, but we managed to get another scooter - a 150CC Honda, do our shopping and generally get the lay of the land.

Our hotel has a good, strong Internet connection, so I have been getting caught up on loading pics and updating the blog. If anyone wishes to Skype, please send me a username and a time that's good for you! john.lubert@gmail.com

We arrived after midnight in Kamares, and were met by our host Kostas, who took us to the Morpheus Pension. Kostas is terrific, speaks excellent English, and has gone out of his way to make sure we are happy with our stay. Our room is tiny, but clean and functional. One thing that is taking a bit of getting used to is that the shower is the whole bathroom! You have to remember to take all the TP, towels, mats, etc., out of the bathroom before you have a shower, and when you finish, everything - toilet, walls, the whole floor, is soaked!!??

Arriving after dark, we had no idea what the surroundings were like. Imagine what is was like to get up the next moring completely surrounded by towering mountains. We are nestled in the little valley that embraces the port of Kamares, itself a picturesque, quaint little town.

We treated ourselves to an Italian restaurant last night, and it felt like speaking English when we were able to order in Italian, compared to our halting, stumbling Greek!

If the weather doesn't improve we won't be going to the beach, but we will probably climb a mountain to work off the delicious pasta we had last night!

O! Hamos - The Very Best in Milos

Images: Our inscription chair; Pots and Flowers on the Stairs; Handwritten Menu; SL with a selection of Menus
Faithful bloggee, if you are just tuning in, there are a number of posts that have been uploaded today, so you may wish to go back and check out the last couple. Images are taking forever to upload, which may be a result of our new cam being set to a much higher resolution. I promise to upload pics when I can.


Last night we went back to a little taverna we discovered two days ago at lunch. Eating in Milos had become a bit predictable – wonderful Mediterranean cuisine, but you can pretty much expect the same menu at each spot. Souvlaki, mousaka, Greek salads, fish, etc. This taverna set itself apart in many ways. They have really succeeded in creating something special.
The restaurant is called “O! Hamos”, www.ohamos-milos.gr, and it is just outside of the port town of Adamas, on the road to the airport (seaside of Papikinou Adamos). It has a beautiful view of the sea, and the Psatha family have incorporated a number of quaint touches that have turned their establishment into something unique.
You know that care has been taken to create a soothing, relaxing environment from the deft touches that abound. Geraniums spill over from stock pots placed at the side of each step in the multi-tiered eating areas. Fountains are created from shard of Greek urns cascading down miniature landscapes. What tips you off that you are at someplace very special are the menus – not what's on the menu, though we will come to that soon, but the actual menus themselves.
Each one is handmade. Stiff cardboard is wrapped in bright wallpaper and laminated to create a colourful cover, each one different and individual. Inside is a sheaf of yellow notepaper, bound with twine to create a small booklet. Every page is painstakingly handwritten in Greek, English, Italian, German, and French. The cover is decorated with cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, sea salt patterns, and much more, again, each one different.
You can just imagine the children trying to outdo each other with creating the most original menu of the bunch!
There are Greek inscriptions, poetry and sayings beautifully calligraphed on the walls and benches. The chairs themselves bear inscriptions from guests who are encouraged to leave their own message using a paint pen.
Ours was:
“We came for lunch,
We returned for dinner,
In any language,
O! Hamos is a winner!”
The bread is homemade, as is the cheese, the wine, the sauces. The goats, beef, pork and chicken all come from the family farm. Every recipe is a family tradition. They do not serve fish, because they would have to outsource the fish itself, and they pride themselves that everything they serve they have made or grown themselves.
The bread is served in a string bag which is slung over the back of a chair. Your wine is served in a ceramic jug, hand made with the family pattern, as are the little cups to drink from, and the plates.
Our meals?
Bougiourdi – Tomatoes and peppers baked spicy in a pot.
Psito Sti Hovoli – Wild goat cooked inside the ember for hours with lemon-mustard and marjoram.
Katsiki Lemonato – Goat cooked with fresh lemon juice.
Arnaki Surtukiko – Lamb wrapped and baked in a paper with fresh onions, dill and melted cheese.
Gourounopoulo – Piglet baked in the paper with molasses.
If you are ever in Milos, go to see the Psatha family: Irene, Nikolas, Athina, George, and Vaggells at the O! Hamos . Don't forget to look for our message on a chair and paint one of your own!

