What does it mean to be a true...?

About being a true writer.

I’m reading now a French book of Jean-Philippe Toussant “L’urgence et la patience”. What does it mean to be a writer, how is it to write books? Actually, I think it’s about being an artist in general, being a creator. “L’urgence” is what some people call “inspiration”, some people say it’s when you just can’t keep silence, when you NEED to write. Though Toussaint doesn’t like this definition, because “inspiration” is about being passive, when you sit and just wait for the inspiration without any attempts to work. And “l’urgence” is about being active, great talents are nothing without work, without practicing, without tries and faults, without disappointments and discoveries. That’s why you need “la patience” as well to be a writer. 

It reminded me of myself when I was a teenager and was writing short stories and poems. I was sure that the whole point is to have an inspiration – when I thought I had it, I just closed myself in my room and was writing for the whole day without talking to my parents, and barely eating. When the story was done, I almost never corrected it again, even if my parents say that there are places to review. Now, re-reading my teenage stories I realize that I could have done a better job if I would work, if I would have “la patience” to reread, to correct, to work more on getting information about certain things instead of making it up. What I know now is that a writer should have a big social experience and to be an erudite, to know a lot of things from different areas. Being a writer is probably even one of the hardest jobs, because it’s connected with a creativity which is vague and very subjective thing. Sometimes it brings a huge satisfaction and happiness, while at the other moments it could bring a big frustration. So being a true writer is about being brave and strong to stand the test.

About being a true magician

Yesterday I watched “Life is beautiful”, Italian movie about… Well, if I say about Second World War in Italy, I won’t be absolutely correct. Because it’s not only about war, it’s even not mostly about war. It’s about magic in life, magic which is created by love. The main character is a guy who always does simple miracles to impress his future wife at first and then to make his family (wife and a little son) happy. As an adult you understand that there is nothing miraculous about these “moving tables” or “keys dropped from the heaven” (this guy was just very attentive and was able to use right moments and to make them look unusual) but we believe him like kids and see a life as a wonderful and happy moment. 

The main character is just a person who notices a bright side of the life and shows it to those who are around him. Such people save the world even when it’s falling apart. In a concentration camp he continues creating a wonderful world for his son, making him believe that everything what is happening with them is just a game. His miracles save his son’s and his wife’s lives. While such people exist, our world won’t disappear in the pain, fear and death. Such people keep our belief in miracles, in love and in originality of our life. That is a true magic.

About being a true person

Today my grandma had guests. We were in the house when suddenly a lot of people appeared in our courtyard – several kids from the local Secondary School and two teachers with them. Kids wore blue field caps, one boy carried flowers and all of them looked very decent. Teachers know my grandma and brought this class to meet her and to take her take under their patronage. So one of the teachers said: “Kids, this woman is a respectful teacher of our village, she worked for more than 30 years in your school. She is also a wife of the war hero from our village and thanks to her we have this great, interesting museum about war in our region. We are taking her under our patronage and you should come here to help her with everything she’ll need”. In the evening I was looking through old pictures my grandma showed me. It was so impressive, firstly, because of being so old that you could see such pictures and documents only in the museum. And here you have it in your hands and it’s about your grand grandfather. Some documents are dated by the end of the 19^th century! Secondly, I was looking at these pictures with my grandfather who is in military uniform on them, and it’s so unbelievable to imagine that he was taking part in events I was reading about only in my history textbooks, that he was wounded and a bullet passed in a millimeter from his heart. After he came back to village, he was much respected here, he was writing really great poems and all guys in a village who tried to write were bringing their works to him to ask for his opinion. 

I feel so sad that I was so little when he died so I don’t remember my grandfather. Now everyone could see his pictures and read about him in a local museum, which was created by my grandma and was kept by her for a long time. Now it’s the school who is taking care of it. As for my grandma every second inhabitant of this village of middle and senior age was her student. Almost everyone in the village knows her and respects her. When I think about my grandparents I feel that it’s what is called being “a true person”, it’s when at the end of your life you know that you lived not for nothing, that you did create something in your life. That’s what I would call “a true life”. 

Life in southern Russian village

The fact is that my parents are from different parts of Russia: my dad is from South, while mom is from North of Russia. Their love story deserves to be written in a novel about external hardships and obstacles in love. Though I’m proud of my parents because in spite of all distances they managed to stay together and to make the strongest family I’ve ever seen. Finally, after a lot of discussions where they should live they end up living in the North. So my grandparents from my dad’s side were living far from us. I don’t remember my grandfather as he died when I was 2. Although every summer “a visit to our grandmother in the village” was a big event for us. When I grew up and my granny got older I tried to see her at least twice a year: in summer and in winter during my university vacations. Though the “summer at grandma’s” remains a special concept in my mind. So here I am now – in this familiar at every detail house, in the warm Southern village near city Rostov-on-Don. Nobody gets younger with the lapse of time so my grandma is pretty old now (she is almost 88) and I’m realizing that if she passes away this my tradition of coming here and spending a part of the summer here will also go away with her. And the essential part of my life will now will end, because the house, the village, the flowers, this place in general will never be the same without her. So this time being here I started remembering all my summers here and moments and details that I liked or didn’t like about living at grandma’s.

— 1) The most agonizing duty in the kitchen here is washing dishes. The absence of running water is the worst part of the absence of services and utilities. The water here goes from a special pipe and is pretty expensive so you can’t wash dishes with it. So you have to get water from the well (the water is extracted from the well by a pump), and heat it in the basin where you wash dishes after. In short words, it’s really complicated process. For the same reason you can’t use any detergents because without running water it’s hard to clean this agent after. So if the dishes are greasy (what it is in most cases) you have to use household soda. Also there isn’t any special sponges for washing, you should wash with some tissue which gets dirty pretty soon. Seriously, I have no idea how my granny could do that every day often even several times a day! We were ready to wash the whole house to avoid washing dishes.

+ 2) A cozy white and blue house which we recognized from afar and which makes us happy. Long time ago it was an elementary school, and when the main building for the village school was built, they gave this house to my grandparents. When it was a school, rooms for sure were big enough, that’s why now some “walls” are actually made from cardboard and have carlets on them to hide it. For example, such “wall” separates a kitchen and a “cat’s house” (actually, this room is something like storeroom, but it’s called “cat’s house” because the cat is always closed there if he is stealing food from the table or when it’s cold outside in winter). A part of the house is just closed and isn’t used at all, windows are locked there. It was always a secrete and frightening part of the house for children. First of all, it was always dark there and it you want to turn on the light you have to pass through a dark room because there was no light from outside. Secondly, we always believed in our childhood that there lived families of huge rats so if you enter these rooms barefooted (we never wore shoes in the house or in courtyard) they would bite you.

