Crete

Crete is a very very large island when compared to the previous islands that we have visited. I think it may even be the largest of all of the islands if i am not mistaken. The landscape is very beautiful and covered in green rolling hills, trees and other plants. When we first arrived the cityscape of the port at which we arrived just did not do it for me. This is very much like most of the ports so i knew better than to judge it right away. At a closer glance you will notice beautiful architecture in some of the towns and how vast and green the land is. On our first day, we stayed close to the town that we were staying in -Hersonisos. Hersonisos is a very touristy town full of shops, restaurants and nice (but extremely crowded) beaches. We were happy to find out that our hotel included a free breakfast amd dinner buffet everyday! This is a plus when you have realized how much you
have spent on food alone over the last couple weeks. Also, very quickly we learned that Crete likely has more fur shops on the island than probably all of North America! On each short street we saw at least 5. We did our research and have learned that rich russian tourists come here to buy fur coats for cheaper than back home.... interesting...

Some other things we have done on Crete:
- fed the greek kitties (the kitties here seem more damaged and hurt than any other islands...pretty much every cat we saw had some sort of injury).
- fish spa- very strange feeling....
- cretaquarium- fun but seen one, seen them all.
- rented a car to Chania- best part in my opinion. We visited the old venetian part of town which, of course, was built by the venetians. It resembles Venice, Italy for that reason mentioned. They had some very nice shops and restaurants. We bought a turkish lamp, some pottery and textiles.

Onward to Rhodes tomorrow (our last island before Paris)

Haiku Lane

Summing up Santorini

Tommorow is our last day in stunning Santorini! We are sad to leave the beautiful cliff side villages of the island but i am sure there will be lots to goggle over on the next island-Crete.

June 25- Our beach day! We also had looked up a restauraunt on trip advisor which was called Katharo's Lounge and asked our kind receotionist at the hotel to book us a reservation. We took a bus to Fira and then to Oia and started to wander. It is a good thing we asked the locals because this place is definitely a hidden gem and unlikely to be found by the average tourist. Instead of cabbing like most people would, we took the mostly uphill
hike to get there. The views definitely made this hike worthy and after trying the food we were sold. We recommend it to anyone travelling to Santorini! we tried the Katharo's salad which had grilled chicken, peaches, greens, tomatoes and honey mustard vinegarette (delish!!), stuffed eggplant, spicy pork and creamy chicken and of course sangria to top it all off!!

Yesterday, june 26, we woke up much earlier than our usual starting time to board a boat which would take us to the volcano, the hot springs, the island of Thirissia and then of course a sunset in Oia. We also rode donkeys, not once but two times! Very strange experience... especially when i was not aware i was being photographed the whole time...makes for some lovely photos!

June 27- we visited some tradditional villages like Pyrgos and went to the open air cinema again!! We had three adorable pups following us through the whole tour.

Goodnight my friends!

Haiku Lane
xo

Santorini

Hello!

Sorry i have been slightly lazy and have been putting off this post... it is 1 am and i am sleepy so this will be short and sweet. Mitch & i arrived in Santorini last night around supper time to the very busy and small port in santorini. Santorini is very rocky and is a remnant of a volcanic caldera. Apparently it is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history. One of our bus drivers in Paros had told us, also, that the volcano is still active and you can take a boat to it still. We will look into this..

Our hotel, the Sunshine hotel, is located in a beach town by Kamari beach. The sand here is very black but the scenery and water are hard to resist. We quickly got to our room and made ourselves at home before heading down to our hotel's restaurant with the promise that they had a free drink for us. Hehe. The restaurant makes it 's own pasta and even has the pasta making device in front to show to passerbys. Obviously i had pasta... and a watermelon daquiri. By walking along the beach we soon discovered that there are soooo many restaurants to choose, each handing out business cards and trying to convince you to eat at their place.

Day 2 went like this:
- local bus to the city's capital Fira. This is where i had went before 2 years ago on a cruise with my mom. It is a bustling little town full of white stone buildings on the edge of the cadera. We found a really neat bead store and i found some new things for my jewelry creations. We ate lunch here and looked around before taking another bus to Oia.
- Oia is a scenic village on the north west part of the island. I have been told that it is often what you see when looking at pictures and postcards of Santorini. It is very beautiful and has the most amazing views. I am told also that the sunsets here are unbelievable. I will need to come back at sunset!!
- Thai food: we were very excited when we saw a thai restaurant called Kiwi. We got korean beef, green curry, and sushi. It seemed to have every type of asian specialty on the menu. It was nice to have something other than tzatsiki and greek  salad... even though i probably can eat those things everyday.
- Open air cinema: with the restricted television that is available we were very excited when we heard there was an open air cinema with a full bar. We watched the movie "Noah" and rather enjoyed it. We will be returning when they have a new movie playing. The whole atmosphere is worth going more than once no matter what the movie is.

Soo that was not short... but here are some photos to capture the day!

