2009 Xmas Letter

Apologies to those who hate them but this is for those who want to catch up a little and also check out the Blog. It was done in a rush in the last few days of school.

Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Happy holidays and + Festive Greetings to all!

Later than ever this year. Thanks for all the wonderful cards and letters. Given the late date and postal strike, I will keep this brief.

Tess and Rob will again celebrate Xmas without children this year. Tim and his partner Saskia flew out yesterday to New Zealand to unwind tour some of the country and join Saskia's folks for Christmas. Tim has enjoyed a busy year in the DECC graduate program in Canberra as well as unpaid work for Civil Liberties and a school board. And his Legal Workshops to be admitted as a real lawyer - not quite there but close. He hopes to work more directly in law next year but for now he needs a good rest.

Just over 12 months ago Tess and I had also flown across the ditch and celebrated the 25 December at a restaurant in Wanaka. Not quite the same with strangers but enjoyable nevertheless. The holiday in the South Island was a spectacular success as I hope my Blog showed. We can't wait to return but would like the children with us for Xmas occasionally.

Everyone in the family has been overseas this year with Emma chalking up the longest stretch. She enjoyed her semester at Leeds Uni and then travelling around Europe, the Greek Isles, Canada and the USA. Back in Canberra for the summer working with an autistic child and at the Dendy until Uni begins again - whenever!

We had a wonderful trip to visit Emma including 9 nights in Leeds, a week each in Bath, Windermere and Oxford along with some days in Scotland and Bury St. Edmonds. I realised how much I like the English countryside in Spring. After 3500 miles on the road, we were in need of a holiday so went spent 12 days on Mykonos, Paros and Santorini. It was hard to get back to work after that.

Health has held up generally well in what has proved to be a great year. I hope we all enjoy a positive 2010 without too many nasty surprises.

Love to all,

Rob and Tess

PS I will upload a photo to this post shortly of what was in the box.

The Last Word ... from Tess

Well we are home and while it is nice to rest I do miss the excitement of exploring new places. I think I'll try to become nomadic in my retirement. Moving very slowly through the world would I think suit me well. How goes Roman life? Have you settled back after the Greek sojourn. I think you were very wise to change your arrangements and fly directly to Athens. We arrived very late by ship, I foolishly accepted a lift from a very dubious taxi driver whose meter just happened to not be working and who ripped us off badly and when we finally arrived at the hotel at 11pm they had no record of our reservation. However they found us a bed for the night and we went to the roof top restaurant to watch the lights once more. It's strange the only thing we saw of Athens was that view and glimpses from the taxis. The next day the flight was much earlier than we expected. I do hate those flights, long hauls of sleeplessness. I'm still struggling with the jet lag but after a week I feel my feet more firmly planted in this world - unfortunately. Rob has returned to work and I feel this is the first day of my holidays. Time stretches before with a delicious sense of luxuriance. Presently, I am listening to soothing music and making my way leisurely through a pot of peppermint tea. So I really have few complaints at the moment. I hope you have been accessing the photos on facebook I think there are some lovely ones of the isles and our time there.

Final Thoughts

Sitting in Departures at Athens Airport awaiting our flight home. The most dangerous part of flying is the taxi ride to the airport! Another 140kmh trip using all lanes plus shoulders. Still have 30 euros left. Mind you that does not include credit charges!! I blame Pauleen for my temporary loss of financial prudence on Santorini. Pictured are two of the purchases that took Tess by surprise. Oh well, who knows when we will be back? Have promised the box to Tim in the Will so I guess Em gets the amber.

We arrived at Piraeus about 10 pm and with no transfer booked Tess accepted the invitation of a sandal wearing man of a taxi ride to our hotel. We headed away from the taxi rank and arrived at his car - nothing to identify it as a taxi - and I soon noticed it had no meter (broken apparently). Unlike our taxi from the airport, there was no GPS to navigate to our hotel but fortunately I recalled it was near Omonia (?) Square and he knew that place. The trip was unremarkable except for the final kilometre when he drove down a dark and narrow alley. I could tell Tess was concerned but I recognized a shortcut when I saw one and sure enough a few turns later we emerged onto Ahernon Street up from some no doubt annoying traffic lights or perhaps a no left turn intersection and quickly arrived at the City Plaza. 

30 euros poorer I was not impressed when reception said they had no booking for us - it was now approaching midnight - but we knew things would improve after a meal on their rooftop looking out over the illuminated Parthenon, and so it proved. I will not miss the tobacco smell of Greek hotel rooms.

