Cruising on Eidos: travel

Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy New Year from Ixtapa, Mexico

Hope it's the best one yet for you.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Power spot

Temple of Posseidon - Cape Sounion, Greece

This would be my preferred power spot. Great view all around and high above the Aegean Sea. We anchored right under the temple.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Ok, so usually I don't pay attention to politics and the economy but by chance I stumbled on a currency exchange page on Google while reading about the earthquake in Italy. There is an interesting graph on the page showing the rise and fall of one against the other and it seems that the Euro is falling with respect to the Canadian dollar. I guess it might be a good idea to take a look again before I use an ATM machine in Greece.

Let's see, if I take out 100 Euros and the exchange is 1.6 I need 160 dollars. If I wait until it's worth 1.5, I need 150 dollars - save 10 dollars. Not bad. From yesterday to today, I would have saved three dollars. Enough for a coffee and a pastry. If I wait long enough, perhaps I'll be able to buy a month worth of groceries with the money I save. I'm not complaining...

Now, the earthquake does concern me - I have friends in Italy. Hope they're all ok but still it's terrible for the families of the people who died. I send my prayers to them.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Horseshoe Bay to Vancouver Island

Horseshoe Bay ferry dock

Working Horse Winery in Peachland, B.C. Canada

I went for a visit to the Working Horse Winery in Peachland, B.C. and learned how to prune grape vines. What a lovely place. The owners, Tilman Hainle and Sara Norman work their land with horses rather than machinery and make organic wine on site. They welcome guests during the summer - check their website for more information.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Paxoi Island tour on a scooter

One day a friend from another boat and I decided to see the island of Paxoi from a scooter. This, let me tell you, is the best way to travel on a small island. You can rent one almost anywhere, they are easy to learn to ride, and all you need for the 50 c.c. one is your regular car driver's license. Just be careful, they can be like a rhinoceros charging when you first start one as they go from stop to go very quickly and jerkily.

Once you are under way, the scooter is very practical. They take almost no space on the road, so you can stop on the side to admire a view and for a photograph. And when it's time to park, just pull over next to wherever you're going.

Years ago, on Mikonos, I rented a moped, which had an engine you started by pedaling (and you could pedal it if you ever ran out of gas). It had bigger wheels than the scooter, so it had more surface area to hug the road for better traction. For some reason they're not as popular anymore, but they're still around.

Country road...

Fisherman coming home with his catch.

Aaaah, that feels good!

So, which taverna would be the best one for lunch?

Land tour - Preveza to Nekromanteo (Gate of Hades)

Don't run me over!!

Watermelon anyone?

How about a clove of garlic?

Free rooms with sea view? What's the catch?

Not bad for a sea view...

Nekromanteo (Gate of Hades)

This is today's river of Styx

Nikopolis

Perhaps Odysseus?

On the way to Vonitsa

Ithaca, Greece

View from the north coast of Ithaca towards Lefkada.

I love finding still art such as this. And it's everywhere in Greece.

Would you believe that I took this photo from the front seat of the bus? Take a look at the black sun shade at the top of the photo. And yes, we actually drove past the motorcycle.

Frikes harbour on the north east coast of Ithaca. The ferry sails between here and Vasiliki on Lefkada Island and Fiskardo on Kefallonia Island. During WWII, the Greek resistance fighters sunk a German destroyer off this harbour.