Epilogue; at the beginning?
(Remember this Blog flows with the most recent experience at
the top of the page.)
Europe 2019 was epic; full of love, laughter and camaraderie;
great times with friends; remarkable experiences in wonderful countries;
matching our expectations laid out during our 2017 adventure. Our definition of a trip like this is not,
vacation, rather a “travel adventure”. We
were in the air for over 36 hours total (making 8 different connections), moved
through 4 countries, visited 6 cities and many villages. We utilized every mode of transportation save
motorcycles. We enjoyed incredible
countryside, friendly people, great customer service, amazing food, ate too
many “politically incorrect” foods, tasted mind-boggling delicacies from Moussaka
and Speck to Weissbier and Galactobouriko (thanks Stamatia!) and slept as
little as possible. Realizing that one has to accept the frustrations imposed
by the FAA and the airline industry, adventures of this magnitude, as the Blog
below depicts, would not be possible without them. The ground
transportation in Europe is incredible with huge flexibility but remember, if
you travel by train, when it pulls up…GET ON!
This adventure was, as I said…epic. As you enjoy the blog below with its 150+ photos,
know that our favorites were the Dolomites, the Ionian Isles of Greece and
Innsbruck. We were glad we visited
Vienna and Venice but will not return; simply to large and
touristy! Kimble and I have grown closer
and wiser to international travel as a result and we will not forget how truly
blessed we are with the life that we have built. There has been a tremendous amount of long
hard hours at work in our careers, with our family and with our homes in order
to get here so please enjoy our continuing story.
This Blog is organized with each new destination on top of the previous. Scroll down to see each of the bulleted destinations listed here:
- Italy (4 September - 12 September)
- Venice
- The Dolomites
- Austria (30 August - 4 September)
- Innsbruck
- Vienna
- Greece
- Poros, Kefalonia (20 August - 30 August)
Enjoy!
VENICE, ITALY
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| The "View" from our room! Quite a difference from Canazei (see below) |
In no time the train hit the end of the line. We were in Venice! We got off the train, walked out the front door of the station facing the Grand Canal and I literally had a panic attack; thousands of tourists scampering about, following tour guides, booking water taxis and being drawn in by the likes of Jimmy Choo, Dior, Cartier, Prada and Louis Vuitton; it was truly a mental shock. All of a sudden, I wanted nothing to do with this place. However, true to form, Kimble calmed me down (she should have just slapped me upside the head) and we figured it out. A 35 minute ferry ride jammed with tourists and luggage, we got off at the San Marco station. Walked north 100m/330ft, west 20m/70ft, north again another 100m and then west again 150m/500ft through the narrow cobblestone streets of lower Venice. Over a bridge and we were at the Hotel Mercurio - our bastion for the next two nights; all the time dragging our luggage behind.
After a spell of anxiety, I realized that I was really hungry and a bit tired as this day began about 8am and it was now about 1830 so we found the closest sidewalk cafe and ate a nice dinner. We took the opportunity to stroll around for about an hour but we had one day here and if we were going to experience it properly, I needed to get some sleep and rearrange my mental state.
Day Otto (11 September): We got up early in hopes of getting some photos with fewer humans in them and headed to breakfast. I loaded up on carbs and loaded cappuchinos (I think I had 3 all with espresso shots)! I was ready. Kimble had done some research and the two main goals for the day were to tour San Marco Plazza and then just walk; left, right, north, south, east, west. Just go with no direction in mind and see the city, visit the Piazzas (Plazas), view the architecture, stop along the way for lunch, snacks, drinks and eventually wind up back at the hotel around 1600. We did and the following are photos of what we saw along the way...
Just wandering was a treat as the little streets, piazzos and alley ways were definitely the "roads less traveled"...
Aside from the ancient "engineering" that built Venice and is now failing, the many "artesian" wells that were dug centuries past, were a huge reason the ground below the 118 islands that form Venice began to weaken and the structures began to settle into weakened earth. Day Otto (11 September): We got up early in hopes of getting some photos with fewer humans in them and headed to breakfast. I loaded up on carbs and loaded cappuchinos (I think I had 3 all with espresso shots)! I was ready. Kimble had done some research and the two main goals for the day were to tour San Marco Plazza and then just walk; left, right, north, south, east, west. Just go with no direction in mind and see the city, visit the Piazzas (Plazas), view the architecture, stop along the way for lunch, snacks, drinks and eventually wind up back at the hotel around 1600. We did and the following are photos of what we saw along the way...
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| San Marco Basilica |
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| San Marco Square |
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| San Marco Basilica front entrance |
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| Evidence of wear and erosion |
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| Detail on the building facades |
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| Sansouino Libreria Vecchia |
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| Piazzo Ducale |
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| Campanile |
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| Rialto - the oldest bridge over the Grand Canal |
Now sealed off, the image above shows the one of the hundreds of wells that were the centre of many of the squares in venice.
As we continued our walk, we really got to experience the "chaos" that is the Grand Canal...
Now it was not all water and buildings. We did find some trees, shrubs and parks...
However, the dominant landscape is tiled and cobbled streets, alley ways and buildings all surrounded by water!
Venice is definitely sinking and the large buildings are beginning to tilt and will eventually fall (one good earthquake and Venice will be a different city)...
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| Look closely and you can see steps going into the water |
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| The Church of St. Stephano - it is listing about 15-20 feet to the east - this is not trick photography! |
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| A "romantic" Gondola ride! |
A Gondola "Jam". The air smelled of rot especially close to the canals and the amount of people sticking "selfie-sticks" into your face was utterly frustrating. The concept of this city was grand and unique but the commercialization of it - disgusting. It is definitely worth the visit but do not spend more than 48 hours here.
The day came to an end, we had a great 5 course meal at Ristorante da Cherubino (the quality of the food and the service was exceptional) to end our incredible adventure and woke the next morning, 12 September, and took our first boat to the airport for our flight home.
THE DOLOMITES! - CANAZEI, ITALY
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| View from our Room - Cesa Lucille |
As Day
Sechs begins in Austria, we step onto the OEBB Rail Jet Express heading for Italy. This signifies the end of our time here in Innsbruck (Austria) and begins Day Una (4 September) in Italy; we are heading to one of our
favorite places – The Dolomites - Val di Fassa and the Village of Canazei.
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| Departing Innsbruck, Hafelekar Peak from the train station. |
As we cross the Austrian border from Brenner into Brennero, Italy, (Kimble is having an early morning siesta) I’m very impressed with the train systems here in Europe. For the most part, they are incredibly efficient; travelers have to be very efficient as well; they list the time and platform and if you are not there… you miss your train; no announcement. Kimble and I are getting better at managing this mode of travel. As we got to Platform 3 for the train this morning to Bolzano, Italy, the picture of our train was not there. This means that there has been a Platform change; you had better figure that out quickly. We did. Immediately we looked at the monitor (not the same as the image of the train) and saw that the platform had changed. This happened as we were walking from the lounge to Platform 3. It happens that fast! Many travelers could miss this; a few days earlier, we may have!
The
scenery along this route is incredibly more picturesque than our ride from
Vienna to Innsbruck because you’re in a canyon cutting through the Tyrolian
Alps and much closer to the mountains, villages, vineyards, castles, churches,
etc.
Another
thing that fascinated me (Kimble still in siesta mode) is the highway system
going from Innsbruck down into Italy. You
could equate this to Interstate 80 crossing the USA with one difference, the
number of tunnels and bridges; and the incredible varying architecture of each
along the way. The structures are engineering
feats that meld form and function with design along this very rough and steep
mountainous terrain. A long time ago,
the European decision makers made transportation a priority because to me, it
looks better thought out and planned than in the States.
Without
any “Welcome to Italy” sign, we arrived in Bolzano on time. Utilizing teamwork,
Kimble stood in line (she was not in siesta mode at this time) because there
was only one attendant window open for the 30 passengers ahead of us
(Treinitalia) in case I ran into problems with the navigation of the ticket
machine; success! Got our ticket to Venice and off to the train ticket booth;
success again. Having about 90 minutes
before bus 180 departure to Canazei, we sought out another sidewalk café for a
late breakfast early lunch; it was 1130 and our bus departs at 1337 (the use of
military time over here is very welcome.).
