Our Adventures Await
Welcome to our blog, a place for sharing our adventures as we explore Greece and Europe. Join us as we create memories and share them with you, our friends and family back home. We hope you enjoy the journey!
As everyone knows my blog is way behind. First my charger went on me and I wasn't able to find a new one here. A couple months later our friend Miranda came for a visit so brought a new one. Then awhile after that I started to have problems with the platform I was on. At the time I thought it was just our lousy internet. Finally I asked Miranda to look into it and the problem was the platform. So Miranda to the rescue again when it comes to anything techie. She found a new one and set everything up for me. So I am now working on getting caught up. Only 5 months behind now LOL.
So this is the end of our trip to Egypt. I do have to say that while we loved seeing all the archeological sites, we did not like the country itself. You couldn't honestly pay me enough to go back. So many people are so aggressive and harass tourists a lot. The country itself is so dirty with garbage piled up and thrown everywhere. The worse part was their lack of concern for animals. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates there are 10-15 million stray dogs. Cairo's Veterinary Directorate state as high as 40 million. So many are so skinny and sick looking. The same goes with most horses and mules also. I found it very heartbreaking.
This is Ramesseum. It is the memorial temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II.
Habu Temple is a mortuary temple built by Ramasses III. It is extremely well preserved and a huge complex.
Tomb of Prince Khamwaset. He was supposed to be the first Egyptologist, was a High Priest and the son of Ramesses II.
This is the tomb of Queen Titi. They believe she was the wife of Ramesses III.
This is from the Valley of the Queens and is New Abu Simbel. Again I can't get over how well preserved so much of this is.
Discover our collection of creative work and visual projects. Each piece showcases our attention to detail and commitment to delivering results that exceed expectations.
The first couple of pictures are a restaurant we went to on our own. Our tour was over and we spent a few days in Luxor. Ashraf, our guide from the tour, lives in Luxor. He had said if we wanted anything to give him a call so we did. We ended up going on a horse and carriage ride through the locals market. Wow. That is something else. I wouldn't have the stomach for buying any food of any sort there.
This is a house in the village that makes their income on hosting tourists to see the place. Apparently it is fairly typical of how they live and decorate.
We opted on a side trip that was available to a Nubian village. Really glad we did as it was very interesting. This was in the South of Egypt near Aswan. Everything there is very colorful and the people are much nicer. They aren't aggressive like we found in the rest of the country.
Various things we saw. The little delivery carts in the first picture are called tuk tuks. There are thousands of them and they tend to drive like maniacs.
Temple of Hathor
This is Philea Temple
We were in a little boat, similar to the one you see in the picture below, on our way to another temple.
Discover our collection of creative work and visual projects. Each piece showcases our attention to detail and commitment to delivering results that exceed expectations.
Some of the onboard entertaining at night.
There was a shop on the ship that sold tshirts with your name on the front in hieroglyphics, pyramids on the back. Unique souvenir so I bought one. The boat is called a feluca. When you are walking around town there are tons of people constantly harassing everyone to take a feluca, or a horse and carriage or a taxi. It is very frustrating as they just will not leave you alone and will follow you down the street. When they give up someone else starts. We found most of the people there to be very aggressive. The temple is Kom Ombo.
The smog in Luxor was shocking. I ended up wearing a mask quite a lot.
There are so many cruise ships travelling at once. When they come into a place to stop they line up beside each other. Then you walk through all the cruise ships between you and shore. Six deep was pretty common.
On the cruise ship they would put out snacks and array of fruit juices in the afternoon. More pictures as we sail, including water buffalo in the last picture.
Also Edfu Temple. The first picture was a bank outside the site they were starting to work on. And graffiti from 1884. Unfortunately a Canadian.
This is Edfu Temple It is overwhelming to stand in these temples and think of what they accomplished that long ago with very limited tools. It is supposed to be around 2,260 years old and took about 180 years to complete.
A couple pictures of part of the top deck of the cruise ship and others. It was middle of the road cost wise but very comfy and clean. The food was awesome. They had buffet style for all meals and they would include local dishes along with "Americanized" food. It was a good thing we had to walk a lot of miles every day as it would be easy to gain a bunch of weight. The staff were all so nice and helpful. Every day we would go back to our cabin after it had been cleaned to find a new animal made from towels. Pretty cool. Although the monkey did scare the heck out of me as they had it hanging up when we first went through the door hahaha.
Unfortunately I forgot to note the next place we headed to. The second picture is just a site we drove by. There are tons of them all over the place.
There was nothing left in King Tut's tomb as it has all been moved to the museum in Cairo.
Ramses III is supposed to be around 3,150 years old.
The first tomb was for Ramses IV. It was incredible the amount of color and the condition of these tombs. Pretty mindboggling. They claim it is about 3,200 years old.
We were on our way to Valley of the Kings and there was a huge area where balloons were going up. Huge lineup of people ready to go. Pretty cool to see. I'm sure it would be a wonderful view if you had the stomach for it.