— 3) If you wanted to have a bath you should heat the water in a heavy huge pot, then standing wet in a bath you have to mix it with cold water which runs pretty slowly so you are getting cold by yourself till you’ll have the water with an appropriate temperature. Now you can understand my happiness when 2 years ago my grandma bought a shower cubicle and now we can have a NORMAL shower any time.

+ 4) An incredible amounts of various fruits every day. They are bought on the everyday market very early in the morning (at about 6-7 am). I managed to wake up for it only about 3 times for all my time spent here though my grandma does it every Tuesday!

+ 5) Fresh milk from the cow which is brought by my grandma’s friend every 3 days

+ 6) Big apricot trees near the window: almost every year the courtyard was completely covered with its fruits. Even if we gathered all of them in the evening, in the morning it was impossible again to come out of the house without stepping on fruits. There is a funny story that when I was 5 years old my elder sister was obliged to watch me to prevent from eating fruits from the ground without cleaning. And so once she didn’t notice how I picked a fruit from the ground and put in mouth. She cried at me: “Spit it out right away!” I looked at her, chew for a while and spitted out a stone.  Sounds like me.

+ 7) A vegetable garden with potatoes: when I was a kid I was allowed only to kill Colorado potato beetle with rocks, then when I grew up I was picking up potatoes from the holes made by my dad. Now I can dig potatoes out myself.

8) A permanent murmuring of wild pigeons and hoarse cries of roosters in the morning

9) My first fear of darkness: it is completely dark at night in the village, so when I was a child I always asked to leave the light on in the hall. While lying in the darkness I was imagining robbers getting into our house to kill us. And my grandmother wouldn’t wake up even if I would cry because she has problems with hearing. So I was really scared. Now I even enjoy this darkness, and it’s not actually complete as there is always a moon lighting.  

10) Tons of relatives with a “favorite question”. When I was studying the question was “How is school?” Now the question is “When are you going to get married?” (it doesn’t matter if I have a boyfriend or not at the moment)

11) My grandma’s friends to whose house we went to practice piano (me and my sister studied at music school so it was important to practice almost every day). We played one by one and went to look at their muskrats.

12) Big photos of my grandfather (I don’t remember him alive) – it seemed to me that his eyes were always following me everywhere with attention.

13) My  grandmother’s stories about grandfather and their past. She met him when she was almost 30 and he was 10 years older. They were very happy together and even now 21 years after his death she is still missing him and talking about him every day. Yesterday she told me the story how he proposed her. He just said that he already filled the application for the registry office so everything is already decided. She was a little bit shocked by that statement but he just never doubted that she loved him. My grandmother never had any jewelry because she just didn’t get used to them. Her wedding ring was the only ring she ever had, but when my father got married they needed money and my granny gave sold her wedding ring.

14) A huge bookcase with tons of interesting books I was reading a lot every summer. At school I was obliged to read books from certain “summer list”, after it I was just reading for a pleasure.

15) My grandma’s best friend who almost lives with her in winter and who is the biggest tale-bearer ever. She is a specialist at all “affairs of the heart”.Though she is super nice and loves the whole our family like her own.

16) Saying “hello” to every person you meet in the village even you don’t know most of the people you meet. And in the supermarket you should say: “It’s for my granny Maria…” and the assistance would understand right away what exactly to give you.

17) Everyday question from my grandma: “What to cook for you today?” (even if the fridge is already full of delicious meals)

18) A village church is just opposite our house so we hear an iron ringing of church bells every Sunday morning

19) A lot of flowers in the courtyard, tons of mosquitoes, no Internet and phone service almost not available in the house, best delicacies: amazing honey, fresh grilled fish (it’s the best dish of my grandma) and boiled crayfishes

20) huge bags full of jars with squash and eggplant pastes, with honey and jam, and full of Circassian walnuts

21) my first fishing and the only one little mouse in my life who was caught into trap

22) riding crazy motorbike and swimming without clothes

23) permanent laziness

24) it’s hard to understand what is a dill, what is a parsley and what is just random grass in the vegetable garden, when grandma sent you to cut some parsley for a borsch (a traditional Russian soup)

25) The same poems that my grandma is citing every year and which everyone already know by heart

26) Always opened entrance door (it’s closed only at night) so that everyone just enters the house and goes to find the hostess

27) Our coach where me and my sister one summer were drinking Argentinean cocktails she brought from Spain and watching stupid Hollywood comedies

28) A noise of trains behind the river every night

29) My grandma’s attempts to protect me from any local guy’s attention. Something like that: our neighbour young guy who were interested in me, comes to talk and my grandma is around all the time asking what we are talking about or trying to make up some tasks for me to shorten out conversation. Now it sounds funny for me, though at that time I was really annoyed by such control.

30) Imagined that I was a princess secretly living in my country palace (you can’t imagine it in the city apartments, right?)

I’m so thankful to my Granny for this part of my life and for everything she is doing for us, for her patience and understanding and especially for her immutable wisdom. And I’m so sorry for her forced solitude most of the year here, because all of us are far away and her husband is dead. Now I understand so deeply that you should appreciate the person you love and who loves you now, today, because tomorrow it could be late…

Last day or How sad it is not to have a car.

Actually, we were ready on our last day to return the car and to try a “typical” sea vacations of the most guests of our hotel. Meaning “walk-swim-lie-eat-walk-lie-swim-eat” etc. But this passage from active to a passive recreation was so abrupt that our tender minds turned out to be not ready. First of all, we wanted to go to the ceramic shop in the morning before returning the car to observe beautiful things at least if not to buy. We counted that we took a car at 11 am, so we should return it at about the same time. So we are coming to the parking spot and don’t see our car. The place where we left it is just empty. We are stressed out, thinking about some suspicious guys who were hanging around the beach yesterday at night.  Though we are running to check a last optimistic version – to ask people who gave us the car if they just took the car back by themselves. And it turned out to be truth – we actually had to return the car the evening before or before 9 am that day. But they haven’t prevented us! We thought the rules are like in Moscow – you return the car at the same time as you took it.