With
our time, we began discussing driving in foreign countries as we did in 2017. You may have a bit more flexibility but you
certainly have more anxiety and stress. Both of us are much rather navigate bus
and train stations versus driving; also realizing that you are only as fast as
the tour bus ahead of you and passing here in rental cars is not recommended.
The scenery on the way to Val di Fassa was equally beautiful.
We
arrived in Pera (Pera in the Fassa valley) and had to change busses to the
local transportation system, Trentino Transport (TT), and by 3:30pm we were in
Canazei. A quick look at Google Maps and
we were at the offices of our flat rental by 3:40pm and greeted by a sign – Horaire
di Operazione 1400 – 1930 – we had 20 minutes to wait.
We
got to our flat, got organized and just marveled at where we were! Went across the street to the grocery store
and got some supplies which included Chardonnay and a Limoncello and we sat on our veranda and sucked in the glory of the
view. It was getting late, we were tired
and still had to figure out all the workings of our flat, ovens, dishes,
appliances, washing machine, so we went to dinner, returned and got squared
away ready for tomorrow – clouds and rain were forecast!
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| Enjoying the "view from our room"; cold so I was wearing Kim's hat as I forgot mine |
Day Due (5 September): We woke to a cool brisk morning here
in the Dolomites; and blue skys! I made
a cup of coffee and drank it overlooking the Marmolada Gruppe and several
Dolomite peaks.
We planned for today to be an easy day; we have been
hitting it hard all through Greece and Austria so after yesterday’s early
rising travel day, which really went much smoother then anticipated, and
getting settled in here at our “flat”, we simply wanted to get familiar with
Val di Fassa (Fassa Valley); Kim, bless her heart, put in a load of laundry as
we were getting low on “stuff”.
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| Main Street Canazei |
We made breakfast, packed our rucksacks and headed out. First stop, the rental agency because last
night as we were getting ready for bed, Kimble realized we had no bed or bath
linen; we laughed as we normally do. 36
euro’s later, we had little packs of linens.
Hilarious.
After dropping them off back at our flat, Kim decided to
put another load of laundry in; we could not figure out how to get the damm
door open so no second load yet; we will figure this out later! We headed to the tourist office to get what
Kim and I now are calling a “multi-pass” (The Fifth Element). The multi-pass is a card that would allow us
access to all the lifts, gondolas, trams and busses within the Val di Fassa; 80
euros each is a bargain; we get to walk right into all the stations and hitch
rides; anywhere in the valley or up onto the mountains.
First stop was the Pecol Gondola and up from 1460m/4788’ here
in Canazei to 1926m/6318’ we went. Then a quick
walk to the Col di Rosi tram and in minutes we were at 2382m/7813’. A gorgeous day forecast to be cloudy with a
temp of about 65f/18c; pleasurably accurate.
As we asanged the tram building, we were simply stunned again with the beauty
of this place. We took a photo of Kim
and I with the Sasolungo Gruppe in the background (we have an incredible shot
of us on the other side of this Dolomite mountain group from our 2017
trip).
After a 2km/1.5mi walk to Passo Pordoi we found ourselves at the base of the Sella
Gruppe; massive. The plan? Make our way
to the summit of Sass Pordoi at 2950m/9676’ via an incredible tram.
The 360 degree views here atop Sass Pordoi are implausibly splendid but what you have to realize is that this peak we were standing upon is, utilizing a straight-line measurement, less than 5km/3m from the valley floor; “steep” is not descriptive enough!
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| Sasolungo Gruppe to the left (small) and Sella Gruppe to the right |
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| The Marmolada Gruppe - highest in all the Dolomites |
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| Arraba down in the valley looking east |
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| Our "path" (yellow line) from Pecol to Passo Pordoi |
The 360 degree views here atop Sass Pordoi are implausibly splendid but what you have to realize is that this peak we were standing upon is, utilizing a straight-line measurement, less than 5km/3m from the valley floor; “steep” is not descriptive enough!
After descending on the tram, we had lunch in Passo Pordoi
at a little German Restaurant, Maria’s, that specialized in Italian food. Go figure.
To the bus stop to test our multi-pass and experience driving down a
road with 24, 180 degree turns (switchbacks), that would take us back down from
the heights of Sass Pordoi to the city centre of Canazei. We are not sure what design methodology the
Italians used in creating these roads but sports cars and motorcycles love
them; however, a reminder if you ever go this way, you can only go as fast as
the tour bus in front of you and there are a lot of busses up here; we would
rather be on a bus; relaxing and enjoying the views! As an extra bonus,
experiencing this road on a 45’/15m bus? Crazy!
Ending the day overlooking from our left, the Marmolada Gruppe
to Collac, Sass Neigher and Sass di Roces on our right, we paused to acknowledge
how blessed we are to be here at this moment in our lives. We also paused to figure out how to open the
washing machine door… you have to unplug the machine, wait 5 minutes and open –
not so easy as the door lock was rather turgid – I wiggled it and kind of
forced it and it opened! Another
experience to add to our adventure. Load
two was put in; load one drying on the rack outside and now we have European
washing machine skills!
Day Tre (6 September): Pondering…We have been watching the
weather now for about a week as there was some concern regarding the
Dolomites. We arrived with blue skies
and 70f/22c; see the photos from our arrival day, Day Una.
We were certain that the weather was going to change. It did not. We woke on 6 September and wow, the clouds have come, the rains with them and the temperatures, as the weather sites predicted, dropped; now 48f/9c! However, you know Kimble and I would not let that stop us. We began our morning adventure with a bus ride to Penia (a village about 5km/3mi up the road. We would have walked but…Rain! Really, our morning adventure started with a 30 minute wait at the bus stop (good thing it was covered) because I read the schedule wrong; we laughed; I have learned over the years with Kim and many “Family Travel Adventures”, that emphasis must be put upon laughter with a realization that life, ways, traditions are so different in foreign lands; slower, relaxed, low anxiety. It truly makes us smile and reflect upon endeavoring to live our lives with less stress and more anticipation.
We were certain that the weather was going to change. It did not. We woke on 6 September and wow, the clouds have come, the rains with them and the temperatures, as the weather sites predicted, dropped; now 48f/9c! However, you know Kimble and I would not let that stop us. We began our morning adventure with a bus ride to Penia (a village about 5km/3mi up the road. We would have walked but…Rain! Really, our morning adventure started with a 30 minute wait at the bus stop (good thing it was covered) because I read the schedule wrong; we laughed; I have learned over the years with Kim and many “Family Travel Adventures”, that emphasis must be put upon laughter with a realization that life, ways, traditions are so different in foreign lands; slower, relaxed, low anxiety. It truly makes us smile and reflect upon endeavoring to live our lives with less stress and more anticipation.
In Penia, we got onto the Clampac gondola and rode it up to
the top; 2148m/7045’. It was raining
hard and the next lift to Stella Brunech (the start of a 4k/2.5mi walk we had
planned) was an open chair so we opted to for the dry option and hit the lodge
for a cap and a hot chocolate.
Descending from Clampac, a decision was made to avoid the busses, we took the Tram back up to Col di Rossi, down to Pecol and then down to Canazei; we had the tram from Penia up to Col di Rossi by ourselves. We got a kick out of that.
Descending from Clampac, a decision was made to avoid the busses, we took the Tram back up to Col di Rossi, down to Pecol and then down to Canazei; we had the tram from Penia up to Col di Rossi by ourselves. We got a kick out of that.
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| A first, not another soul on the Tram |
Once back in Canazei (still raining) we decided to look
into getting a couple of warmer coats – again, we never thought it would be like
this in September and all our winter jackets are home in Reno, Nevada,
USA. In October of 2017, we were in
short sleeve shirts cruising the Alpe di Suisi above Val Gardenia (see our 2017
Blog) just a valley to the north. After 140 euro - 2 new jackets, and three hats (I
forgot mine and Kim needed one to match her new jacket) we were again on our
way.
After lunch at the flat, down the valley we went; getting
off in Pera di Fassa. Unfortunately,
while on the bus, the rains kicked up hard.