Jim celebrated his birthday while we were on the cruise. They must check people's passports to see if anyone has a celebration. It was quite a surprise. A group of about 5 men came out of the kitchen playing instruments and singing and then got him up dancing. They also baked a awesome cake. The group picture is the rest of our tour group. We were so lucky to have such a small group. They were from England and were a lot of fun to be with. Great senses of humor.
Next stop was Luxor Temple. When we finished the tour we were taken to our cruise ship for a 7 day Nile cruise. That was high on my bucket list. Sailing on the same river Cleopatra did :)
We were then transported to Luxor and next day visited Karnak Temple. The gentleman in the bottom picture in the blue shirt and cap was our guide for the next week. His name is Ashraf. Again super nice guy and is an egyptologist.
Cairo is an extremely busy and chaotic city. The city itself has a population of 10.5 million but the metropolitan area is at 23 million. They don't seem to have any laws regarding traffic and driving. You will go down the freeway and there will also be carts and donkeys. It's crazy!
Marwa was our tour guide for the pyramids and the museum. She is an archeologist and so incredibly knowledgeable. Also a very sweet lady. While we have never used a tour operator before we found that it was definitely best for this trip. We saw so much more and learned a lot of the history, so it was well worth it.
There are a set of 3 large funeral boxes covered with gold leaf that fit inside each other. Then another box inside that is made of quartzite and red granite. King Tut's coffin inside that is made of pure gold.
The sets of clay jars are for people's ashes. I am going to put quite a few pictures from the museum in the blog and everyone can look at them as slow or as fast as they want.
The next day was spent at the Grand Egyptian Museum which just opened in November of 2025. It is spectacular. A person could spend a week there and probably still not see every item they have. They say they have about 100,000 artifacts and about half are on display at any one time.
Mornings and evenings were cool and we needed a hoodie but mid day was quite hot. Jim loves the heat but I was quite often looking for shade.
We are now in early February. Winter in Greece is a very windy, rainy season so we decided we wanted to take a couple of holidays to get away from some of it. Our first trip was to Egypt and of course our first stop was to the pyramids and Sphinx.
When we were here for holidays 4 years ago we had visited the acropolis and other main sites so just wandered around this time. Nice holiday vibe going on.
The group we went to see was Il Volo. They are considered "popera," which blends traditional opera vocals with modern pop melodies. We discovered them years ago on a PBS station and fell in love with their music. Incredible voices.
We went to Athens middle of December for a concert. We spent 4 days there and enjoyed wandering around. The amount of Christmas lights and decorations is incredible. It is so odd to see Christmas decorations everywhere and no snow. The weather was still nice for light jackets. Everything was so glitzy and one block away it changes drastically to what you see in the second last picture
This is a Venetian Fortress in Rethymno. It is from 1580 and was built to protect the town from the Turks. It is star shaped but there is not a lot left there.
This is the processing plant Konstantin uses. While a lot of people will just have their olives mixed with others, he has his processed separately. What a difference from what you buy in a grocery store. His is much smoother and sweeter. It is quite common here to be given sliced bread and olive oil for dipping as a starter at restaurants.
We are now into November which is olive harvesting season. This is our landlord and one of his brothers. Between him and an uncle they own about 900 trees. Very very busy time of year with very long days. The poles have rotating fingers on the end to knock the olives down onto nets they spread on the ground. They then have to separate the leaves and bits of branches out and Konstantin feeds them to his sheep. We found out that olives can't be eaten off the tree. They have to be processed and soaked for months before they can be eaten. The family keeps some for eating and the rest are processed for olive oil.
Back home on Crete. The pirate ship does cruises along part of the North coast of Crete. They supply a salad and glass of wine. When they reach their furthest point people are given an hour to scuba dive if wanted. We get some very pretty rainbows and sunsets here.
Pretty little mosque in Tirana and a musical ride. I haven't seen one of those for ages.
When we left Montenegro we had to part with Miranda. She started heading back home to Calgary and we took a bus to Albania. It was only about a 3 1/2 hour trip. Most of the countries here have good bus and train systems and of course much cheaper than flying. Taking a trip like that lets you see how the average person lives there. They are a very poor country and lots of homes are in very bad shape. Sad to see. We stayed in Tirana, which is the capital, and a very modern city. Some of their buildings were so fabulous. Then when you walk down the alleys to get to airbnbs, you see the lovely wiring systems on the old ones. Pretty scary looking.
While we really enjoyed our day trip, it did not end well. When we were walking back to catch the bus I was gabbing and not paying attention where I was walking. Of coarse most areas here are cobblestone and I tripped and did a face plant. I split my inner lip and had a big bloody spot under one eye. Thankfully I didn't knock any teeth out at least. I looked like hell for about a week and a half. I felt like telling everyone that saw me what I did so they weren't thinking Jim hit me. LOL.
Next stop was Montenegro. We stayed in the capital and took a day trip to a little town on the coast. Very pretty scenery.
