Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Photo Hunt - Birds

This week's Photo Hunt theme is birds. Given that we do a fair bit of hiking and this area is on a migration flight path I had hundreds of pictures of birds in my collections. Then I thought about our recent trip to Greece where we saw many different birds over our two week visit.

This one knew a good thing when he (or she) saw it. We had just discovered the amazing cheese pies that Athenians buy and eat while on the run. We decided that a relaxing snack sitting in a park was the preferable way to enjoy them. This pigeon agreed because we were happy to share bits of the pastry.

We also saw many pigeons at the Parliament building across from Syntagma Square. Of course there were folks selling feed for the tourists so you know it won't be long before there are far too many of these 'flying rats' and the Athenians will have to deal with the same problems that the Venetians have with the pigeons in San Marco Square. You can see them all clustered to the left.

Then it was on to Mykonos where we saw the famed Pedro the Pelican. Before you slam me for posting a picture I've posted a few weeks ago - this is a different Pedro! Apparently the tourists love the story so much that there are 4 or 5 Pedro's to delight them (and try and get them to stay in a particular restaurant or shop).

On to Patmos where we met a pair of ducks on the beach.

Rhodes was one of our favourite islands. While we were wandering Rhodes town we decided to visit the well-preserved Castle of the Knights of St John. It is  is one of the finest examples of Crusader military architecture in the world. The castle is really impressive and has been maintained in excellent condition. No wonder it has been proclaimed a World Heritage Site. Inside the castle we were amazed at the beautiful frescoes - many of which featured birds.

Then it was back to Athens where we saw this immense stature of an owl standing by the entrance to the new Acropolis museum. The owl was a revered symbol in Athens where it symbolized wisdom.

Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Baked Alaska
• That's my story...and I'm stickin' to it!
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog
• Destination Anywhere 
   
   
   

Beef Stifado

It is stew weather here .  . . cold, dark, and wet. I guess I shall be making stews for the next five months. ARGH

Oh well, the grill had a fine run and now it is time to start using the dutch oven more.

We had some great stews while we were in Greece so I looked to my Greek cookbooks first for inspiration. We decided to make a stifado (also spelled stifatho). These stews are characterized by pearl onions ... lots of onions ... often equal by weight to the main ingredient. And they're winter favorites.

Stifado dishes have been made and loved in Greece at least since the Middle Ages, when it is believed the word was first coined. They can be made with meat, poultry, seafood, game, or another vegetable as the central ingredient. The onions, wine or vinegar, tomato, and a selection of herbs and spices (often including cinnamon) create a flavorful base. Generally made on the stove top, there are a few stifado variations that can be made in the oven.

This beef stifado is one of the classics, and one of the easiest to make. This is one of those recipes where you dump everything into a pot and let it cook to create its own perfection. The recipe calls for beef, onions, garlic, wine, bay leaves, orange, tomato, and spices, and the result is delicious!

Beef Stifado

2 pounds of lean beef, cubed 
1 pound of pearl onions, peeled 
2 tablespoons  olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, peeled, halved
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
grated rind and juice of 1 orange
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
chopped flat leaf parsley to garnish 

Heat the oil in a dutch oven. Add the pearl onions and garlic, cook until they are soft (about 5 minutes). Add the beef to the dutch oven and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until browned on all sides. NOTE: if the meat is crowded i.e. individual pieces touching one another - it will steam and not brown. In this case cook the meat in two or three batches to ensure appropriate browning.

Stir in the cinnamon, cloves, cumin, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Pour in the wine, stirring any glazed bits from the bottom. Add in the grated orange rind, juice, and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then cover.

Cook in a preheated oven at 325 for about 1 1/4 hour. Remove the lid and cook for a further one hour. Stir the stew once or twice during this time.

Serve with boiled of mashed potatoes. Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.

Serves 6

Photo Hunt - Tied

This week's Photo Hunt theme is tied. The first thing that I could think of was our recent cruise of the Greek islands. There was a whole lot of tying being done there every time the boat docked at a port. We would often go to the deck and watch the crew handle those huge rope that were as thick as their arms.

This is a pic of the cruise ships tied up in the harbour of the famous Greek island of Santorini. Santorini is famous because it is thought to be the basis for the story of Atlantis. The entire harbour you see here was once a part of a large, volcanic island. 3600 years one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever recorded took place and literally blew out the centre of the island leading to the destruction of the advanced Minoian civilization on the island.

This picture gives you a sense of the magnitude of that explosion. Essentially the entire centre of the island was blown away. You can see the size of the cliff compared to the waterline with the remaining surface of the island about 1000 feet above.

Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Baked Alaska
• That's my story...and I'm stickin' to it!
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog
• Destination Anywhere 
   
   

Patmos

One of our favourite islands that we visited on the cruise was the tiny island of Patmos. This may surprise some as it isn't often on the radar screen of the average island hopper'. Patmos is not a big island, but it is one of the best known for those on cruises of religious sites. It was here St. John had his vision and wrote of the apocalypse, and this is why Patmos is sometimes called "The Jerusalem of the Aegean". The Monastery of St. John towers above the capital, Chora, and the whole island breathes of faith and devotion.

Nevertheless, there is more to the island than its Christian reputation. There are many nice beaches along the jagged coastline, and the people grow fruits and olives on the green hills. The landscape invites you to take long walks and there is much to discover.

Patmos is included as one of the monuments of world heritage by UNESCO.The Monastery of St. John the Theologian with its priceless treasures, and the preservation of the traditional village of Chora, that was built in the Middle Ages and the Cave of the Apocalypse were the main reasons that Patmos had this important international distinction. Many people head to the island just to see these things, not us, although I would have liked to.

Patmos’ varied landscape and temperate climate make it a perfect destination for nature lovers. Inland, there are many hills and plateaus. Along the coastline, one finds numerous coves and bays- perfect places for sitting and enjoying a bit of solitude. There are several lovely beaches located near Skala (around the harbor and within close proximity to the villages). Grikos, a former fishing village turned resort, and the nearby Sapsila Bay are also great places to catch a few rays and take a dip in the Aegean. These are livelier beach scenes, with tavernas nearby. If you’re looking for a quieter place to spend the afternoon, try Vagia or Geranou- both smaller beaches located in coves. Arguably the most beautiful beach on Patmos is Psili Amos, located on the south side of the island.

Because Patmos is so tiny it isn't visited by the larger cruise ships. In fact, its harbour can only handle one smaller ship at a time. We arrived at the island an hour late because we had to wait for another ship to leave. Actually, we were delayed by the weather too - it had rained and the seas had been a bit rough on the journey here.

By 5:30 when we disembarked we decided to just explore the main village of Skala as it was getting dark. Besides, we had been to Ephesus earlier in the day and were a bit 'toured out' by this point.

I can hear mom gasping here at the thought of being on the island and NOT visiting the uber-famous monetary. Oh well, we now have a brilliant excuse for going back . . .

Patmos had a nice 'vibe' to it. Well Skala did anyway - perhaps it isn't appropriate to make inferences about an entire island after visiting one village.

Patmos seemed to be far more 'real' than any of the other islands we visited. Yes, it was still touristy, but it seemed as if the coexistence between the tourists and the locals was a far better fit than we saw elsewhere on the cruise. The shopping was great here - not all tourist junk. It was here where we bought most of our art.

Skala had a really good mix of restaurants as well. Some were high end and some were popular local hang outs. Of course we found a bakery where we could stock up on cheese pies and baklava for the evening onboard!

Patmos was a place we could see returning to and hanging out for awhile . . .

. . . just like this guy (who had been riding on the handlebars of the scooter moments before)!

We Shopped Our Way Through Greece . . .

We arrived back in Canada Saturday evening after close to 25 hours of travel. It wasn't all 'air time' though. The break involved a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam. If you have to have to schedule a long layover anywhere then Amsterdam is your place!

It was amusing when we went though customs with 4 suitcases, 2 carry on bags (the size of suitcases for some folks), and 2 nap sacks. The initial customs guy was sure we were smuggling all sorts of contraband so he marked our card for secondary screening.

Paul immediately started to sweat.

The secondary screening went as usual - how much did you spend . . . what did you buy . . . what was your most expensive item . . . and so on. It wasn't long before we were on our way without having paid any duty.

So what did we bring back from Greece in all of these bags?

Calendars, books, t-shirts, dish towels, olives, honey, olive oil soap, olive oil, a silk tie, cuff links, chocolates from Athens' top chocolate shop, ceramics, olive wood products (cheese board, wine stopper, spoons), chocolates from Holland, roasted pistachios, Korres' soaps, body scrub, and creams, turkish delight, nougat, dutch tulip bulbs, Christmas ornaments, licorice, fudge, Greek cat food for Beckett, wine, some books.

Do you understand why we needed all of those bags?

 I was particularly taken with Turkish ceramics - particularly this kitten, plate, and hot plate.

This was one of my 'splurges'. When I last bought shirts I bought two with French cuffs yet I didn't own cuff links. We found many wonderful jewelery shops in greece. These cuff links are white gold and burnished silver. The image is the famous Greek key pattern. These were more euro than I wanted to spend but I was able to barter away from 175 euro to 100.

Our final 'favourite' purchase was a piece of art that Paul picked out in a wonderful shop on Patmos.