Decision? We grabbed the bus
back; fortunately, it is siesta time around here (1230 – 1600) so when in Rome!
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| The difference a day can make! Snow on the Marmolada Gruppe |
An interesting reality here in the Sud Tirol (South Tyrol) is
that the bus stops can have two or three name spellings for the same stop and
the cities have several spellings and at times, none match up; a confusion that
we are slowly figuring out. Slowly!
The rains never let up and still way to rainy with low
visibility up in the mountains; we are here in the valley for now. About 1900 the restaurants opened for dinner
and we found a nice German/Italian restaurant -
Coroche Biancia, had a nice bottle of Italian Riesling with a wonderful
meal; I had a poached egg on fresh spinach with a light cheese sauce and
“speck” (bacon) bits as an appetizer –
pretty tasty! This day is in the
books.
Day Quattro (7 September):
The weather forecast a break in the rain for early this morning up to
noon, so we departed at (0830) in an attempt to make a bus up to Penia that was
scheduled to depart at 0849; about 0930 the bus came. It seems that either I am reading the
schedules wrong or they simply run late.
In anycase, we made it to the Clampac gondola about 0945 and while the
rain in the valley was minimal, the gondola cars were slightly wet; we got to
the top and it was raining hard. We came
down.
Again, we went to the bus station only to see that the bus
did not depart for another 20 minutes which turned out to be 40; I have to say
that I was getting a bit frustrated, cranky and irritable at this point. However, my Kim knows how to get me turned around
and when the bus came, she suggested we head for Campetello where we hit the
Bakeri for a treat and a Cappuccino; I had two and the second was with an
Espresso shot! For those that know me
well, caffeine increases my OCD behaviors but, in this case, there was humor to
be had for Kim; again, she laughed and my frustration was gone.
Kind of fed up with the busses for the day, we decided to
hang around Campetello and so we consulted Google maps to see what was around
us. We found an interesting little
hotel…so we hoofed it up a few alleys and hills.
As we were above the the main road/city center, we noticed another tram, Col di Rodella; that we did not notice on our way in which is a testament to how well these massive “people movers” blend into the environment. Down the winding and cobbled streets we went and hopped on; another first…"the second" time we rode a tram of this size alone!
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| The "Mini Restaurant" - it is a real thing in Campetello - Definitely small! |
As we were above the the main road/city center, we noticed another tram, Col di Rodella; that we did not notice on our way in which is a testament to how well these massive “people movers” blend into the environment. Down the winding and cobbled streets we went and hopped on; another first…"the second" time we rode a tram of this size alone!
Arriving at the Col, 2245m/7364’, it was snowing (we got
some slo-motion video and if you are interested, let me know – I will share it
with you) and we looked around and saw quite a few people walking in the rain
and drenched; this led us to believe, venturing further might be interesting;
we ventured; nothing interesting due to
the clouds (had there been no clouds, we would have been at the base of
the Sasolungo Gruppe which is massive (see Day Due above). After we scrambled
around and took a few images we decided to dry off a bit and warm up in the Apres
di Ski lodge there at the Col; Cafe Biatta Rodella.
Another great meal of local cheeses, meats (not rabbit,
hare or deer which seem to be quite popular here) and breads along with a
barley soup for Kim and a dumpling soup for me; dinner is going to be very
light this evening.
Back down to Campitello we went…
…and as we did, we noticed that it was not that far to
Canazei along the walking path back to our hotel so upon arrival at the base
station of Col di Rodella, we had a nice leisurely walk back to our flat.
This day, thanks to my love, we turned sour lemons into lemonade! And the good thing? The day is not over yet. It is the local siesta time so we are taking a break and I am creating this blog.
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| Canazei as viewed from the Col di Rodella Tram |
This day, thanks to my love, we turned sour lemons into lemonade! And the good thing? The day is not over yet. It is the local siesta time so we are taking a break and I am creating this blog.
Day Cinque (8 September):
Well we tried to make lemonade today but the weather was just not going
to have it. We got up early to hit the
bus to Moena and then make a connection up to Passo San Peligrino (where I
thought they made water); we accomplished the bus navigation successfully! However, it was just pouring up there upon
arrival at 1040 so all we could do it go get a tea and decca cap and wait the
hour for the bus to come back to get us.
By the time we left, it was 2c/34f and snowing. Once back in Moena, just raining, raining,
raining, we connected back to Canazei and the forecast (see radar image below)
is for more of the same until 8am tomorrow morning 9 September. Lets hope the sun comes out for our last day
here in the Dolomites.
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| We are the blue dot in the white circle in the middle of this radar image - snowing in Innsbruck! |
Day
Sei (9 September): Our last day in Canazei and we woke to no rain, a
temperature of 2c/33f and partly cloudy skies!
It is a start so by 10am it had warmed to about 7c/44f and we headed
out; first stop, our third attempt to hit the Sella Brunech ridge above the
little village of Clampac. We grabbed
the bus to Alba, tram 131 up to the village and were finally on new territory
albeit snow covered; the trail to the chairlift 136. A 15 minute walk up about half a mile and on
the lift we went to the ridge; at the ridge was the 4km/3m trail we wanted to
walk to Passo Nicolaus that looked down into the Contrin Valley – the valley we
saw every evening from our room at the base of the Marmolada group. It was cold up on the ridge at about 5c/40f and
the 1 inch of snow at Clampac was now 4 inches.
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| Top of the Clampac Lift - lower right |
Kim,
already with wet feet, did not feel comfortable going any higher so I went to
scout. The ridge was only a 300m/1000ft
climb so I made it there in no time and began to walk the ridge with about 4-5
inches of snow and steep on both sides.
Kim was right. We did not have
the right equipment as we needed some basic ice/snow shoe grips (a lightweight
sort of crampon) but carefully I walked about a half a mile between two peaks
on the ridge immediately above the lift, got some great photos and then came down.
As we
descended the upper lift, walked back to the Gondola and climbed aboard it back
to the valley floor, we decided to head up the hill, again via bus, to Lake
Fedaia at the base of the Marmolada group; on our initial research of this
area, there were a couple of hikes we wanted to do here so at least we can
recon the area for our next visit.
The
road up to Lake Fedaia and the Fedaia Pass was windy and steep. We got off the bus at the near end of the
lake where there was a huge dam; turns out both ends are dammed up as this is a
major water supply for the Val di Fassa and surrounding valleys. We walked across the dam and got a few good
photos and came to the lift area, took some images of the old lift but it was
not running so we continued up to the Cima 11 Lodge as it was 1300 and we were
getting hungry.
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| The Cima 11 Lodge - Cima means "top. |
Here
is where the decision to go up to Lake Fedaia and the Fedaia Pass got real
exciting; the lift was open! It was just
closed for lunch. So we got on and up to
the Marmolada glacier we went. Simply
one of the coolest lifts I have ever been on (I have some videos if you ever
want to get a real idea of these old ski lifts) and Kim enjoyed it as well!
Once
on the top, there were two lodges, several trails and at least 10 inches of
snow that fell over the past few days.
Again, with no crampons, we were limited to where we could go safely but
we spent about 30 minutes up here (about 42 degrees f/7c) taking a whole bunch
of photos.
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| Sasolungo Gruppe (left) - Sella group in the center - Piz Boe the highest peak in the Sellas dead center |
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| One of the glaciers on the Marmolada Gruppe Looking up from 2600m/8500' to the highest peak, Punta Penia at 3342m/ 10,962' |
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| Looking East from the top of the lift on the Marmolada Gruppe |
What a
great last day in the Dolomites. We will
be back as there is so much more to do and see here; hopefully next time we
won’t run into a summer snowstorm.
In
going to the top, a bus ride down every hour, we walked back down to
the road and got back to our flat about 5pm.
An incredible experience this day was but now we had to focus upon
packing and getting ready for tomorrows trek to Venice. Having had a
big lunch and food left in our fridge, we ate in, relaxed overlooking the view
from our veranda and reflected once again our blessings.
