Heido in Greece

2005-10-04T15:33:00.000-06:00

And finally, another look at the windmill in the sunset....aahh...

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Beautiful....peaceful...

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More church bells...

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These are tomatoes done in the local style. She was making these for someone else; I'll have to go back soon.

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There was a wonderful little cafe in the tiny cove. The owners had been in business for 30 years. I hope they stay in business for at least another 30: The white eggplant that is unique to Santorini and the tiny deep-fried fish that you ate whole were unbelievably good. Paired with a glass of Greek wine....bliss...

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Then there were the "Taxis"...yes, they shouted out taxi! as they saw me climbing the steep cliff path from the sea to the town.

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The churches were beautiful...I became quite enchanted by the bell towers (more following). see...

2005-10-04T15:12:00.000-06:00

Here's another view. The town is built alongside of the steep cliffs, right down to the sea.

2005-10-04T15:03:00.000-06:00

Ok, back to Greece. I never showed you any pictures of Santorini, except for that one windmill against the evening sunset (see October 2004 archives)...so here's some more. When the owner showed me to my room in the Hotel Delfini, she dramatically flung open the balcony doors, and this was the view I saw. I was hooked.

Exploring New Ways

2005-10-04T14:52:00.000-06:00

Hi! I've been working on my book about life transitions and living your life from the inside out, and needed a little entertainment....so I'm trying out all of the things I haven't used on my blog! This is the e-mail to blog feature, I can be anywhere and send an e-mail and poof! it will appear on my blog. So guess where I am now! :)

2005-10-04T14:25:00.000-06:00

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A recent picture of me...now I am in Santa Fe! More to come, of Greece and other...

2005-05-25T01:26:00.000-06:00

I told the men that I had to have a picture of me with all of them so I could show my friends back home how many boyfriends I had in Greece. They very willingly obliged...After our big photo shoot, they went back to more wine...I went "home" to Falasarna, another Sunday filled with surprises, joy, and love.

2005-05-25T01:21:00.000-06:00

I shared my camera, said "take a picture of us!" with my host and hostess. The photographer decreed that the picture just had to be in the flower garden. If the photo seems a little out of focus, you're not imagining it. One thing I found on this trip: Wine, laughter, and focused picture taking don't necessarily mix well....but they do capture the fact that we were having a good time, right?

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You can see how he is already more comfortable. Wow, I may have unleashed a monster! Look for him on the cover of GQ 10 years from now....

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A very warm family...

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This little boy was very intrigued by my camera....a little suspicious at first, but when I showed him the image on the back, he got very excited, and was ready to pose for me right away...Perhaps one day he'll become a photographer, and will say that he realized that was his calling the day I came to town! :)

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We had lots of wine to drink from....

2005-05-25T00:53:00.000-06:00

Ok, so back to the family in Milia....When they invited me to eat with them, I went back to the car and grabbed the grapes to give to them, an impromptu hostess gift to be part of the meal. When they saw the grapes, they laughed and laughed. I had no idea why, until they took me around to the back of the house: there was their own wine making apparatus, with baskets and baskets of grapes, probably from the same field. I guess they didn't need any more...After a quick lesson in how to make the wine, we returned to the table, where they encouraged me to keep sampling.

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and then proceeded to place them in my car for me to take on the rest of my trip. Typical Cretan generosity. (That's my beach mat and bathing suit also on the car seat...important to be ready at all times, you know!)

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After a brief conversation in my limited Greek, he enthusiastically started cutting grapes....

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Then I met this man, who owned the fields and the grapevines,and the goats. He came over to see what in the world I was doing out in the middle of nowhere tromping around with his goats....

2005-05-25T00:28:00.000-06:00

I met these guys on the way to Milia.....tried to take candid shots of them, but as soon as they saw me, they got together and posed. Well, not really, they just started trotting enthusiastically toward me because they thought I had food...

2005-05-25T00:25:00.000-06:00

Here's an example of the kind of mountains I was driving around in....this is on the way to Milia....

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One day I decided to look for a taverna I had heard about in Milia. I couldn't find it...I kept driving up these perilous winding roads, higher and higher, no guardrails of course, and barely room for two cars. I wish I had a picture of the faces of the people coming from they top; they scared me more than looking over the edge of the road! Anyway, I totally panicked, and would drive back to the middle of the village and try again. Every time I tried a new way, I drove by this group who shouted and cheered whenever they saw my bright green rental car. Finally I stopped, asking them "Pou einai Taverna Milia?" "Who cares!" they shouted, "Come eat with us!" So I did.

2005-03-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Krisoula & Yiannis. Scroll down to my audio file to hear the story of my time with them...and let me know if you want to hear more...

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The feast they made for me. Fresh goat cheese and Greek coffee were wonderful. Krisoula made me take a bag of walnuts for the road so I wouldn't have to worry about dinner...

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See the photo on the grave...he was quite young...

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The marble cemetery overlooking the valley. Manouli, Krisoula's son, Yiannis' brother, is buried here.

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Here are the lucky goats...

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Yiannis feeding the goats..

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Krisoula #2

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Krisoula

2005-03-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ela! Ela!

2005-03-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Ela! Ela! Take Our Picture! Click on my audio file to hear the story of my adventure with these two wonderful residents of Demati! A mother and her son, who were goatherders, showed me the hospitality Crete is known for....More pictures follow...

2004-11-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

Falassarna, Crete: the far west end of the island. No e-mail connections here! Great beaches though, clear blue water, perfect temp for 1/2 hour swims. Those are tomato plants underneath the white cloth covers (see them?)

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Looong beach at Falassarna

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I stayed in this upstairs room for 5 nights in Falasarna. It had a view of the sunset, a little view of the ocean, and wonderful people who ran the place.

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Here he is...the Cretan shepherd from Falassarna...

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towards the sea...

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and down...

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And he continued to run up the mountain...

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Oops! That was the sheep, they didn't speak Greek (to me, at least). Here's the shepherd.

2004-11-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

After a lively conversation in Greek and my scrambling around to get a good photo as he ran with the sheep, this shepherd invited me for feta cheese, red wine, and plenty of photo opportunities in the mountains.Charming, but I declined...

2004-10-30T14:47:00.000-06:00

Here's Santorini, very romantic, at sunset. This is actually at the end of my trip, but I'm not going to go in order, I'll just post what appeals each day. In Ios, everyone goes to the end of the island at sunset and watches the sun go down. It was a nice way to meet people. All of us photographers traded tips on how we photographed sunsets, and tried to impress each other :) One person asked me why the colors of the sunsets were different in different islands. Do you know? I'll tell you what I told him later...

2004-10-22T02:37:00.000-06:00

Here I am at the start of my trip.Goddess Heidi in front of the Acropolis.

Beginning

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On September 16, 2004, I arrived in Athens, Greece, with 2 nights reserved in a hotel in the Plaka. I had a return ticket for a month later. That was the only "plan" I had. This is a sampling of the experiences I had, the people I met, the places I explored, living from the place where when people asked me "How long are you staying?" I could say "Until I feel like leaving!" After being totally burned out from intense schedules and commitments, this was truly heaven. And how could it not be heaven anyway, in such a beautiful country with its warm and generous people?