Because of such stress we started missing our car and our freedom to go everywhere a lot. Well, in the beginning it wasn’t that bad: we swam in the hotel swimming pool, because our rocky beach with big waves and cold water wasn’t appropriate for Max, lied on the beach, observing a group of local teenagers who were having fun in the swimming pool. But it was getting hot and boring and we went to find a place to have a lunch. On foot for sure. And got lost on some private territory. Max started whining that he was tired and wanted to eat. Finally, we found a small nice bar, but we didn’t have cash left (only a credit card) and they didn’t accept cards (we faced this problems already tons of times here). Se we moved to another bar “Ideal” and had a huge lunch there. And 4 more hours of doing nothing after. Boring…

But afternoon we had an interesting meeting at the beach. So here is the story. We are sitting on the beach talking and playing with Max and suddenly a middle-aged guy comes to us and gives us a bunch of figs. We smile and thank him. He leaves than comes back and brings also apricots. We start talking. As we found out, he is learning Russian and came just to meet new Russians. When he discovered that I teach Russian as Foreign language, he brought a lot of books he uses for learning Russian and more figs. He was a manager in the air company and  knows a lot of languages. He started learning Russian in a state sponsored program, but when the crisis came to Greece they closed this program, so he continued learning himself. Dimitrious is incredibly nice guy! He persuaded us to take presents from him on the next morning before we leave – olive oil, wine. And we were trying to decide what to give him in advance, because we even didn’t have Russian books with us. It was fantastic!

Later we had an excellent interesting and cozy evening with Costas, our new friend from Apolona (a fireman who helped us) talking about everything in the world, about Greece, about past and present, about future friendship of our countries, about him, about us. The sea was lapping almost under our feet and at a distance Rhodes was shining with tons of lights. It was the best farewell with this wonderful island. Though it’s sad… 

The fifth day. A record of road pictures or To be in time for the sunset.

We all agreed that today was the best and the luckiest day of the trip. First of all, we said goodbye to our favorite beach in Tzambica because tomorrow we should return the car (everyone is complaining – we fell in love with this great Ford). Though the sun was roasting us we tried to prolong the pleasure as long as we could, built a maze with a lot of fake ends and cashes. Often you get used to things around you so quickly that you just stop appreciating them. I was swimming back to the coast, observing these beautiful rocks in the perimeter of the bay and was thinking how much I’ll miss this area.

Finally, when it became too hot we packed and went to expore the villages inside the island. We passed already familiar Archipoli, where we visited a Typical House Museum the day before and the village Eleoussa. Next destination was a village Apolona (well, you can guess who it was called after) and where according to the Internet should be a museum of folklore. We passed also a pretty small mountain village where neat cozy houses were almost hanging over the steep slopes of mountains.

In Apolona (thanks, God!) we found a direction sign to the museum quickly, parked and went there by foot. The time were for “siesta” so there were only few people outside, only kids were dancing and crying near some building (it turned out to be a school). Well, we found a museum but it was closed and there was a notification to call certain number if we want to visit it. We didn’t have local phones so we kept going in search for someone to help us. Soon we found a building looking as administrative building (we for sure didn’t understand an inscription in Greek). We looked in and discovered a fire station and a nice guy Costas who called into three places for us to find the person who is in charge of the museum. “That was the beginning of the great friendship”. Costas not only called the right person but also amused us with conversation till this person came. Approaching the museum we saw a beautiful, old stone house in really great conditions. His owner was sitting on the porch so we told him how nice-looking his home is. Nicos (his name) was so proud of his house which he restored after his grandfather and so nice to us that he invited us inside to show everything. This house is really very interesting and unusual because it combines ancient elements with a comfort of modern family. A real mountain-rural house. With wooden plank beds, ancient ceramics and a white tablecloth, with a fireplace and a stone semicircle in front of it, where you can lie, sit and have a lunch. Nikos showed us everything: all rooms, details, wooden beams with carved decorations and told us what and how he restored. Everything was so full of huge love to his home and a quiet pride.

Impressed we went to the museum which was much bigger than all other local museums that we saw before. They have a big collection of local crafts and everyday life objects, hut the most impressive thing was the way how it was presented – with so much taste and love to their history. Sabas  showed us and explained everything in English. When he showed us a press for an olive oil, he mentioned that he also makes some small amount of olive oil from his own olives. Finally, we bought three bottles of really natural oil from him. At that moment a fireman Costas joined us at the museum and brought Max some candy. Max was conquered, us too. We bought also some olives (I’ve never tried that delicious olives before) and some fragrant soap made from more concentrated oil. And helped Sabas and his wife with their advertisements in Russian by pointing grammatical mistakes. We exchanged e-mail addresses with them and left the village. On our way to car we saw Nicos (an owner of the nice house) again and his two sons, he called us and said that he wanted us to taste his home made wine. Just to try. It was pure grapes juice – delicious and pretty strong. And it was incredible Greek hospitality everywhere, we were just plunged into this warm attitude. We left so happy and satisfied that even didn’t notice that we spent about two hours in this village.

Everyone recommended us to visit another village in mountains Profitis Ilias where as we were told there is an old hotel built by Italians with a striking view on the mountains and on the sea. So we decided to have a lunch there. Honestly, the view probably was really great but only from the second floor where there are rooms of the hotel and the entrance is forbidden. On the first floor where the restaurant was there were a lot of trees that didn’t allow to see everything. Though the restaurant had traditionally delicious Greek salad and great pizza. Nastya also discovered a very nice Greek coffee.

We continued our trip and accidentally found a Byzantine Church of 15^th centuary Agious Nikolas that we were looking for yesterday. Definitely, everything amazing happens accidentally. The church was all covered inside with tremendous old murals and the building itself was really charming. The most important thing was an absolute silence outside, no one around, only sounds of murmuring water in the spring, flowers blossoming everywhere around and the air is so fresh that you want to breath, to breath, to breath…

Even though we were pretty late (we also wanted to visit an ostrich farm) we walked around it a lot and made a lot of great pictures. Finally we turned to our road to Butterflies Valley and started spinning on the serpentine. Suddenly, on the way up to the mountain we notice a guy on the bike. We were impressed by his courage – it was really steep rise, we would die even going on foot and he was going by bike. We are passing him and showing him a thumb to support his efforts. He doesn’t react anyhow. Nastya is making jokes that he probable is fed up with such “idiots on the cars”. We keep going and suddenly when we were on our way down, this guy on the bike is outrunning us! That was called “I got you!” The laughter was choking us.

Finally, we reached our ostrich farm just in time to examine all animals in one hour before they were closed. It was so great! We bought a packet of corn to feed animals and were happy like kids. First we fed ostriches – they were very funny, with huge eyes and “pursed lips”. They peck from your hand and sometimes they pinch you because it’s not comfortable with such beaks. WE also met donkeys, they were puffing and asking for food so touchingly that they got more than others. Goats are really crazy: they are climbing the fence and gracefully knocking with a leg to ask for food. The camel was super cute: when you give him corn on the hand he takes it softly and chews it with your hand. It’s ticklish and very funny. We even managed to feed wild boars because they were grunting and pushing their snouts through the grating. Finally we found monkeys and the baboon firstly stretched himself to Nastya to kiss her but suddenly got offended for some reasons and turn his back to us and looked hurt. We tried to apologize but he didn’t listen to us.