The entire piece is made up of separate clay pieces. The faces, the black background, and the beige 'frame' were all moulded from clay. When the customs officer asked what was our biggest purchase this was the purchase we discussed. *smile*

Lots of stuff.

One final thought about shopping in Greece (before jet lag head takes meway . . .) - it was CHEAP!

Photo Hunt - Anything Goes . . .

This week's Photo Hunt theme is  . . . well, there is no theme! This week anything goes. Frankly this is more challenging tan when we have a specific theme! LOL

Anyway. I am at Schipol airport recovering from a 5 am flight out of Athens. I went through the 1200 photos I have taken while in Greece and struggled to select a photo. Finally I have decided to post this one from Mykonos:

 

 

This is for our friend Gail who was almost blinded by the famous Mykonos pelican a few years back. Back in the 1950s a flock of pelicans flew over the island one, sick and tired of the journey, landed on the island where he was nursed back to health by a fisherman. Named Pedro, this pelican knew what was good and stayed out where he became an island celebrity. While we were on Mykonos we saw at least two different Pedros. Every time we saw a huge crowd of tourists snapping pictures we knew one of the famous Mykonos pelicans were nearby.

This fellow was hanging out at the back door of a fish restaurant. Every now and then the owner would toss a bit of leftover fish to the happy bird. I've seen lots of cats hanging out near fish shops/restaurants over the years but Pedro was the first pelican we've seen doing this! *smile*

We learned from Gail's unfortunate incident - we stayed FAR back (well, within picture range, anyway).

Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Baked Alaska
• That's my story...and I'm stickin' to it!
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog
• Destination Anywhere

Temple of Olympian Zeus

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion, is an Greco-Roman temple in the center of Athens, southeast of the Acropolis. Begun in the 6th century BC, it was not completed until the reign of the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. In was at that time the largest temple in Greece.

We walked by the temple on our first day in Athens but couldn't seem to find the entrance. By the time we did it find the way in the temple site had closed for the National elections. We finally fit a visit into our relaxed schedule a few days later. Because we had visited the Acropolis it was free to enter, the entrance fee being included in the Acropolis fee.

The temple's foundations were laid (on the site of an earlier temple) by the tyrant Pisistratus in 515 BC, but the work was abandoned when Pisistratus's son, Hippias, was overthrown in 510 BC.

During the years of Greek democracy, the temple was left unfinished, apparently because the Greeks of the classical period thought it anti-democratic to build on such a scale. Aristotle cited the temple as an example of how tyrannies engaged the populace in great works for the state and left them no time, energy or means to rebel.

Work resumed in the 3rd century BC, during the period of Macedonian domination of Greece, under the patronage of the Hellenistic king Antiochus IV of Syria. Antiochus hired the Roman architect Cossutius to design the largest temple in the known world, but when Antoichus died in 164 BC the work was delayed yet again.

In 86 BC, after Greek cities were brought under Roman rule, the general Sulla took two columns from the unfinished temple to Rome to adorn the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill. These columns influenced the development of the Corinthian style of architecture in Rome. In the 2nd century AD, the temple was taken up again by Hadrian, a great admirer of Greek culture, who finally brought it to completion in 129 or 131 - some 700 years after it had been started. What a difference than the Parthenon which was constructed within 2 generations.

The temple was probably destroyed by an earthquake during the medieval period, and disassembled for building materials.

The graceful ruins of the Temple of the Olympian Zeus can be clearly seen from the Acropolis and are floodlit at night. The temple is made of fine marble brought from Mount Pentelus and originally measured 96 meters long and 40 meters wide.

Hadrian had erected a giant gold and ivory status of Zeus in the cella, and placed an equally large one of himself next to it. Unfortunately, however, nothing remains of these or anything else from the interior of the temple.

There were originally 104 Corinthian columns, each 17 meters high; 48 of these stood in triple rows under the pediments and 56 in double rows at the sides. Only 15 columns remain standing today, with lovely Corinthian capitals still in place. A 16th column blew over in 1852 and is still lying where it fell.

Is it Easy to Navigate Athens?

I've been asked if it is easy to get around in Athens.

The short answer is easy? Not really.

Possible? Certainly. But not what I'd call easy.

We spent a week wandering the city and didn't get lost once. It was easy to get around in the main tourist areas. The challenges came in the residential areas.

So what are the challenges?

Paul felt the biggest challenge was that none of the streets seemed to be on a regular grid pattern. In North America we're used to streets being parallel to one another or at the very least, meeting at right angles once in awhile. This isn't the case in Athens where the streets have been laid out over the course of more than 3000 years.

