Fish Catching Travel
Crete 9/10/13
Fish Catching Travel
Sorry I have not posted in a couple of days. Will try to catch up later today or tomorrow. Before we head to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world I wanted to post a few pictures from Cappadocia. Slept in a cave, ballooned across Cappadocia, went to the underground city, and had a wonderful day with our guide Mehmet. I am not that much for tours but he was wonderful. So there you go. I will post all the information on him and the places we saw later.
What a way to watch the sunrise!
The Underground City.
This was so cool. I think there was 20 levels. There was a stable, cooking, dining, and a multitude of other rooms that went I do not know how far in the ground. We are in a passage, and they got smaller and smaller, and we were only in the 5th level. They were built by the earliest Christians, and the stone was to block the passage when their enemies came. What little I am telling you does not do the history of this area justice. If you are not familiar with Cappadocia, Google it, so cool.
Next to our hotel.
The entrance to our room and the balcony – way cool.
Our room – talk about making your wife a happy camper, try this hotel.
There is so much more to come, but it is hard to tell it all. As soon as we get back I will tell the whole story. It is the story of the world. Byzantines, Arabs, Romans, Mongolians, Islam, Christianity, and a whole lot more. The history was overwhelming.
Crete
Tired and worn out we finally made it to Crete. Only posting the pics above does not do any justice, but I will fill it all in when I get back, there is way to much to see.
Chania is a fishing city in Crete and we are staying on the waterfront. There are many traditional Greek fisherman here, and they catch octopus, swordfish, tuna (which resemble a Cuberra Snapper), Dorado (which look to me like a striper), and anchovy. And our room overlooks the port, way cool. In fact in the morning I will be up early to see the catch. The Greeks are the original fisherman and sailors and the heritage runs deep. Of course I love that.
From the balcony – it gets no better than this for a fisherman.
Last night it was marinated anchovy, grilled octopus, and swordfish. One word of advice, when the owner of the taverna tells you what to eat, do it!
Today we hit the beach. The Aegean Sea is so blue and clear, and we spent a lazy afternoon, nice after a week of the tourist thing.
A shot of the beach, which stretched for a mile.
I took this when we were leaving. It clearly does not do it justice but I am to tired to find a better one. Tomorrow it is off to drive the old island road along the cliffs of Crete. It should be a blast. And of course along the way we will stop at small Greek places and share coffee or maybe an Oozo. So keep stopping in and I will do what I can to download more pictures, I only have a couple of hundred to go through. So thanks for reading my stuff, even if it is not about fishing. When I get back I will do a complete travelogue on the trip.
Good Luck and Tight Lines.
9/14/13
The best laid plans. Of course I planned to blog more on our trip but we have been going from dawn to late at night every day. It is our final day on Crete before returning to Istanbul for a couple of days then home.
We have been to Greece before and always wanted to come back and it has lived up to our every expectation. I can say this without equivocation, the Greek people are wonderful. They are friendly, passionate, and gracious.
To give you a couple of examples: The great tavern down the street keeps giving us extra food to try, free drinks and dessert. At the Palace at Knossos the ticket taker inquired where we were from, and gave us half price entry. The list has gone on and on. Try having that happen in a US restaurant.
And I saw something that really reminded me of where we are when a guy in a small Ferrari parked on a corner, not a parking spot, the actual sidewalk. He got out and went in to a coffee shop and then here comes the Greek police. They put on their siren, parked, and got out with the ticket book. As they did the guy comes running out of the coffee shop and both he and the cop start yelling. It was awesome. But here the yelling is not a real argument, it is a discussion. Then the guy gets in his car and moves and the cops leave. Everyone was happy with the outcome.
I comment on this because they were able to work it out, with no hard feelings. Everyone expressed themselves and it was done. Try dealing with a US police officer like that – you are going to be cuffed and stuffed, seriously manhandled, and who knows what else. It may have seemed like a confrontation, but it was just how things were done here. The officer’s restraint is something our officers could learn. So off of my soapbox and on to the good stuff.
The view from our balcony as day breaks.
