Two Years Before the Souvlaki

Lato

On January 14th, we once again piled into our Fiat Punto and drove east.  Our first stop was the Byzantine chuch of Panagia Kera in the village of Kritsa in the hills above Agios Nikolaos.  The church was built in the 12th century and has the most famous frescos in Crete.  Technically, we weren't supposed to take photos inside, but, hey, this is Greece; at least we didn't use the flash.

Admiring the Byzantine frescos and trying to identify saints.

More frescos, including Saint George (bottom center) and the presentation of Jesus at the Temple (above).

Our next stop was the Dorian city of Lato, perched on a saddle between two hills above Kritsa.  Lato was a competing city to Dreros, which we had visited just a few weeks before.  The ruins date from the fourth and fifth centuries BCE, and the city was destroyed circa 200 BCE.  As you can see from the pictures below, it has been much more extensively excavated than Dreros and had incredible views of the Gulf of Mirabello to the east and the snow-capped Diktean mountains to the west.

First, before exploring, we had a picnic:

The picnic featured duck pate, apaki (smoke-cured pork loin), and the two cheeses are paleokefalotyri (left) and anthotyri.

Properly fortified, we hiked up to the ruins:

Note the tree which is starting to bloom; not bad for January.

A view of the Gulf of Mirabello and Agios Nikolaos.

The snow level came down under four thousand feet, as you can see from the  mountain in the background.

Another view of the Gulf of Mirabello. That's Agios Nikolaos just to the left of Graham's head.

The agora

An ancient olive press.

Visit to Lasithi

Last Friday we tried to take the kids to Amazonas Park, a parrot reserve with a Cretan farm petting zoo, located near Neapoli in the hills above Agios Nikolaos.  After our failed attempt to visit the Boutari winery, we wisely called them before leaving our house, just to make sure they would be open, and were assured that they were.  We set off, and because this is Crete, we weren't terribly surprised to drive up and see an empty parking lot and locked gates.  When we called the phone number again, the man answering the phone apologized and said something had come up at his house and he'd be open the next day.

We don't have the best luck visiting places in Crete, as you can tell.  Fortunately, we had seen a sign for an archaeological site as we'd driven up the hill from Neapoli, so we turned the car around and drove off to Dreros, a post-Minoan, Iron Age site we'd never heard of until we happened by it.  We were only organized enough to bring our guidebooks with us but not organized enough to actually remember that they were in the car, so everything we're about to tell you about Dreros we learned after our visit.  Anyway, the city was at its heyday during the 8th-6th centuries BCE, and continued to be occupied into the Byzantine era.  The city has been almost entirely excavated beginning in 1917.

It has not, however, been prepared for tourists.  As the Wikipedia entry states, "the site has little to offer the casual tourist."  The rocks have been cleared and placed into walls, and stone steps guided our way up the hill, probably leading not to the archaeological site itself but to a small chapel on top of the hill.  We've had lots of rain so the site was muddy, and, as it's inhabited by a flock of sheep, covered in sheep poop, as were Graham's pants by the time we were done exploring.

  

The Dreros agora is mostly occupied by sheep these days.

The view east from the summit of the hill.  You can see the Gulf of Mirabello in the distance.  This column isn't actually ancient, as it is made of concrete.

One of the only building remains at the site, other than walls.

Leaving Dreros, we took a small country road over the hills to the resort town of Elounda, north of Agios Nikolaos.  We passed these ruins on the drive, likely the remains of some windmills which the area is known for.

Windmill ruins.

After playing in a park in Elounda, eating a picnic lunch on the beach and hitting up a small cafe for supplementary pizza and sandwiches after it became apparent that our picnic lunch wasn't big enough, we drove north to the little village of Plaka, where we got a close look at the former leper colony on Spinalonga.  The ferries to the island don't run in the winter, as we discovered when we tried to visit with Courtney's parents in November 2010.  We visited Spinalonga once in October 2009 with Matt's aunt and uncle, but maybe we'll go back this spring once the ferries start up.

Spinalonga, as seen from the Plaka breakwater.

So, even without seeing any parrots, we still had a fun day.