BTW, I should have fixed the problem with accessing the Google Earth files. Let me know.
Until Oz.
Yassu
Finis

Shopping on Santorini

Sipping a beer and fresh orange juice in the Atlantis Hotel (www.atlantishotel.gr), my pub of choice if I flew here again after a morning's shopping that would impress Pauleen in its extravagance. And none of it useful! Still have to buy the fridge magnets for the children. Hence the lack of compunction using their wifi.
More soon.

Mama Mia!

ABBA was blasting out over the beach at Kamera today on the Greek Island of Santorini. Celebrity watchers on the hunt for Pierce Brosnan were not disappointed when Aussi tourist Rob V (travelling incognito) donned his bathers and joined the brave swimmers enjoying this picturesque stretch of Aegean Sea.

While Tess sipped a local wine at her palm fringed table, Rob dazzled the locals with his Australian Crawl. Camera Hogging locals began jumping from the volcanic rocks that edged this clear patch of water which finally revealed why so many Europeans flock to these islands in search of sun. It was a civilised way to pass a few hours at the beach. Oh, the "sand" comprised rounded black pebbles which tickled rather than cut as you walked off the boardwalk to the sea. It was a lovely surprise to stumble upon on our morning's drive.

Yes we hired a car for the day. The island is not large - 5 euro would pay the petrol - and we feel we have seen most of its highlights.

Had planned to head out tonight fo one last sunset dinner - this time at Akiroka - but I can't negotiate these roads and navigate and the signs are all Greek to my navigator after 7 weeks stiurling service. She needs a short break or service.

Running out of light and battery. Enjoyed a sandwich on our balcony instead tonight and finishing off some accumulated snacks before tomorrow - checkout, return car, visit museum, shop a little, return to hotel for transfer to port, catch fast boat to Piraeus (only 5 hours!), find taxi to take us to City Plaza hotel, retrieve suitcases from storage, re-pack, eat something on the rooftop restaurant with views of Parthenon and then try to sleep before 3pm flight to Sydney on Monday. And I wonder why I am tired.

Giaio Sou (Yassu)

The People you meet

This photo was taken in our lovely hotel on Paros. The couple are Hans - a retired bus driver from Leiden and Elly - whose job I have forgotten. I should have blogged details earlier. Lovely people to share a meal with, talk about familes and friends far away and the enjoyment of discovering new places.

I appreciate the way people drop their normal reserve when talking to strangers on holiday. Tess in particular has enjoyed talking to plenty of strangers this trip and we have shared meals with a few of them as well. There was Peter and Daphne in Bury St Edmund's, Elly and Hans from Leiden in Holland above, Sasha and Tassos who came to Tess's rescue when she fell on Mykonos and yesterday on the cruise, Jules, a GP who inspected her bruises and Marie from England on the donkey. All very friendly and necessary even on a smooth trip to remind you of home and sharing the company of friends.

After almost 7 weeks on tour, we are ready for the long trip home - we sail at 1700 tomorrow for Piraeus

Running with the B.....Donkeys

Recovering after a late breakfast from our boat tour of Santorini Caldera and Oia Sunset. A packed 12 hour schedule began with a cruise from the new port of Santorini to the old one at the base of Fira. Cruise ships and millionaires use this port while ferry passengers land at the new which has road access - good by Greek standards.



I have created a folder on my iDisk on the internet to store google earth files (KML)
http://public.me.com/vinesfam1
I recommend the Paros tour and Santorini cruise. Let me know if they work.

Santorini

Sailed into the spectacular, shattered caldera of this still active volcanic island yesterday. The new harbour lies at the base of a serpentine road carved into the cliff facing the flooded crater. The white buildings that crowd the tops of the cliffs look like snow from a distance or in a bad photo. There are two main towns on the western shore of this volcanic plug, the Old Harbour port of Fira where we are staying and the popular sunset destination of Oia which lies at the entrance to the crater/harbour of Thera, the official name for Santorini which noone uses. To the east lie a series of beaches popular with the European visitors. We will drive to them on Saturday but not do much swimming.

I am writing this today because yesterday afternoon after our 3.10 hour voyage from Paros by Ferry, we went straight from the rather ordinary El Greco hotel (our standards are high after the luxury of Mykonos and Paros) to Fira. Once again, the town is a confusing web of narrow lanes hugging the contours of the clifftop, home to a wonderful variety of bars and restaurants, bric a brac shops, a few beggars and touts and 60 jewellery stores. At the second car rental/tour shop we entered, we signed up for a tour of the harbou and another Fiat Panda on Saturday. The friendly salesman offered Tess a card fo 10% discount at the jewellery store next door. I was unimpressed! In typical Greek style the first rental shop we tried was an unattended counter, without a bell, and little evidence of life - we left after waiting a minute.