Milos Exploring

Images: Beach at Firopotamus; Tiny Church in Firopotamus; SL Climbing the Castel Stairs at Plaka; PJ and SL at the "Top of Milos" - The Summit at the Castle in Plaka

Today we set out to find the tiny beach at Firopotamus (yes Mia and Kingston, it rhymes with hippopotamus!)
Our new bike handled the hills with ease and the trek paid off as we found ourselves at a small, secluded beach with a little hut that sold local wine, cheese and cold beer.
The beach was in a small cove surrounded by beautiful, coral-coloured rock formations, ruins of an ancient battlement, and a tiny, pristine church.
It was a good break from some of the strenuous hiking we had done the previous day.
We visited the capital city (small village actually) of Plaka, and climbed up the mountain to the top of the castle ramparts. This was where the inhabitants holed up when the pirates came to raid the island. The view is 360 degrees, making it a perfect lookout for barbarians.
It makes a breath-taking vantage point for surveying the entire island as well, and the scenery of Milos did not disappoint!

Milos Day Two

Images: More Horsepower!!!; Beach at Sarakiniko
Yesterday we went to the beautiful beach at Sarakiniko, one of the most famous beaches on Milos. There are no beach chairs or tavernas, and there were only about a dozen other people there when we climbed the long, rocky trail down through a moonscape, covered with snow-white rock formations. There is a small sea passage that lets the azure waters through to a small beach. We swam out the passage to the sea.
Our discoveries today included the beautiful beach of Paliochori, and that 100 CC's just ain't enough.
Milos is renowned for being a spectacular geo-park and one of the most important geothermal fields in the world. Today we travelled to the beach at Paliochori where a group of students had landed and were studying the thermal soils at the beach.
A prod, something like a long knitting needle, was being stuck into the sand below the waterline and the temperatures were being recorded. One report was 67 degrees C. The temperatures in the summertime can climb to 100 C, about a foot below the surface!
The beach was beautiful, there was a quaint tavena where we enjoyed a salad and fish overlooking the beach.
Returning back to our hotel, our little bike developed a bit of a hesitation, so I took it in and traded up to a 150 CC. What a difference!! The bends in the roads here are so sharp and the hills are so steep that our little 100CC laboured up them at about 10km/hr. The 150 takes them as fast as we dare to go. A 25 minute trip now takes us about 10 minutes..
Therer are three things in life you can never have enough of, and horsepower is one of them – right, Brian??

Milos – Aphrodite's Homeland

Images: SL Basking in the Aegian Sun as Naxos Fades Away; Our First Beach in Milos!

The ferry from Naxos to Milos took 6 hours. It's incredible that we can fly from North America to Europe in that time, but some of the views as we sailed through the islands were magnificent.
We had some reservations about whether or not Milos could live up to Naxos, and it didn't help that we arrived, very tired, hungry and thirsty, at almost 10:00. Unlike Naxos, where our host VanGellis had a big sign welcoming us at the port and a mini-bus ready to take us to the hotel, no one really seemed to know where our hotel was – in fact, no one really seemed to know of our hotel.
We finally found a taxi driver who took us on a fairly circuitous route, but we ended up at our hotel. The Zac-Marie Rooms.
Our hosts here speak absolutely no English at all, so it was a pretty interesting start. I can ask for a beer or carafe of wine in Greek, and I know how to say please and thank you. Our hosts seemed to interpret anything I said as a request for ouzo.
Sometime later, we managed to get a key, and made our way down the road to the closest taverna. This was a family affair, with Ee Meetera out front running the show, O Pateras on the Barbee, O Papoos, e Ee Yaya supposedly minding ta pedhya, who were enjoying the fact that it was long past their bedtime. You don't ask to see a menu – she tells you what they have.
We ended up once again telling them to bring whatever they recommended, so we had grilled eggplant, cheese and onion “pies”, tomatoes, olives, cucumber salads, tzatsiki and souvlaki. There is no wine list – you drink what they bring you. It was a wonderful, warm welcome to Milos.
We realized pretty quickly the next day that Milos would require a different mindset than Naxos. In Naxos, our hotel was actually in a small well-equipped village, a two minute walk from the beach, it had a breakfast room, a swimming pool, it came with a car, and VanGellis and Effi both spoke almost perfect English.
Our room here in Milos is about 2 km from the nearest town, which is Adamas, the Port City, the biggest city in Milos, and very touristy. We are not within walking distance of any shopping, our hosts don't speak English, no Internet at the hotel, and there is no beach nearby. Hmmmm.
We decided to rent a scooter. Brian, you would have been proud of me, I insisted on upgrading from 50 cc to 100cc. Off we went to do our shopping to equip our little room with coffee, milk, fruit, water, etc. You have to give SL credit. Perched on the back of a scooter that is older than I am, as we tear down the narrow town alleys, balancing 3 shopping bags and her purse, all she needs to do now is learn how to do this while keeping a goat, two chickens and a grandchild on her knee, keeping up a shouted conversation with everyone we pass, and she will get honourary Greek citizenship.
Since then, we have been all over the island. We pick a new spot every day. Yesterday, Pollonia, today, it was Paliochori. Our poor old scooter barely made it up some of the mountains, but we got there and it was worth it. Lunch began with fresh, warm bread, olive oil, tapenade, followed by a Greek salad with local cheese, olives, peppers, onions, fresh local tomatoes, capers, and, of course, olive oil. We then had red mullet, grilled over an open fire. Of course, they serve you the whole fish: head, tail, bones and all, and you are left to surgically determine your portion.
This is OK. In fact, I think it adds to the flavour of the fish, and the enjoyment of the ritual of eating. (And I am getting to be an wfully GOOD fish surgeon!)
It underscores an interesting contrast between North American and European approaches to food.
Supermarkets in NA seem to do everything they can to dissolve any connection between what you are about to buy, and the animal it once was. Meat is “aesthetically sanitized”. In the market today, we saw rabbits that looked like rabbits (pretty dead, but still rabbits) heads, feet, even the eyes were still there. Chickens still have their heads and feet – you get the picture. I once asked a darling little 3 year old girl what she wanted for breakfast, and asked if she would like some pig? She laughed and said NO WAY! I then asked if she wanted some bacon, and the little carnivore couldn't get enough!

