It’s autumn in Crete. The weather has turned and the leaves are turning orange very hesitantly.
The rain comes in waves, periods of light drizzle followed by the full on, opening of the taps. The mountain tops are fuzzy with fog, and the sloped cobble roads are slippery. This is the day that Counting Crows were made for. It’s nesting time in our stone cottage.
The Story so Far…
We’ve been on the island of Creti for ten days now. We were hoping to chase summer south a bit longer, maybe get just a bit more swimming in before heading to Turkey. It’s been warm, but mostly cloudy most days. We’ve had none of the full on clear blue days that we’d come to expect in Greece. When the sun is out, it’s hot and we’re tempted to jump in somewhere, but then a cloud moves in, and we lose the initiative.
Our plan had always been to see as much of Creti as we could, without burning ourselves out. We’ve clocked about 1200 kms of driving, and we’ve seen a good chunk of the north coast (where the cities and the New National Road, the BOAC, are located), the interior mountains, and even a few south coast beaches.
These last few days, we’re in the east. Pretty close to the town of Agio Nicholaos (Saint Nicholas), but (once again) up the mountains some and in one of those “traditional Cretan villages” you hear us talk so much about. Our cottage is in the village of Voulismeni (it’ in the foreground, below), and it’s a few kilometers from Neopoli, in the background.
This was the view about a hundred meters uphill the path that leads from the cottage. Up in the olive groves, where yesterday’s Picture of the Day came from. The dusky light gave the trees an ethereal blue colour.
Until Creti, we’ve had so very few days of rain. This is the first full day of drizzle and overcast we’ve experienced. It’s a good time to dig in and nest a bit, which is what Elliotte is doing. She’s turned into a voracious reader on her iPad. She’s currently into the Little House on the Prairie series. Book 6 or some such.