Amari Valley: Would the Romantics be able to handle this much pastoral? (without passing out in ecstasy)

Sheeps in Amari

Venetian bell tower overlooking the valley.

Wildflowers in Asomaton

This is where we ordered all of this.

Just another day (and dog and cat) in Thronos.

Rethymno: Home of Nick the Greek, pro gambler and high roller

I also have to add that Wikipedia has a funny story about Nick the Greek escorting Einstein around Vegas and introducing him as "Little Al from Princeton." But seriously, let's talk about some major Venetian action going on in Rethymno. How can I tell it was built by Venetians? Check out the knocker: 
And there's the Fortezza, which is overgrown with wildflowers:
And there's cat in the window of a pottery store, as there are also cats in Venice, yup:
Charming narrow streets, lined with restaurants:
...where we ate at Avli and were handed the yummiest potato salad we'd ever tasted (mostly because neither of us really love potato salad, but still, we cleaned the plate):

Homemade ravioli in an olive and caper sauce (I forgot the real name for the dish, but I can assure you there were ravioli and clearly there were olives and HUGE capers — those things that look like smaller green olives are actually capers):

Seafood risotto!

Not pictured: An ice cream chain called "gelato.it" where we bonded in line with French tourists who couldn't deny the blessing that is gelato.

Paint N' Swirl THIS!

Domino magazine, R.I.P., featured Bulgarian pottery in one of their issues, so you know, some people think it's pret-ty cool. When I first arrived, I found some pastel ones that I liked, and ordered more from the Zhenski Bazaar, but we'll see how that goes since the salesperson was a total spaz and thought it complimentary to tell us that the Hubs and I looked like John and Yoko. JOHN and YOKO. Do you love it? Anyhow, I fell in love with these rainbow bright colors in Veliko Turnovo. And the salesperson didn't say I looked like the lady who broke up the Beatles. 
The one below is actually dark purple and pastels.
Old lady part over.

A great little break in Veliko Turnovo!

We took a road trip to Veliko Turnovo for the Memorial Day weekend, where we got to enjoy some of Bulgaria at its best — meadows, mountains, and recent, overly tan high school grads cruising and hanging out of double-decker party buses. It was also where I found some more Bulgarian pottery (photos to come)! But I guess if you're not into pottery (godless people), there are houses built into cliffs, a castle, and general historical fun (uprisings against the Ottomans). Oh, and it was once Bulgaria's capital. 

Our friends the Walds (Hi, Seraphina!) came all the way from Taiwan to experience "something not Asian." We accommodated them by forcing them to eat kebabs, yogurt and shopksa salads at every meal. The man below made sure of it:

Just kidding. But the statue of the man with a pistol was a sign that we meant business:
The doll was there when we arrived. I swear.

If Heraklion's Archaeology Museum was suddenly transformed into the best Pier One ever...

I would have gone home with the gold bee pendant. And the Hubs:

The octopus jug.

Ancient "Moves" (and body parts)

Some amazing things on display — many of them from the Minoan civilization — in Heraklion's Archaeology Museum in Crete. And may I add that it's pretty clear they knew how to boogie even back in the BC. I also really like the rendering of the elbow and hand second from the right on the bottom row. It's like the hand of an axolotyl.

Art History Quiz: Name the Artist.

The Ancients loved themselves a view!

The Hubs suggested that I read a little book called Ancient Greece by Thomas R. Martin, and guess what? It's kind of awesome. Learned all about the Minoans and Mycenaeans and that's all I've read so far, but don't tell me what happens because I think something's brewing with the Spartans and their slaves (would it hurt the Spartans to be nicer to their neighbors?). Here we have Ancient Thira, which has been settled since around 9 BC. Of course, they built it on top of a hill, which I'm sure is where those donkeys came in handy.

Some cloud play.

This cloud is as tall or slightly less tall than the Hubs.

Animal Break: Ah, to sleep the sleep of a Grecian dog.

I promise you they're alive and breathing. Just asleep.

This little guy is literally camped out in people's way. Just getting his sleep on. They never sleep like this in Bulgaria. I think those dogs evolved out.

Rewind: A ridiculous explosion of stuff in Santorini.

