Poli Oreo Skala

So I hope everyone figured out the last blog title was Greek for Crete. This one means "very beautiful stairs." And they are. It took us about 6 days and an average of 3 people working 8 hours a day or so to complete it. In the end we had a handmade log cabin staircase built almost entirely from eucalyptus trees, which had been cleared by our friend a few years ago when he built the road up to his home. Everyone helped to strip the bark, sand, and stain the wood. We used a small chainsaw and a grinder plugged into a gas generator to make all the cuts. A large knife was used to strip the bark. It was a fun project and the stairs turned out good and strong in the end.

The weather sort of cooperated with us but was a bit cool... not totally uncommon for Crete in March. We still managed to get to the beach at Tris Iklesis for a giant pork roast and some swimming, (go Iz!) in the Med.

We also checked out Knossos, which must have really been something in its day. The road we took to get there took us past a part of Crete famous for wine. Back in Minoan times an aquaduct was built here to ferry wine barrels down the hill to the palace of Knossos. The palace is in a state of semi rebuild; it houses some incredible murals and giant rooms and pots. You could look through grates in the floor to the fabled maze below. We were lucky to arrive at a time when there were only about 5 or 7 other people there. We were told this is usually not the case and as we got ready to leave, tour bus after tour bus came rolling into the parking lot with dozens of camera laden tourists. Lucky.

As we head to Athens, and then Italy we are looking forward to the chance of doing some work at Pirapora, as well as looking back to the wonderful time we had working and touring around here in Crete. Efkharisto poli to our lovely hosts and friends here in a bit of paradise. We are all glad we had the chance to explore this ancient outpost and recomend it highly!

Next up: Last stop...

KPHTH

Who would have thought we would have to come to the south of Crete to experience our first and hopefully only snowfall of the year. And in March; and a total blizzard. Oh well, the Cretans say it is good luck. I am just glad our friends have a wood stove.

Isaiah and Diego had a big snowball fight and made a snowman. We enjoyed the amazing view from our friend's home, at the top of the village of Pirgos. The house is entirely made of stone in the fashion of the Minoans. Our Cretan friend has worked with stone for years and has also worked on many archeological sites here in Crete, including Knossos. The house is spacious and beautiful, poli oreos!

Crete is incredibly beautiful, full of huge mountains that are covered in snow, thanks to the blizzard. Pirgos is almost the southern most village on the island, aside from Tris Iklesias which sits on the sea. About one hour directly south of Irakleon, it rests on a small mountain on the southern side of a huge valley bordered by giant mountains north, south, east, and west. There are maybe 1000 residents here, all related or close friends. And at least one of them speaks English. The food is so fresh, all from people's gardens, and everyone is real friendly. We have met many friends and family of our friends, and have been treated like family in every occasion.

The home we are staying in is not quite complete but has every convienence except electricity, which is not really a problem. Candles and a gas lamp do pretty well and we can charge phones, cameras, and the messiah at our friend's mom's house nearby. To top it off, our friend has some 400 gallons of homemade wine... amazingly good, organic homemade wine.

So far we have explored a bit of Chania, a beautiful port town where our ferry docked. Also the ruins of Gortyn, which contains the oldest written legislative text in Europe. Phaestos was another ruin we explored; this is an ancient Minoan city of the same time period as Knossos. Phaestos was cool, set on top of a small mountain with 360 degree views. We went to Matalla, a beach town with Roman tombs carved into the sandstone cliffs on one side. Agia Galini, another beach town that our friend went to to be a fisherman at the age of 13. Also Tris Eklisies, probably the southern most town, a fishing village with 50 or so houses. Here lives another friend, a part time fisherman who comes on the weekends from Irakleon. We played on the deserted beach, littered with goat bones, and then were treated to a feast of spaghetti and fish. So fresh it was still moving, almost.

We are working here, helping our friend with things around his home. Planting seeds and sorting them too, hundreds of varieties. Also building a staircase to the second story using huge eucalyptus trees. Log cabin style.

We have fallen hard for Crete. Everyone is so nice, the food is delicious, the scenery is so beautiful it seems fake, and aside from the freak snowstorm, the weather is close to perfect. What else? The soil is prime for growing, there are ancient ruins, gorgeous beaches, music and dancing (graceful big dudes). The work we are doing is rewarding, and honestly, we don't want to leave. We have a week or so more and it is obvious it will not be enough. We are already trying to figure out how to come back. Well, we have a staircase to build and the maze of the Minotaur to explore still. Also Irakleon and maybe camping at the beach.

As they say here in Crete, "A ti yamas!

Hoshchakal Istanbul!!!!

The freezing weather made it harder to do all the sightseeing, but we still did quite a bit. We explored many neighborhoods, palaces, statues, yeah whew! Now we are getting ready to fly to Athens. From here we will take a shuttle to Piraeus, a port town where we catch a ferry to Crete. The ferry is 10 hours or so and overnight as well. We get a sleeper cabin with a little window. It will be a bit of a hike to get there but we have some great friends awaiting our arrival. I have no idea if internet will be close by to us so we may have a bit of catch up to do once we get plugged back in.

I know it is redundant to say again but we love Istanbul soooo much! This city rules, and it has been even better because of all the incredible people we have met while staying at PlanetPaprika Hostel. Hostels are cool, with more of a community feeling than at a typical hotel; and generally filled with great people doing all sorts of different things. We met a couple really fun guys from New York; one is now living in Riyadh working as a consultant. The other guy is from Brooklyn and has traveled all over, so cool. An Iranian doctor was so nice to talk to and hear about her home. There were Germans and Italians, Dutch and French, Syrian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Turks, jeez who did I miss. Oh yeah, Australians too. Anyway, everyone had great stories about where they were from and what they were doing. It was so great to get to know all of them and go eat, dance, shoot pool, and check out the city together. Hello to all of you!! We feel so blessed to have met you all and for the chance to get to know you a bit. This world is small and if you happen to find yourselves in our neck of the woods one day, look us up!!

As we look ahead to the next bit of our journey it is hard to avoid glimpsing the finish line. It has been quite a while but we still have some amazing things to do. Home is in our minds... but only just. Crete and Italy are calling!!