Meteora and Crete -- snowflakes and sunshine

Good evening, friends and family,

Early this morning, I arrived back from a quick tour of one of the most loveliest places I've ever been -- the island of Crete. I only got the chance to visit a few towns -- Xania, Rethymno, and Iraklio -- but even just for a few days I could feel the hospitable, tranquil atmosphere that causes so many people to come to the island for vacation and to stay for the rest of their lives!

Once again, I got the opportunity to stay with the most marvelous CSers -- Greg and Anne, from Belgium/France, and Dimitris, from France/Greece. Greg and Anne moved to Crete about 4 or 5 years ago, after deciding it was their paradise. They shared a little taste of their village, Kampani, with me, sharing a meal and great conversation at a local Cretean taverna -- we had a special baked feta, spicy cheese dip, roasted potatoes, delicious lamb, roasted pork chops, a salad, wine... a TON of food, but perfect for a night out with new friends! They also had 4 of the cutest cats I could ever play with, so needless to say, I was happy!

I met the first CSers after wandering around the most beautiful town in Crete (according to the opinion of many), Xania. The old town is centered around an old Venetian harbor, with beautiful architecture and tiny cobblestone streets winding in and out of each other. The day was gorgeous, sunshine and a light breeze, and I got the opportunity to arrive in town before the sun came up and wander the streets with no other people on them. I watched the sunrise from the headland that separated the old town from the new resorts that have grown over the past few years, and made friends with a small pack of 3 dogs who proceeded to escort me for the remainder of the day. It was peaceful, to wander aimlessly through narrow alleys and to sit on the port wall, out near the lighthouse. Just what I needed!

One small road in Xania

Overlooking Xania

Lovers by the lighthouse

Boats -- I love boats

One of my many self-portraits, highlighting my NEW handcrafted hat and my NEW nose ring -- I made it myself (the hat, not the sparkle)!

Old boat and old Venetian harbor

The harbor

Tree on the headland where I watched the sunrise

Sunrise over the new part of the town

New part of town, prior to sunrise

Minaret and flowers -- a little blurry, but beautiful (I think)

Small sailing ships, at night

After staying one night with Greg and Anne, I took the bus to Rethymno for a few hours -- another old Venetian town along the north coast of the island. It was also beautiful, and a good place for the picnic of hard cheese and olives I had packed before leaving Xania. Moving on to Iraklion, I stayed with Dimitris, a friend of Greg/Anne's who was half Greek and half French. We shared a lovely evening and most of the next day, laughing at each other's attempts to remember half-learned languages and telling our own personal adventure stories. Departing on the night ferry back to Athens, I decided that I want to visit again, and see the natural beauties of the island, and so I may return this summer if my traveling time allows it!

Harbor in Reythmno

Part of the fortress in Reythmno

As many of you know, before going to Crete I spent 2 days in the north of Greece, visiting Meteora. This is a place unlike any other -- the guidebooks say that it feels both ancient and like the backdrop for the next best-selling science fiction movie --and I agree. Meteora is/are huge rocks jutting up from an otherwise flat landscape. Shaped by the movement of techtonic plates, the erosion over millenia by rain, and (perhaps) the hands of the Gods and Goddesses, nuns and monks many centuries ago decided to build monastaries on the top of these natural monuments. I have no idea how they got them up there, but many remain to be explored by the public and to serve as places of worship and retreat for those religious people who still live in them.

It snowed the entire day I explored the monataries. This meant I could not actually see the huge rocks until I slipped and slid my way to their bases, but it also leant an etherial, other-world view to the landscape around me. Shrouded by the clouds, looking through eyelashes covered by snowflakes, my memory of Meteora almost seems more like a dream than like somewhere I visited.

A view of Meteora from town before the snows

One monastary

Bell Tower of a monastary I visited

A nunnery I visited

Drop-off to nowhere, stairs to heaven

Overlooking the valley where the towns were

Another picture from the overlook

Cool rocks

Other cool rocks

I was dropped off at the top of the string of monastaries by yet another CSer that I had spent the night before with, Mike. I wandered downhill, stopping at the open monastaries, and marveling at how beautiful the snow was -- remember, I haven't seen snow like this in almost a year (last winter was very mild in PA). After visiting the closest monastary to town, I started the chilly walk the 2 KM to the near town, to take a bus the next 2KM to the town where my train would leave from later that evening. However, as I was walking along the road, a car stopped and two men whom I had photographed earlier at one of the rocks asked if I wanted a ride. We ended up having coffee in the next town, and talking about our travels -- they were from Israel, my next destination, and we had a lot in common -- a great twist of fate!

And now I'm back in Athens, satisfied that I've gotten the chance to see more of Greece than just the capital, and looking forward to the next stage of my travels, which begin on Tuesday! I'm off to visit Ron, who Em and I met on our tour of Tibet, and he and I will travel around Israel for a week. Then it's Jordan, Egypt, and the east coast of Africa... I may return to Greece to work for a month this summer before coming home, but who knows -- the wind is at my back again, and I'm surrendering myself to wherever it takes me!

Talk to you all again soon -- thanks for keeping up with me!

Jess