We made a circle and came back to the entrance just at about closure of the zoo. I forgot to mention also two cute fluffy puppies who accompanied us everywhere were very funny and sweet. So the last point of our program for today was to catch the incredibly beautiful sunset somewhere from the top of the mountain. We were hurrying up to our favorite place (we definitely exceeded the speed limit a lot)  and were just in time to see an unusual sunset with small clouds on the horizon, ruins of ancient castle at a distance and slow disappearing of the light. It was gorgeous! Satisfied we went home and bought a bottle of local wine. Actually, now we are drinking it while Max is sleeping.

The forth day. Sand storm.

Today was a relaxing day and a respite from a cultural program. Meaning: we visited only couple of local attraction, and swam only for a couple of times, and only one time had a drink. But let’s start from the beginning. In the morning as usually we went to our favorite beach Tzambica. We decided not to pay for these expensive beach beds and placed directly on the sand. We swam a lot, built sandy castles, ran in the waves and went to Epta Piges (Seven Springs). Honestly, it’s a little bit tawdry place because all seven springs are in the same place, and there is no need to go anywhere else which was boring (you can only climbs rocks for a while). Nothing special. Well, may be only peacock walking on the rocks. Actually, the water is tasteful in all seven springs, and honestly, I haven’t noticed any differences between them, though my sister said that they are obviously very different from each other.

Max was stubborn and didn’t want to go to walk in the forest, which was enticing into its charming freshness of its green shadow. Finally, we came into this virgin forest with fallen trees, rocks and stones. We saw the butterflies that we were supposed to see in the Butterflies Valley, Max climbed rocks and was happy, we were sitting and listening to the silence and birds singing.

After coming back to civilization we decided to separate into two groups: Nastya went to pass a famous for a lot of myths and legends tunnel where all the springs unit. One of the beliefs says that if the guy passed this dark tunnel in the ankle-deep cold water, he’ll free from seven sins. As for women, it’s attractive as well: if a girl passed this gloomy 200 meters tunnel, she’ll get younger for 10 years. My sister did it while we with Max spent time on the kinder ground. Nastya said that it was pretty interesting. Tunnel is really very dark and the streaming is pretty strong: when she tried to come back through it, it was impossible – you have to do on the ground. And actually, the way back through the rocks is pretty hard and long. But in general, cool.

After all these attraction we decided to refresh as it was the time for lunch. We didn’t have a chose because there is only one café near springs and we stayed there. At first we didn’t like the food (you know these eating places where there is no any concurrence around, and managers  don’t care much about quality – there will be people anyway). But then Nastya’s lamb was great and we relaxed with lemon granizatas, and got the impression that life is actually good. When at the end Nastya while paying at the cash desk asked if she could take one of the candies there for Max, the cashier said that one is impossible and she had to take two or three. As a result, we not only got the whole bunch of candies but also the waiter played in guessing game with Max (he should have guessed in which hand there is a candy).

After springs Max fell asleep in the car and we went to explore local villages. By experience we learnt that you shouldn’t leave the main road even if you search for some hypothetical Byzantine church with very old murals. Because afterward it would be really hard to come back (by the way we haven’t found the church anyway). Though accidentally found a museum of Typical Village House in the Archipoli located in the small house where before the museum there lived a family of 11 people. Nice, tiny and very cozy as most of the local inhabitants here. And already coming back we finally found a famous plane tree, which is 1240 years old and is so huge in diameter that there is a small room inside it that we checked inside for sure.

Max wanted to go home to watch cartoons, though he agreed to a compromise: a lot of cartoons in the evening, but to go to the beach at that moment. Unfortunately, by that time the wind arose and the beach wasn’t the most pleasant place to be: strong waves, cold water and sand storm so that the sand was crunching on the teeth. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe wave tongues oncoming and crawling away so we spent about an hour there.

We didn’t want to come back home at that nice evening, so we found a great cocktail bar with the view on the sea and with Wi-Fi (so Max was busy with his cartoons) in Ialososs where the password for Internet access was “Bob Marley”. Cocktails were awesome, but the non-alcoholic one for Max “Safe sex on the beach” turned out to be the best. That was the best finishing of the day: the sunset above the sea, attractive Greeks outside the window on the street and delicious flavor of pineapple.

The forth day. Sand storm.

Today was a relaxing day and a respite from a cultural program. Meaning: we visited only couple of local attraction, and swam only for a couple of times, and only one time had a drink. But let’s start from the beginning. In the morning as usually we went to our favorite beach Tzambica. We decided not to pay for these expensive beach beds and placed directly on the sand. We swam a lot, built sandy castles, ran in the waves and went to Epta Piges (Seven Springs). Honestly, it’s a little bit tawdry place because all seven springs are in the same place, and there is no need to go anywhere else which was boring (you can only climbs rocks for a while). Nothing special. Well, may be only peacock walking on the rocks. Actually, the water is tasteful in all seven springs, and honestly, I haven’t noticed any differences between them, though my sister said that they are obviously very different from each other.

Max was stubborn and didn’t want to go to walk in the forest, which was enticing into its charming freshness of its green shadow. Finally, we came into this virgin forest with fallen trees, rocks and stones. We saw the butterflies that we were supposed to see in the Butterflies Valley, Max climbed rocks and was happy, we were sitting and listening to the silence and birds singing.

After coming back to civilization we decided to separate into two groups: Nastya went to pass a famous for a lot of myths and legends tunnel where all the springs unit. One of the beliefs says that if the guy passed this dark tunnel in the ankle-deep cold water, he’ll free from seven sins. As for women, it’s attractive as well: if a girl passed this gloomy 200 meters tunnel, she’ll get younger for 10 years. My sister did it while we with Max spent time on the kinder ground. Nastya said that it was pretty interesting. Tunnel is really very dark and the streaming is pretty strong: when she tried to come back through it, it was impossible – you have to do on the ground. And actually, the way back through the rocks is pretty hard and long. But in general, cool.

After all these attraction we decided to refresh as it was the time for lunch. We didn’t have a chose because there is only one café near springs and we stayed there. At first we didn’t like the food (you know these eating places where there is no any concurrence around, and managers  don’t care much about quality – there will be people anyway). But then Nastya’s lamb was great and we relaxed with lemon granizatas, and got the impression that life is actually good. When at the end Nastya while paying at the cash desk asked if she could take one of the candies there for Max, the cashier said that one is impossible and she had to take two or three. As a result, we not only got the whole bunch of candies but also the waiter played in guessing game with Max (he should have guessed in which hand there is a candy).