The big thig on Santorini, as on Mykonos, is to watch the sun set over the Aegean Sea. So after walking along the clifftop path and avoiding most of the 600 steps descending to the old harbour below, we settled ourselves at a table above the cable car that provides an alternative means of climbing the cliff apart from said steps on foot or donkey. I must say, the donkey looks cute and i would prefer to give them my business but given my weight it would be too cruel on the poor mule. The view was spectacular. We ordered a half bottle of some of Santorini's famous volcanic soil wine and a pork Giros with pita bread and settled back to watchhe show. Well, not quite settled, as I was given the job of getting up and snapping a photo every minute and generally blocking the view of the Japanese diers sitting on the town side of us or the Italian couple (who didn't seem to notice my reguar intrusions in fact - ah, love) perched on the harbour side. The best table of all had recently been vacated by an American couple, much to the surprise of the waiter (but the sunset? he asked). She was getting cold apparently. Young love. This old married couple had learned our lesson and begun our dinner well after 8 pm.

So the sun set, we ordered a half bottle of the red (13 euro but what a location) and I got to finally sit and enjoy the view.

Today we return by bus to he new harbour and embark on a boat to visit Nea Kameni Island, the volcano. After climbing to the rim of the crater we will walk to some hot springs. Back in the boat for a peaceful lunch stop and swim on Thirasia Island (no roads)/ We then sail to the northern tip of Thera, Oia for another sunset. The rocks are supposed to reflect the light so well that every picture looks "professional", according to the receptionist. We shall see. Then back to El Greco by bus.

Yassu!
Geia Sou

Paros and Antiparos

6.30pm Getting used to the relaxed pace of life here. Arrived back at the Hotel Agnanti after a terrific day's sightseeing. Hired a Fiat Panda for 27 euro and circumnavigated the island in seven hours of easier than expected driving.

First stop was Pounda on the west coast where we caught a ferry to the island of Antiparos. We wandered the now familiar narrow lanes of its old port and fort - not much left of its Venetian glory. Blame the Turks I guess.

An hour or so later we returned to our little fiat and drove south past the airport and got lost in the beach town of Aliki. After that we learned to stay on the main road - there are few choices - and passed small and large towns including Drios and Marpissa before ariving at our second port of call, Lefkes. This traditional mountain village was formerly the capital of Paros and is now famous for ceramics. Unfortunately, all the shos selling them seemed closed - we are still a little early for the season.

We enjoyed an energetic clamber around its lanes before driving on to Naoussa, a picturesque fishing port on the northern shore of Paros. Here we finally (3pm) paused for a plate of Tzaziki and a beer while Tess attended to her latest injury.*

Finally we turned west again for Parikia, the capital of Paros and its ain port. We again found a convenient parking spot and explored its now familiar attractions. It also has a Byzantine Museum (closed 2-5pm) and old church. Everything on these islands is covered in a not-so-fine patina of dust which combined with the white builings and harsh bright sunlight makes even Australia seem cool and green.

By 5pm we had enjoyed enough of the island's attractions and found the road back too our hotel with only one mistake. Always glad to return a hire car undamaged. I relaxed with a swim in the excellent pool (half a dozen sunbakers but no swimmers) while Tess showered, cleaned her wounds and settled down with her book and a glass of the Rose rescued from lunch.

Finally, at 6.30 we settled here on the verandah of our hotel - we have it to ourselves - ordered a beer and settled down with our laptops for some photos and email. We will have an "early" dinner sitting with some new Dutch friends at 8.30 pm before retiring to our shuttered room for some baklava we bought in Parikia. Bliss!

Tomorrow we are collected at 10.20 am for ou ferry to Santorini which leavs at 11.55pm. I will pray for calm seas. I recorded parts of our journey with the GPS in my phone and once I work out where to store it for you, those with Google Earth may like to retrace our steps. Stay tuned.

Salut!

* Tess stubbed her thonged toe on a step in Lefkes today neccessitating the purchase of some expensive bandaids to stem the flow of blood. She has added this to the scraped knees and ruised chest from Mykonos in her injury tally. Don't want things to escalate on Santorini so may confine her to her room.

Calendar

I am also playing with google calendars in case they are worth adding in future. Here is the first attempt below. I think they can be uploaded to a phone. Will add more soon.