Vathipetro

Last Wednesday we attempted to visit Boutari, a local winery we like.  Although the website claims it's open daily, we know from past experience that is a bit of an exaggeration, so after attempting to call we set out with a back up plan in place.  Sure enough, Boutari was closed for the winter, so we continued down the road to the Minoan ruins at Vathipetro, a few kilometers south of Archanes in the wine-growing region south of Heraklion.  The ruins consist of a manor house, which controlled the farmland in the region, as well as some ancient wine presses.  According to our guidebook, the surrounding vineyard claims to be the oldest in the world.

Graham and a very old vineyard.

Part of an ancient wine press.

Last Nights of Chanukah

This week we wrapped up Chanukah.

Seventh night of Chanukah.

Eighth night of Chanukah.

On the final night, we once again served latkes and applesauce for dinner, but this time we included pasta with cheese for the two members of the family who dislike potatoes fried in oil.

After dinner, Matt fried doughnuts. 

Mmm, doughnuts.  These were actually only half the recipe's doughnuts.

The next day, the eighth and final day of Chanukah, we fried the other half of the doughnuts and ate them as an afternoon snack.

Our Cretan Christmas

Like last year, we spent our Christmas here in Crete.  Although it was sad to not see our relatives in the U.S., not traveling at Christmas with two small children was really the best gift we gave ourselves. 

We spent our Christmas Eve watching NORAD Tracks Santa and prepping our Christmas dinner in accordance with Matt's detailed holiday meals schedule.  Matt baked the pork pie we'd filled the day before.

The kids waited by the fireplace for Santa, despite our assurances that he wouldn't come until after bedtime.

Just before bedtime, we let them open one present each - their birthday presents from Uncle Geordie and Aunt Shannon. 

After bedtime, we brought out armload after armload of presents, which we'd been hiding in closets for maximum effect on Christmas morning.  Here is our tree surrounded by presents after Santa made his delivery.

While we worked, the Finnish pulla rose by the fireplace.

We went to bed at midnight, and Graham and Maizie woke us up at seven in their excitement to open presents.

Maizie headed straight for the toy kitchen - a gift from Grandma and Grandpa - and Graham eyed all the presents and found the largest one.

We opened stockings before eating breakfast.

Christmas morning breakfast: Finnish pulla, the Chambers family traditional pork pie, ham, fruit salad, and freshly squeezed orange juice.

And then, the moment Graham had been waiting for: presents.  He opened the largest present first, a wooden tool bench from Aunt Brittany and Uncle Victor.

His new Playmobil crane, which Santa thoughtfully assembled before wrapping, was a big hit.

We opened presents from approximately 8:30 until 1:00, with a break for a snack and another break when Maizie went down for her nap.  We still didn't finish.  We opened a few more throughout the afternoon, but Matt and I still had five or six to open after the kids' bedtime and the kids each opened a few more the next morning.  We had a lot of presents.

Do you see our traditional Greek Christmas boat in the picture above?

In the afternoon, we stopped opening presents and Matt began preparing our Christmas dinner.  Here he is buttering our 3 kilo turkey, which we'd ordered the week before from our butcher.

Everyone helped stir the persimmon pudding. Per old British tradition, everyone helps stir and makes a wish while stirring the pudding.  Graham had seen this done on a Christmas episode of Peppa Pig and insisted we take part in the tradition.

Our tiny turkey cooked slightly faster than anticipated and we sat down to dinner at four o'clock in the afternoon.  Our menu consisted of turkey with sausage and apple stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and boiled Cretan greens.  Not pictured below are the salad or cheese courses. 

The steamed persimmon pudding with bourbon sauce.  Both kids ate two servings.  Also note the three hanukiyahs.

Our December Thus Far

We've been quite busy here, so this poor blog has once again been neglected.  Here's what we've been doing this December, in pictures.

We set up our tree the first weekend in December.  Graham assisted Daddy.

Maizie supervised.

Graham enjoyed decorating the tree.

After a rainy and cold November, we were all thrilled to get outside.

Maizie, amazingly, did not fall out of the swing.

I finally sewed the button on a dress I knit for Maizie last summer. 

