Bullet holes

Already since I bought my van, I took some Adria stickers away and added some of my own ones. I needed some street attitude, hahaha! One of the stickers are like bullet holes, how girly!

I was a small player when I found this truck in Italy where the whole cabin was decorated (!) and a really small player when I reached Crete, see the photos!

These are my bullet holes, impressive don´t you think?

The truck beside me in Italy, wowowowow!

Hahaha and in Crete they are real cowboys!

Birthdays, baby goats and petanque

It is always so nice to be in Frangokastello, such a nice stop with beautiful beach and of course meeting always the nice Greek family from here! This time my English camper friends were here too, as they also like to come back and back to this spot.

We celebrated Linda´s birthday, I watch the petanque, played with team UK, Greek and France and had a chance to feed a baby goat! Many nice moments and conversations with Linda, the woman who can talk non-stop, in a good way :). Most of days she was coming to my camper for a few hours chat, she has so many stories to tell, I miss her already since they left on Friday.

Monday should come better weather with plenty of sun, so we will stick around still a while in Frangokastello.

Rain from Sahara?

When I woke up this morning and saw how dirty my van was, It was clear that I need to clean atleast the solar panels! My whole van was covered with this reddish sand and lucky there is a church nearby and I could go to give a small washing to my home. My guess is that this one came directly from the Sahara, horrible stuff!

Yesterday was an awful weather, solar panels had already plenty of work to try to charge my batteries and today when we got some sun again was time to clean the panels that I would have some energy and can hang on the internet a bit :)

See the difference, other panel is already cleaned

Today is about +23 c , wind from the south east, sun and clouds, nice weather :)

Treasures from the sea

Sea treasures or you just might call it Sea Rubbish, would be maybe more justified. Not that I just photograph lost shoes, I also like to look and find sea treasures from the beach. How exciting is that!
I love floated wood and the soft surface on it when the sea has done its job.

My camper friends from UK are also having this odd thing, who finds the most precious object or in some cases the most odd, it is a funny game, there are more of us to do it and actually collecting them up. They mostly like to keep the object as decoration and put it back on its place after some days as you can understand the place is limited in the camper, we can not keep all of them! 

In December I found this plastic flower with a frog on it, I was giving it a "new life" on the beach, I attached it on a brunch and let it blossom again.. and thought I would never see it again...

Triopetra - the three stones

We were getting to Triopetra via Agios Pavlos, located in the south coast, about 50 km from Rethymnon. Triopetra with its magical three rocks is a beach I really liked! You can walk from Agios Pavlos or vice versa to Triopetra and enjoy from the beautiful landscapes, endless beaches and rocks. I can see why the energy is good to keep yoga retrets in here.

Agios Pavlos felt a nice spot too, but not with a camper, not too much space to park, so we took direction Triopetra to check it out. Few nice looking tavernas (off season all closed) and rooms for rent, peace and tranquility is all you can find in this place.

Weather and road conditions

This winter has been so different from last year, we have had snow, hails, rain, wind (not talking about small gusts!), sun and plenty of many cold days which are unusual in Crete. I can say that if this would have been my first winter trip in Crete, I would say I would never come back. Last winter was fabulous and yes, the local people here say that this year really hasn´t been the usual one. Some say that they have never lived such a winter, some say that it was 20 years ago last time so bad, some says 10 years ago. Nature says of course thank you (!), but it has caused many problems to the roads and lands. I guess all these roads will not be cleaned up / repaired before the season starts, but I am hoping the good warm days arrives by then :)

First BBQ 2015!

The first BBQ party done:), last year the first one was already on the first January, but better later than ever! Like always we were again presented by many nationalities; Greece, Germany, Spain, USA, Israel,  Czech Republic, Slovenia, France, Switzerland, Ireland, England, Italy, Austria, Palestine, Finland and many many doggies (not quite sure if there weren´t in somepoint more dogs than people..)

The big suprise was that Linda and Sergio gave a suprise visit to  Matala . We met them already last year in here and now they just came back for some days since they were in Athens and on the way back home to Spain. Was extremely nice to see this cutest couple in the world again :)

Kastri - beads, port, sea and walking

We have passed by this village before, but this was the first time we stopped there and had a wonderful week! It is located in the South, between Mires and Ierapetra, 12 km south from Ano Viannos. Kastri is a tiny fishing village with some tavernas, port, beaches, no hotels but there are rooms to rent. Supermarket is also open all year around and its runned by a friendly man, Manolis. Actually everyone I met were so friendly and in one week time, I learned to know many people and when I made the walks with the doggy it felt that I would actually live in the village.

I made a nice friendship with Jorgos, the bead artist. He is handicapped and he is working from his wheelchair, living and working in his studio on the beach road - easy to find him. I´ve been doing myself also glass beads and hoping to make them next time together with Jorgos, would be fun. I had such a good laugh with him and he also wanted to give me a ride, how cool is that!

Clean Monday in Crete

This is the day you see Greek people flying kites, bu this year the weather was quite against it. I spotted just this small girl outside, while I was happily staying inside of my van, instead outside!

Clean Monday comes after the carnival, also known as Pure Monday or Ash Monday. From this day on you should be leaving behind you sinful attitudes and non-fasting food until Easter.

Many Greek people do still fasting, they stop eating meat, eggs and dairy products and eat fish and vegetables instead (how easy for me!).

Clean Monday is a public holiday in Greece and on this day they make this special kind of "azyme" bread, baked only on that day, named "lagana". My dear camper friends kindly bought one for me to have a taste :).

Now we are waiting Easter to come and in the meanwhile we are enjoying finally some more sunny days!

Carnival in Crete

In Greece the carnival dates  are tied to Greek Orthodox Easter which is usually different from Western Easter. Every few years, both calendars will coincide, but this year it is one week later. Greece has long traditions with carnivals, for example in Patras (in mainland) ranks in the top three carnival celebrations in the world with it´s 180 years traditions.

So it was nice to me see this, even in this smaller city of Ierapetra. People were cheerful and enjoying the time as much as I did with the doggy :)

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!