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| The view from our room that literally changed each day! |
Day
Sette (10 September): As we left our flat this morning, aside from the usual
check-out stuff, we had 2 bus routes, a train and a ferry ahead of us getting
to our hotel in Venice; the first bus was late so we missed our second. However, we are getting better at this bus
transportation thing (not as efficient as the train system) so we left early
and arrived in Bolzano with plenty of time to buy a new bus ticket getting us
into Venice 2 hours earlier - new
realization here in Europe - there is no need to buy train tickets early as
there are so many trains you simply buy your ticket from the machine when you
need it. So off to Venice we went.
Again, the train ride was beautiful and we recognized some of
the sights we took photos of during our 2017 trip.
As we
got closer to Venice, the intimacy of the train ride diminished as the
mountains gave way to flatland and the horizon became further and further away
INNSBRUCK - AUSTRIA
Day Vier (2 September): Heading for Innsbruck from Vienna, we checked out of the hotel early; due to our uncertainty of exactly how the train systems work and the fact that we had to navigate the subway lines to get to the actual surface train station. Our movement to the station went faster than we though but we still were a bit unsure of what exactly to do once there. After about 20 minutes and a couple questions answered at the “Info Spot” (a train station info center) and we were squared away.
Day Vier (2 September): Heading for Innsbruck from Vienna, we checked out of the hotel early; due to our uncertainty of exactly how the train systems work and the fact that we had to navigate the subway lines to get to the actual surface train station. Our movement to the station went faster than we though but we still were a bit unsure of what exactly to do once there. After about 20 minutes and a couple questions answered at the “Info Spot” (a train station info center) and we were squared away.
About 0930 we sat down in a lounge
area and I had got us some breakfast from one of the “Backeri” (bakery)
vendors; cappuccino, water, a sandwich and some pastries. All good but I thought, there has to be a
better lounge…after all, I did purchase us First Class seats on the train. Again,
we laughed. About 10am, I looked about
30 feet left and there was an OEBB Train Lounge; we partook! Now you might be asking, “why the confusion?” Simply
because our train tickets did not say what train company issued the ticket;
turns out we were on an OEBB train (the Austrian official train company) so it
occurred to me to asked. I had another
cappuccino (they have the best self-service cap machines over here) bringing my
total espresso shots to 5. (As I type this, 21 minutes from Linz Austria, about
an hour into our train ride, I am experiencing a massive caffeine buzz. Kim is
again laughing; my life is complete.)
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| We found the OEBB First Class Lounge! |
Once the monitor indicated that it
was our time to board – sort of – no announcements at all, we moved all our
stuff up to Platform 5 and tried to figure out exactly where to go. Kim at this
point had an understanding and I didn’t; as I stood looking at the monitor like
“Rainman” with a picture of the train and where the coaches are positioned
(ours was Coach 36). Continuing my “Rainman” stare at the monitor, she, shaking
her head, made a great comment, “we need to walk back towards the end of the
train line to get onto our coach (as the LED picture indicated. She was right. We got on, she figured out
where our seats were, I stowed our big bags (right on the Coach with us) and as
I was putting up my backpack, the train departed!; no announcement. No warning.
You just get on and it goes; you had better be ready. Hilarious!
I do like train travel. I think Kim
does as well. But she’s not as vocal about how much she likes things as I. One aspect
of train travel is the intimate experience you achieve with the countryside,
little villages, houses, barns, farms and vineyards; absolute eye-candy
(if you like sweets like that). Unfortunately, today we have clouds and rain so
visibility is a little bit low. After a
beautiful train ride we arrived in Innsbruck.
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| Views from the train |
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| Views from the train |
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| Views from the train |
Exiting the train station here in
Innsbruck was relaxed. We had no schedule
issues. We contemplated Uber; nope! A quick call to the hotel to check on cab fare’s and we hailed a cab. It was a 5-minute ride but to a cobble street
“Herzog Friedrich Strasse” that the cabbie could not drive up so up the cobbles
we went dragging our roller bags behind (noisy Americans); we just laughed. However, during our hilarity we both noticed
what an astonishing area this Old Town Innsbruck displayed; curved roads,
Austrian architecture, narrow alleys, sidewalk café’s, street vendors, crazy
painted facades. For Kim, a setting right out of a “Harry Potter” story. She was in a great place; I was as well.
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| A typical road/alley in Old Town Innsbruck |
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| My girl enjoying a wine in a historic tiled/cobble alley cafe. |
The Hotel Weisses Kreuz (just up
from the McDonalds!!!) was selected by Kimble because of its location here in
Old Town Innsbruck (Inns = river and bruck = Bridge) and some of its history;
Motzart stayed here. So… I thought…
well, “this must be old”. It was. Huge wooden door, a “lift” about 4 feet
square, the “reception” on the second floor, not a level stair step nor floor
in sight, rock columns from the original construction surrounded by wood beams
that looked old and sagged. But this
place was awesome, quiet and right in the middle of it all (as we would find
out).
After checking in and getting
settled, we hit the street exploring. We
walked up and down the little cobbled stone alleys, went into a couple of
shops, saw the local Hofburg and 3 or 4 churches, found the “funicular” station
leading to the top of the northern peaks, honed in on where to eat dinner and
then stopped at a nice little cocktail lounge, in a quaint alley reminiscent of
Hogsmeade, and Kimble enjoyed a 3 euro glass of wine and I had a 16 euro 8 centiliter
Oban Scotch on the rocks (8 cl = 2.7oz); I am not a cheap date! We then continued our exploration and of
course…we managed to find the most expensive place in town DENGG, for dinner
(have I mentioned…it has been raining lightly this entire time?) We sat outside, under the awning/umbrella and
enjoyed an astoundingly presented (and exceptionally delicious) four course meal;
not what you would expect I assure you; we did find humor in the posted hours
of operation – “8:30am till 24:00”.
Day Funf (3 September): We were told
that no vehicles were allowed on these cobble stone streets and alleys, so Kim
and I got up at 0700 to go take some photos.
Shit! Not only were there cars
all over the streets, but delivery trucks and mini-semi trucks. We could not believe it. Trash everywhere so the photo ops were
out. We headed back to the room, grabbed
our packs and headed out.
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| A favorite street of Kim's - took us several attempts to get this image! |
Our first stop was to get our train
tickets from Treinitalia at the train station.
Turns out…no Treinitalia at this station. We called.
Turns out, can’t get Treinitalia tickets outside of Italy. Guess I missed that one on the email after
they took my money on a ticket from Innsbruck to Bolzano! Solution? We bought
new tickets from the OEBB train line; same time, same train number, everything
but the OEBB train company could not help.
88 euro more and 59 euro to maybe get back once in Italy as we need a
train ticket from Bolzano to Venice next week.
Will keep you posted.
So after this little “cluster F - -
K!”, we went a looking at the architectural sights surrounding the Old Town area. Hunger approaching, we found a café (yes..
sidewalk) called, “The Breakfast Club”, which had American breakfasts and
having seen all the “architecture” we wanted, we decided to spend the rest of
the day going “Peak to Peak”.
I digress. Here in Innsbruck, there are many modes of
transportation; bus, train, funicular, tram, gondola. All with “tourist” prices. The tram to the 7400ft/2256m Hafelekar Peak
to the north cost 36,5 euro per person.
The gondola to the 1950m/7000 ft Patscherkofel Peaks to the south cost
23,5 euro per person. Trains around the
city were about 2 euro per ride. BUT…the
Department of Tourism, sold a 43 euro “Innsbruck Card” which let us do it
all! So…like buying a multi-day subway
pass in the big cities, we bought the tourism card; saved us both time and euro’s!
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| The Hofburg - Central Political building |
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| The Tyrolean State Museum |
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| Triumphal Arch |
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| St James Cathedral |
Our “Peak to Peak” excursion now calculated,
we set off (0930) for the Congress Station Funicular and headed up to Hafelekar
which was at this point (one funicular and two trams would ascend us from 1900ft/700m
Innsbruck City Center to the top) which was still in the clouds; remember the
rains from yesterday and last night?
Gone was the rain and the clouds were slowly burning off; we now had
partly cloudy skies but it looked somewhat clear as we approached the top; by
the afternoon, we figured it would be clear.
