Old Town in Chania Greece

 

This is the harbor they call “Old Town”.  It was a great place for a casual walk and lunch.  The shades of blue in the Mediterranean are sooooo beautiful!

Gyros

 

A gyro is a very common food in Greece.  We did some R&D to find out which restaurant makes them best!  We rode our bikes 4 miles to Grillaki Restaurant to try one.  They really were very good!  Our waitress was Maria, she spoke very little English but was happy to teach us words in Greek.

Greek Dancing

 

Greek line dancing is an old tradition and couldn’t be more fun to watch.  It’s a dance of joy with groups dancing shoulder to shoulder.  It’s done at Greek celebrations of all kinds (including weddings).  The music is infectious and when you see it you can’t help but want to join in!  If you want to give it a try go to YouTube and learn the basic steps.  I promise it will make you smile.

Greek language

 If we are lost we can just refer to the signs…or not.  The Greek language uses letters and symbols which makes it much more challenging.  In other European countries we could just enter a word or sentence into a translator ap on our phones but here we don’t have the ability to enter symbols.  The good news for people from English speaking countries is English is the second language most spoken in Greece.  If you came here and didn’t speak Greek (or English) you would have a hard time getting around.

Rose colored glasses

 

                                   

Alan claims I see the world through rose colored glasses when I travel.  In other words I see all the good but not the bad.  He might be right….but I also think that’s a good way to live 💞

The photo is a sunset from our deck.

Pool kitty

 

This is our kitty that lives in our pool/patio area.  She thinks she owns this place and is letting us stay here for a month.  (Or maybe she allows us to stay because I give her bacon?)  I named her Honeytoo after Lauren’s cat; Honey.

High tide

 

We walked to a little town called Platanias and spent some time on the beach.  The surf was high today but the water was warm and it was just fun to be there.  This beach has smooth round rocks rather than sand.  Crete is much more laid back then some of the other Greek islands.

Home sweet home

 

This is home for the next 30 days.  We are on a hill facing the sea and it’s pretty private.  We were very active in Switzerland so we both are interested in some R&R for a while.  The air is hot and dry, it reminds me of Arizona.  I’m ready to take a dip in the pool!

Crete is the biggest island in Greece, it’s 160 miles long and about 50 miles wide.  Tourism is still down here due to covid but they say it’s slowly coming back.  Their other sources of income are olives & olive oil, there are olive trees everywhere.

Chania, Greece on the island of Crete

 We just arrived to Chania, Greece on the island of Crete.  Chania has about 108,000 people.  Our villa is about 30 minutes outside of Chania.  It was a long day of travel…

Good bye to Switzerland

 

We both loved Switzerland, I wish we could have stayed here longer!  The people are wonderful, the views are breathtaking.  I hope my photos have given you an idea of just how beautiful Switzerland really is!

Tomorrow we’ll be in the island of Crete, Greece (far from the current wild fires taking place in some parts of Greece).

I wish I’d never traveled…said no one ever!!!

 

Sharing the trails with friends

 

These cute cows are everywhere and you can hear their cow bells from miles away.  Sometimes they walk along the trails with us but eventually they find their way home for milking.

If you are afraid of heights this isn’t for you..

 

We took a gondola up one of the mountains yesterday.  In order to get to the very top you had to take the cat walk shown here.  Of course we had to have our picture taken at the edge that falls to the steep canyon below.

Eiger Mountian (grand but dangerous)

 

This is the famous Eiger mountain that we see from our deck.  It’s 13,000 feet high.  It’s considered one of the most dangerous mountains in Europe for climbers.  It’s famous for its 5,900 foot north face of rock and ice (right of the snowy area).  In German it’s called the Nordwand which means North Wall but more often it’s referred to as Mordwand which means Murder Wall.  Many climbers have tried to reach the top, most turned back, 64 have died trying and 5 have made it.  With those odds I have no idea why anyone would attempt it?

Grindelwald, Switzerland

 

Our home is on the edge of Grindelwald facing the Alps.  In the morning we walked the short distance to Main Street for a few things we needed.  This has got to be the most charming village I have ever seen.  There are flowers everywhere.  

