When One Door Closes . . .

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, life continues unfettered here in Sissi. The skies have been nearly cloudless and blue, temperatures in the low 80s and even a full moon last night as we returned from dinner

We actually tried a different taverna last night. We ventured to Epano Sisi (it means "upper Sisi") which not surprisingly sits above Sisi.

It bills itself as a "traditional village" and it was certainly a very "traditional" family taverna. In fact, it seems to have no name, but simply says "family taverna café")

And we saw the very proof of that. It featured mom as the cook, with grandma sitting on the front porch. When dad got finished with his farm work he joined them for his meal and, eventually, the son came and seemed to devour a huge bowl of pasta in a single swallow! Besides the family, we seemed to be the only customers for the night. We sat on the terrace and enjoyed wine, and some of the best tzatziki apart from my own. I must also admit that the Greek salad was ro rival Polley's (I always say that she make a better one than the Greeks). The secret to both is the amount of olive oil used. Both these dishes were swimming in it!

As we sat there in the dimming evening light, I was taken with aspects of the architecture in the village, especially the door and walls. I have seen those posters, "the doors of Paris," "the doors of Portland," etc. I was taken with the doors of Epano Sisi. So, I offer you my thematic journal of some of the doors and walls of this little Cretan village. The first was the wall of what was a real estate office directly across from our taverna

I just love the contrast of warms and cools that you see all around this valley. A few doors down was this lovely ancient wall and door

Another similar doorway was found down an alleyway

At about 8 this morning as Cretans were in their gardens, I was sneaking in among them to capture the variety of entrances

No two of them alike

I particularly love the leaf-like pattern on this one as it sits behind some dried out leaves

I also manged to capture this small stone wall just as the morning sun fell on it

Beautiful! There was also a small church in the village

And it had an interesting door as well

 

These tiny churches are everywhere. As I had finished immortalzing the doors of Epano Sisi, I walked down toward "lower" Sisi

and came across another small church

With, as you might guess, yet another slightly different door

It was, all in all, a fascinating morning in the hills around our apartment. Tomorrow, we are heading out on 2-3 days road trip to the west of Crete. We have never explored that area. Depending on internet access, I will share some of that along the way, or it may be Friday until I can send along some of the adventure. We palns to find a place along the way, set up a base and wander as far as we can. Talk soon.

 

 

 

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