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| On the way up the north slope - Innsbruck in the background - getting on Tram 1 |
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| Atop Hafekofel - View South - North Tyrolean Alps |
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| Looking East from atop Hafekofel |
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| View of the mountains north of Innsbruck - Hafekofel - from the Patsherkofel tram station |
VIENNA - AUSTRIA
Day Ein (30 August): Departing Kefalonia at 0930 we arrived in Athens at approximately 1100, collected our bags and checked in for our flight to Vienna. Having a 3 hour wait, we relaxed in one of the American Express lounges (I highly recommend these while traveling- a bit more cost but very worth the stress reducing relaxation provided). A bit late, Aegean Air landed us in Vienna about 1630 and we got to the front of the airport after a bit of complex navigation and grabbed an UBER to our hotel; 32 euros vs 24 via train? Just made sense to use today's modern conveniences of "ride sharing".
Once checked into the Mercure Vienna First Hotel (and figured out how to use the elevator) we hit the streets of Vienna to recon the subway system and grab a meal at a sidewalk cafe.
Accomplishing both these objectives, we ate
Asian, successfully purchased our 72-hour Metro passes and even competed a couple sorties out into the "untergrundbahn" (underground railway) to make sure we were ready for tomorrows adventure, we headed back to the room to read up on Vienna and get some rest. A full day for sure.
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| Rektoratskirche St. Karl Borromaus - Karlskirche - St. Charles Church |
Day Zwei (31 August): We woke early excited to hit the streets of Vienna. The architecture here is supposed to be spectacular and so far, what we have seen (as indicated by the photo above) has not let us down.
With the subway system somewhat in hand, we headed for the station that would let us exit at Karlsplatz (Charles Square). This is where we would begin our exploration of the "innere stadt" the inner circle of Vienna; the first fully developed municipal district. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As we exited the subway and began to look around, what we noticed was tremendous...construction? No. Renovation. Many of the significant buildings on our list to visit are undergoing incredible work.
Our first stop was that of the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). As I went for my iPhone, well... left it in the room! So...headed back, got iPhone and began again. The problem was, that this building was so big and in such a densely constructed area, we could not get a decent photo so please use the link above.
As we continued our walk, we decided to head to the area of the Albertina Museum, the Hofburg and the Heldenplatz (remember, Platz = Square), find a Cafe, enjoy a breakfast at again, a sidewalk cafe (love these) overlooking this area and continue our strategy for the early part of the day (9am - 1500); we planned to take a break from 1500 until about 6pm and then head out again for an evening excursion.
Following breakfast, the Albertina Museum (and you can Google any of these structures - I am not going to provide links to each) was our first stop. An incredible building with some crazy sculpture adorning its walls and cornice; the latter being the top edge of a building in which you will see tremendous reverence, sculpture and decoration.
This fountain sculpture caught both our eyes, take a look - closely:
We have no idea if this fountain or sculpture has a name but it was really interesting.
As we continued, we got a glimpse of why so much renovation may be going on. The white granite of many of these building is tarnished.
As you can see, the far left of the building's lower level has been cleaned, the central section all covered with scaffolding and heavy plastic, is now being cleaned. The lower part of the building in the center of my image, dark, has not yet been cleaned. Lots of work keeping these 100 - 500 year old buildings in shape.
We entered the Heldenplatz, a huge public square in front of the Hofburg Palace, the residence of the Austrian President and were again in awe of these structures so we spent the next several hours just wandering around the Innere Stradt enjoying the architecture.
We wandered down side streets with no plan at all, enjoying the diverse architecture (old, new and very old) all mixed together. We stopped at a sidewalk vendor for some "homemade lemonade" - Kim's was Hibiscus and mine, lime! But all the time...we kept running into views like this...With the subway system somewhat in hand, we headed for the station that would let us exit at Karlsplatz (Charles Square). This is where we would begin our exploration of the "innere stadt" the inner circle of Vienna; the first fully developed municipal district. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As we exited the subway and began to look around, what we noticed was tremendous...construction? No. Renovation. Many of the significant buildings on our list to visit are undergoing incredible work.
Our first stop was that of the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). As I went for my iPhone, well... left it in the room! So...headed back, got iPhone and began again. The problem was, that this building was so big and in such a densely constructed area, we could not get a decent photo so please use the link above.
As we continued our walk, we decided to head to the area of the Albertina Museum, the Hofburg and the Heldenplatz (remember, Platz = Square), find a Cafe, enjoy a breakfast at again, a sidewalk cafe (love these) overlooking this area and continue our strategy for the early part of the day (9am - 1500); we planned to take a break from 1500 until about 6pm and then head out again for an evening excursion.
Following breakfast, the Albertina Museum (and you can Google any of these structures - I am not going to provide links to each) was our first stop. An incredible building with some crazy sculpture adorning its walls and cornice; the latter being the top edge of a building in which you will see tremendous reverence, sculpture and decoration.
This fountain sculpture caught both our eyes, take a look - closely:
We have no idea if this fountain or sculpture has a name but it was really interesting.
As we continued, we got a glimpse of why so much renovation may be going on. The white granite of many of these building is tarnished.
As you can see, the far left of the building's lower level has been cleaned, the central section all covered with scaffolding and heavy plastic, is now being cleaned. The lower part of the building in the center of my image, dark, has not yet been cleaned. Lots of work keeping these 100 - 500 year old buildings in shape.
We entered the Heldenplatz, a huge public square in front of the Hofburg Palace, the residence of the Austrian President and were again in awe of these structures so we spent the next several hours just wandering around the Innere Stradt enjoying the architecture.
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The Hofburg
The Front side of the Kunsthistorisches Museum at Maria-Theresien-Platz
The"backside of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
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| The Votivkirche |
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| A side view of the Votivkirche |
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| One of the several stained glass windows inside the Votivkirche |
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| The Vienna City Hall - Wiener Rathaus |
After we visited (for maybe 5 minutes) the incredibly crowded Stephensplatz, where the highlighted Cathedral of St. Stephens is located, we stopped about 3pm for lunch, came back to the room to rest (I worked on this blog), did a bit of grocery shopping and then headed out around 18:30 for our evening jaunt. Due to the very large crowd in Stephensplatz and the sheer size of the Cathedral, we took no worthy photos so I included the link FYI.
We did not get any evening photos as we spent the majority of our time kind of stuck on the subway due to construction. Not a big deal but we had to back-track, reroute and what should have taken about 15 minutes, took about an hour. No loss of value though. We found our train station for our departure to Innsbruck, we determined our path to the Shonbrunn Place, saw many more buildings from a distance (hopefully we will visit them tomorrow night) and had a casual and relaxed dinner about 9pm.
A great day. We had an absolutely wonderful time and enjoyed it all except, the HUGE crowds. We expected this and of course the population density of Vienna is about like Paris, 17,500 people per square mile, but cemented in our minds is the fact that we are simply not "large city" adventurers.
Day Drei (1 September): Our last full day here, we planned a rather vigorous schedule for our 0900 - 3pm excursion. First, we would navigate the subway system back to Schonbraunn Palace (we visited here last night briefly on the subway), about 15 miles/25Km southwest of the city center and then up to a very modern part of Vienna, UNO City and the Donauturm Tower, about 18 miles/30km from the palace.
Arriving at the Schonbraunn Palace, we looked at each other and said, "Versailles". Now this palace was built in its present form between 1740 and 1750.
Okay, cool but lets have breakfast! We found a sidewalk cafe inside the gates and had breakfast (the cappuccinos here are small! - but tasty!!). Here is the view from our table:
As we began to explore, we just kept feeling like this was a ego driven copy of Versailles; and it was. Versailles was constructed between 1660 and 1675 and then expanded throughout the years up to 1715. So with this in mind, we continued our exploration of the grounds.
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| The Obelisk Fountain - not a very creative name but definitely demonstrates the Egyptian cultural influences! |
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| The Gloriette - nothing more than a large garden structure atop the hill rising from directly above the Palace. |
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| Image of the Palace and Vienna from the Gloriette |
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| Neptune's Fountain - another sensationalized piece of yard art |
In our opinion, while we were glad to have visited this Palace, its construction and adornments were nothing more than excesses aimed to satisfy an ego; on the efforts of the common man probably taxed excessively as well to accomplish such glory for the Monarchy. Interesting though, all of this was free. We did not enter the Palace because it seemed fraught with disappointment (which did have a fee) but we did tour the grounds for 3 hours and it is definitely not kept-up; we did pay 7 Euros total to see one of the unique gardens and it was also a disappointment in its care. So, free? We would gladly have paid a fee to see these grounds/gardens/structures so why they do not charge is a mystery to us however, we certainly do not understand the decisions of our own Governments let alone this foreign one.
