We feel that we‘re getting to know our hotel neighbours quite well. We’re quite surprised at how much we’ve been able to deduce about them just by listening to the noises that come into our room from their bathroom via the window in the light well. ”Listening” is probably not quite the right word; “not being able to avoid hearing” is probably a better description. We know that they prefer baths to showers, and on this basis we decided yesterday that they were probably English. The conversation we hear through the window this morning confirms this to be correct. They don’t sound like they’ve eaten any dodgy food while they’ve been here, at least not yet. I wonder what they're saying about us. We found out when we were in Crete that the locals are called ... read more

Today we have a nice easy day of travelling to Corfu. This will involve a gentle drive to the airport, followed by a quick hop to Athens where we’ll have about an hour to stroll around the airport before our short flight to Corfu. There we will pick up the hire car we’ve booked, and take a leisurely drive to our hotel. We’ll get there in the late afternoon, just in time to wander down to a waterfront taverna for a few drinks and dinner, before retiring to our hotel balcony where we will gaze contentedly out at the sea. What could be simpler and more relaxing than all that. We arrive at the airport early, and all is going nicely to plan. But wait, it seems that our flight has been delayed. No problem, we’ll ... read more

We're up at 5am for our long awaited day of hiking through the Agia Irini Gorge. I think that maybe it’s only me that the “long awaited” bit applies to; I suspect “long dreaded” may be more Issy’s take on the subject. We are picked up just before 6am, and we join a busload full of fellow hikers for the long drive up into the White Mountains where our hike will start. We originally considered hiking the 16 km long Samaria Gorge, which is apparently the longest gorge in Europe, before deciding that the Agia Irini, at a paltry 7.5 km, was a bit more our style. We assume that everyone else on the bus is also a fellow Agia Irini hiker, but we soon discover that it is only us and one other couple who ... read more

We’re tired after yesterday’s long drive, so we sleep in. We really sleep in; we miss lunch. Issy wants to spend most of the day relaxing. She must really want to relax; she says she’s even willing to let me go out driving on my own. I did happen to mention something about a monastery which may have played a small part in her decision. Issy’s not really into monasteries. I head off out through endless rows of olive trees and grapevines to the Agia Triada Monastery which is on the Akrotiri Peninsula north east of Chania. I read that it was built in the early 17th century by two Venetian brothers. Its church has three domes and has been built in the Byzantine architectural style, and the monks live in rooms off the cloisters surrounding ... read more

We’re a bit tired after a long day of travelling yesterday, so Issy glues herself to a lounge under an umbrella next to the hotel pool. Every effort to prise her loose fails, so I take the opportunity to read up a bit about Crete on the ever reliable Wikipedia. Crete is a serious island. It‘s the largest island in Greece and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean. Its major historical significance is as the centre of Europe‘s first advanced civilisation, the Minoans, who apparently thrived here from 2,700 to 1,420 BC. They then declined or disappeared, and one theory is that they were wiped out by the Thera eruption which created the famous Santorini caldera. That must have been some eruption; Santorini is more than 150 kilometres away. The Mycenaeans from mainland Greece were the ... read more