Rained out in Santorini ....

Where I would have enjoyed my breakfast if not for the downpour every morning!! ..... unutilized little patio right outside my bedroom door :)

So Greek!

Bob, Stephanie, Liz and I on the ferry to Crete ..... Bob & Liz were from Dawson City, Yukon ... both semi-retired teachers, as is Stephanie (in the red shirt).
We had a very long wait at the ferry terminal in Santorini (stormy seas) .... 6 hours sitting in a cafe!!!! Good conversation eased the wait .... Bob & Liz, as is Stephanie, are traveling mostly through Greece for the next three months ........ lots to share! Good fun ...

Yes, very windy and rainy on the caldera!

Rained out in Santorini ..... still, the caldera is as majestic as ever and holds it's charm well .... stayed on the rim, at Aroma Suites, where I had hoped to run into Kelowna friends Diana & Rob's daughter Jessica ..... working at Aroma for a year or so, but unfortunately, she was away in Athens, studying Greek during the off season :( .... I have not seen Jessica since she was perhaps a young teenager and believe she must be 30 now .... wow, time flies! Another trip perhaps ..... mostly rained out, so lay low for most part, walked here and there into Fira, and the many stone steps along the caldera, umbrella firmly in hand, bussed out to the black sand beach area but raining so hard, never left the bus .... Discovered Kintos (not sure on that spelling but one of only a few restaurants open in Fira and what a find it was ..... we got lazy, because of the rain and never bothered to research another spot .... yes, it was that good!!! .... unbelievable actually!) ..... amazing salads and local fish!! I had met Stephanie, from Perth, Australia on the ferry .... discovered we had much in common, feeling right at home with each other almost immediately ...... two independent-minded women, traveling on their own, hmmmm .... a no brainer there, our getting along :) ...... So, despite the inclement weather, the rainy Santorini days flew by as we shared the many moments of our lives over glasses of local wine and coffees. The sharing produced much laughter and tears :) ..... always great for the heart and soul ...... and weather became a non-issue in our enjoyment of Santorini. The moral there ..... doesn't much matter what is happening on the weather front, there is always something good to discover, if we keep our hearts and minds open to goodness. Rain, sun, snow .... all good! .... but yikes, just heard it is -37 in Calgary ...... well, the good there? .... have to think on that one :) Kalispera one and all.

Kalimera from Naxos, Greece

Just awesome view points at every turn in the road ..... I walked along a path near these rocks to see marble mountain on next shot! It was just gorgeous ..... I would go back to Naxos, just to hike the interior once again!

Yellow building on top of hill .... my B&B ... Nicoletta's Grotto Hotel

Shop in Apiranthos, where I purchased awesome local feta, green olives and sheep bells!






Another shot of where I hung my hat for a few days on Naxos ... loved it!
Strikers assemble at town square ...
Beached ferry .... No Santorini today!

Enjoying Naxos seaside town square .... couched in at a charming cafe, sipping the ubiquitous Greek coffee, while observing an enthusiastic group of strikers assembled at the ferry terminal :) Actually, I had a bit of a detour getting here ....... managed to get off on the wrong island a few days ago ..... my typical directional dyslexia extends to sometimes not paying attention and getting off on the wrong island!! Yes, I managed a short unplanned stay on Paros .... well actually twenty-four hours, as no ferry to Naxos until the next day :) Oh well, I thought to myself, never been to Paros .... pride myself on winging it, so .... off I trotted to explore! Nice day overall, walking the streets branching out from the main town square ...... I imagine I am not the first to make this mistake ..... a very conveniently located hotel was a stone's throw from the ferry terminal! ..... ten room rooming house actually, where I lugged my bag and self! Good basic clean bed and bath (but not exactly a place where you wanted to linger long!), a fine dinner of cheese saganaki and Greek salad and an early light's out! Not long after I fell asleep, a major rain/wind storm blew in ...... a branch flew into my window at one point in the night, freaking me some .... sounded like a hurricane happening, but apparently, just a regular spring storm ..... A quick hour ferry ride in the morning, and Naxos loomed ahead, exactly as I remembered it, from a trip here with Brian, Sarah and Rob a few years ago .... have no clue how I mistook Paros for Naxos!