Paros Post

Sitting on a shaded balcony - alone - I am starting to sink into the Greek Isle lifestyle I missed in Mykonos. Sipping a Kaiser beer and listening to "Twenty Something" - Oh to be that age again but with middle aged money!
Tess is sinking even deeper in our room while I play on the wifi and look at the view - uploaded to Facebook.
Below is a short clip of this wonderful hotel. Great staff, views, rooms, pool and hopefully, tonight, I can add food. Earliest sitting is 8.30pm - we are yet to slip into the Mediterranean pace of life. We skip lunch after a big brekkie but it is a looong time before they serve dinner. We travelled home on the bus from Mykonos to Patasos Beach at 11pm last night after another excursion. Like our present hotel, it was a very nice resort but a us ride away from where you really wanted to be at night or for the history. It is a choice between bad plumbing and location or modern amenities outside the historic heart of the island. I'd go for the former next time.
Don't get me started on Greek bus drivers! The 60s military junta here of the Colonels would be proud of the petty fascists! Why do a service job if you hate tourists????

Mykonos

Our first breakfast on Mykonos in this plush hotel. Although Mykonos is known as the windy island, the day is going to be too hot for much exploring so we may have to settle beside the pool - no great hardship there. I like the way the Greeks leave you alone once you have a drink on the table - it seems to be yours till you want to leave. It may be different in peak season.

The fast boat here arrived at Midday and we were collected by our hotel and Di's by hers, not knowing where on the island she might have chosen via the net. Sure enough, she was in the hotel opposite! And her transfer was free!

Dinner last night in Mykonos was great except for the return walk to the bus when Tess (forgot her proper glasses this trip) fell on a step and hurt both knees. Fortunately her camera is still okay, saved by the UV filter. Tess is having a reading day for some reason.

I am slowly uploading some little clips of the hotel but eventually will get some of the good shots for this that Tess puts on her Facebook page.

Yassus!(?)

Fasten Your Seatbelts

All Aboard!

 

Our High Speed 4 catamaran is yet to clear the port of Piraeus so I don't know how fast it will go but we have aleady left a ferry in our wake. Fortunately, it is a sunny and calm day for our sailing to Mykonos. We have picked up a travelling companion in Athens. Di is working in Italy but has joined us for the first stage of our cruise. The boat is packed with a weekend crowd and the weathr forecast is for summer temperatures.

 

We arrived about 6 pm local time and wandered unhindered through customs. Our Benz taxi took off at a sedate  pace through the off ramps and the driver said little - he had programmed his GPS for the City Plaza Hotel and was either concentrating or waiting to see what sort of tourists we were. We must have passed the test because soon Kostas was chatting amiably in good English to us as we sped down the new freeways to Athens. Top speed I noted was 140 kmh but I was probably more nervous at 120 kmh when he drove without hands on the wheel. In traffic.

 

By this stage we were good friends. We passed a broken down bus on the freeway which confirmed the wisdom of out choice of transport - the metro is currently closed from the airport. The trip was otherwise unremarkable and soon we arrived at our hotel, a little grimy on the outside, the area definitely a little seedy in a bustling way, but reception was friendly and helpful. We have offloaded our heavy suitcases (Emma has loaded us up with her books and winter clothes - 37kg) for the island tour. Fortunately the coupl opposite us are non smokers but elswhere smokers rule! Very European.

 

The hotel has 4 man lifts (two of me) which took some sussing out but we discovered we had a 6am pickup for the ferry so we knew we would not see much of our room. We met Di for a drink and then went up to the rooftop bar which had a magnificent view of the Parthenon and St. Georges.  We had a lovely Greek meal with friendly staff and look forward to a slightly longer stay when we return.

 

This morning we awoke with a phone call from reception - our taxi was here. My alarm was set for 5.30 pm! Dressed and packed in record time we quickly joined Di and our patient driver who proceeded to demonstrate different driving skills from Kostas. While only peaking at 120kmh (in an 80 zone) he drove down the middle of two lanes in traffic, moving without indicating (except onto the freeway) between the lanes but generally keping his options open. It seemed to work as we avoided most of the traffic and other vehicles to be deposited right at our ferry.

 

About to leave land behind in the haze so will close and go for a walk.

 

Next stop Mykonos!