We made five kinds of cookies, including two batches of gingerbread men. 

Graham helps with the rugelach.

We hung stockings after I finished knitting Maizie's.  Next year I want to knit Matt a new one so his will have a red stripe at the top and a green toe and heel like the other three stockings.  Also maybe next year will be the year I finally stitch our names in the white spaces at the top of the stockings.

Stockings, from left to right: Matt, Graham, Maizie, Courtney.

We had a Christmas party and six people came.  Oops.  I guess we should have had the party earlier in the month, before most of the physicists left Crete for the holidays.

We checked out Heraklion's Christmas tree in Platia Eleftherias.

And we ate loukimades in the market on Sunday during "Christmas in the Road," the only Sunday all year long when the shops are open.

Today was Graham's final day of school until January 9th.  School is technically in session tomorrow, but his teacher Miss Sarah is flying to her native England tomorrow and his teacher Miss Fabiana is flying to her native Brazil, and since Greek schools don't have substitute teachers he gets an extra day of vacation.  Matt took today and tomorrow off, and we've been busy preparing for our second Cretan Christmas.  We've been staying up late every night wrapping presents, assembling toys, and working on the holiday baking and cooking.  You should see the detailed, multi-day schedule Matt has made for our festive holiday meals.

And now I have to wrap up this post, because Matt just brought out a plate of bourbon balls and announced we're having a taste test.  He made two batches of bourbon balls this year - a modified version of the recipe in the Joy of Cooking, which is his usual recipe, and this recipe from the Los Angeles Times.  We'll let you know which one we prefer.

Happy Hanukkah

We've been busy getting ready for Christmas around here, but Tuesday night we took a break from the Christmas festivities to celebrate the first night of Hannukah.

Matt made potato latkes, using chicken schmaltz, and applesauce.  Sadly, neither child appreciated the latkes, although we certainly enjoyed them.

We let Graham light the candles. 

Family hanukiyahs, left to right: Maizie's, purchased in Israel last March, Graham's, and ours.  Our favorite Safed Candles Hanukkah candles arrived from Israel a few weeks ago.

Remember when Graham was a pudgy three-month-old entranced by the hanukiyah during Hanukkah 2007?

Maizie Walks

Maizie's been threatening to walk for at least a month.  On October 11th, she took three unassisted steps, but that was it for a while.  On Wednesday, November 16th, she decided she was ready, and now she's a full-fledged toddler.

Here she is toddling around the apartment:

 

Winter Snow, Cretan-style

We had our first snow storm of the season two weeks ago.  Of course, it only rained down here at sea level, but Mt. Ida and Mt. Skinakas, where we went just a month ago, now look like this:

Snowy Mt. Ida as seen from our apartment.

The summit of Mt. Skinakas, site of the observatory, is similarly snow covered.

Barring some unforeseen heat wave, we appear to have our Cretan-style white Christmas locked in.

Cretan Halloween

Halloween is one of the many American holidays which, since moving abroad, tend not to get fully observed; trick-or-treating is especially tough if no one is handing out candy.  Last year on Ohi Day, we did carve a jack-o-lantern, although the Cretans don't have pumpkins exactly, so we made do with the largest beige squash we could find.

We carved a squash again this year, this time with some "help" from Maizie.  Graham drew an abstract impressionist face, and I dutifully carved it out.

Scooping out the seeds.  

Having fun carving the mouth.

 Graham shows off the extremely scary finished product.

Although Europeans in general and Greeks in particular don't actually celebrate Halloween, strangely enough, Graham's class observed the holiday at school.  They had put up decorations, including lots of hand-colored pumpkins. Some of the kids came dressed in costume, though Graham was less than enthusiastic about his contruction worker outfit.  I brought in my knives and another big beige squash to demonstrate jack-o-lantern carving for both a joint session of the English and Greek kindergardens.  We had a great time, and although the Greek kids didn't understand a word of what I was saying, I think they got the general idea.  Afterward, I engaged Graham's class in helping to separate the seeds so we could toast them.  And finally, the kindergardens went around trick-or-treating to the classrooms of the older kids.  And, it was actually the closest Graham has ever gotten to celebraing a proper Halloween.