On top of the world...

Good morning from Greece! It is seriously windy here, feels like a massive storm is brewing but it is still 39 degrees! 

Yesterday we took things easy, swam in the pool, walked to the local beach (which we now know is in fact a nudist beach - weyhey!), and went into town for a beer last night. There was a group of Cretan children and one over enthusiastic and reckless dad setting fireworks off on the beach. They were going everywhere and us Brits, who grow up with serious fire safety messages about fireworks were in shock but the Greeks didn't bat an eyelid. No health and safety at all (they could do with you out here uncle Rog, you'd sort 'em out!)

The day before that we decided to drive up and over the mountains to get to Sitea on the north west coast. On the way we stopped at Prasisos, the remains of an ancient settlement. It was terrifying driving to it as all that was between us and a hideous drop down the mountainside was a very flimsy fence. When we got there, there wasn't much to see, but it is one of the most important sites on the island as the settlement was the last enclave of the Eteocretan ('true Cretan') descendants of the Minoans. The view was spectacular though - wow!

Then we headed into Sitea for the afternoon, which is an interesting town - we had a nice stroll through the old town, watched the little shiny fish swimming around the harbour and ate some dinner by the sea but we found out that the whole of the town closes between 3 and 6pm for a mass siesta and there was nobody about apart from some cats who seemed to take a shine to Sunny!

That's all for now folks - apparently it's football day for the lads today and they're off to town to watch a few matches...I'll take my book!

Locusts, night swimming - and James Bond in Crete...?

Ahhh, another lovely couple of days in Crete. Our friend Sunny has come to stay with us for a week so yesterday we set off to pick him up from the airport. He wasn't due to land until 9pm so we stopped off at Agios Nikolaos for the day to check the place out. It was pretty nice, we strolled around the harbour, had some lunch, lost the car, found the car again, saw a massive ferry and a pretty little cove and then went to pick the lad up from Heraklion airport. One thing made me angry though - they have at least 3 fur shops in the town. FUR SHOPS? I mean, come on, it's a ridiculous concept anyway but even more ridiculous as the temperature was 43 degrees! I don't get it, but there you go...

Anyway we picked Sunny up, headed back into Ag Nik for some tea and then drove to Makrigialos where we're staying.

Today we went to the beach, went shopping, Sunny cooked us some lovely grub and then we went night swimming in the pool by the light of the moon - it was lovely!

So here are a few photos from the past few days...

This guy has started showing up on our doorstep and I'm really not sure about him. He kind of jumps and flaps about a bit which is pretty unnerving as he's about four-blimmin-inches big. Hmmm...

 Oh, and look Mary mouse, some apartments just for you!

 This was an amazing mosaic in Ag Nik - it was so intricate, such tiny little pieces...

 And a rather lovely flower:

 Oh, and the view of Ag Nik's 'bottomless lake'! Pretty, eh?

 Here I am:

 Ahhh, some sunlight glinting off the water...

 Now then, if this doesn't make you want to rush out and buy some Lemon Fanta then there must be something wrong with you! He makes a good model, the lad.

 And look, it's 'the Matt with the golden gun'...bye for now folks! xx

Butterflies, bees - and dragonflies as big as dinner plates!

Hello to all the folks back home! Thought I'd drop in for a quick update. All is quiet here in our little corner of Crete. We are writing songs and reading books and listening to our iPods and swimming most of the day. I've just come in from watching the sunset whilst lying on a lilo in the pool, which was pretty lovely!
I have also been on butterfly/dragonfly/big black bee watch. It's amazing, the butterflies are as big as my hand and the deep turquoise dragonflies are huge, as big as garden birds back home. They've been skimming across the pool and I've been trying desperately to get a photo but no luck so far. I snapped these shots of a butterfly on my iPhone but I will be stalking them with my proper camera until I get the perfect picture. Does anyone know what type they are?

