Creta

Hello  - I have not posted for a while - but I wanted to share a few moments with you if you have time - Autumn in Crete - we have not visited Crete for a few years now - time to rekindle that love story we thought - we stayed approximately 18 km from Chania

- not far from Kolymbari and the Rodopos  peninsula - if you close your eyes to the new roads and building work the old Crete is still there - hidden away in the ancient olive groves

and small tavernas in the hillside villages -

raki is still the favoured tipple!!

- but the tractor is the new donkey.

The autumn bulbs were beautiful-

fragile and resilient in their struggle against progress

and also the native goats

everyday we walked using the local bus now and again but mainly walking - I had downloaded some walks of the internet to take with us and they proved to be really good - in fact we must have been quite conspicuous because towards the end of the week - locals were tooting the horns on their trucks and giving us a wave  as they sped by -  we only went on one organised trip which took us up to Imbros village - for a breakfast of cheese pancakes and honey and then a 11 km walk down the  -Imbros Gorge -

fantastic - a bit tricky at times but definitely not to be missed -  lunch at the bottom of the Gorge in Komitades and then a coach trip back.

We spent quite a bit of time in Kolymbari -

from there we walked to Afrata on the R Peninsula -we passed the monastery

 a fair climb - and it was hot - what is that saying 'only mad dogs and english men (and in this case an english woman go out in the midday sun ' - but it was well worth it - watching the goats showing off jumping to and fro on the rocky ground and the goats watching us
.
The  real stars to me were the Swallow Tail butterfly -

they were every where in the olive groves - on the bougainville and up on the mountain roads  -

stunning

Thankyou for calling by and God bless Paris - Jane