Goodbye Naxos

Pic: Our Beach at Agio Prokopios

We have grown very fond of Naxos, and are quite sad to say goodbye.

I took a long, long walk on the beach this morning, followed by an invigorating swim. We are now headed off for one last seaside lunch at our favourite taverna before heading for the harbour.

Tonight, we will be in Milos.

Milos - you have big shoes to fill!

I do not know if I will have a stable Internet connection in Milos, so bloggees and bloggites, don't despair, I will post on Milos as soon as I can.

Naxos - Last Day - and Guess What?

Images: SL on our morning walk;SL at the Portara (Gateway Temple of Apollo); Our Bouzouki player last night; PJ outside a house with a beautiful little garden.
We had a terrific night last night with a bouzouki player serenading us with Greek ballads till the wee hours in our favourite taverna. He and I hit it off. I don't know whether it was the fact that I was the only one to clap along with his rhythms till the rest of the diners figured it out and joined in, or whether I kept buying him ouzo, but he let me play his bouzouki! It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the music!

Our day started with our usual exercise. We are trying to walk for at least an hour every morning, with the serendipitous result that we are always looking for new walks, and finding new treasures. The last picture was taken outside a tiny little house in our village, not unusual in its beauty, but worth the picture. Note to JB - I am swimming every night before dinner, so those are NOT man-boobs, they are what we body-builders call pecs.

So, as we have come to expect on this trip, we have been thrown a curve, and things have worked out well in spite of it.

We got a call from our travel agent that there was something wrong with the ferry schedule we had planned to take us to Milos tomorrow. We had to go into Naxos to sort it out.

Long story short, we now have a new schedule, and the ticket agent refunded us e50! We also took a stroll through the Old Market where we were transported back hundreds of years to a maze of narrow alleys, quaint cobblestone paths leading to... you guessed it... ancient Greek tavernas where we enjoyed another spectacular lunch of salads - tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, onion, feta cheese, olives, red onion, - all drenched in olive oil so sweet and spicy you want to drink it, and gyros -traditional Greek and Turkish chicken on a pita.

Scenery, Sunsets.

Images: Old Town Naxos; Ya Mas! (Cheers!); Sunsets at Dinner
If all of this were a canvas, spread on an easel perched on the rocks overlooking the sea,
If something were missing from paradise.
If someone gave me a paintbrush and told me to complete the picture, to make it perfect.
I wouldn't need to add the mountains in the distance, shades of solemn grey, slumbering with shawls of green wrapped over their shoulders.
I wouldn't need to add the impeccably clean houses, patriotic in their navy-blue and pristine white.
It couldn't be the sea, for there are no colours left in the palette to tint what is already a vivid tapestry of green, white, grey, aquamarine, and every hue of blue imaginable.
If you are reading this, you are a friend.
The only thing that would complete this picture is you...
We are having a terrific time, and we miss you all!
Today we visited old Naxos town, then hiked for miles along the beautiful beach. We have bought a new camera, as ours gave up the ghost. Forgive our enthusiasm as we post a few more pics now that we can do the sunsets justice.
Dinner – stuffed squid, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onions, and green peppers, grilled eggplant, and broad beans. No French fries, but thanks for the out, Sandy!
Just got off a videoconference with Susan and Bremner, who has broken his wrist!! Have talked a couple of times with JB, and once with Klaude, who sent me her new song!
If anyone else Skypes – please email us your user name at john.lubert@gmail.com and we would love to chat with you!