About Me

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Crete, Greece
Married to the lovely Geoffrey, my soulmate. I have two fantastic big kids,both married, whom I love and miss every day I'm not with them, but I know they're living and loving their lives and we make up for time when we get together.I now have three granddaughters too...

Friday 13 February 2009

A Sunny Day. Part 2 again


We are surrounded by crumbling old buildings here but I am drawn to some more than others. There's something about this little building that caught my eye. It probably was used as a dwelling for both the family's donkey, downstairs, and the family would live upstairs in one room.
It would have once been ripe for renovation but today things have changed and there's not much being sold. It's a combination of things, one of them being that so many people have tried to get on the bandwagon but have now raised the prices, even for this tiny property, to silly heights. So,it will be left to collapse like it's neighbours.

Here's a courtyard of a renovated house just around the corner from the building above. The bouganvillea and geraniums looking healthy potted in the famous Cretan pots

Our local taverna doubles as a mini market too, selling everything from pots and pans to equipment used for olive picking, nets, knives, boots..... At the back of the building is a large balcony which overlooks the olive groves. A stunning place to sit and eat on warm summer evenings. Yiorgos and his wife Nikki run the taverna with help from their daughters and extended family. It's very 'local', no menu, you eat what has been cooked that day. That could be freshly harvested snails, picked from the hedgerows that morning, horta, (greens)which could be dandilion leaves or any of the hundreds of green plants that grow wild here. A friend enjoys the boiled sheeps head. While I relish the lamb chops cooked on the open fire and the kalimari, lightly battered. At the end of the evening Yiorgos will scribble some numbers on the paper table cloth and that's what you pay!

And look at this little thing scuttling down the lane, so brazen. He stopped to have his photo taken, then off he went!
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8 comments:

Blu said...

At last I can see your pictures yippee.

so what is the Greek word for hedgehog?

Jude said...

The Greek word for hedgehog is skatzokiros...........

Jackie said...

you called this post 'A sunny day'. Aren't they all?
I adore the 'pithoi' (?)and would love one but here in the North of england a suuny day is a rare thing and i don't think they'd look the same covered in damp green algae!
Which is fortunate becasue I don't think I could afford one.
(Hey! Your word for verification is tortisso!Not hedgehoggo))

Cynthia Pittmann said...

Jude, what a treat! I can see why people would love to move to that stunning area! I just love the photos today...I have never seen a mole with my own eyes...but once my daughter had to make a math project mole...and I helped her with sewing and attaching hippie clothes --complete with a head scarf, a peace sign necklace and flower power vest.
Your mole is the first mole I've ever seen...I had no idea that they were actually visible ... I thought they lived underground or something. Maybe you discovered your hippie mole...enjoying all the love-vibes that you generate in your appreciative (and appreciated) morning walks! Happy V-day from your new blogging friend at Oasis. <3

Cynthia Pittmann said...

Jude, I just did a quick search to find that hedgehogs and moles are different species... I told you I had never seen one...my only encounter before my daughter's chemistry project for Mole Day was in Beatrix Potter drawings...now, hers and yours are hedgehogs, right? <3

soulbrush said...

such natural beauty alwasy takes my breath away. love da skatzokiros. HVD to you and yours.

John said...

nice to be able to see the photos -love the old building and the hedgehog.

bindu said...

Those pots are amazing. Your place sounds like a perfect place to live. Laid back and enjoying what matters in life. Sigh. :) The hedgehog is so cute!