After springs Max fell asleep in the car and we went to explore local villages. By experience we learnt that you shouldn’t leave the main road even if you search for some hypothetical Byzantine church with very old murals. Because afterward it would be really hard to come back (by the way we haven’t found the church anyway). Though accidentally found a museum of Typical Village House in the Archipoli located in the small house where before the museum there lived a family of 11 people. Nice, tiny and very cozy as most of the local inhabitants here. And already coming back we finally found a famous plane tree, which is 1240 years old and is so huge in diameter that there is a small room inside it that we checked inside for sure.

Max wanted to go home to watch cartoons, though he agreed to a compromise: a lot of cartoons in the evening, but to go to the beach at that moment. Unfortunately, by that time the wind arose and the beach wasn’t the most pleasant place to be: strong waves, cold water and sand storm so that the sand was crunching on the teeth. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe wave tongues oncoming and crawling away so we spent about an hour there.

We didn’t want to come back home at that nice evening, so we found a great cocktail bar with the view on the sea and with Wi-Fi (so Max was busy with his cartoons) in Ialososs where the password for Internet access was “Bob Marley”. Cocktails were awesome, but the non-alcoholic one for Max “Safe sex on the beach” turned out to be the best. That was the best finishing of the day: the sunset above the sea, attractive Greeks outside the window on the street and delicious flavor of pineapple.

The forth day. Sand storm.

Today was a relaxing day and a respite from a cultural program. Meaning: we visited only couple of local attraction, and swam only for a couple of times, and only one time had a drink. But let’s start from the beginning. In the morning as usually we went to our favorite beach Tzambica. We decided not to pay for these expensive beach beds and placed directly on the sand. We swam a lot, built sandy castles, ran in the waves and went to Epta Piges (Seven Springs). Honestly, it’s a little bit tawdry place because all seven springs are in the same place, and there is no need to go anywhere else which was boring (you can only climbs rocks for a while). Nothing special. Well, may be only peacock walking on the rocks. Actually, the water is tasteful in all seven springs, and honestly, I haven’t noticed any differences between them, though my sister said that they are obviously very different from each other.

Max was stubborn and didn’t want to go to walk in the forest, which was enticing into its charming freshness of its green shadow. Finally, we came into this virgin forest with fallen trees, rocks and stones. We saw the butterflies that we were supposed to see in the Butterflies Valley, Max climbed rocks and was happy, we were sitting and listening to the silence and birds singing.

After coming back to civilization we decided to separate into two groups: Nastya went to pass a famous for a lot of myths and legends tunnel where all the springs unit. One of the beliefs says that if the guy passed this dark tunnel in the ankle-deep cold water, he’ll free from seven sins. As for women, it’s attractive as well: if a girl passed this gloomy 200 meters tunnel, she’ll get younger for 10 years. My sister did it while we with Max spent time on the kinder ground. Nastya said that it was pretty interesting. Tunnel is really very dark and the streaming is pretty strong: when she tried to come back through it, it was impossible – you have to do on the ground. And actually, the way back through the rocks is pretty hard and long. But in general, cool.

After all these attraction we decided to refresh as it was the time for lunch. We didn’t have a chose because there is only one café near springs and we stayed there. At first we didn’t like the food (you know these eating places where there is no any concurrence around, and managers  don’t care much about quality – there will be people anyway). But then Nastya’s lamb was great and we relaxed with lemon granizatas, and got the impression that life is actually good. When at the end Nastya while paying at the cash desk asked if she could take one of the candies there for Max, the cashier said that one is impossible and she had to take two or three. As a result, we not only got the whole bunch of candies but also the waiter played in guessing game with Max (he should have guessed in which hand there is a candy).

After springs Max fell asleep in the car and we went to explore local villages. By experience we learnt that you shouldn’t leave the main road even if you search for some hypothetical Byzantine church with very old murals. Because afterward it would be really hard to come back (by the way we haven’t found the church anyway). Though accidentally found a museum of Typical Village House in the Archipoli located in the small house where before the museum there lived a family of 11 people. Nice, tiny and very cozy as most of the local inhabitants here. And already coming back we finally found a famous plane tree, which is 1240 years old and is so huge in diameter that there is a small room inside it that we checked inside for sure.

Max wanted to go home to watch cartoons, though he agreed to a compromise: a lot of cartoons in the evening, but to go to the beach at that moment. Unfortunately, by that time the wind arose and the beach wasn’t the most pleasant place to be: strong waves, cold water and sand storm so that the sand was crunching on the teeth. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe wave tongues oncoming and crawling away so we spent about an hour there.

We didn’t want to come back home at that nice evening, so we found a great cocktail bar with the view on the sea and with Wi-Fi (so Max was busy with his cartoons) in Ialososs where the password for Internet access was “Bob Marley”. Cocktails were awesome, but the non-alcoholic one for Max “Safe sex on the beach” turned out to be the best. That was the best finishing of the day: the sunset above the sea, attractive Greeks outside the window on the street and delicious flavor of pineapple.

The forth day. Sand storm.

Today was a relaxing day and a respite from a cultural program. Meaning: we visited only couple of local attraction, and swam only for a couple of times, and only one time had a drink. But let’s start from the beginning. In the morning as usually we went to our favorite beach Tzambica. We decided not to pay for these expensive beach beds and placed directly on the sand. We swam a lot, built sandy castles, ran in the waves and went to Epta Piges (Seven Springs). Honestly, it’s a little bit tawdry place because all seven springs are in the same place, and there is no need to go anywhere else which was boring (you can only climbs rocks for a while). Nothing special. Well, may be only peacock walking on the rocks. Actually, the water is tasteful in all seven springs, and honestly, I haven’t noticed any differences between them, though my sister said that they are obviously very different from each other.

Max was stubborn and didn’t want to go to walk in the forest, which was enticing into its charming freshness of its green shadow. Finally, we came into this virgin forest with fallen trees, rocks and stones. We saw the butterflies that we were supposed to see in the Butterflies Valley, Max climbed rocks and was happy, we were sitting and listening to the silence and birds singing.

After coming back to civilization we decided to separate into two groups: Nastya went to pass a famous for a lot of myths and legends tunnel where all the springs unit. One of the beliefs says that if the guy passed this dark tunnel in the ankle-deep cold water, he’ll free from seven sins. As for women, it’s attractive as well: if a girl passed this gloomy 200 meters tunnel, she’ll get younger for 10 years. My sister did it while we with Max spent time on the kinder ground. Nastya said that it was pretty interesting. Tunnel is really very dark and the streaming is pretty strong: when she tried to come back through it, it was impossible – you have to do on the ground. And actually, the way back through the rocks is pretty hard and long. But in general, cool.