It was about 1300 and we headed northeast to our next destination; the Donauturm Tower and UNO City (I highly recommend you Google or Wikipedia these - lots of great information). So after a complex navigation of the subway system which took us from Line 4, to Line 6, to Line 3 and finally to Line 1, we made it to Kaisermuhlen-VIC Station. What a contrast in architecture from what we have seen the past couple days.
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| The Vienna International Centre (VIC) - UNO City |
It was well worth the 14,5 Euro fee to go to the top. The views were pretty awesome but shunted by smog and haze.
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| South (far left) to West (far right) |
As the 3 o'clock hour approached, it was time to head back to our hotel but we were treated to a severe afternoon thunder storm which dropped rain for about 15 minutes while we waited under a tree; it cooled off the valley easily by 10 degrees. The route back was a simple one and only required one line on the subway. The evening adventure awaits!
Poros, Kefalonia, Greece
As far as a Kimble and Martin "Adventure", this one started off no differently; hell, why would we expect anything else? After 34 hours of travel, which began at 0400 on 19 August -15 hours in the air, 90 minutes by vehicle, 10 hours of airport waiting and 8 additional hours of airline bullshit ( United ) - we made it; Poros, Greece on the Ionian island of Kefalonia. We were scooped up at the island’s airport (EFL) by our dear friends, Jerry and Franny; who live in Poros 6 months of each year and have done so for the past 45. About midnight we arrived at their home just meters to the west of Poros.
Travel issues aside, and always to be expected, Day Tria (21 August) honestly got off to a slow start.
Lacking any decent REM sleep during the previous 48 hours we did not
rise until 1pm. With our hosts out doing
their daily activities, we decided to get in a quick 3 mile walk down along the
ocean. This was actually really good timing as the village was taking its afternoon
“Siesta”; between 1500 and 6p.
As we walked, periodically, we jumped into the ocean to
cool off (90F/ 32C with 80% humidity). We
enjoyed the beach front that beautifies Poros and its quaint village
architecture. Stopping only at the Dyonosos
Tavern (owned by a close friend of our hosts) for some sparkling lemonade, we
hoofed it back to the house around 6:30pm so we could make a dinner reservation
at 2000 hours at our host’s son’s restaurant, the Agrapidos Tavern, owned and
operated by Gerasimos “Mikai” Kampitsis; a great meal of all our Greek
favorites, plenty of wine and a warm chocolate cake for desert – which Kimble
and I shared! Still feeling extremely jet lagged and simply physically tired,
we voted for “day over” at 2300; tomorrow would be a new day.
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| The Ferry coming into Poros - The view from our dinner table. |
Day Tessera (22 August) and Day Pente (23 August): Began early each day with 7 – 10km walks
along an ocean front road that was once planned to lead to Sami, a village to
the northwest of Poros, but never completed.
A great path for watching the village awake, the sun rise and enjoying
the beauty along the shoreline of the Ionian Sea. These walks are regular to our host Jerry as
he has a group of local Greek men that meet up each morning at 0600. Watching the sun rise over the Greek mainland
and its rays lighting up Poros was spectacular.
Kimble set a nice pace, doing yoga along the
way and I hung with the Greek boys, picked up some new Greek language and
enjoyed learning about the history of this group of men.
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| Poros as the sun began to shine upon her streets at 0730 |
Each morning we stopped at a local Café to patronize the
Piraya (community); the first day, we stopped at “Dennys” (not the one you
think!) a local bakery and enjoyed a
light breakfast and some cappuccinos but on the second day, I went to “Your
Bike”, the local bike shop owned by Demitri and Stamatia and had coffee and
conversation with Demitri; they are trying to diversify their business into a
bike and coffee shop.
We purposely kept things during these first to days calm
and low paced. We spent time chatting
amongst each other and the local “familys” of our hosts, had lunch out at Kosta’s (another close local family friend) on Thursday and on Friday, Jerry
and Franny cooked up a great afternoon meal which we enjoyed in their garden
under the shade of a huge grape vine. We
got in some bike riding along the shore and slowly assimilated into the Greek
life here in Poros.
By Friday evening our bodies felt like a part of the Greek time-zone so at 8:30pm we ventured with Jerry and Franny to a "Greek Festival" in Tzanata, a village just up the road. A traditional “end of summer” bash where many
from all around, locals and visitors, congregate to enjoy a meal, live music and dancing. I would estimate that there were close to 300
people in attendance and we had a blast just enjoying this traditional island
event.
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| A "panorama" image of the event, right on the road |
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| Dancing to the live traditional Greek music |
We were highly impressed with the organization of the event, the quality of the food (at a very reasonable price) and the fact that nobody got hit by the semi-trucks trying to navigate to and from Argistoli and Poros; the event parking was like Woodstock, right on the road and there was barely enough room for the truckers and busses to pass - crazy!
Day Exi (24 August): Today, adventure would ensue! We would visit a new, "to Kimble and I", island in the Ionian; Zakynthos. We would however, visit the island in a manner that neither Jerry, Franny or we, had ever done - a guided tour on a power yacht Captained by the son of a good friend of our Hosts, Yanni; along with 48 other island visitors.
We departed Poros at 9am and got to see the southeast corner of Kefalonia in a visually stunning maner - from the sea! Then we would motor almost directly south the 13 miles (21km) over the turquoise Ionian Sea to the island of Zakynthos. Now the attraction for us all was being on the sea, experiencing a new port and having a wonderful lunch at the island's seaside village of Agios Nikolaos. BUT, in so doing, we would get to see a shipwreck (well...maybe), the Blue Caves, swim in the Ionian Sea and visit Agios Nikolaos.
Our first stop around 1045 was to one of the most beautiful beaches of Greece (or so the reports say), Navagio Beach (also know as Shipwreck Beach) an exposed cove that is at times referred to as "Smugglers Cove" (to know more...read the link provided here) because beached there is the wreck of the M/V Panayiotis. Reported to be beached in 1980 - thus not a "shipwreck".
It was an interesting beach and cove and very beautiful with high steep walls surrounding the 200m/666ft white sandy beach but the experience was truly enhanced by the hilarity of the spectacle that the Greek Tour operators had made of this part of island history.
Our first stop around 1045 was to one of the most beautiful beaches of Greece (or so the reports say), Navagio Beach (also know as Shipwreck Beach) an exposed cove that is at times referred to as "Smugglers Cove" (to know more...read the link provided here) because beached there is the wreck of the M/V Panayiotis. Reported to be beached in 1980 - thus not a "shipwreck".
It was an interesting beach and cove and very beautiful with high steep walls surrounding the 200m/666ft white sandy beach but the experience was truly enhanced by the hilarity of the spectacle that the Greek Tour operators had made of this part of island history.
This beautiful cove was adorned with about 1000 tourists and 25 tour boats most of which did not have licensed captains at the helm. It was slo-motion chaos but our Captain, Yanni Valsamis of Valsamis Cruises (online on Facebook), did a great job maneuvering us around for the 30 minutes we were there.
What was most incredible was the beauty of this northwestern, and quite exposed, coastline.
What was most incredible was the beauty of this northwestern, and quite exposed, coastline.
After about a 30 minute motor to the northern most tip of the island, we got to the next attraction, Blue Caves.
Again, they were beautiful however, most of this coastline is adorned with these sea etched rock caverns and natural arches. So, I could not figure out why (see the sign at the top of the image) this particular section was singled out to be the attraction. I can say however, that they would be much more intriguing had we been in a small ski boat where we could have entered them (on a calm day) and enjoyed a wholly immersive experience as some were fairly large but not large enough for our 85ft/25m motor yacht the M/Y Aggelsol.
In between these two sights, we swam,enjoyed the sea breezes and great conversation; again amongst ourselves and the crew.
