Up to Our Ears in Greece

Dear Friends and Family,

Travel days are always tough, but Saturday was worse than usual. Bidding adieu to Angela and Crete was sad, but we were excited about seeing our Peloponnese friends once again. All went well in getting to the Heraklion Airport, getting checked in and finding our gate. We left for Athens on time, 8:50 am and set down about 9:20. There was wheelchair assitance for Polley. We grabbed our bags and headed out for our awaiting rental car. Wrong! No one in sight. I applied my "give them 15 minutes" rule before making a phone call. No record of a reservation. Of course, 24 hours previously I had a text confirming the rental. However, that was from the booking agent, not the actual agency itself. I ad a coucher, an order number, all the documentation for a reservation made nearly a year ago. Speculation now is that might have been the problem. It was so long ago, they had simply lost it, forgotten, who knows? Long, long story short, two hours later and several phone calls and we had our car. Of course, it only had a quarter of a tank of gas! So, our much-anticipated journey had another brief delay. Finally, a bit after noon, we were on our way.

Soemhow, over the years, we have developed a tradtion of stopping at a very local taverna in Cornith for some retsina and tzatziki. So, around 1 pm we made our pit stop.

When I say a local place, I mean it. Whenever we stop, the whole taverna seems to freeze. Who are these aliens and what are they doing here! When we order, they usually have to run next door to find someone who has some English, the residue of a one-time trip to his brother in "Shee-kago."

With one tradition out of the way, we accomplished yet another. We always stop at a certain roadside shack that sells 5-liter plastic bottles of retsina and jars of olives. We stocked up and headed to our new home: "Bungalows Ingrid."

These are lovely little studio apartments

Facing east/west with a patio at each end. They are a bit smaller than our Cretan accommodations, but as we are celebrating our 20th year of coming to Ingrid's, we get settled in quickly. Of course, our primary entertainment at Ingrid's is the cats. They are everywhere, but in short time mostly in our room

However, as you might notice the bowls of food, we will confess to offering bribes. You, no doubt can count on more "precious" photos in the weeks to come.

Yesterday, after a relatively good night's sleep after a stressful day, we had lunch at a family-run taverna in the little village of Drepano, located right next to a lovingly cared for church

We had heard good things about "mama's cooking," and we were not disappointed. In addition to some rosé retsina, we had a delicious "fried feta, rolled in sesame seeds

along with a Briam

This is a kind of vegetable stew of potatoes, zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes, drowned in olive oil. Fabulous!

Last night, we stayed in, talked with a German couple for a bit and then enjoyed bits and pieces for a light supper. So, once we got the car all is off to a good start. More coming soon!

 

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