A couple other buildings in the area. The last picture in the top row is a feeding station for stray cats. You put coins in and dry food goes into a tray at ground level. Apparently there are a lot of them around the city. I thought it was such a great idea. So nice to see a country that takes care of the strays. The majority of the strays are very friendly as they are treated well. There are food and water dishes outside so many homes and businesses. The first picture in the second row is a fake rock formation with holes all over for cats to go into a safe place to snooze. That is one thing that does bother me about Greece. There are so many stray cats and dogs and most people do not look after them. Rather heartbreaking.
Discover our collection of creative work and visual projects. Each piece showcases our attention to detail and commitment to delivering results that exceed expectations.
This is the Blue Mosque. It isn't as big as I expected but it is so beautiful. The stained glass and mosaics are so pretty. It amazes me the amount of work craftsmen used to put into buildings. It was built in 1609 and of course being built of stone and tile is built to last.
It is now September 2025 and we have been here for one year. Such a great decision. We have no regrets at all. Yes some things have been difficult, shopping especially. We are so used to our big box stores that sell everything, while here there are tons of tiny stores that sell a small selection of things. It's a good thing we are retired and have all the time in the world to find things. We really enjoy the outdoor lifestyle and slower pace.
The pictures below are from the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It is huge. It covers about 7.5 acres. They sell pretty much anything you can think of and a lot of knock off designer labels. Definitely a must see. A very close friend came for holidays and we spent a few days on Crete and then several in Istanbul.
This sea turtle, Suzie, hangs around the Chania harbor in old town. The fishermen and restaurants feed her whenever she shows up. So cool to see. We have only lucked out once seeing her.
We took a side trip to Matala. The caves in the second picture were once Roman tombs. In the 1960s hippies starting living in them. The place still has a bit of that vibe. The southside is mainly an agricultural area. There are miles and miles of greenhouses. The tree outside our airbnb was loaded with ripe figs. So sweet and good.
We found a wonderful herb store. Absolutely everything you can imagine. Needless to say we left with quite a few purchases.
First time I have actually seen a praying mantis. We get quite a lot of them around here. Cool looking. We made a 3 day trip to the Southside of the island to a little village called Frangokastello. Lovely place right on the coast. I couldn't get over the number of swallows. There was probably 4 times what is shown in the pictures. Good old Google maps sent us on a horrible, very narrow and very winding road. The switchbacks were crazy. And of course you have to keep an eye out for goats and sheep. When we left we took a different road out and it was great. No idea why it would not have been the recommended one. We have found this so many times with Google. Oh well, still a lot better than the old paper maps we used to use. LOL.
This is one of our favorite restaurants. They have live Greek music every Monday and we rarely miss going. The music is great as is the food. Like so many restaurants around here they are only open through the busy tourist season which is about mid May to end of October. We have very few choices during the winter unless we go into the city.
Well I am in the middle of changing websites as I had so many problems with the old one. For right now I am not sure where I left off (: So there might be a couple of overlaps. Anyways...a picture of a restaurant on top of a hill in a little village close by. When we arrived there was only a couple other people and tables. As the night went on they just kept dragging tables out from a couple different buildings to accommodate people. Lovely meal. Also a picture of the neighbors artichokes.
We didn’t realize when we booked this place that we are in a very touristy area. We have a very lovely view from the top deck. We also have about 5 cats that come to visit every day and get a meal. The traffic is crazy busy. People are elbow to elbow on the sidewalks. I can’t imagine what it is like in the middle of summer. The main street is very close to the ocean and is a decent size, but not enough to accommodate two driving lanes and parking on each side. People park up on sidewalks and double park everywhere. Of course once you get off the main drag, the roads are pretty much all windy and narrow. A person has to be very careful going around corners here. Drivers pay very little attention to any road rules. They pass pretty well everywhere they want . At least most people will pull over to the far right to let others go past when on the main highway. Motorbikes are the worse. It’s like they have a death wish. They weave through traffic and up on sidewalks. When stopped at a red light they pass everyone and go to the front. Quite often they will even go through red lights. It is rare to see any police so people get away with things very easily. Greece is supposed to be one of the safest countries in the world so I presume that is why there is a very small police presence here.
We arrived in Chania on Crete, September 27. Spent a couple days in an Airbnb before moving into the villa we rented in Stalos, just West of Chania. We have a wonderful view and huge deck to enjoy it from. Weather is hot and sunny.
First stop was Rome. We found a nice little AirBnb close to the airport. Stayed two days so Sophie (and us) could adjust a bit. 9 1/2 hour direct flight from Calgary. Evening flight and no sleep. We are beat. Lovely area. We fly to Athens next with another two day stop.
Well we did it!
We finally received our visas and are on our way. Greece here we come. 😊
First stop was Rome. We found a nice little AirBnb close to the airport. Stayed two days so Sophie (and us) could adjust a bit. 9 1/2 hour direct flight from Calgary. Evening flight and no sleep. We are beat. Lovely area. We fly to Athens next with another two day stop.