About 1300 we headed to the small sea village/port of Agios Nikolaos for a great lunch overlooking the sea and departed for Poros with full bellies and blessed souls for having been a part of such a great journey; I felt like Jason of "Jason and the Argonauts"!
Arriving back in Poros about 4:30pm we strategized our options for tomorrow as we relaxed at our home here in Poros.
Day Epta (25 August): Today, Sunday in Poros, Kimble and I decided to take a bike ride to Skala, a immensely tourist village to the south of Poros about 13km/8miles. It is a nice ride along the Ionian Sea with some moderate terrain.
We left Demitri's bike shop, Your Bike (on Facebook), at 8am and by 0930 we were in Skala. An easy ride unfortunately with no breeze and about 85f/29c but the humidity was about 60%. As we entered Skala, Kim noticed my back tire was real low. We got off to pump it up and were completely unfamiliar with the European valve stems so we inadvertently let all the air out of the tire and just looked at each other and laughed. We fumbled with the pump for about 5 minutes but could make no sense of it. So we decided to go find a local bike shop and have them help. So we walked into the Old Skala village and asked a couple of shop owners if there was a bike shop in town...Ochi, Ochi, Ochi (no,no,no) so we decided to have breakfast. We sat at the Old Village Cafe and ordered an American breakfast and Googled "Bike Shops Near Me" and you know what came up - Your Bike in Poros! So we called Demitri and he drove down and fixed the bike! Replaced the tire while we ate and in minutes he had completed his repairs. We finished breakfast and cruised through town and back down to the seashore road and began our peddle back. It was about 11am.
We stopped along the way to take a couple of photos but were on a bit of a schedule as we had a family event at about 2pm but more importantly, it was getting hotter as the day went on.
Well...the day went on and the heat jumped up fast. As Kimble and I peddled into Poros, we experienced a bit of heat exhaustion began to set in. The heat wave here in Europe is a real thing and we have been amazed at how hot it has been - over 90f/32c every day, crazy humidity and not a breath of a breeze; amazing for being along the sea!
We completed 17miles/27k and thankfully following this little adventure, we were off to a gathering at the local pool where we could sip cold drinks and relax in cool water; it was welcomed and earned!
Not much for the rest of the day with the priority being to stay out of the heat.
Day Okto (26 August): As the heat lingers, Jerry (77) went for his 7k/4.5m morning walk with his crew at 0600 but even at that time the heat was well over 85f/30c. Franny, did her Yoga and Kim and I went with their son, Maiki (Owner of Agrapados Taverna - mentioned above) to see his property and discuss his vision for Air BnB type of Villa development. He has about a 2 acre parcel of land between Poros and Skala overlooking the sea. A beautiful tiered property...
... which of course you can't really discern from this photo but really a nice piece of land. It has been in his family according to him "forever" and it passed to him from his Grandfather. I estimate this land to be a $5-$10mm property along the southern California coastline and here...maybe $90K undeveloped. That blew both Kim and I away when he told us that.
Following our adventure into the prime real estate district south of Poros, we headed back to the house to help prepare the wooden barrel for the upcoming wine stomping; a procedure that would be taught to Kim and I by Angelou.
The first order of business is to remove the barrel from the wine room (which is also our apartment and probably why we take so long to exit each morning as Jerry and Franny's wine is incredible, organic, no chemicals and like I have said from the 2017 trip, like Welch's Grape Juice with a wonderful kick) -
Then, Angelou, a family friend of Jerry and Franny, related to someone in their close knit community, knowledgeable in the cleaning of the barrel began to demonstrate his skills! -
First the barrel is drained of the "moogla" which is grape sediment that has settled to the bottom of the barrel over the past year - it looks like a very liquid applesauce.
It is then rinsed several times with fresh water and the barrel is rolled about to flush out any moogla that is attached to the sides and remaining along the bottom, cracks and crevices of the inside.
Angelou then boils some local plant leaves from walnut and lemon trees along with wild anise in water and makes a very hot flushing/cleaning solution -
He then pours this solution into the barrel and rolls it vigorously for several minutes and doing so three to four times until only clean solution comes out of the barrel -
Following this, and only when in Angelou's expert opinion is the barrel ready (clean), we replace it into the wine room where in a few days, the grape juice from the "stomping" will, by gravity, be directly fed into the barrel; the natural fermenting process will then begin and in a years time, there will be Robola Wine, a white that is incredibly tasty (as I keep saying!).
What a great experience. Unfortunately due to a very cold June, the grapes will not be ready until middle of next week and we depart on Friday. Sad as we were so looking forward to seeing the whole process but... happily it gives us another reason to adventure back to this wonderful place visiting Jerry and Franny and all of their great family and friends.
The afternoon meal began about 1500 and we were joined by Demetri, Stamatia, and their sons Adonis and Fotis: lunch was at Romanzas overlooking the Poros City Center and the Ferry Port. We had typical Greek fare which today included fresh fish but the special treat...Stamatia made Galaktoboureko (pronounced - Glacta Boar E Ko) especially for me as she remembered from 2017 how much I loved this ( low sugar and fat I assure you) Greek Desert that she made from a recipe handed down over several generations; a recipe that in my humble opinion, she has mastered!
Without much deviation from the "status quo", we ended the day making decisions for the next couple of days now that wine making had been postponed. Being that it was Monday, we decided to spend Tuesday exploring and then take an island trip up to the northwest on Wednesday.
Day Ennea and Deka (August 27 and 28): As we find ourselves immersed in the way's of Greek life here on Kefalonia, the days have become blurred as we are constantly planning and executing many activities. The past couple days have been focused upon exploration.
Tuesday, Kimble and I, following our morning rituals of walks, yoga, cappuccino, conversation, etc., went exploring beyond Skala and to the small bay of Katelios. We were here in 2017 but wanted to visit again and see the beaches; one of which is Mounda Beach. The local economy has done their best to develop these areas into tourist destinations and at certain times of the year, have been successful. We are visiting now at the end of the tourist season and have found the beaches to be much more populated than when we were here in October of 2017.
On Wednesday, we ventured up to the North Western peninsula of Kefalonia by way of the Ferry from Argostoli to Luxori. We then traveled to Mantzavinata and up to Petani for lunch. Mantzavinata had a very large commercial winery but it was closed! Very surprising for this time of year and consistent with the fact that the grapes are simply not ready for harvest. We then sidetracked down to a very popular beach, XI beach (not sure how to pronounce this one?) and found it to be way to busy...
We truly wanted to swim but the crowds and the shallow water convinced us to continue on our path. As we rounded the southwestern point of the peninsula and began to head north toward Petani, we came to the Kipouria Monastery and had to stop for some photos as the setting was incredible.
At times I am completely blown away at the real estate; this is a $50mm property anywhere along the coastal areas of the USA.
Around 1:30pm we arrived at Petani. Simply breathtaking...
We drove down a very windy road to get into the bay and Jerry and Franny again were amazed at the amount of people. The cars were backed up along the road most the way leaving very little space for travel. My plan was to drop everyone off to get a table at the restaurant and then go park but low and behold, they had paid parking right at the Taverna. We paid!!!.
Had a nice lunch complimentary of the owners (Jerry and Franny are very close family friends) swam and relaxed enjoying this beautiful area.
We ended the day (August 28) with the 90 minute drive back to Poros, through Luxori, then Argostoli via Ferry, through the Mt. Ainos National Park and up over the mountain pass, through the village of Pyrgi and then down into Poros; an incredible windy road through cities, vineyards, farmland, lush mountain terrain as well as desert mountain terrain; Mt. Ainos is 1628m/5340 feet above sea level and at times can get snow!
Our last hours here in Poros are bittersweet. It is such a relaxing place (albeit a bit hot this time) and so full of character, warmth and smiles. Jerry and Franny truly have a community here deep in family tradition, respect and love.
We did manage to enjoy a hike down to a very secluded beach between Poros and Skala where the blue waters were incredible and cool.
We said our good-byes (Adio) and at 6:30am the next morning, we departed this wonderful place and just like upon arrival, our Jerry and Franny, dropped us off at the airport and away we went - on to Vienna.