Oh, and the bees... They are huge. And all black with shiny green-ish wings. And very scary looking but they seem to fly away when they see you coming. I think they are quite wimpy bees as I saw one today clinging to a leaf for dear life.
Over the past few days very, very hot African winds have been blowing in off the sea. They are pretty brutal and have been blowing some big dust clouds up in the air. Nothing too major though and although it's like having a hot hairdryer pointing at you all day, it's quite nice to have some kind of breeze - it is 36 degrees after all!
Although the diet is going well for the slightly porky Hillman/Kassells, I did have the most amazing ice cream I've ever had outside Italy last night, just as a one off, mind. We'd gone into town in the evening and when we returned to our car, some Greeks had hemmed us in with their 4x4s. So while Matt got into a bit of a flap and a panic thinking we'd be stuck there all night, I went into the shop and bought an ice cream called, wait for it, 4x4! It was delicious.
We are very excited because our friend Sunny is coming to stay for a week - we go to pick him up from the airport tomorrow. I may even let him write a guest blog entry!
And one final thing - I found my first grey hair today...that's what living with Matt does to a girl! I'm just telling myself it was really a blonde one...

Sunset behind the mountains - and a concert!

Hiya! Hope you're all doing well - Matt and I are suffering from pretty bad sunburn after yesterday so we stayed inside most of the day. 

The sun is FEROCIOUS. It's been about 36 degrees today. Matt let me drive the hire car around the car park but the steering wheel was too hot to touch!

When the sun was going down though, we walked along to our most local beach, about 5 minutes away. It's supposed to be a nudist beach so we went prepared to avert our eyes, but there was no nakedness to be found, only a man with a beard smoking his pipe and meditating and a Greek family having a BBQ.

So here is the beach - look at those mountains, it's like being back in the bloomin' Lake District:

Here's Matt.

And he used my camera and took this one - not bad, eh?!

Here I am swishing about in the waves!

I love this one, it looks like an acrylic painting to me - blimey, I love the sea...

And right now, as I type this, there's a bonkers concert going on at the little amphitheatre at the apartments. It started out with a few youngsters playing piano and guitar, then a pro clarinet-piano duo came on and right now it's turned into a full-blown trad-Greek fest with Iyras and Bouzukis - cool! We'll have to see if we can get ourselves booked to play a gig there!

Well, for now, it's 'καλή νύχτα' from us - goodnight xx

The beach

Hello folks, hope you're all doing well! We've had a lazy day here in Crete - lovely! 

We headed out the beach at lunch time, thinking we were going to go to the main beach in Makrigialos town, but as we drove through, it looked mega busy so we carried on driving and came across a magic little beach about five minutes up the road. 

It was only scattered with a few other people, the water was crystal clear, the parasols were made from palm leaves and the sun was hot. Unfortunately I got too engrossed in finding pretty coloured stones while I was paddling in the sea and I didn't notice how hot the sun was as the sea breeze was nice and cool. I am now a little bit pink :(

We headed to a beautiful taverna right on the beach and had salad for lunch which was so nice - I think we'll deffo be taking our visitors back there...

Ahhh, refreshing Fanta Limon!

I've got the blues...

...not those kind of blues though, 'cos we're in sunny Crete for nine weeks! But I am in love with the beautiful blues and turquoises of this island. 

We took a trip in the car to the nearest big town to where we're living, Ierapetra, this morning. Loads of vegetables are grown in the town and surrounding areas and exported all over Europe. It also has a pretty big fish trade and we saw all the fishermen pottering around on their boats and tidying up their nets in the harbour.

We also had a wander around the old town after a pit stop for a drink of juice and a spinach pie, and that's where I snapped these shots of wonderful blue doors and shutters and chairs and everything - more to come later, but for now, enjoy!

First glimpse of Makrigialos harbour

We'd heard that Makrigialos has a lovely, traditional harbour, but on the main road drive to our apartments yesterday we didn't see it. This afternoon though, we parked up the little red car in a parking space near the beach...and almost fell into the sea! The tiny town is practically on top of the beach. This was our first view of the town's main beach. Our apartment is over there under the big mountain!

This is the harbour - it's so beautiful and tiny and picturesque. The town curves right around the bay and there are loads of pretty restaurants. We can't wait to try some of them out...

Now, here are some pretty pictures from our stroll around the harbour, taken with a polaroid iPhone app. I just love love the deep pink flowers (what kind of flowers are they Mum, or Mary?) against the crisp white buildings with their blue doors - Crete is a photographers paradise! My proper camera is charging up today, so I should return tomorrow with some more high-quality shots.

You can rent out this apartment which is about 4 metres from the sea - it looks beautiful inside. Check out the owner's website if you like the look of the place.

Some of the harbourside cafes and restaurants.

And some other Cretan prettiness...see ya tomorrow! :)