Falasarna evening

One afternoon that Fiona was working we went to Falasarna.

The wind was blowing from West, it was a terse day and the views were great.

The sun was out, but the windchill stopped us from swimming. We hung out on the shore, I took some pictures as Giugiu and Sofia were playing.

Thanks to the high wind, visibility was excellent, and for the first time we caught a glimpse of land behind Antikythira, that must have been Kythira. I tried, but it was too faint for the camera.

Before leaving, we explored the caves behind the beach. There’s a very spacious one where a whole family could easily live and be well sheltered. It has some furniture and even some paintings on the walls. We fantasized about living there like real cavemen and little cavegirls.

Athletics

With the new year, Sofia has joined Giugiu at athletics.

They have a lot of fun playing games with the new teacher Kelly and the other kids, as you can clearly tell by their expressions in these pictures.

Seriously though, they love it and are always eager to go.

Now that the weather has gotten warmer it’s even better.

African wind

On the last day of January a strong Southern wind hit the island. It brought tons of African dust and very tall waves.

We drove to Sfinari for some fun. The waves were amazing, perfectly formed and huge. We had the company of some guys trying to surf. We later discovered they were Erasmus students in Chania, and surfing beginners. This much we could tell. There were 5 of them, not one managed to ride a single wave! And only two managed to get past the break for a go. On the other hand, out of 2 surf boards they came with, one came back in two pieces.

We spent most of our time playing ‘catch me if you can’ with the waves on the shore, which is Giugiu’s favourite game, and hunting for driftwood, Fiona’s great pastime. After we finished, we had to put the seat down in the car, so full was the boot with the most beautiful pieces of driftwood. Big logs, long forks, red roots, holey branches, a brilliant yoke, you name it.

Snow in Crete

Snow on Rodopou mountains

Snow on Rodopou mountains

With the new year the air turned cold. Icy cold.

After an especially cold night, as we got up it looked like it was snowing. It must have been an illusion, because we rubbed our eyes, took a second look and it was just plain ol’ rain.

The morning was kind of sunny, the air was crisp. We had a drive around. As soon as the mountains of Rodopo peninsula were in sight, the white shine hit us. A light snow cover. We resolved on the spot to hit the road North towards the mountains.

Snowy Elos

Snowy Elos

We got out boots, gloves and mittens, hats and we drove towards Elos. We could see snowcapped peaks on both sides in the distance. We got to Elos and there was a good cover of fresh, perfectly soft snow. After some grey clouds, the sun peered out again as we started throwing snowballs around. Sofia needed help making balls, while Giugiu just threw whatever shaped block she happened to extract from the snow. Fiona was busy testing slow-mo parabolic trajectories, while I just hit randomly whoever was around.

Then we built an Olafaki, that is, a “Frozen” inspired snowman. Alas no picture, but Fiona’s engineering skills were put to better use in this case so it looked pretty good.

We had a quick walk around, still long enough for Giulia and Sofia to fall down in the slippery snow.

Then we thought it best to abandon the playing field before numbing our extremities to the core.

Giulia and Sofia were still asking for more. We left saying ’till next week’.

Snowball fight!

Snowball fight!

Christmas day in Elafonissi

Elafonissi pink sand, pink bottles, pink girls


On Christmas day the forecast was good, so we took it as a chance for a day trip.

Naturally we pointed South, and drove to Elafonissi along the West coast.

After over an hour we got there. It was just before noon, and we were alone on the beach. The tide was low, we walked on the sandy strip. We didn’t need to cross any water, the small island was completely attached to the mainland. The lagoon on our sides, we walked to the beginning of the little beaches on the Eastern side. We found some shelter from the cool wind behind some rocks. The sun was out so we took all our clothes off for a Xmas swim. Giugiu and I pushed forward and swam around for a bit in the reinvigorating water, while Fiona and Sofia hesitated behind and quickly got out. There’s a funny story about this moment, but Fiona censored it so it will stay in our memories only.

Christmas in Elafonissi

 

We played around a bit longer, took some pictures, saw some people strolling around the lagoon. Then we drove back along the beautiful coastal road, inevitably thinking and talking about Christmases past, family meetings, awkwardness, overflowing stomachs, senseless opulence and all those Christmas spirit staples. This year we were on our own, and it was simple.

Family Xmas picture

Family Xmas picture

The colours of dusk

Roof artists

Roof artists

Some evenings the colours of dusk are out of this world.

One of these evenings I took Giugiu and Sofia to our favourite observatory: the roof.

We tried to capture some of that spirit on paper. We took up to the roof their drawing albums, crayons and two chairs.

I helped them draw the landscape looking North, the sea in Kissamos bay enclosed between Gramvousa and Rodopou peninsulas, the local port, the boats, the olive groves, the scattered houses. Then they coloured while I took some pictures of the apocalyptic sky.

Ultimate dusk

Ultimate dusk

Fricandella – the witch who hated carols

Giulia and Sofia’s class did a performance of “Fricandella” for their christmas show. The kids have been rehearsing every day for weeks (it seems!). In the end it was very cute and funny, and everyone remembered their lines! We were very impressed by Giugiu and Sofia who both had lines to say (in Greek) and were brilliant.

“Fricandella” is a story about a mean witch that doesn’t like the village children singing, so she turns them into various animals (sheep, cows, donkeys, ducks, etc.) but nothing works and they keep on singing.  Eventually she steals their voices so they can’t speak anymore. They all go up to her castle to break the spell. They go past the hall of scary magic mirrors and sneak into her bedroom where she is sleeping, steal her wand and burst some balloons that are filled with sticky glue (? didn’t quite get that bit but they did like the balloons popping!). Lots of scenes about love and peace and everyone living together in harmony. Sofia was in the “love” family. In the end Fricandella changes her mind and they sing along all together!

Then in the end Santa (agios vasillis in Greek) came (of course) and handed out presents.

Here’s a link to a page (in Greek) about the story

In search of Kokkina Gremna

Black goat

Black goat

Today we went to Falasarna, but decided it was too windy so we drove past it.

Back up the hill and South towards Sfinari, we took a steep dirt road going over a ridge towards the sea.

When the road became too bad to drive, we left the car and walked a bit. Sofia wasn’t on her best day, so we didn’t walk much. We still got to the end of the road, where we could only see sheep, rocks and great views. I studied a possible way down to the beach of Kokkina Gremna through the barren ground. I couldn’t clearly see one but left with the impression that it should be possible. Then we turned back.

Stivos and moonbow

Giugiu the little athlete

Giugiu the little athlete

Giugiu has been happily going to play with a group of small athletes three times a week for a while now. After our past experience with other activities, initially I was just hoping that she’d give it a try. After the first couple of times she got very excited about it, and I understand why she likes it so much.

The older kids train in athletics around the track, checking out all the disciplines, sprint, obstacles, jumps, lightly. They also play games sometimes.

The little pre-school kids just play games together in a small team, which is easier than in school. The teacher, Efi, speaks good English and she’s very gentle and soft spoken. So Giulia and Efi are friends, Giulia is also a much easier kid than most, usually well behaved and listening to the teacher.

Sofia didn’t want to do it, even though some of the kids are her age. Then one day she asked to try it, but she didn’t really join the others. That’s all right, so we usually spend the hour while Giulia is playing with the team just hanging around, sometimes with Gabriella and Luca.

The stivos, that would be track in English, starts at 5pm, which is around dusk now, and now they finish in darkness. We watch the day fading away as we watch the kids play on the track.

The other night we came back to see a moonbow, so I took a picture.

Moonbow

Moonbow