Day 1 - NYC orientation

After 4 hours sleep we decided there was no time to lose and headed straight from the Eventi hotel Cnr 30th & 6th Ave over to 34th & 5th to pick up the Big Bus Tour to start with the Downtown loop.

But first, coffee. Ben asked for an extra strong cappuccino in a small cup, this is what he got.

I on the other hand, ordered a Latte with Full Cream milk. He looked at me strangely and then he went....' Oh, you mean Whole Milk' 😳🤔

After waiting for over an hour for a bus to take passengers we were beginning to get a bit annoyed, feeling like we had picked the wrong bus line because the Grayline tour bus had a bus stop every 5 minutes. As you can imagine we were not happy Jan. Clearly the photo above was taken on arrival.....

Ok NYC is noit in Europe, but hey....

While our daughter is on a school trip jet setting around Italy, Ben and I thought we would make a quick trip to New York. Yes I know the Koutas are not in Europe per Se but one of us is... If you want to follow Liv's adventures, you can at http://OliviaGracetravels.blogspot.com.au

So this morning when my beautiful, generous, loving sister Teresa dropped Ben and I at the airport and picked up our son Nicholas, we thought we had all the time in the world to enjoy a luxuriously long mediocre breakfast. After saying our goodbye's and going through to customs, I decided to look at the information printed on our boarding passes... WTF it was 10:15 and although we were told the flight was delayed by 20 minutes the scheduled departure time was 10:20 and we needed to be through customs by 9:50am! Panick set in and we were pulling all stops to jump the queue. We used every sob story known to man... From being delayed in saying goodbye to our 11 yr old son all the way to major tragedies were invented. The customs guy wished us the best of luck and laughed when he told us our gate was the furthest one away. Great. We ran all the way to gate 16 and for those of you not familiar with Melbourne international terminals or who have not traveled for a while, let me tell you it was miles away! Seriously, even with running on travellators, it was bloody hard work. When a Qantas air hostess with a walkie talkie met us mid way and radio'd in that they'd found mister and missus Koutoukidis, there was no 'phew, we can catch our breath now' and no stopping. It didn't matter that I did not have the fitness for that run, I had to suck it up and run for the love of God. I think I got my breath back somewhere over the ocean just before LA.

Change over was swift and efficient and we arrived in NYC  to a beautiful light snow storm. After settling into our room, we went down to the bar for a drink (or two) and some live porn thanks to a lovely Italian couple, the whole bar was watching on in anticipation of what was going to happen next, it got to stage where the bar tenders were taking bets on what's he going to grab next ? Boob, bum or the other thing it was like watching 2 octopus going at it Ahh to be young again. After the live show we then headed out from 6th Ave/30th to Times Square all the way up to 49th then back down to 14th/9th into Chelsea, Soho & Grenwich and back to the hotel. All the while it was snowing!

  

   Yes, we even did the Dallas BBQ re-run...

  We made a point to stay up until 1:30am which is 6:30am in Rome to wish Olivia a happy 15th birthday feeling blessed to be able to have these wonderful opportunities. One last night cap before we head up to our room. 

Greece day 13 Heraklion / Ayios Nicholas

Today we are heading off to an area of the island called Ayios Nicholas ( meaning St Nicholas ). Efthemi is not with us, he is at work today so Tellie slows the car down enough for us to jump in Dukes of Hazard style. All in, our first stop is an Island called Spinalonga, In Ancient times Island was  walled to protect the City of Olous  then the Venetians in the 16th Century turned into what was the most important defensive sea fortress in the Mediterranean then the turks took it in the 1700's and had it until 1896 when it was taken back by the Greeks in 1896. In 1903 the Greek Government turned it into a Leper Colony i know it sounds pretty terrible but there was no cure from it back then and people didn't really understand the disease so the sent them to spend the rest of their lives to be prisoners in paradise, isolated form the rest of the world they were still treated with dignity. I know it sounds , depressing but they still had purpose they earn t money by working the fields, manufacturing and producing salt. They fell in love and had families, so this Island sounding as bad as it does, it was home for these poor people, many died but in 1957 after finding a cure for the disease, the leper colony was left to the elements. There is a book called the Island a best seller apparently a great read, if you come to crete come to Spinalonga.

The Black flag warned off people approaching the Island 

The Bakery on the Island 

From there we head through and area called Eloundra full of sensational looking resorts on our way   through Ayios Nicholas for lunch we arrive in the beautiful town with a lagoon in the middle of it surrounded by bars and restaurants another great place another great feed.

From there we head back to  Heraklion  i walk around town for about an hour head back to the Hotel rest up for our last dinner all together as we fly out of Crete first thing in the morning. Tellie and Efthemi pick us up and take us to one of their favourite restaurants just outside town call The Wave, right on the water once again great food great drink and great company, usual banter between Dad and Tellie, Dad saying that he prefers Turkey to Greece and Australia this Australia that . I only just get about a 1/4 of what goes on but it is amusing to watch. After dinner, back to the hotel with some tears in our eyes and plenty of hugs kisses and thank you s, we say our good byes. Tellie Voula and Efthemi have opened their houses lives and experiences to us and in this trip i really found close family in Greece which were only ever just names of people in conversations, I've loved it .  