So, yes, a few days later, here I sit, sipping my morning double Greek! Clear blue skies prevail and resounding nationalistic music vibrates from portable speakers ..... a prelude to strike rhetoric that follows shortly ..... nothing I can decipher, but gist is clear:) Totally enjoying my morning in the local hub! This despite realizing that, given the eminent strike, I will now have to chug along on the slow boat to Santorini .... a small local service, not on strike!! :) ........... making for longer cruising time in the Cyclades! Life is tough ........ Just yesterday, the square was alive with a similar scene ........ strikers were rebelling against the anti-smoking law ...... long overdue for Greece! ..... Greeks are very very heavy smokers, women and men alike, and are just a tad ticked with not being allowed to smoke in their favourite cafes ..... Greeks love to socialize daily in these cafes and tavernas, smoking up a storm in the process ...... hence the strike :) ....... unfortunately, I was not aware that all that strike business would result in a closure of ALL cafes, restaurants and tavernas, shortly after the demonstrations! ......... I certainly did later that afternoon, while walking into town to scout out a lunch spot to find everything closed and deserted! Yes, a slight downside to being in Greece in off season, where issues such as an impending restaurant strike is not readily conveyed to the one and only English speaking tourist wandering the streets in Naxos town on that particular day!! The peace and quiet is pleasant though, and the weather mostly perfect and one certainly gets the opportunity to experience a very authentic Greek lifestyle, strikes and all ...... but ahh, yes, that slight glitch .... communication! ...... more work needed on my signing skills :) .... Kalimera, kalispera and afaristo do not take me far :) ..... Lunch and dinner that day? ..... well, consisted of what I could scrounge from the little grocery store near the Grotto ..... complaints aside, I ended up with a veritable feast! ..... an apple, banana, cucumber, rich tasty yogurt, a mini sized loaf of grain bread, a big chunk of feta, a small container of kalamata olives, all washed down with the only Amstel in the store!! ..... fell asleep that evening feeling rather holier than thou, given such a healthy meal! Rented a little Kia (the only automatic I could find!) one day to experience the stunning interior countryside of Naxos ..... will let my picture post speak for itself ......... terraced valleys, craggy mountains, small picturesque cliff-side towns perched precariously, and of course, with resultant cliff side driving in many parts!! .... roads barely three meters wide in places, usually around the hairpin curves :) ...... thankfully I encountered few other vehicles the whole day ..... walked the marble-paved streets of the ancient mountainside villages of Halki and Apiranthos (discovered where all the marble in Syros and here in Naxos came from, as I drove past the marble mountain still being mined) ..... found one little shop/taverna combo open in Apiranthos to savor my daily fix of local coffee, chatted with the owner ...... well, calling it a chat may be stretching it a bit, but communication of a kind :) ..... getting rather good at that! My vocabulary may end up stunted after this year, but boy, am I getting good with the hand signs and gesticulations of all sorts! ..... yes, a most pleasant day and stay in Naxos, Greece! Kalispera one and all ....

Syros .... Kalimera!

Views from inside Syros

Maria and her husband enjoying evening tea as I walk in

Streets of marble

Ferried up to my first stop in the Cyclades islands, the town of Ermoupolis on scenic Syros! ........ the seat of government for all the Cyclades. Ermoupolis is a seaside, very likeable, marble-paved town!! ..... yes, stairways, sidewalks and indeed, even a fair number of roads are paved with marble slabs .... simply amazing! I leave India, where small marble trays cost a bloody fortune, to walking along streets paved in it!!! Travel can often present many delights and surprises! Wonderful in many respects to travel to these beautiful Greek islands during off season to enjoy and discover a very authentic lifestyle. I may never again travel anywhere in Greece except in off season! Winter is a time when Greece reclaims it's country from the summer touristic invasion and becomes, well, Greek! .... I am, without any doubt, the only tourist in Ermoupolis ..... or if there is anyone else here, they are well hidden ...... I am the sole occupant of the 8 room B&B, Electra, (and actually, most likely the only inn open at this time of year!), owned and managed by a warm and caring Maria ..... breakfast is a quiet affair, in their little kitchen/living room combo, consisting of marble cake, a boiled egg, warm crusty bread, an apple and a Greek coffee! .... Maria's English is passable allowing us to communicate basic issues well enough ...... she attempts to teach me a bit of Greek, but alas, I am not the linguist Maria is!! ..... but as I explore the seaside shops and cafes, the town's charming Plateia Miaouli Square, with it's many cafes and tavernas, cathedral, towering neoclassical town hall, and where, taking advantage of a sunny winter's day, I later climb to Ano Syros, a tiny medieval settlement with narrow alleys and whitewashed homes .... I discover that English is spoken by few ..... off season, Ermoupolis is most definitely a working town, devoid of tourists and the English speaking students who work in town during the lucrative summer months. A pleasant stay, on a pleasant island in the heart of the Cyclades ..... a great start to a month in Greece!