My job was map reader and I had printed off HUGE maps in colour. This brings up what I thought was the biggest challenge - the language. Certainly Greek is a foreign language but it presents the added challenge in that it uses a different alphabet. One that doesn't translate well into English. Sometimes it seems as if each map you look at has a different spelling of the English version of the street name.

Aware of this dilemma, the civic authorities have placed these helpful signs at most of the intersections. The name of the street is in Greek at thetop and English on the bottom. You'll see from the picture as well that often these signs aren't easy to see because of plant growth or in this case, an air conditioner line. LOL

Often the English spelling posted by the Greek authorities did not match the English spelling on our map. Eventually we came to be comfortable with 'sort of' as in the street name 'sort of' looked like the spelling of the street name on my map. We soon realized that we were always right.

Another challenge is that the sidewalks aren't very pedestrian friendly, certainly not as we North Americans have come to think of the phrase pedestrian friendly. Many a time we had to step out of the way as a scooter zoomed along the sidewalk, its driver angered by the wait in the traffic.

Sidewalks can be uneven.

Sidewalks can be slippery - especially where they are lined with marble. The marble has become slippery where it has been shined by thousands of pairs of feet treading over it through the years.

Another challenge comes at crosswalks.

The car is parked in the middle of the crosswalk blocking the pedestrian traffic. You'l notice how closely it is wedged in there, making it near impossible to continue on the sidewalk on the other side. In order to get by you needed to wander through the street a bit and rejoin the sidewalk at the next space between the parked cars.

None of these challenges was insurmountable. In fact, we took them in stride as a part of the adventure!

Slowtravel allows time for this. If I only had a day in the city and was trying to see a long list of sights I suspect that this would have made me crazed. In the end it only made me smile.

Cruising

We leave on our Greek island cruise today. I have no idea if I'll have easy access to the internet or not so I'm preparing this posts in advance.

Those who have read this blog will know that I won the cruise through a photo contest that easycar ran over the internet. The photo contest was basically a popularity contest - try and get as many of your friends to go to the internet and vote 10 for your picture. I was hoping to win a car rental for the next time we were in Europe. Never did I contemplate winning first and being awarded with a cruise.

Easycar is known as a discount rental company without any frills. I suspect that their cruise venture, which has only been in existence three years, and which I understand from the various discussions over the internet has been fraught with problems, will be similar. The boat is actually a refurbished ferry.

I've taken to calling this the WalMart cruise.

Apparently it caters to young travelers without a lot of money to spent.

This would make it the spring break WalMart cruise.

Great.

The cabin we won was a no-luxury, inside cabin in the bowels of the ship. After looking at one picture I felt claustrophobic . . . can a picture actually do that? It did. The thought of spending a week in a tiny cabin like that made my head hurt.

I immediately upgraded to a junior suite with an outside view on a upper deck. The amount of the original cabin was deducted from the cost of the upgraded cabin - this saved us close to $ 1000.

Then we got word that the cruise we had booked (1 week, Greek islands and turkey) had been canceled and turned into a 4 day cruise of the islands and Turkey. We could have canceled and gotten a refund but by this time I think Paul had his heart set on going so we stayed with it.

For the inconvenience easycruise booked us into a hotel for the nights that were canceled, provided vouchers for the meals that we would now have to purchase, provided transport to and from the cruise ship, provided upgraded meals on board, and provided a 100 euro on-board drink voucher.

One of the challenges is that they essentially booked the 7 day itinerary into 4 days. Where easycruise had had a reputation for maximixing time in port so that visitors could really enjoy their time there, this was thrown out the window. The timetable now resembles one of those bus tours of Europe that covers Italy in two days.

Nonetheless, I am determined to make the best of this. We will be cruising. We will have saved $ 1000. We won't have to cook or worry about meals for a week. We will see Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Ephesus, Crete, and Santorini. We will be cruising the Greek isles . . .

Photo Hunt - Sports

This week's Photo Hunt theme is "sports". We have been in Athens this week so there have been many opportunities for a picture that I could use for this week's theme. In the end I went with this picture that I took of the Panathenic Stadium as seen from the top of the Lykavittos Hill . This picture really provides a sense of how large this stadium is.

The stadium was originally a natural hollow part of the ground between the two hills of Agra and Ardettos, over Ilissos river. It was transformed into a stadium by Lykourgos in 330-329 BC for the athletic competitions of the Great Panathinaea Festivities. It is believed that the Stadium had a seating capacity of 50,000 people.

In the Roman times, the stadium was used as an arena. 

A modern restoration of the stadium at the end of the 19th century allowed it to be used for the first Olympic Games when they were reborn again in 1896. The stadium was used again as the site of the finish line of the marathon in the 2004 Olympics.

Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Baked Alaska
• That's my story...and I'm stickin' to it!
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog
• Destination Anywhere