The View from the restaurant

Although I love travelling I think you come to a point in the holiday were you know your only a couple days away from home and a bit of home sickness comes and not to mention the ones you love  Liv Nic and my beautiful wife Lee Lee looking forward to seeing you all soon, so in fear of boring you all with any more of my blog from Greece I am going to sign out now i want to thank all of you that have read it and hopefully enjoyed it, and the people who have left comments a special  thanks to you.

If you have enjoyed this blog and would like me to write yours I am available to come on your holiday and live the experience with you as long as you pay.
Good Bye Thank You and i will speak to you soon.

 







           

Greece Day 12 Chania / Heraklion

This morning started off as a bit of downer not knowing the condition of Theo Nick, Dad myself Chris and Basil head down for breakfast where Tellie and Efthemi would meet half and hour later. Voula still being in transit we hadn't heard anything as yet, so a bit of discussion and then a plan was put down for the day.

Lets start by giving the history lesson, Chania was built firstly by the Byzantine people and then was demolished and rebuilt by the Italians (Venetians ) and what a job they did, you think that you were in Venice, these beautiful built lime stone walls against that never ending turquoise blue of the sky and sea    ( I am not copying this stuff out of the lonely planet either - if you are going to compare it should be the gourmet traveller - I'm just saying!!!) any way we stroll along these ancient walkways of merchants and shipwrights taking in some the stunning features of Old Chania Town I come across something I have always suspected ( this will only mean something to the people who knows my very good friend Vincenze Leone from Abbruzzo in  Italy ) Vincenze as I suspected, you are Greek and I have proof (you also own land (island) a goat and a Donkey you've gone halves with me congratulations ) see the photo below. We sit down and have a coffee and watch as the yachts go by out to the regatta that is about to start what an absolute gorgeous place, another must see place whilst visiting Greece, soon after our coffee we get a call form Voula she made it to the hospital Theo Nick is doing well not in pain has a fractured arm which is in plaster and is getting a pin put in his hip on Wednesday, he wont be as mobile as he has been but its better than the alternative, a new hip which at his age would take a lot of rehabilitation, so thank you all for those that said a little prayer for him.

Jack how many do you think we could get on there 

See Vincenze you are Greek

So Tellie, Efthemi  and the rest of us feeling much better about the news we head off to see a War memorial for when the Greeks
defeated the Turks back in the 1920's lovely place great view of the Venetian Harbour. Dad being a stirrer said that felt uncomfortable being in place that commemorates the defeat of his Turkish ancestors ( Mum his all yours in 4 days, not that I'm counting ) as always he gets Chrissy every time with out fail ( only if we could catch fish as easy ). We then move on to the Commonwealth War Memorial in Suda Bay, well what overwhelming beutiful place where our very young are laid to rest, to give us the freedoms we have today. Just walking through that cemetery and seeing name after name and all the ages ranging from about 18 to 25 they really were just kids, it is a fitting place for there souls as it is in a very  tranquil place on the end of a quite bay, Lest We Forget .

From Suda Bay we head straight up in to the mountains through Orange, Olive Groves and Vineyards which keep going on for ever, I have never seen so many Olive trees in my life, Crete is known for its full flavoured Extra Virgin Olive Oil being the best in the world and believe me I agree with my fellow food critics. Our destination is a Monastery high on the mountains, well when the old man heard that, he said you know i don't eat fish or look at Monasteries or go to beaches ( bugger the snapper give me a sword fish to slap him with- 4 days mum). Well we arrive at the Arkadi monastery, what an amazing place. This Monastery saw a lot of action between the Greeks and the Turks but now is a place of  reflection and quite. This Monastery is 800 years old and I still operational.

So if you get the chance to come to Crete put that on your list because about 25 mins down a road you would think only Yanni and Spiro would happy on, you come across a gastronomical gem this tiny little taverna called  Giannousaki in the village of Margarites, well the lady there showed me and Chrissy how to make goat and sheeps milk cheese which we had a plate of with bread and salt OMG ( mum remember this one ) it tasted like warm ricotta out of this world. Thats where it started she also taught me and Dad how to make Raki (greek grappa ) from there we sat down for what you would call traditional Greek peasant food, home made bread, 3 types of cheeses, salad, potatas, shallow fried pitas with spinach and wild greens, tzatziki, souvalaki and the list could go on, this lady was a champion she was making cheese, wine, Raki and all this food at the same time. At the end of the meal she brought over a little bottle of Raki that was warm form only coming out of the still minutes before, you can ask my father in law ,I'm not a fan of home made or brought stuff for that matter but i don't know if it was the whole experience or what it was. This Raki  is smooth and very drinkable so not be rude I asked her if i could buy a bottle, without hesitation she ran inside filled up a 1.5 litre bottle and handed it to me I was waiting to get slugged then she says 8 euros please $10 Aussie bucks that is seriously cheap, now I have to find some glass bottles to put it in to bring home. We leave there and head back to Heraklion where Tellie and Efthemi drops us off and tells us to be ready at 9pm for Baclava ( mum book dad in for syrup detox) I go up to the roof top bar to write this in sensational surrounds, Basil comes up and gets me we head off for some more syrupy goodness, I know what your are thinking as that al they do is bloody eat , well sort of.
Good night speak to you soon.