This is a fishing port. Many of the small boats you see here ply the open ocean. Small single cylinder diesels are common, and outboards in the 50hp and below are used on boats that are often 16 to 20 feet long. Deep water is less and a mile offshore and there they catch swordfish, octopus, tuna, and dorado. There are lots of anchovy and sardines in the mix, and having eaten them all I can say one thing, it is in the preparation.
The old couple that comes every morning. They were using a rod and reel and a hand line to catch really tiny fish, a staple in their diet.
Baiting his handline with oranges?
Out it goes. See the small orange piece?
We watched him for a while and he did not catch anything, and you could see why. He would chum with the peels and you could see small what looked like snappers come. They were about a pound and he would slowly pull in the peel near the surface and they would pick at it. He had the peel wrapped with several small hooks and would try to hook them as they nipped at it. A tough way to get one. I saw him every morning and can only assume his daily meal depended on it. This is a fishing society so of course I loved it.
One of the great things about Greece is it is easily driven. It takes a little to get the signage down, but other than that it is an adventure. The main streets are like ours, but the rest of the cities and towns have the ancient streets. They are wide enough for a horse, but everyone seems to make it work, You meet people head on, and just pull over, slide around, and just basically figure it out. At home folks would kill each other before it is over. And people just park every which way including stopping in the street, double parking, and just doing whatever they feel like it.
What is called the main road is 2 or 4 lane with speeds from 40km in town to sometimes 100km on the 4 lane. They have a big shoulder with a white line, and most folks drive with 2 wheels on the line so you can let someone pass. Of course you have to be careful for people who stop on the shoulder, which apparently men do quite often if they need to urinate. Hilarious! And we have learned another interesting thing, the double white line means pass as fast as you can on a curve, hill, or anywhere else you feel like it. I guess that is why people drive with wheels on the outside line, so you can move over when a Mercedes doing a 100 passes 5 cars on an uphill blind turn. Our bartender explained that to us: The police stop a Greek man and told him “Your wheels went over the white lines!” The Greek man responded: “What? I destroyed it?” So that is driving in Greece, signs, speeds, and rules, are merely suggestions. But it works for them and once you get the hang of it is no problem.
The mountains are another thing. I shot some great video of one of our travels to a beach, and it was amazing. The road was the old one and went over huge mountains to the coast. Until I post the video when I get back my telling does not do it justice. So high, so curvy and so narrow. We took the scenic route and it took an hour and a half to go 30km, around 20 miles. On the way back we took a better road but there was a detour. It was probably about 6 or 8 miles and was a cart path, and I am not kidding. In the high mountains, no shoulder, no guard rails, nothing. One slip and you were off the side and falling thousands of feet. Curvier than any road in any mountains in the US, it was an ancient trail. And the you would meet a car and it was frightening cool. One of those adventures I would love to repeat but would surely think twice about.
One of the great joys, stopping at the small tavernas.
This was on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. The woman who owned it was wonderful, and like most of the owners hails you from the road. Everything she serves is grown there, nothing from the city. Homemade yogurt, fresh picked grapes, and her homemade crepes. She called it toast, very similar to a tortilla, only lighter and so good. Hot off the grill, covered in honey from the mountain bees it was pure heaven. She was great and it was one of my favorite stops.
A view around every corner.
Elafonissi – The Pink Beach. One of the finest beaches in the world.
A classic Creatin meal. Eaten at alley side in the old village. Can you say cool?
Eat, eat, and more eating. The food is great and we have been trying different places and foods daily. From the best, to the humble, it is all good. And to finish off the night is the mandatory Raki. Made from grapes after the wine is made, it is really a type of schnapps. Very tasty it is a staple of the Greeks.
Raki – Here is to you and the horse you road in on!
There is so much more to tell. A trip of a lifetime, we have really burned the candle at both ends to get in as much as possible. We went to the Palace of Knossis yesterday. First occupied in 7000BC, built and destroyed countless times over the centuries, it gives life to Greek history. Rich in conflict, art, and the sea, Greece is a wonderful place. As soon as I get back I will fill it in in more detail, right after I go fishing a couple of days, but now it is time to hit the beach one last time. Sorry about the spelling and editing but it is time to hit the road. Then a world famous supper of fish soup to close out the trip. A wonderful trip only made better by the time I got to spend with the woman of my dreams. Life is good.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