BTW; There are only 8.5 million people in Switzerland or about the same size as New Jersey in the US.  The Swiss have 4 official languages; German, French, Italian and Romansh.  They also have there own language they speak at home or with friends called SwissGerman.  About 1/2 of the people speak English too.  As you may have guessed this is a highly educated country with a strong economy.

We made it to Switzerland

 

We arrived in Grindelwald just in time for a mountain bike festival.  There was great music and everyone was having fun so of course we joined in!  Grindelwald has 3,600 residents.  It’s a beautiful ski village with lots of hiking and biking in the summer too.  The picture of the Alps is from our deck.  (There happened to be a hang glider coming in when I took this picture.)

After a good nights sleep we can’t wait to go exploring.

Good bye to Lake Como

 

Today we say good bye to Lake Como and we’ll be in Switzerland by late afternoon.  We’ll go by train to Interlaken and then a 30 minute train ride to a village in the Alps called Grindelwald.  We planned this entire trip a head of time but we left one week open so we decided to go to Switzerland.  After that we’ll spend a month in Crete, Greece.  Arrivederci Italy 💛

Swimming in Lake Como

 

We leave in the morning so we thought we would spend a “chill” day at the pool & in Lake Como.  I understand now why we don’t see many swimmers, the water is clean & clear but it’s pretty cold.  However it was 90 degrees today so it still felt good.

After spending a month here I kind of bond with the area and the people….. I will miss it 😟

Lovers walk

 

This is another part of the “lovers walk”, I walk on it almost every day.  There are probably shorter routes to the places I’m going but none prettier.

Saturday we are headed for Switzerland, known for chocolate, the Alps, watches, banking (they had me at chocolate!)

Golfing in the mountains by Lake Como

 

Golfing with our new friends George & Elizabeth from Austria (see next photo).  Alan said it was his best day in Europe… since the last time he golfed.

If the world could live as one…

 

Every morning over coffee we like to debate world issues.  I see the US is about to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill…bipartisan…what a lovely word.  Sometimes I think there’s hope 😇.  

Now if we could just solve the climate change crisis, my heart would be at peace.  (A great way to learn more about it is in the documentary “Breaking Boundaries, The Science of our Plant”).

Hiking on the edge..

 

Alan’s comment; “don’t you dare take one step closer to the edge!”

Best focaccia bread

 

This is Enzo, he and Dora make the best focaccia bread in Italy.  My favorite is the zucchini & cheese.  When you stop in say hi from Sandy. 

Champagne cruise

 

Since we are still celebrating retirement…we rented this boat with a captain and cruised around the lake.  The owner of our home had given us a bottle of champagne so we thought this was the perfect time to pop it.  The captain really wanted to tell us all about Lake Como however his English was challenged.  Alan said “should we tell him he doesn’t need to provide all of that information?”  I said “na, just smile and nod your head once in a while.”  So we sat in the back of the boat and thoroughly enjoyed the sun, the great views, the lake breeze and the champagne 🥂…it doesn’t get any better than this!

A little slice of heaven..

 This photo was taken on a path near our home 💕

Happy Birthday Danielle!

 

Happy Birthday to my baby girl ❤ miss you!

Biking around Lake Como

 

We biked half way around Lake Como (40 miles).  The views from the bike paths are incredibly beautiful!

We finally stopped for lunch at 3pm and I was famished.  I can’t tell you how good the American plate tasted.  (A hamburger and french fries)

The Alley where we live..

 

This is the cute little alley to our side door.  The handsome man on the left is hanging his laundry out the window to dry.  I do the same thing on the other side, near the green vines at the top of this picture.  We stay in nice places but I have not seen a clothes dryer since we left the US.  Everyone just hangs their clothes outside. 

A funny thing about how Europeans view Americans

 

There is a comment I have heard many times while traveling about Americans.  When I first heard it I said…”really”??  But I had heard it enough times that I thought there must be something to it.  They say we are LOUD. When Alan and I are walking and we go by a group of Americans I will turn to him and say; “Wow, we are loud!”  Just for fun I googled it and sure enough this is one of the comments often expressed about us.  But as I read further what was most interesting were the other thoughts about Americans and our place in the world…Some times when you travel you learn more about your own country than the countries you are visiting.