Ready for hiking soon

 
Finally I found few hiking books in Crete! Or maybe I have just been too lazy to look for them before. Actully I went to a bookshop to find a guide to Santorini, but none of them pleased me and then my eyes catched these books instead! As I like to hike with my doggy now I have some new interesting hikes to do in near future - good for her and good for me. But before we start our longer walks again, I will head to Santorini next week for five days to meet my dear friend who comes there from Finland. Can´t wait! So next update will be I guess about picturesque Santorini, after sorting the photos.

No more dumping!

Do you remember the unofficial dump on the beach parking I wrote about in June?

Click here to see the article and see the photos what we created from the carbage.

I was curious to return there and see the situation and while I got at the parking I was happy to see that there was no more garbage!!! Locals told me that usually in September the parking would be half full and the dump would be as high as a man. But not this year and there has come this little sign which is telling that it is forbidden to dump garbage. So this was excellent news and nature says thank you :)

Red!

 
I did already publish a serie with Blue- color My Blue Greece and Yellow & Green I was amusing this time to shoot photos "things in red". Most photos are from Crete and some from the continent of Greece.

Red is the color of extremes. It’s the color of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. Our prehistoric ancestors saw red as the color of fire and blood – energy and primal life forces – and most of red’s symbolism today arises from its powerful associations in the past.
Red is also a magical and religious color. It symbolized super-human heroism to the Greeks and is the color of the Christian crucifixion. Red was almost as rare and as expensive as purple in ancient days – a fact that may explain its magic and power. * source : color matters

For me red belongs to Autumn colors as well and since it is September equinox, here are some of my photos with red!

Cretan herbs

Crete offers many herbs and the flora in Crete is on its best in spring after the rain from winter and spring. This is the time when Crete looks actually very green and plenty of wild flowers are in blossom.

Many of the herbs are used widely in Greek kitchen such as basil, mint, rosemary, sage, marjoram, oregano and thyme. All these you can buy in shops, but my favorite shop is the one in Sivas, near Matala, called Botano.

You might have come accross to the mountain tea, many times old ladies are selling them in villages. This herb you can only find above 1000 meters, on the white mountains of Crete. This like many other herbs are known as healing herbs of folklore. Together with honey it is a good natural medicine against the cold, well you might want to have a little glass of raki too:).

Reindeer horns for the Greek boys

 
I wanted to make something different for the Greek boys (well two of them were already men), something they surely would not find in Greece. What could that be? Of course leather jewels with reindeer horn pendants! Each closure was different, one made of some nut, one from a piece of a bone and one from floated wood, so a tiny difference between them. As you can see, I have plenty of useful things in my little van :P

Laughter of the day

Here the sand do not have time to burn your toes before getting to the sea :)

Back again in Tsoutsouros for some days, I always like to have a stop in here. Tavernas and cafes are of course all still open, but not too many people around anymore since it is the last week of August and most Greeks have ended their holidays last weekend.

I just had a good big laugh yesterday, when a waiter from one taverna asked me with his limited English
- Is there a dog inside your dog?
- Excuse me?
- Yes, maybe dog inside your dog?
- ???
Then he starts pushing her stomach and saying maybe babys?
- hahahah, noooooooo, I agree she is having some extra weight now, since we were staying long time in Frangokastello and the taverna there took a good care that there was no food missing from my dog.
- ok, no dog in your dog, just food
- yes

Im happy he didnt ask if I had a person in my person :P.

We really need to start the good walks again, both of us. Welcome autumn!!!!!

Plaka and its view to Spinalonga

Sunrise in Plaka, Spinalonga Island on the left.

Plaka is the village from the book of Victoria Hislop - The Island. It is telling the story of Spinalonga island, where was a leper colony from 1903 until 1957. In 2009 the Greek Mega Channel started to film television series in Plaka and Elounda area called "To Nisi", which is based on a novel from Victoria Hislop. It is one of the most expensive Greek television productions ever with a budget of €4 million. It came also in Finnish television last summer with the name - Saari.

Time for something new

 

 
Im am not a person who could imagine writing articles from fashion or follow the fashion, I don´t generally even like shopping (yes, it is true!). I use many things until to the end and feel so sad when my favorite t-shirt, bag, shoes etc will eventually meet their end. There are persons who would laugh that I still wear that awful t-shirt that I got adviced years ago to throw away. Now it was really time to say goodbye for few things. My ultimate favorite backpack bought maybe 15 years ago from Holland and my beach/swimming- shoes, they were really getting useluss to have, too many holes that even the bigger stones found their way in..

Motoristin näkökulma

Kotikaupungissani Helsingissä sattui keskiviikkona tapahtuma, jossa silminnäkijöiden mukaan autoilija tahallisesti aiheutti pyöräilijän kaatumisen ja joka johti torstaina pyöräilijan kuolemaan sairaalassa saamiinsa vammoihin...

Kolokytha Island, Peninsula of Spinalonga

This island is connected by a bridge to Crete, so I am not always just in Crete, right?

If you are staying in Agios Nikolaos or Elounda, you can easily visit this beautiful island. I have walked there already before, but this time I had time to explore it better and I still want to return there after the season for nice walkings.  When you climb up the hills, the colors of the sea shows even better, love it!

