Greece

Near the mouth of the Corinth Canal fragrant pines provided enough shelter until morning when the early sun forced us up and back onto the road. The canal is a feat of engineering completed by the French in 1893 but started by an incredibly ambitious Periander, tyrant of Corinth, 2500 years earlier. To the east […]

I’ve skipped a few days. Fortunately I did the publishing side of last week’s blog on Wednesday morning. Since then it has been too hot to contemplate the laptop. Now it’s Saturday morning. I’m sitting under a stand of young chestnut trees, perhaps planted for a millennial event. We’ve had our best sleep in a […]

The blog is generally 2,000 words long. Occasionally, for sport, I edit it to exactly that. There are days when enough has happened by lunchtime to fill those 2,000 words. Today was one such day. Kythira Xora Before we get onto that though we need to visit Xora. Simply – Town (Kythira Chora on the […]

Paleochora. Sunday morning. 14th June. Today we’ll move on from our favourite town. Paleochora is more Greek than most resorts. In winter there were several Germans here, and now a few Brits and a couple of Dutch have emerged, but it’s mostly Greek. It’s not in the least bit flash. The pretty streets have balconies weighed […]

Staple foods. The fruit and veg market in a small Greek town will always be a good experience. In a major centre like Xania it’s a spectator event as well as great shopping.  We got there early. We filled our bags with cherries, apricots, oranges, garlic, onions and a wide selection of vegetables. Everything grown […]

The Gorge Walk. To come to Crete and not walk through a gorge or ten would be to miss out on an important part of the island’s physical make up. Although the island is only 35 miles across at its widest point, its mountains are high with many peaks over 2000m. Deep gorges lead down […]