After all these attraction we decided to refresh as it was the time for lunch. We didn’t have a chose because there is only one café near springs and we stayed there. At first we didn’t like the food (you know these eating places where there is no any concurrence around, and managers  don’t care much about quality – there will be people anyway). But then Nastya’s lamb was great and we relaxed with lemon granizatas, and got the impression that life is actually good. When at the end Nastya while paying at the cash desk asked if she could take one of the candies there for Max, the cashier said that one is impossible and she had to take two or three. As a result, we not only got the whole bunch of candies but also the waiter played in guessing game with Max (he should have guessed in which hand there is a candy).

After springs Max fell asleep in the car and we went to explore local villages. By experience we learnt that you shouldn’t leave the main road even if you search for some hypothetical Byzantine church with very old murals. Because afterward it would be really hard to come back (by the way we haven’t found the church anyway). Though accidentally found a museum of Typical Village House in the Archipoli located in the small house where before the museum there lived a family of 11 people. Nice, tiny and very cozy as most of the local inhabitants here. And already coming back we finally found a famous plane tree, which is 1240 years old and is so huge in diameter that there is a small room inside it that we checked inside for sure.

Max wanted to go home to watch cartoons, though he agreed to a compromise: a lot of cartoons in the evening, but to go to the beach at that moment. Unfortunately, by that time the wind arose and the beach wasn’t the most pleasant place to be: strong waves, cold water and sand storm so that the sand was crunching on the teeth. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe wave tongues oncoming and crawling away so we spent about an hour there.

We didn’t want to come back home at that nice evening, so we found a great cocktail bar with the view on the sea and with Wi-Fi (so Max was busy with his cartoons) in Ialososs where the password for Internet access was “Bob Marley”. Cocktails were awesome, but the non-alcoholic one for Max “Safe sex on the beach” turned out to be the best. That was the best finishing of the day: the sunset above the sea, attractive Greeks outside the window on the street and delicious flavor of pineapple.

The forth day. Sand storm.

Today was a relaxing day and a respite from a cultural program. Meaning: we visited only couple of local attraction, and swam only for a couple of times, and only one time had a drink. But let’s start from the beginning. In the morning as usually we went to our favorite beach Tzambica. We decided not to pay for these expensive beach beds and placed directly on the sand. We swam a lot, built sandy castles, ran in the waves and went to Epta Piges (Seven Springs). Honestly, it’s a little bit tawdry place because all seven springs are in the same place, and there is no need to go anywhere else which was boring (you can only climbs rocks for a while). Nothing special. Well, may be only peacock walking on the rocks. Actually, the water is tasteful in all seven springs, and honestly, I haven’t noticed any differences between them, though my sister said that they are obviously very different from each other.

Max was stubborn and didn’t want to go to walk in the forest, which was enticing into its charming freshness of its green shadow. Finally, we came into this virgin forest with fallen trees, rocks and stones. We saw the butterflies that we were supposed to see in the Butterflies Valley, Max climbed rocks and was happy, we were sitting and listening to the silence and birds singing.

After coming back to civilization we decided to separate into two groups: Nastya went to pass a famous for a lot of myths and legends tunnel where all the springs unit. One of the beliefs says that if the guy passed this dark tunnel in the ankle-deep cold water, he’ll free from seven sins. As for women, it’s attractive as well: if a girl passed this gloomy 200 meters tunnel, she’ll get younger for 10 years. My sister did it while we with Max spent time on the kinder ground. Nastya said that it was pretty interesting. Tunnel is really very dark and the streaming is pretty strong: when she tried to come back through it, it was impossible – you have to do on the ground. And actually, the way back through the rocks is pretty hard and long. But in general, cool.

After all these attraction we decided to refresh as it was the time for lunch. We didn’t have a chose because there is only one café near springs and we stayed there. At first we didn’t like the food (you know these eating places where there is no any concurrence around, and managers  don’t care much about quality – there will be people anyway). But then Nastya’s lamb was great and we relaxed with lemon granizatas, and got the impression that life is actually good. When at the end Nastya while paying at the cash desk asked if she could take one of the candies there for Max, the cashier said that one is impossible and she had to take two or three. As a result, we not only got the whole bunch of candies but also the waiter played in guessing game with Max (he should have guessed in which hand there is a candy).

After springs Max fell asleep in the car and we went to explore local villages. By experience we learnt that you shouldn’t leave the main road even if you search for some hypothetical Byzantine church with very old murals. Because afterward it would be really hard to come back (by the way we haven’t found the church anyway). Though accidentally found a museum of Typical Village House in the Archipoli located in the small house where before the museum there lived a family of 11 people. Nice, tiny and very cozy as most of the local inhabitants here. And already coming back we finally found a famous plane tree, which is 1240 years old and is so huge in diameter that there is a small room inside it that we checked inside for sure.

Max wanted to go home to watch cartoons, though he agreed to a compromise: a lot of cartoons in the evening, but to go to the beach at that moment. Unfortunately, by that time the wind arose and the beach wasn’t the most pleasant place to be: strong waves, cold water and sand storm so that the sand was crunching on the teeth. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe wave tongues oncoming and crawling away so we spent about an hour there.

We didn’t want to come back home at that nice evening, so we found a great cocktail bar with the view on the sea and with Wi-Fi (so Max was busy with his cartoons) in Ialososs where the password for Internet access was “Bob Marley”. Cocktails were awesome, but the non-alcoholic one for Max “Safe sex on the beach” turned out to be the best. That was the best finishing of the day: the sunset above the sea, attractive Greeks outside the window on the street and delicious flavor of pineapple.

The forth day. Sand storm.

Today was a relaxing day and a respite from a cultural program. Meaning: we visited only couple of local attraction, and swam only for a couple of times, and only one time had a drink. But let’s start from the beginning. In the morning as usually we went to our favorite beach Tzambica. We decided not to pay for these expensive beach beds and placed directly on the sand. We swam a lot, built sandy castles, ran in the waves and went to Epta Piges (Seven Springs). Honestly, it’s a little bit tawdry place because all seven springs are in the same place, and there is no need to go anywhere else which was boring (you can only climbs rocks for a while). Nothing special. Well, may be only peacock walking on the rocks. Actually, the water is tasteful in all seven springs, and honestly, I haven’t noticed any differences between them, though my sister said that they are obviously very different from each other.

Max was stubborn and didn’t want to go to walk in the forest, which was enticing into its charming freshness of its green shadow. Finally, we came into this virgin forest with fallen trees, rocks and stones. We saw the butterflies that we were supposed to see in the Butterflies Valley, Max climbed rocks and was happy, we were sitting and listening to the silence and birds singing.

