Carnival in Ierapetra

On Sunday we had carnival in Ierapetra and my doggy was a real girly like. The English neighbor lady from their camper came to take a picture from the doggy, a funny picture to send to their son who had just his birthday. I was told after words that she has become now a famous girl, her photo has reached even the White House (yes, the one in Washington!).

Her photo has been printed to a Greek school where a girl was telling that she used to be a stray dog and having now a new life in the camper. The mother of the girl, also an English lady showed the photo of the dog to her private Greek teacher and this teacher was so surprised to see this photo and asked her - How do you know THIS dog? She got also surprised and told that the photo was sent to her by the lady who actually took this photo (my neighbor lady) and the teacher told her - I also now this dog, I saw her at the carnival with the blond girl!

At the carnival numerous amount of people where taking photos of her or just came to pet her and proudly she carried her beautiful new carnival look :)

More photos from the carnival itself coming little later!

Paleochora peninsula

After meeting Peter the Swede, was time to look up a place in the south again, since the weather forecast announced extremely heavy wind from the north, so we took direction to Paleochora, 75 km south from Chania. Had a lunch stop in Maleme and after still one hour drive to Paleochora.

Last year I was just passing in Paleochora, but it was nice to spend now more days in there. In 2002 we had a room in Platanias, which was very fast clear that we didnt like the village as a holiday destination (at the time packed only with Scandinavian people and not too charming), but as always, we rented motorbikes for two weeks, so everyday we could discover new places on the island. Also Paleochora was discovered at the time and I remember that I liked it much. 

It is just in a small peninsula, 400 m wide and 700 m long, but it offers a big sandy beach and other side a rocky beach, numerous amounts of bars and tavernas, supermarkets, hotels, shops and even three bank automats for such a small area!

This time I had nice talks with other camper people, walk with Christine who I met already in Agios Nikolaos and walked with her there too, met a nice German guy who can live like the guy from the book/film "back to the wilds", very creative and happy guy. Making and playing his tens of flutes, having bicycle rides with his doggy (hmmm, all the odd camper people has a dog??), talking to everyone, was nice to meet this funny fellow.

Elämää roskalaatikolla

Sateinen ja kylmä päivä Kreetan etelärannalla, aikaa on katsella elämää auton ikkunasta, paraatipaikalla roskalaatikoita vastapäätä. Normi visiitin antavat lukuisia kertoja päivässä kulkukissat, josko sieltä löytyisi syötävää. Yksi näyttäisi olevan kantavana, lisää kulkukissoja kylään. Yksi koirakin tekee kierrostansa. Paikalle tulee mummo, liian isoissa vaatteissa, kylmäkin on. Kerää rannalta sateessa märkiä puita, josko ne olisi ensi viikolla kuivat ja saisi takkaan lämmikettä. Mummokin kurkkii roskalaatikkoon, tökkii sinne yhdellä löytämällään kepillään. En voi olla viemättä muutamaa elintarviketta mummolle, saan palkaksi suuren hampaattoman hymyn kirkkain katsein, kiitoksen käsi sydämellä...

Friend and sea - perfect!

Meeting up with my Swedish friend Peter - he has been for me until now a good reason to stop in Monemvasia, Peloponnese, but now he has landed in Crete with his lovely doggy and camper, welcome Peter and Wovie! I learned to know Peter few years ago, yeah another nordic person living in his camper and lucky he speaks good English that I don´t have to struggle with my (very) poor Swedish. Peter is a fabulous mate, excellent knowledge about "how to fix your camper" and It is good to have now a mate like him nearby :). I know sure now from whom to ask help, if I would get any problems with my van. We have already spoken about one small installation to my van - a meter where you can see how much you consume energy at once, this is interesting, since you would know how much its electronic machine is using. So waiting for this!

So in this sunny day in February, we met again and one of the day we went to sea with his boat (gosh, that guy has everything in his camper!). Peter is a passionate fisherman and naturally he took all his stuff with him, but no luck that day (thank goodness, me vegetarian seeing those poor fishes dying :P). No fish, so I prepeared a good old veggie dinner, hahahah! Just carrots for Peter this time, sorry!

Georgioupoli - holiday resort

I am sure that in summer Georgioupoli can be charming village, but now in February it was quite far from that! Many roads under construction and only few bars were open on the town square, rest of the village was basicly dead. There are only about 500 habitants on the village, would be nice to know the number in summer! We found a beautiful spot to stay over night, but I would like to come back there just in the beginning of the season to see the difference and when the road works are ready. Maybe make a second update, before and after.