Erään kirjan herättämiä ajatuksia

Vielä löytyi asuntoautoni kätköistä yksi suomenkielinen kirja, mukava yllätys, sillä kaikki paperiset kirjat taitaa olla nyt luettuna. Viime kesänä ostin Suomessa ollessani elektronisen lukulaitteen, mutta en tohdi sitä rannalle asti kiikuttaa, paperiset olkoon sitä varten! Viime aikoina olen lukenut erityisen paljon englanninkielisiä kirjoja, Agios Nikolaoksen satamasta löysin vaihtopisteen, josta pystyn lainailemaan kirjoja ja palauttelen niitä sitten aina sinne palatessani, kätevää. Löytyi sieltä jopa muutama suomenkielelellä...

We love water!

 

 
Last weeks have been more or less hot, so we spend plenty of time in and under water, equally. We have never been so long in one spot, this place will beat all my records, but it is a great place to be with the doggy and having nice people around. We will continue touring somewhere in August again and now we live on the moment :)

What to give for a Greek man?

 
The family I have started to know so well is having a taverna. They run their taverna six months a year, so you could think how nice, that could mean that after they have six months holiday? Not quite. They have their own sheeps and goats to look after. They have chickens. They make their own honey. They have their own wine and since you have your own grapes, naturally you make your own raki too. They have their own garden - with herbs, salads and vegetables. In December they start to collect their olives and will get their own oil. After the olives are collected, you need to look after the trees and do the cutting. Few nights ago the father left 3 am with his two sons to collect herbs from the mountain. Not forgetting that they collect their own sea salt and I am sure I don´t even know everything they do. The kids are helping in all this, though now they have summer holiday from school, well, not a holiday as the kids in back home, these kids are working the whole summer with the family. Feels almost that the easiest thing is having the taverna...

Looks like an ordinary day

Yes, I am still in Greece and hoping that the situation here will not grow that bad, that I would be "forced" to leave this beautiful island. I am now in a peaceful village in Southern Crete, nothing much happens anyway in here. When you look at the beach, it looks as an ordinary summer day, though with less people..

Elämää kriisin keskellä

Kreikka on päättänyt kansanäänestyksestä 5.7.2015, tosin mistä äänestetään on vielä epävarmaa kun viimeisin maksu erääntyy 30.6.2015 lyhennettäväksi. Politiikka on tähän asti ollut itselleni matkaajana vähäpätöinen asia, matka on edennyt, tankin on saanut täyteen ja ruokaa on riittänyt sekä omassa kaapissa että tavernoissa.

Nyt on käteinen monin paikoin loppu automaateilta, vaikka nostorajoituksia on tullut. Kreikkalaisten nostoja on rajoitettu 60 euroon per päivä, muiden maiden korteilla ei tulisi rajoituksia olla. Tosin rajoitus koskee kieltämättä meitä kaikkia, kun automaatit ovat tyhjiä, ihan sama onko kortti suomalainen tai kreikkalainen...

Recycling – unknown word to some!

Unfortunately this word appears to be discovered in Greece still too often. Found this beautiful spot in Northern Crete, calm, sandy and rocky beach, let´s enjoy the sea and sun! But… As soon as you get to the parking, you can see all the garbage around, which really does not come from the sea either from the people who visit the beach just for a day. This garbage comes directly from peoples home. Instead of bringing the stuff to the dump or proper containers, some people bring it to the beach parking, how easy and fast!

Skouros and Listis beach

Skouros Beach

If you are seeking a silent beach, I bet these two are pretty silent even in August. Just beside Kastri, Southern coast of Crete, around 70 km from Heraklion...

Little chapel

 
Ive been passing Amiras Memorial monument several times, spent even a night next to the monument, but first time I saw the door open to the little chapel next to it. It is an emotional place with its 461 candle holders, one for each victim who was executed by the Germans.

The monument is made to not forget the Holocaust of Viannos in 14-16 September 1943 when the Nazi forces attacked the Cretan civilian residents east of Ierapetra. Totally in 20 villages they were executed 500 people, burning most of the villages and destroying their harvest. The massive loss of live made this place one of the deadliest massacres during the occupation of Greece. Müller, the German general who was behind this attack earned his nickname "the Butcher of Crete". After the war he got executed for his part in this and other massacres.

Curry & Mango, Agios Nikolaos goes Indian!

I was talking with an English gentleman (thank you Steve!) at the marina of Agios Nikolaos and somehow we started to talk about food and ended up to talk about Indian cuisine and its flavors. Then he told me that actually that same night (yesterday) was an opening of an Indian restaurant in Agios Nikolaos, next to Kitroplateia Beach. So you can guess where we had a dinner yesterday :).

I love Indian cuisine also because it has a large selection of tasty vegetarian choices and I think that back home in Finland, I have been in all of them and I mean ALL. Most northern one has been in Kemi, more than 700 km from Helsinki. But now we are not in Kemi, we are in Agios Nikolaos, just
4500 km south from Kemi, restaurant called L´Indien. It is written in the French way since the owners, Marie-Line and Jaimour, has had 20 years Indian restaurant in Paris and now they have opened this new one in Crete.

Touring with mom 2015

Pervot Pervolassa

This update I wrote in Finnish, it is about the 10 days I just spent with my mom <3 from the beginning of  May.

Blogissa on ollut hiljaista reilut kaksi viikkoa, mutta se ei johdu siitä että olisi ollut hiljaista, päinvastoin, sain äitini kylään Kreetalle!
Yllä oleva kuva on kevään 2014 satoa, viime vuoden turneeltamme, ja taas nautittiin mukavat kymmenen päivää yhdessä toukokuun alusta. Naurua, jutustelua, retkeilyä riitti, kiitos Äiti <3!