Rethymno

We couldn't very well spend all our extra time in Heraklion eating, so for a day we went to the neighboring town of Rethymno. It turned out to be a really lovely spot, made more so by the utter lack of any other tourists. Like Hania, Rethymno had been under the control of both the Venetians and the Turks, and so the old town consısted of the same architectural hodgepodge. An impressive fortress wall, reminscent of Dubrovnik, surrounds the city and made for a nice afternoon stroll.

On top of the old fortress, nestled among the old Venetians ruins was a small Greek Orthodox church. We found it emptying out after it'd evening services, the congregants all carrying bread home with them.

xoxo Jessie

Heraklion - or how we ate two extra days

Heraklion probably deserves more credit than we gave it. It's home the one of the world's foremost collections of Minoan art, it has a lovely harbor, and some an over-the-top church to lend it cultural charm.

But truth be told, we were not that impressed. At least not until we went looking for dinner.

After a day exploring the nearby sites we went to book our ferry passage out of town only to discover the next ferry had been delayed by bad weather and wouldn't be leaving for a few days. So the search for something to keep us occupied began. Two days later we were sorry to leave...

Our first night we never made it to dinner because on our way to "real" food we found an entire restaurant devoted to chocolate fondue. We ordered a single serving (dark with ganache and hazelnuts) and discovered it came with a table's worth of fruit, waffles, cream puffs, and cookies for dipping. My cup runneth over. Literally.

The delights weren't limited to sweets. Among other things we enjoyed Manouri cheese, grilled and then bruleed with balsamic and honey, beet salad with fresh yogurt, and meatballs in raki sauce. And then there was the baklavas. Let me just leave you wıth these:

Yea. Amazing. And now I don't fit in my pants.

xoxo Jessie

Knossos

The major archeological site on Crete is the restored Minoan palace complex at Knossos.

The site is only partially reconstructed, leaving something to the imagination. Thanks to the posted explanations, we were often a tad skeptical about the reconstruction's accuracy. Like what exactly do you mean, "this is the central courtyard as Mr. Evans envisioned ıt"?

The most famous attractions are the frescos.

At the accompanying archeological museum in Heraklion my favorıte treasures were these gold pendants in the shape of cows' heads and this ivory bull jumper:

xoxo Jessie

You say Xania, Chania, Hania, & Hanya. I say yes please.

Our first stop among the Greek islands was at a small town in western Crete called, depending on your preferred translation, Xania, Chania, Hania, or Hanya. Nevertheless, ıt's an extremely charming spot.

We're pretty well into the offseason now, whıch meant we could afford a room wıth a vıew:)

Crete was controlled by the Ventians and the Turks at various times and the town's architecture and planning reflect this history. We spent probably more tıme there than was necessary, fattening up on some of the best meals of the whole trip. Sadly we were scarfing down the food too quickly to photograph it, but the discovery of what real tzatziki should taste like was just one of several gastronomıic epiphanies.

xoxo Jessie

p.s. How do you like my new jacket? Very world-travellery, no?

Greek:

So in Greek a question is punctuated with a semi-colon and an exclamatory statement gets a colon. This leaves exclamation points available for alternative uses.


I totally want my address to have an exclamation point! OR ... a smiley face ;-)

xoxo Jessie

p.s. Happy Birthday Toph Toph::

Athens - that old pile of rocks

Athens was worth all the trouble we went to getting here. We found a super cheap room right by the Acropolis and spent our first sunset munching on clementines on a hill overlooking the sights. Fabu:

For 6 euros (the Bruin card triumphs again), we had access to the major ruin sights for four days. The Acropolis (Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, Propylaea gates, Erechtheum), the Odeon, the Temple of Olympic Zeus, and the original Olympic stadium were the highlights.

The collections at the National Archeological Museum were the perfect compliment to the ruins themselves. A set of gold ceremonial cups was a favorite and made me excited to see the Minoan ruins in Crete where they were found.