Yhden yön pysähdys Georgioupoliksessa riitti, mutta mielelläni palaan sinne takaisin kun sesonki on lähtenyt käyntiin. Kesäisin se on varmasti viehättävä kylä turisteineen, mutta nyt sesongin ulkopuolella (helmikuussa), samaa ei voi sanoa hyvällä tahdollakaan. Toki ranta ja pikkuruinen Agios Nikolaoksen kirkko, ovat aina yhtä kauniita, mutta itse kylästä puuttui elämä. Katukuvaan vaikutti toki tietyöt, sillä moni kylän kaduista oli hiekan ja monttujen peitossa. Ainoastaan kylän keskusaukiolla oli muutama kahvila auki, nätti oli aukion keskellä oleva suihkulähde, voin vain kuvitella kuinka paljon elämää on aukion ympärillä elokuussa! Jos palaan takaisin, olisi kiva tehdä toinen bloggaus, ennen ja jälkeen.

Happy Valentine´s Day!

 

Happy Valentine´s Day dear all, Ihanaa Ystävänpäivää 
rakkaat ystäväni ja lukijani <3

City day in Rethymnon

I´ve always liked this city, Rethymnon, it was actually my first holiday ever in Greece when the drachma was still excisting, dating back to 2001. It is nice to wonder around the old town, even now in off season. Rethymnon lives from tourism mainly, but not only with its 40.000 habitants. Much olive oil is made in this district, like most part of the Crete. It has also a big university with 8000 students and this makes I guess the town more lively in the bars and cafes during the winter.

Agios Nikolaos - seaside city

I have a regular stop in Agios Nikolaos and this time I was blessed with sun and there was no wind, well not just that morning.

Agios Nikolaos is a lively town even in off season, a real town with real people, not only a fake tourist town. In Agios Nikolaos itself are living almost 13.000 people and in the municipality area 27.000. If you book your hotel on this east side, you will have plenty of places to visit, Elounda, Plaka, Spinalonga leper-island, Kritsa the traditional mountain village etc. Agios offers also several small beaches, you might as well just stay in there and enjoy the tens of tavernas and bars.

I can recommend Agios Nikolaos as a holiday destination!

And the same in Finnish / Ja sama ehtaalla suomenkielellä

Agios Nikolaos on yksi vakio pysähdyspaikoistani, kera kaupunkilaiselämän! Tällä kertaa sain nauttia runsaasti aurinkoisesta säästä, vaikkakin joinakin päivinä oli myrkyisämpää. Ei haittaa, sillä tänne on mukava tulla, marinassa pääsee ihka oikeaan suihkuun (!) ja iso pesukonekin pyörähtää kolmen euron hintaan. Pysäköintimaksu on kaksi euroa päivä, tosin välillä se on kuusikin euroa, en ole päässyt jyvälle vielä hinnoittelun säännöstä. Viikonloput ovat ilmaisia, eli parhaassa tapauksessa viikon pysäköinnistä selviää kympillä. Lisäksi pääsen läyryämään täällä suomalaisen ystäväni kanssa, joka on asunut täällä vuosikaudet, runsain mitoin tyttöjen juttuja, tervetullutta vaihtelua sekin :)

Agios on miellyttävä pieni kaupunki, jossa on elämää myös sesongin ulkopuolella, sen takaa jo sen 13.000 asukasta itse kaupungin alueella. Erittäin hyvä tukikohta viikon tai kahden kesälomalle, täältähän on kivenheiton päässä Elounda, Plaka ja Spinalongan leprasaari, unohtamatta Kritsan perinteistä vuoristokylää.

Homeless dog aint a wild animal!

This article would not be directly to do with travelling, but it is touching me a lot. New EU law that would consider strays as wild animals = still less values for these poor things! The article is in Finnish.

Artikkelin voit lukea TÄÄLTÄ.

Three times Ive taken a stray with me, the last one is my dear doggy from France. So I did my best and wrote to our Minister Orpo and told my view. I am only familiar for the work in Greek shelters, first visit in 2003 and I can assure you the work they all do, is amazing! The shelters are also giving the model and education to the new generation, well sometimes the old ones learns and changes too :). When the people would learn more respect and neuter their animals, there would no more be strays = the goal.

Ierapetra today

...well not actually today, but some days ago! Beautiful sunny day to wonder around the town, watching sea, having a coffee and just enjoy. This town is of course living much from the tourism, but not only that. It is nice to see that this town lives in winter too! Many bars, tavernas and shops are open all year around, what a pleasure!

Welcome to the most southern town of Europe!