 

 

More from Tess

This is our second last night in England and our second evening in Bury ST Edmunds which has been a historical treasure trove. Their Cathedral is in the same beautiful stone as Bath yet in pristine condition. Inside was very grand and elegant and we were fortunate to hear for free a rehearsal for the organ recital / concert which is on this evening. We also found the smallest pub in England, which had standing room for no more than six people and enjoyed a half of cider. We ventured to the east coast today and felt the cold winds blowing from the North Sea very blustery. I did wonder why the lighthouse was actually in the town rather than on a headland? Travelling across we found a castle to explore and also a winery, so we stopped and sampled some English wines. The whites were very pleasant, apparently Ennglish winees are beginning to win the medals over here. Cambridge, we loved. The River Cam, the Colleges we saw (most were closed because of exams), the spring gardens and of course once again the narrow laneways, nooks and crannies that abound. The city bustled with young folk all at break neck speed on bicycles. I could see why Tim and Emma felt so at home there, much more charming and manageable than Oxford. After leaving Cambridge we visited the Cathedral city of Ely and climbed to the turrets and into the octagonal roof, there we stood with the angels (paintings) and had spectacular views. Its OK I'm not have a religious ephiphany I have ecided the Churches I most like are the ruined ones which are open to the sky and to nature. Well that is about all our news, I am feeling travel weary but this has certainly been a wonderful holiday, I feel that we have seen so much of the countryside, yet there is so much more to see. Greece does beckon to us. We are meeting up with a friend, Di in AThens and she will be joining us in Mykonos so that should be fun.

Packing

Today is our last day in England. Tomorrow we should meet up with a friend in our Athens hotel for an evening meal, all going well. Apparently the metro from the airport is closed and getting to town may be difficult. I'll let you know.

This morning Tess will have to pack back into two suitcases and some carry on luggage what has spread out over the car these past weeks. I hate travel days so I hope today will be a good one. We are breakfasting this morning with Peter and Daphne which shows how refined our travel habits have become!

The phone is programmed to navigate from here to our hotel at Heathrow via the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. Daphne has also suggested a visit to Levenham along the way. I also have to return a somewhat used Benz to Hertz. The scope for surprises is large. Who knows what will unfold?



The Priory Hotel has two rosettes for its restaurant and the service is very attentive - you feel like you are in a club rather than a hotel.

Why I write these entries

The past two days have been an object lesson in why I find it important to record the wonderful sights and experiences of a holiday like this. We had few plans for the last few days of our holiday here which is a luxury we can rarely afford. We set off from Cambridge with vague plans for staying at Bury St Edmunds and chose a hotel Tess liked the look of on the Net but we could just as easily have ended up in London. Despite our lack of itinerary, we have had no problem filling the long, almost summer length days with new delights. I know I would forget so much of the small detail of these experiences if I did not write them down. I need Tess's memory.

So our two free days started on Tuesday with our departure from Cambridge and included our fascinating tour of Ely Cathedral, as you read in a previous post. Tess needed some down time so we didn't even venture into town that night but instead enjoyed dinner in the hotel restaurant (two rosettes). In the lounge we met a lovely older couple, Peter and Daphne. Peter was an 18 yr old navigator in Bomber Command and later Transport Command, not one of the 55,000 who "bought it" during the war. He is frustrated by his slow recovery from a second hip replacement and by his inability to find all the pubs he used to visit around here in the 40s.

At breakfast on Wednesday we ran into them again and they suggested we visit their retirement neck of the woods at Southwold on the Suffolk coast. Our waitress also suggested a few places like Felixstowe (which we didn't get to as the wind was strong yesterday) so we had a rough outline of our morning at least. However, it was the way our day unfolded that was special and if I didn't record some details I know I would forget.

First discovery along the way was Framlingham Castle. You might know of it but it was a wonderful surprise to us. Then we saw a sign for Shawcross Wines. Tess was keen to try English wine and the first riesling I tasted was very pleasant, aromatic nose like a German wine. The tourist drive proved rather longer than I expected but it did take us through the Suffolk fenns and past more lovely churches. Already my memory is fading. I remember one vital road was closed but the phone led us down some garden paths back to the route and we were soon depositing 75p into the parking machine at Southwold Pier.

The lighthouse is situated, rather peculiarly to me, in a street in the town. I'd hate to be a neighbour. The Adnams brewery tour was on a Wednesday but didn't start till 2pm so we did not dally. Chose a more direct route back to Bury and arrived about 2pm. The medieval heart of the town starts at the gate to the ruined Abbey and leads to some beautiful and popular gardens. After snapping the new and ruined cathedrals, tinkling the ivories of a public piano (they've moved on from Sydney) and an encounter with tame squirrels (see video), I dragged Tess as quickly as I could towards the cathedral and some organ music I heard.

As luck would have it, a famous Italian organist was rehearsing for that night's concert so I captured plenty of video while I chatted to the senior man (rector?) - and saved money on recital tickets! From Church it was back into town in search of Britain's smallest pub, the Nutshell. Took us a while but we found it and tasted its wares. No loo though so we made our way back to the hotel.

Arranged breakfast with Peter and Daphne over dinner and then, just as we were retirning, got into a conversation about golf and tennis with two businessmen in the lounge. Finally to our room.

No wonder we haven't watched much tele.