LEO'S HOLIDAY

 

It was great that, after the disastrous nature of last year's holiday break, we had a lovely week when son, Leo came to stay. No hospital visits to negotiate this time round! We tried to fit in as many easy trips and visits as we possibly could without tiring out K altogether and we both really enjoyed Leo's company and the odd little jobs he could help us with around the house. We both said after he left that either he had grown, or we had shrunk … sadly, I think it is the latter.

We started many mornings with my Cretan breakfast which comes highly recommended: A small spoon or two of muesli, covered by fruit juice, covered by soft fruits like strawberries and bananas, covered by Greek yoghurt, drizzled with Greek local honey and topped with chopped walnuts. Its a fabulous breakfast and keeps you going well until lunch time! Leo said that he usually made smoothies, but he seemed to enjoy it too.

New use for walking frames!

We had two swims and went fishing over the week on the hotter days in Panormo and Bali.  On Saturday drove to meet Anna at her summer house at Filaki and onto the Avocado Shop at Lappa followed by a great warming meal by the Argyropoli Springs. This shady spot is usually a great place to visit in the heat of the summer and the weather had started off fairly fine, but got really cold up in the mountains and we needed warm jackets and coats that day. We played Scrabble at Camping Elizabeth and found lots of great places for meals out. Leo hopes to bring a few friends with him when he comes to see us next. He seems to have a mad few months ahead of him, so we don't expect to see him here for a while.

On Thursday the CIC Archaeology group met at the Folk Museum in Rethymnon to hear a couple of talks. One about a conservancy project on an interesting site at Kommos and the second from our friend Don Evely about Minoan Wall paintings. The illustrations of amazing subjects on plaster walls was fascinating from a design perspective but the mechanics of pigments, lime plaster processing and the difficulties of the artform were resonant with me, because we are wondering how best to deal with the covering of the surface over our old stone walls. All the materials we have tried so far have been shortlived, so it may be that the Minoans could teach us a thing or too about lime plaster instead of modern plastic paints, which simply peel off in a matter of months.

The Kafeneon

The weather has been cloudy and rainy for a couple of days, but it did not spoil our plan to drive into Rethymnon to see Anna before Leo went home. The traditional visit to Ali Kebab was a must and a try out on Anna's new exercise bike. 2 minutes pedalling and I all but fell over as my legs were so wobbly and then quite a long walk to the far end of the Marina Car Park – full to capacity. There were so many tourists in town because the weather was too windy and dark for the beach. Kimon had a nice, quiet time back at home.

Panormo from the headland

Today was a full one before Leo's flight left Heraklion at 10 p.m. He had said that he would like to walk round the headland to the East of the harbour at Panormo and our friends Brod and Carolyn said that they would like to join us for the ramble. So we met up at the kafeneon at 9.30 a.m. for small Greek coffees, all served with large glasses of water and then strode off, leaving K behind for an hour or so while we toiled up the slopes, through the roped off gateway and up around the headland taking backward glances every now and then to admire the view of the village from above. The weather was the best we have had for quite a few days and I started to think about sun burn after we had been steadily climbing for half an hour or so. The walk ends in a bit of a dead end – large rocks, slabs of shiny basalt and flocks of goats playing “King of the Castle” on unlikely outcrops of stone. The air was alive and buzzing with wheeling birds, tiny blue butterflies and masses of insects along the way among the scrubby plants, mallow and gorse. We seemed to have herded all the goats as we walked and they were now all at the far end of the path in very inaccessible places. We hoped the shepherd would be able to find them again. Far below us, the waves crashed round the many rocks and you could see for miles in every direction. Mount Psiloritis had misty clouds caught up in the folds of the peaks. It was a great opportunity to chat and fairly easy walking but we felt well exercised when we collapsed at Vinzi's Cafe on top of the battlements for cool Freddocinos and milk shakes on our return to base camp.

Misty Psiloritis in the Clouds

After a farewell lunch at the Fanari, we got home and had a go at putting up a large sail which had arrived from the UK via Amazon. Two stepladders, 4 large clips, 2 pieces of rope and a lot of huffing and puffing later, it was sort of how we wanted it, but will need some expert fixing. We just hope that the temporary knots will keep it anchored until we can catch a passing expert and get him or her to take a look at it.

We sadly took Leo to the bus stop at 6.00 p.m. to catch the bus to Heraklion and a taxi to the airport. The week had rushed by all too quickly and we hope that it won't be too long before we catch up with him again. The house seems more empty and I am drifting round tidying and putting things away somewhat glumly. However, at least he had a much better break this time around and it was such a joy for us. It was good, too, for Leo to see for himself how K had improved over the past few months.