Crete, part 1

Got to the south coast of Crete about six days ago... a genuine paradise. Mostly been hanging out with friends and doing a lot of swimming in the Libyan Sea. The stars are bright here... the Milky Way disc is clearly visible. The climb down to the water and back is challenging, but I have the sure-footedness of a mountain goat.















We like to swim out to the little rock island and jump from the 3m precipice.



The food in Crete is amazingly flavorful and really quite special. The locals manage to do this without really trying, it seems.






At one of my favorite local tavernas, run by an old Greek couple probably in their mid eighties. Everything is theirs: they grow all of the vegetables and herbs in the garden adjacent to the taverna, they grow the grapes to produce their own wine and raki on the adjacent hills, they make their own cheese from milk from their own goats, they also make homemade icecream. They move the heavy loads around with their donkey. Gotta admire their dedication to good honest quality. Inexpensive as well.



A couple minutes after we ordered our salad, the old guy is seen going through the garden gathering the ingredients for our particular salad.



In this photo he is clutching in his hand what will soon become our salad.

Location:Crete, Greece

Bucharest

Spent six nights in Bucharest doing things that the locals do. Had a good time. Very rarely thought of taking photos though. On the last day I took a few hurried photos of some noteworthy architectural works around town. Not too exciting, I realize.















Driving in Bucharest really quite something to behold. I'd describe it as frenetic chaos: a constant stream of apparent close-calls with high-speed multi-directional clearances between autos and pedestrians on the order of centimeters. Everyone breaks hard and very late as well. I too like to drive fast, but even from my perspective, everyone drives uncomfortably fast through the narrow lanes and blind turns. Lane boundaries are disregarded and pedestrians cross the street wherever they find it convenient to do so. It seems to work well though.

Pedestrians beware.



I was profoundly saddened by the untimely loss of troubled soul Amy Winehouse. An amazing and colossally gifted singer. Unfortunately I missed the chance to see her perform live.

Location:Romania

Athens

I spent five days in Athens, and this post sort of sums it up. During my first yet brief visit to Athens in 2000 I visited most of the tourist sites, so this time I was free to just absorb the local culture and simply to hang out and see what interesting things I could find in the nooks and crannies of this ancient city.





















While the new Acropolis Museum contains a decent collection, the building itself was the highlight for me. An impressive work.









One day I explored the fascinating Anafiotika, a tiny neighborhood right next to the Acropolis, which contains the oldest residential structures in Athens. Beautiful whitewashed Cyclades Island-style architecture. Some of the streets were so narrow that I literally had to turn sideways to make it through.












There is some civil unrest in Greece, but not to the extent that the world media would have you believe. I took these photos around the very epicenter of the demonstration activity. I was there on a slow day.















This is me at my favorite gyros place... amazingly flavorful and tasty authentic Greek comfort food. The gyro was so delicious I was dumbfounded. It's a tiny neighborhood place in the outskirts of Athens, and the name of the place is only in Greek, the minuscule menu is only in Greek, and they only speak Greek there. I'm pretty sure I was the only non-Greek person present. It's also very inexpensive (a gyro is only €2). This is the real deal. This place is not listed on Trip Advisor and is not profiled in any tourbook.



Some Greek street art I came across.






I discovered a reasonably good artisanal gelato place, all made by hand in small batches daily by a chef, but it was seriously overpriced (€6 for a medium cup is ridiculous). It wasn't nearly as empty as I make it seem in the photos. I usually make my photos when I can get a clear shot. The design of the place was pretty cool.

Location:Greece

Mdina, Rabat, and Dingli

Visited the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta primarily to see the original and lovely "Sleeping Lady" prehistoric figurine, which was discovered in the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. I put my phone right up to the glass for this photo.



A nice miniature of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum.









Some photos I took while exploring Valletta.



I took these photos while climbing on Fort St Elmo.










Explored the 12th century city of Mdina, the former capital of Malta, a city I found neither funky nor cold. As I wandered through the tangled and curved streets, there were times when almost no trace of modern life was apparent.

I also walked through the towns of Rabat and Dingli today, and hiked all the way out to and around the impressive Dingli Cliffs. In Rabat I toured St. Agatha's Catacombs. which was pretty interesting: the guide was an actual archaeologist involved in the preservation of the site.

At the Dingli Cliffs I also saw the lonely Chapel of St Mary Magdalene perched on the edge.

Unfortunately, my iPhone4 choked and failed to capture my Mdina, Rabat, and Dingli photos. But I do have my memories.

Location:Malta