After coming back to civilization we decided to separate into two groups: Nastya went to pass a famous for a lot of myths and legends tunnel where all the springs unit. One of the beliefs says that if the guy passed this dark tunnel in the ankle-deep cold water, he’ll free from seven sins. As for women, it’s attractive as well: if a girl passed this gloomy 200 meters tunnel, she’ll get younger for 10 years. My sister did it while we with Max spent time on the kinder ground. Nastya said that it was pretty interesting. Tunnel is really very dark and the streaming is pretty strong: when she tried to come back through it, it was impossible – you have to do on the ground. And actually, the way back through the rocks is pretty hard and long. But in general, cool.

After all these attraction we decided to refresh as it was the time for lunch. We didn’t have a chose because there is only one café near springs and we stayed there. At first we didn’t like the food (you know these eating places where there is no any concurrence around, and managers  don’t care much about quality – there will be people anyway). But then Nastya’s lamb was great and we relaxed with lemon granizatas, and got the impression that life is actually good. When at the end Nastya while paying at the cash desk asked if she could take one of the candies there for Max, the cashier said that one is impossible and she had to take two or three. As a result, we not only got the whole bunch of candies but also the waiter played in guessing game with Max (he should have guessed in which hand there is a candy).

After springs Max fell asleep in the car and we went to explore local villages. By experience we learnt that you shouldn’t leave the main road even if you search for some hypothetical Byzantine church with very old murals. Because afterward it would be really hard to come back (by the way we haven’t found the church anyway). Though accidentally found a museum of Typical Village House in the Archipoli located in the small house where before the museum there lived a family of 11 people. Nice, tiny and very cozy as most of the local inhabitants here. And already coming back we finally found a famous plane tree, which is 1240 years old and is so huge in diameter that there is a small room inside it that we checked inside for sure.

Max wanted to go home to watch cartoons, though he agreed to a compromise: a lot of cartoons in the evening, but to go to the beach at that moment. Unfortunately, by that time the wind arose and the beach wasn’t the most pleasant place to be: strong waves, cold water and sand storm so that the sand was crunching on the teeth. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe wave tongues oncoming and crawling away so we spent about an hour there.

We didn’t want to come back home at that nice evening, so we found a great cocktail bar with the view on the sea and with Wi-Fi (so Max was busy with his cartoons) in Ialososs where the password for Internet access was “Bob Marley”. Cocktails were awesome, but the non-alcoholic one for Max “Safe sex on the beach” turned out to be the best. That was the best finishing of the day: the sunset above the sea, attractive Greeks outside the window on the street and delicious flavor of pineapple.

The forth day. Sand storm.

Today was a relaxing day and a respite from a cultural program. Meaning: we visited only couple of local attraction, and swam only for a couple of times, and only one time had a drink. But let’s start from the beginning. In the morning as usually we went to our favorite beach Tzambica. We decided not to pay for these expensive beach beds and placed directly on the sand. We swam a lot, built sandy castles, ran in the waves and went to Epta Piges (Seven Springs). Honestly, it’s a little bit tawdry place because all seven springs are in the same place, and there is no need to go anywhere else which was boring (you can only climbs rocks for a while). Nothing special. Well, may be only peacock walking on the rocks. Actually, the water is tasteful in all seven springs, and honestly, I haven’t noticed any differences between them, though my sister said that they are obviously very different from each other.

Max was stubborn and didn’t want to go to walk in the forest, which was enticing into its charming freshness of its green shadow. Finally, we came into this virgin forest with fallen trees, rocks and stones. We saw the butterflies that we were supposed to see in the Butterflies Valley, Max climbed rocks and was happy, we were sitting and listening to the silence and birds singing.

After coming back to civilization we decided to separate into two groups: Nastya went to pass a famous for a lot of myths and legends tunnel where all the springs unit. One of the beliefs says that if the guy passed this dark tunnel in the ankle-deep cold water, he’ll free from seven sins. As for women, it’s attractive as well: if a girl passed this gloomy 200 meters tunnel, she’ll get younger for 10 years. My sister did it while we with Max spent time on the kinder ground. Nastya said that it was pretty interesting. Tunnel is really very dark and the streaming is pretty strong: when she tried to come back through it, it was impossible – you have to do on the ground. And actually, the way back through the rocks is pretty hard and long. But in general, cool.

After all these attraction we decided to refresh as it was the time for lunch. We didn’t have a chose because there is only one café near springs and we stayed there. At first we didn’t like the food (you know these eating places where there is no any concurrence around, and managers  don’t care much about quality – there will be people anyway). But then Nastya’s lamb was great and we relaxed with lemon granizatas, and got the impression that life is actually good. When at the end Nastya while paying at the cash desk asked if she could take one of the candies there for Max, the cashier said that one is impossible and she had to take two or three. As a result, we not only got the whole bunch of candies but also the waiter played in guessing game with Max (he should have guessed in which hand there is a candy).

After springs Max fell asleep in the car and we went to explore local villages. By experience we learnt that you shouldn’t leave the main road even if you search for some hypothetical Byzantine church with very old murals. Because afterward it would be really hard to come back (by the way we haven’t found the church anyway). Though accidentally found a museum of Typical Village House in the Archipoli located in the small house where before the museum there lived a family of 11 people. Nice, tiny and very cozy as most of the local inhabitants here. And already coming back we finally found a famous plane tree, which is 1240 years old and is so huge in diameter that there is a small room inside it that we checked inside for sure.

Max wanted to go home to watch cartoons, though he agreed to a compromise: a lot of cartoons in the evening, but to go to the beach at that moment. Unfortunately, by that time the wind arose and the beach wasn’t the most pleasant place to be: strong waves, cold water and sand storm so that the sand was crunching on the teeth. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe wave tongues oncoming and crawling away so we spent about an hour there.

We didn’t want to come back home at that nice evening, so we found a great cocktail bar with the view on the sea and with Wi-Fi (so Max was busy with his cartoons) in Ialososs where the password for Internet access was “Bob Marley”. Cocktails were awesome, but the non-alcoholic one for Max “Safe sex on the beach” turned out to be the best. That was the best finishing of the day: the sunset above the sea, attractive Greeks outside the window on the street and delicious flavor of pineapple.

Rhodes, Greece, pictures of fifth day of the trip

http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/779447/Rhodes%2C-june-2013%2C-fifth-day

Rhodes, Greece, pictures from forth day of the trip

http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/779442/Rhodes%2C-june-2013%2C-forth-day

Third day. Collection of the weirdest ways to get sunburnt, or The Greeks are jeering at us.

Let’s continue our Rhodes chronicle. This morning we woke up BEFORE  Max (it doesn’t happen often) and were disappointed with gloomy sky and stormy wind. But it turned out that there was nothing to worry about, because in spite of the wind it was warm and nice and because afternoon the weather has cleared up and we even were able to enjoy the sunset. Though we enjoyed the storm as well today. I’ll tell about it later.