Haiku Lane
xo

Naousa, Paros

Today we took a taxi to the fishing town of Naousa. There are seaside restaurants and little shops selling items like clothing and jewelry and also a beautiful beach alongside many stark white newly painted hotels. We started the day off rather late as i somehow slept about 12 hours and found our way to a cafe selling waffles & crepes. After we enjoyed our delicious and probably not so nutritious breakfast we wandered throughout the small streets and into some of the shops. It is a sunny day with the perfect amount of breeze.
We plan to stay in this small town until supper. Every restaurant you see has seafood drying on a post and i can not leave without trying it!

Not too much to say as of right now but afterwards we plan on trying the homemade sangria we made back at the hotel along with some night time life size chess and maybe a greek or bollywood soap opera.

Goodnight

Haiku Lane

Xo

Antiparos

Yesterday was spent on the turquoise sea. Mitch and I woke up a whole lot earlier than we were used to (7 am!!) and boardered a boat that took us around the island of Antiparos, an island near Paros. One of our captains or crew leaders was from Egypt and spoke 5 languages. Our boat mainly consisted of middle aged french couples who loved to sing in french and drink ouzo. It was all very scenic and beautiful and any pictures or words i choose to use to convince you will not work in my favour. The winds made the boat very rocky which in turn made us quite nauseus but we stuck it out none the less. We made a pitstop near the beginning where you had the option to stop and snorkel. We opted out because of the cold winds and instead took photos of the view and relaxed in the sun. Later we stopped at an isolated beach and Mitch and I looked for unique rocks to use in my jewelry making while the boat crew barbequed a delicious lunch of pork souvlaki, greek salad, potatoes and tzatsiki dip with bread. On the way back to Paros we stopped in a little town in Paros where we shopped and explored. Not many shops were open as many close during the day for siesta. It was a very cute town full of cafes and shops and beautiful ceramics. We wish we had more time there!
Anyways, Mitch is getting bored so i must end this post now... more to come another time!
Haiku Lane
xo

Paros

While Mykonos was very rocky and desertlike, Paros island has orchards and hills. We arrived yesterday after taking the ferry. The ferry was very crowded and warm and overall not the most pleasant experience but then again we wern't expecting a luxory yacht either. We got picked up at the port by a bus full of other fellow tourists and were driven to our hotel. We drove further and further away from the port, dropping off passengers along the way until finally it was just us and rolling hills on either side of the vehicle. As we drove farther and farther away...not going to lie... we were slightly worried. Where is this guy taking us? Turns out our hotel is in quite a remote area not very close to anywhere. We arrived to a resort hotel boasting colors of yellow, blue and red and equipped with a swimming pool, gym, restaurant, and very poor wifi (sadface). With the start of our first whole day in Paros we took a taxi to Paroikia (there is no walking anywhere...). We drove through the hills until we reached our destination. It does not look like much at first glance but as you take a closer look you will see that the town is adorned with quaint restaurants near the beach with checkered tablecloths and friendly owners urging you to visit their restaurant, tiny local artisan shops selling clothing, jewelry and home decor (in contrast to the very expensive tourist and designer stores in Mykonos), and well lots of vehicle rental shops and convenience stores. On another note to the cat lovers out there: they have set up cat food in dishes throughout the town and also coin deposit machines to donate for the cats to be fed, fixed and given vaccinations. Compared to the skinny cats in Mykonos, the cats of Paros were very average sized and well fed. That is all for now my friends.
 Haiku Lane xo

Delos

Mitch and i woke up early to take a boat tour to the ancient Delos. This was said to be the birth place of the gods Artemis (the goddess of hunting and gathering) and Apollo (god of the sun). Poisidon, god of the sea and also Zeus' brother, created the island by bringing it up from the sea. Leto, the mother of the twin deities, had an affair with Zeus and had become pregnant. Hera, Zeus' wife, was furious. Poisidon created the island because he took pity on Leto and knew she needed a safe place for her children to be born away from Hera's wrath.

Delos is now a UNESCO world heritage site. At one point in time there were many purifications that were executed to ensure that the island was "fit" for the proper worship of the gods. For one, it was ordered that nobody was allowed to die or give birth on the island. Because of this, nobody could claim the island because of inheritance. It was also ordered that all dead bodies be removed and so all the graves were dug up and transported to another island.

Nobody currently lives on the island except the guards and on some occasions scientists. Overall, it was well worth the trip!

Since we survived the day in the straight heat we decided we deserved icecream.....TWICE! We had been eyeing a gelato place since day 1 so we finally tried it. It was delicious if i must say! I got coconut, peach & stratchiatella. Couldn't decide on just one... while Mitch went with the tradditional Mitchell choice- banana and nutella. Once we finnished we somehow managed to find a nail salon. Street names dont mean a whole lot in this town...
The acrylic nails that i had gotten pre-wedding were painful to get off... so now i have it documented in writing the next time i think it is a good idea. Mitch was so excited about this long procedure that he fell asleep much to the amusement to the beauty salon greek women and myself. Haha!

By this point it was supper time. Mitch had his first cheat meal-pizza in a long time. He is not supposed to eat anything with yeast. I guess we will see how he is feeling tommorow. By the restaurant there was a momma cat nursing her baby kittens. This is one of my favourite parts of Greece- all of the cats!!

After supper came round 2 of icecream by the beach... Tommorow no junk food for me!!

Anyway i am done boring you! Goodnight!

Haiku Lane
xo