I'd like to gradually ease back into my usual (signature, I like to call them) uninformed and fluffy postings, but first allow me to show off my reading and hoarding skills (I keep all ticket stubs, brochures, plastic museum bags, it's a problem).  Did you know that Santorini's islands are the product of a major volcanic eruption from 3600 years ago (thank goodness I kept that Nea Kameni brochure), and the islet in the middle of the main island is still an active volcano, which you can hike, see?

Hike, hike, hike until you get to the top, or at least, where it blew its top (six times):

It was like walking on Mars, or what I imagine Mars to be like. There were fumaroles (smelly, hot gas vents), red shrubby plants, and craggy cooled lava (maybe obsidian? Don't I have any scientist friends who know this?) around the edges of the islet where lava had oozed into the sea. Volcanic madness! My only complaint was that there were no robots.

Dorking out at the Samaria Gorge

Look at da tiny Hubs! Here we have the Samaria Gorge. It's 16 km long, and the narrowest point is only three meters wide and populated with tons of bees through which you must pass to get to the other side. Hikers wake up around 5 AM to get to the opening of the gorge at 8 AM in order to start a very long and difficult hike — that is, "difficult" for me and geriatrics, though there were several older British ladies who whipped our butts on the trails, so grouping myself with them isn't really fair to them. It just makes me feel better.

All this is to say that I wasn't initially into it when I first heard about the gorge, but then I read that rare flowers grew there. So I bought a book on Crete's wildflowers and brought a pencil to check off all the pretty flowers we saw.  It took us around seven hours to finish the hike, since I kept stopping to take photos of all the plants and flowers. I was on the hunt for orchids. Alas, no orchids, but we did see some beauties: [read with librarian glasses perched at the end of the nose] Ahem...

Muscari comosum (Tassel hyacinth)

Knautia integrifolia (Whole-leaved scabious)

Papaver argemone ssp. nigrotinctum

Cistus creticus

You can sort of make out the dark purple spadix and spathe (whatever those are). It's smelly, attracts flies, and is toxic. Meet Dracunculus vulgaris (Dragon arum, Great dragon).

Petromarula pinnata (Rock lettuce)

At some point, I decided that I really wanted to see Clusius's peony (Paeonia clusii) and that if I didn't get to see it, then the hike would be a bit of a disappointment. After a couple hours into the gorge, I was finding it nearly impossible to identify all the million different yellow flowers (there are a lot of yellow flowers out there), and I started to get discouraged. But that's when the Hubs said, "Wait! What's that?" And there it was, and all was well again. It smells like a clove. Isn't it pretty?!

Asphodelus aestivus (Common asphodel)

And this little dude has NO CHLOROPHYL. Crazy-ass plant world. Cytinus hypocistis is a parasite plant related to the gigantic Rafflesia plant, also known as the "corpse flower." 

Thank you for indulging me!

Eatin' like a Cretan: Celebrations in full fat yogurt.

Wowza! When the honey and yogurt dessert came, the Hubs was all, "You're not going to eat all of that." And then I said, "Um, it's FULL fat." And it tasted like a cross between creme fraiche and whipped cream cheese and he said, "Let me try." And then there were all sorts of timed yogurt-suspended-on-spoon experiments and just plain merriment getting the mountain bee honey and super strained yogurt in our mouths. Check out the quince (or as the Greeks call it, the Kydonian apple): 

Yum yum yum! And since we're all about balance, here's some healthy stuff. A salad with pickled artichoke hearts, red cabbage, and red, green and yellow bell peppers:

Hearty bean soup:

Haricots verts:

We ate overlooking the Amari Valley — a stronghold for Greek/Cretan resistance during the Second World War (Hubs citation):

That's Mount Ida in the background. No kri-kri sightings. YET.

Island Quiz: So this is where they got the wingding font. Ooh, have I stumped you?!*

Where does one find this ancient wingding-covered pita?

*Hint: It's a famous artifact which you can find on the same island as the following:

Dear State Department,

Not. Fair.

Island Quiz: Where you're allowed to escape your abandonment issues.

I was driven to this. If people didn't leave then I wouldn't have to seek refuge in paradise. So this one is pretty easy. And to disgust you even more, the following scene is what I'm looking at right now as I blog. It's so gross:

An ass is a nice head rest.

Total give away:

Baby squids now swimming in our tummies:

Different pebbly beach possibilities:

Gross, kissy-face sunsets:

Charming town whose name is made up of all vowels:

Do you really need more hints?