{"id":3480,"date":"2012-10-24T18:44:08","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T18:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=3480"},"modified":"2013-06-07T16:28:03","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T16:28:03","slug":"farewell-to-crete-safe-arrival-on-spetses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=3480","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to Crete – Safe Arrival on Spetses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Costas and I in Boggi<\/p><\/div>\n

My last few days on Crete were quiet and relaxed happy ones, just as they had been since I first arrived.\u00a0 On Thursday I went walking along the seafront and into town.\u00a0 I had forgotten there was to be a general strike in Greece that day … alas, everywhere was closed, even the periptero’s (kiosks).\u00a0 Later in the week when Katina said she was going to visit the cemetery, I decided I would go with her.\u00a0 As we were cleaning up around the family tomb, including weeding the pot plants that are there, I came across a frog with only the top of his head and eyes protruding as he rested in the cool, damp earth.\u00a0 On our way back down the hill we searched for horta (wild edible greens) – a mainstay of the old Cretan diet and very delicious!\u00a0 With much needed rain, we found only a few radikio (dandelion), however, later in the day Katina went out to search once again, bringing home enough for our evening meal … a real treat.\u00a0 As were the sika (figs) we picked and ate straight from the tree on our way home from the cemetery.\u00a0 Free food and all to die for!<\/p>\n

I do love so much the Greek food, especially that which I have when staying with the family in Kastelli.\u00a0 One day Katina made Boureki (Greek vegetable pie) using mizithra (a soft cheese rather like cottage cheese, only nicer) made from their own goat’s milk.\u00a0 One evening we had something I had never tried before – tiganites –\u00a0kind of like a fritter made from flour and water with a little salt and fried.\u00a0 Over these we drizzled petimezi (a grape syrup made from boiled down grapes only) – one of\u00a0the oldest and most ancient recipes going back thousands of years,\u00a0topped off with sprinkled sesame seeds.<\/p>\n

Sunday came and it was time for me to move on … with some sadness, of course, however, I was very much looking forward to getting back to Costas and Spetses.\u00a0 The wild mother cat and her two young had returned before I left and each day were coming a little closer to the house to eat whatever Katina had put out for them.\u00a0 Hopefully they will eventually become part of the household.\u00a0 My friends Antonia and Vassiles from Hania were visiting Kastelli on Sunday so it was arranged that I would catch a ride with them back to Hania for an overnight stay and early start on Monday.<\/p>\n

Up at 0545 hours and dropped off by Antonia at the bus station in time to catch the 0700 hours bus to the airport.\u00a0 A pleasant flight to Athens\u00a0with Olympic Airways and just enough time to be served a chocolate croissant and coffee for breakfast.\u00a0 Arriving in the capital at 0915 hours, I then caught the X96 bus to the Port of Piraeus.\u00a0 It was an overcast and chilly day with a lengthy wait for the next Flying Dolphin to Spetses at 1400 hours with the rain coming down just as we were boarding.\u00a0 First stop Poros, then Hydra and Ermioni, finally\u00a0reaching my destination around 1630 hours where a very happy Costas was awaiting me on the jetty.\u00a0 A nice meal\u00a0with a glass of wine, siesta and off to Bar Spetsa in the evening.\u00a0 Back there again last night to catch up with a few familiar faces including our\u00a0very good friends Ray and Heather, moving on to Boggi after closing … it was a great night.\u00a0 Today, Heather and Ray came to the house\u00a0in order\u00a0for us all to arrange a trip away in a couple of weeks’ time.\u00a0 We will stay in Galaxidi, a very picturesque small town near to Delphi …\u00a0I know\u00a0we will have a wonderful time and looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

Great to be back … actually, it really does not feel like I\u00a0was ever away from Costas and this beautiful island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My last few days on Crete were quiet and relaxed happy ones, just as they had been since I first arrived.\u00a0 On Thursday I went walking along the seafront and into town.\u00a0 I had forgotten there was to be a general strike in Greece that day … alas, everywhere was closed, even the periptero’s (kiosks).\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3480"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4004,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions\/4004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}