Again, they were beautiful however, most of this coastline is adorned with these sea etched rock caverns and natural arches. So, I could not figure out why (see the sign at the top of the image) this particular section was singled out to be the attraction. I can say however, that they would be much more intriguing had we been in a small ski boat where we could have entered them (on a calm day) and enjoyed a wholly immersive experience as some were fairly large but not large enough for our 85ft/25m motor yacht the M/Y Aggelsol.
In between these two sights, we swam,enjoyed the sea breezes and great conversation; again amongst ourselves and the crew.
About 1300 we headed to the small sea village/port of Agios Nikolaos for a great lunch overlooking the sea and departed for Poros with full bellies and blessed souls for having been a part of such a great journey; I felt like Jason of "Jason and the Argonauts"!
Arriving back in Poros about 4:30pm we strategized our options for tomorrow as we relaxed at our home here in Poros.
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| The late afternoon view from Jerry and Franny's veranda |
Day Epta (25 August): Today, Sunday in Poros, Kimble and I decided to take a bike ride to Skala, a immensely tourist village to the south of Poros about 13km/8miles. It is a nice ride along the Ionian Sea with some moderate terrain.
We left Demitri's bike shop, Your Bike (on Facebook), at 8am and by 0930 we were in Skala. An easy ride unfortunately with no breeze and about 85f/29c but the humidity was about 60%. As we entered Skala, Kim noticed my back tire was real low. We got off to pump it up and were completely unfamiliar with the European valve stems so we inadvertently let all the air out of the tire and just looked at each other and laughed. We fumbled with the pump for about 5 minutes but could make no sense of it. So we decided to go find a local bike shop and have them help. So we walked into the Old Skala village and asked a couple of shop owners if there was a bike shop in town...Ochi, Ochi, Ochi (no,no,no) so we decided to have breakfast. We sat at the Old Village Cafe and ordered an American breakfast and Googled "Bike Shops Near Me" and you know what came up - Your Bike in Poros! So we called Demitri and he drove down and fixed the bike! Replaced the tire while we ate and in minutes he had completed his repairs. We finished breakfast and cruised through town and back down to the seashore road and began our peddle back. It was about 11am.
We stopped along the way to take a couple of photos but were on a bit of a schedule as we had a family event at about 2pm but more importantly, it was getting hotter as the day went on.
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| Port Skala |
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| Our first trip selfie! Skala over Kim's left shoulder. Taken from Port Skala. |
We completed 17miles/27k and thankfully following this little adventure, we were off to a gathering at the local pool where we could sip cold drinks and relax in cool water; it was welcomed and earned!
Not much for the rest of the day with the priority being to stay out of the heat.
Day Okto (26 August): As the heat lingers, Jerry (77) went for his 7k/4.5m morning walk with his crew at 0600 but even at that time the heat was well over 85f/30c. Franny, did her Yoga and Kim and I went with their son, Maiki (Owner of Agrapados Taverna - mentioned above) to see his property and discuss his vision for Air BnB type of Villa development. He has about a 2 acre parcel of land between Poros and Skala overlooking the sea. A beautiful tiered property...
... which of course you can't really discern from this photo but really a nice piece of land. It has been in his family according to him "forever" and it passed to him from his Grandfather. I estimate this land to be a $5-$10mm property along the southern California coastline and here...maybe $90K undeveloped. That blew both Kim and I away when he told us that.
Following our adventure into the prime real estate district south of Poros, we headed back to the house to help prepare the wooden barrel for the upcoming wine stomping; a procedure that would be taught to Kim and I by Angelou.
The first order of business is to remove the barrel from the wine room (which is also our apartment and probably why we take so long to exit each morning as Jerry and Franny's wine is incredible, organic, no chemicals and like I have said from the 2017 trip, like Welch's Grape Juice with a wonderful kick) -
Then, Angelou, a family friend of Jerry and Franny, related to someone in their close knit community, knowledgeable in the cleaning of the barrel began to demonstrate his skills! -
First the barrel is drained of the "moogla" which is grape sediment that has settled to the bottom of the barrel over the past year - it looks like a very liquid applesauce.
It is then rinsed several times with fresh water and the barrel is rolled about to flush out any moogla that is attached to the sides and remaining along the bottom, cracks and crevices of the inside.
Angelou then boils some local plant leaves from walnut and lemon trees along with wild anise in water and makes a very hot flushing/cleaning solution -
He then pours this solution into the barrel and rolls it vigorously for several minutes and doing so three to four times until only clean solution comes out of the barrel -
Following this, and only when in Angelou's expert opinion is the barrel ready (clean), we replace it into the wine room where in a few days, the grape juice from the "stomping" will, by gravity, be directly fed into the barrel; the natural fermenting process will then begin and in a years time, there will be Robola Wine, a white that is incredibly tasty (as I keep saying!).
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| The Barrel is back and ready for the Robola Grape Juice |
The afternoon meal began about 1500 and we were joined by Demetri, Stamatia, and their sons Adonis and Fotis: lunch was at Romanzas overlooking the Poros City Center and the Ferry Port. We had typical Greek fare which today included fresh fish but the special treat...Stamatia made Galaktoboureko (pronounced - Glacta Boar E Ko) especially for me as she remembered from 2017 how much I loved this ( low sugar and fat I assure you) Greek Desert that she made from a recipe handed down over several generations; a recipe that in my humble opinion, she has mastered!
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| Me, Stamatia and Franny |
Day Ennea and Deka (August 27 and 28): As we find ourselves immersed in the way's of Greek life here on Kefalonia, the days have become blurred as we are constantly planning and executing many activities. The past couple days have been focused upon exploration.
Tuesday, Kimble and I, following our morning rituals of walks, yoga, cappuccino, conversation, etc., went exploring beyond Skala and to the small bay of Katelios. We were here in 2017 but wanted to visit again and see the beaches; one of which is Mounda Beach. The local economy has done their best to develop these areas into tourist destinations and at certain times of the year, have been successful. We are visiting now at the end of the tourist season and have found the beaches to be much more populated than when we were here in October of 2017.
On Wednesday, we ventured up to the North Western peninsula of Kefalonia by way of the Ferry from Argostoli to Luxori. We then traveled to Mantzavinata and up to Petani for lunch. Mantzavinata had a very large commercial winery but it was closed! Very surprising for this time of year and consistent with the fact that the grapes are simply not ready for harvest. We then sidetracked down to a very popular beach, XI beach (not sure how to pronounce this one?) and found it to be way to busy...
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| View West |
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| View East |
At times I am completely blown away at the real estate; this is a $50mm property anywhere along the coastal areas of the USA.
Around 1:30pm we arrived at Petani. Simply breathtaking...
We drove down a very windy road to get into the bay and Jerry and Franny again were amazed at the amount of people. The cars were backed up along the road most the way leaving very little space for travel. My plan was to drop everyone off to get a table at the restaurant and then go park but low and behold, they had paid parking right at the Taverna. We paid!!!.
Had a nice lunch complimentary of the owners (Jerry and Franny are very close family friends) swam and relaxed enjoying this beautiful area.
We ended the day (August 28) with the 90 minute drive back to Poros, through Luxori, then Argostoli via Ferry, through the Mt. Ainos National Park and up over the mountain pass, through the village of Pyrgi and then down into Poros; an incredible windy road through cities, vineyards, farmland, lush mountain terrain as well as desert mountain terrain; Mt. Ainos is 1628m/5340 feet above sea level and at times can get snow!
Our last hours here in Poros are bittersweet. It is such a relaxing place (albeit a bit hot this time) and so full of character, warmth and smiles. Jerry and Franny truly have a community here deep in family tradition, respect and love.
We did manage to enjoy a hike down to a very secluded beach between Poros and Skala where the blue waters were incredible and cool.
We said our good-byes (Adio) and at 6:30am the next morning, we departed this wonderful place and just like upon arrival, our Jerry and Franny, dropped us off at the airport and away we went - on to Vienna.
Hi, Martin & Kim! So happy for you two. Your adventure is off to a wonderful start. Way to keep up with that yoga, Kim. ; ^ ) Thanks for blogging. I enjoy reading about your trip very much. Sanguine Days!
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