How ironic ......

Ironic that the demise of the autocratic fiefdoms of the Middle East will be eradicted (hopefully all of them in time), utilizing the modern day social tool of Facebook, by a rebellious youth culture who have kindled the fires of democracy for millions! Who was not moved by what happened in Egypt??!! Facebook has often been reviled for the most part by the older generations .... (mine :)!!!) .... as a waste of precious time, not to be trusted etc. but how refreshing and cool that it has been the means to start such a revolution!!! ..... hmmm, and invented by that young enterprising American .... he of the Jewish roots! One surely has to chuckle about the irony! ...... yes, democracy rules ..... not perhaps a perfect form of government, but the best of the lot!!

So wow, things continue to evolve on the global front ..... the longer I am on the road, the more cultures I continue to experience ....... the different experiences rendered by these cultural differences ........ the more obvious it becomes that the similarities outshine the differences ......... to have someone to love, share, laugh, cry, break bread with ..... yes, even if struggling to put food on the table, those desires remain a constant ..... give or take a few bad apples in the global mix ...... if good action continues to outnumber bad, eventually a balance will form ....... ("you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" .... hmmm love that John Lennon!) ............... a caring smile, a warm touch, a hearty hug, a kind word, a sandwiche passed to someone on the edge of hunger, a warm cup of tea, a few coins into an outstretched hand, volunteering where there is need ..... human kindness ..... all, always welcomed. Be the change ......... pretty much sums up my only moral code these days. Simple and doable .........

Speaking of family .... missing mine deeply, this "family day week" in Canada ......... but forgot, they are not in Canada either but skiing and riding the slopes somewhere in Hokkaido, Japan ......... Tim's spring reading break from classes :) ....... reading the snow reports!! We have always been a travelling troop, the Webbs ........ sometimes together, sometimes not :) ...... sigh .......

Varanasi and Sarnat ..... Jiva

May all be fed


May all be healed


May all be loved






..... and the flip side of poverty










.... and in the blink of an eye, back to poverty

Priests performing evening healing ceremony at River Ganges

Sitting on the steps of main ghat

waiting for sunset ceremony

Homes of the untouchables ..... the lowest of India's caste system, something I found unbearably unbearable. With all the positive changes going on in India and the vast reach of the economic power the country now enjoys, I wish with my heart, that this horrid caste system will work it's way out of the system. It is a shame for India and should be wiped out completely. It is more than ironic that so many foreigners make their way to India to study issues of the heart and spirit, to pursue peace and harmony on the spiritual front, when in fact, the Indian gurus are themselves seemingly doing little to eradicate such a deplorable social condition. Feels hypocritical to sit in quiet meditation in some temple, praying, when all around me is such abject poverty ......

This child appeared to be about two and I waited for some time, but no adult ever appeared anywhere near him ... I walked up to him and he ran away.

Exact location of temple at Sarnat where Buddha first preached to the masses

More remains at site of temple

Buddhist Temple at Sarnat, constructed near original site of Buddha's first preachings

Saffron-robed Sadhus are everywhere at River's edge

Streets up from the crematorium ghat area
This wood is grown specially for the cremations .... the trees are fast growing and plentiful around Varanasi

Our rower, Vinay and I just before sunrise on the River Ganges