I vaguely remember a story of my dad's from his time spent on a dig in the holy land - archeologists overseeing the site were only interested in artifacts from biblical times, practically discarding Roman and other eras' remains. I found myself taking a similar attitude - scoffing at the relatively indelicate pedestal of Agrippa in comparison to the Parthenon, and ditching the city's neoclassical monuments altogether. Like, better be born before Christ or I'm not interested:o)

One non-ancient sight well worth catching was the weekly changing of the parliamentary guard. To wit:

I'm not going to be able to do the scene justice, but you have to imagine these guys swinging their non-bayonet-clad arms above their heads between jutting stomps. And in this get-up:

Apparently, the costume is that of the mountain forces that fought for Greece's independence. Kind of lightens the image usually evoked by the concept of guerrilla warfare, eh?

Of course no post about Athens would be complete without a mention of the parking situation. Man am I glad I'm not driving here. When you can't find a spot on the street, try the island in the intersection (giving new meaning to the tradition of Greek island hopping - total dad joke I know, but who can resist?). Check out the smart car parked in the middle of the street:


And when that option's not available, just drop your bizarre tail of a parking break down on the sidewalk:


And finally, of course, some food! We love cheese pies, cheese balls, and cheese pastries - sensing a pattern? Apparently the average Greek consumes 25kg of cheese per year. I'm making up for lost time. But the better pictures are not of cheese anything, but of some very Greek looking produce:


Yum.

xoxo Jessie

Update: Thanks to the demands of the Indian consulate we were back in Athens for a day at the end of our tour of Greece. Good thing though because Aaron finally got to see these guys in action (and I got to see them dressed for winter)!

Also we happened upon this scene at the contemporary art museum. It was particularly satisfying to pose for this because earlier I had been scolded for posing for a picture next to a classical marble sculpture. Apparently you can pose with the ancient art only so long as you don't stand behind it. No such limitations when it comes to modern art though:


ttfn

Everything's up to date in ... Sofia

After our experience with hairstyles in Plovdiv and our guidebook's lukewarm recommendation of Sofia relative to Plovdiv, I went to Sofia with decidedly low expectations. Boy did Sofia deliver. First of all, we stayed in a bizarre room decorated with animal print, Tahitian wood carvings, and lots of mirrors, but equipped with satellite tv, and all for 40 leva a night!

Then, while looking for new headphones, we saw a 16 gb flash drive for the first time and declared Sofia thoroughly modernized. The verdict was confirmed a night later with the best meal of the trip. An honest-to-goodness salad, followed by browned chicken tenders in a honey, orange, and rosemary sauce with grilled zucchini in a Roquefort-based cream sauce. Cost, including fresh peach juice: 10 leva. Aaron ate more traditional fair - potato soup and wine-soaked veal with local beer - for even less.

Not everything was so thoroughly advanced. Aaron had read that the per-capita income in Bulgaria was 150 Euros per month, a staggeringly low sum and impossible seeming in the city center where residents wore designer clothes and drove luxury automobiles (we heard that the police drove confiscated Porches but we never saw them). On our way out of town we had a sobering realization when we saw the city's slums. Built within the city garbage dumps, and populated with large families, this housing made other most dire areas I've seen on Skid Row and in Cambodia and Peru seem relatively hospitable.

We didn't do a lot of traditional sight-seeing in Sofia, so instead you get pictures of random things I noticed just walking around. First, really nice terra cotta tile work at the bath house:


Also , these basement-level tobacco and convenience shops:

Bulgaria is predominantly Greek Orthodox, which provided a change of pace, architecturally and culturally:

Finally, there was a significant language barrier. Bulgarians use a Cyrillic alphabet, they do not speak English, and they shake their heads from side to side when we would nod and vice versa. So we were lost a fair bit, but signs like these made up for it:


Chinese style Cyrillic - it never would have occurred to me!

xoxo Jessie