 So we left not so early. We refueled and bowled along to the capital of the island – city Rhodes. But our nice trip didn’t continue for a long time because we entered the city, found the part called Old City and realized that there isn’t any logic or sense in road signs, parking signs etc. We have been told before that on Sunday parking in the city is free, but it wasn’t obvious at all: just everyone was parking as wanted. Like honest citizens we made “a lap of honor” around the walls of Old City, till we finally found a normal place to park.

Through Marine Gates we entered this marvelous oriental/medieval corner, that reminded us Istanbul so much with its tiny, paved with pebbles streets, bright colors of the roofs, wonderful cobwebs of flowers, souvenirs and clothes markets and sunlit domes and minarets. Right away we plunged into this mix of Medieval and Oriental summers. Max actually wasn’t that impressed by the idea of walking around these streets and exploring medieval castles, so he was whining and complaining. But Nasta somehow managed to show him some interesting details such as emblems of different countries and knights orders on the walls.

We passed the medieval street of knights (Ippoton) with tons of emblems on the old walls: on the both sides of the street there are buildings of former residences of 8 nationalities. Then we entered Palace of Masters (or Kastello). Actually it’s pretty dreary place and it isn’t that old. The Palace was build in XIV century but during the Ottomans dominion was destroyed by the explosion of powder that was kept in the basement. It was restored only in 1939 by Italians. Today you can see there a collection of furniture of XVI–XVII centuries, statues, vases and striking mosaics of Hellenistic and Roman ages. It’s very beautiful but it’s hard to use in real life. Though as my sister said: “Was there anything comfortable for real life at that time at all?”

 After the Palace we went to walk around ramified streets and courtyards of Old City. We passed Socrates Street, observed very beautiful but half-ruined the oldest mosque Mehmet Pasha and decided to find a hamam. It took us about ten minutes, then ten minutes more, than ten more… So Greeks just can’t draw a right map. Obviously. We had three maps and all of them showed different things, and all of them were way far from the reality. We were wandering and wondering, till Max finally just refused to go anywhere more and we decided to have coffee and to have a rest somewhere in the shadow. We met a nice old Greek who invited us to his café “Oasis”. First of all, they had amazingly delicious cappuccino: I don’t know what they put in there but even my sister who isn’t big fun of coffee asked for a second cup. Secondly, we not only had a coffee but also sang Russian songs and danced sirtakki (well, Nastya was dancing and I was making pictures). 

So when we ordered coffee and milk shake for Max and comfortably disposed in our chairs, came a middle aged man with a guitar and with the owner of the café they started singing Greek songs. Their voices were really great! We decided to encourage them and gave the guy euro. And that’s how it started. He suddenly started singing Russian songs from “Mohnatyh shmel”. We naturally took up the melody. And the whole café was enjoying the show. After “Shmel” we  went to “The long road”, and after it there were Greek songs and dances, and the owner of the café asked Nastya to dance with him sirtakki. After it he gave her a flower and kissed her on both cheeks. He also gave me a flower and thank us for support. Also they brought us incredibly delicious oranges as a present. When I dropped a half of orange by accident, the waiter brought up three more. All in all, we left best friends.

After we continue our search of a mysterious hamam, which accordingly to map was everywhere around us, but we haven’t seen it at all. Finally, we got completely lost, wandered to a labyrinth of stone streets, so narrow that only one person was able to go through it, where there wasn’t not only any tourists, but even local people (it was siesta). Suddenly, through one tiny street we came right to the hamam, but we didn’t have any forces to have a bath, so we came back to our car and went to the post Mandraki. It’s the place where long time ago stood Colossus of Rhodes, and now there are statues of deer, symbol of the island. Near one of these deer we sat down and spent about half an hour without moving, just observing the sea. Max was playing with his toys, Nastya was reading my notes about the place, and me… I was just sitting on the parapet and didn’t do anything wrong. Though, it turned out that I attracted attention. That was funny: a group of young guys came to the sea and started looking at something there and discussing it in Greek. One of them stood not far from me and was staring at me. I was pretending that I didn’t notice it. My sister was giggling and enjoying the show. Finally, he came up and asked if I’m a model and didn’t believe when I said no. As a result he asked me if he could make a picture with me together. My nice sister told me to demand from him to pay 5 euro. But I was kind that day. And asked only for 4. Kidding… J Actually, we had a nice conversation and the guys (they were from Crete) went away.

After about an hour we realized that we had breakfast at 9 am, and it was 5 pm already, so it would be a good idea to have dinner. That’s why we went to the beach Faliraki passing through an Apollo Acropolis on the hill, that actually consisted only of 4 columns. After that the main task was to leave the city in the right direction. It sounds pretty easy, right? But in reality it’s almost unrealizable. At that there are only 2 possible directions out of the city! But. The Greeks place road signs in random places without any logic. Generally, you can notice them only AFTER you turned. And it’s your problem if that wasn’t the right turn for you. In most cases there aren’t any signs at all, so you should orientate only with a help of your intuition. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes we were just swearing, because it’s impossible to orientate unless you know the city as your five fingertips. Basicly, for last 5 days Nastya passed also the course of super-quick reaction and practiced an ability to guess the right direction by intuition. That was really hard! When we finally left the city (after 3 times being lost) we breathed with relief.

We went to Faliraki and chose the first reastaurant we met on our way because we were starving. and again – you should have so much pleasure from food, it’s not right! But it was a great pleasure. We ordered Greek meat plate with different types of sausages and chops with some incredibly delicious sauces, plus mozzarella sticks. After that we had magically cooked “gyras” (very delicate chicken, pita, tasteful potatoes and vegetables) and “stiffado” (meat with asparagus in tomato sauce, potatoes and rice). When we finally finished, the world around was floating in some smoky fog of delight and intoxication from the food. The cook came out of the kitchen and we expressed out thanks to him. At that moment they brought us a desert on a restaurant. We were so overfull, we couldn’t move, but you think we haven’t eaten it? Nope, we finished it in five minutes: it was melting in our mouth right away. So we talked to a manager of the restaurant, our waiter and went out so languid that we were too lazy to walk several meters to the sea and we went there by car.

It was a storm on the sea. Actually, it wasn’t that strong – only 3-4 points of intensity. Though it was impossible to swim, because you can’t come into the water and start swimming. That’s why we had fun all the ways we knew, especially Max who was absolutely happy to run away from huge coming waves and screeched when the wave splashed all over him. Me and Nastya also kept up with him: we were trying to stand as close to these huge waves as we could, buried Max in the sand and were saving his toys from the water. As a result, in the evening all three of us were washing ourselves from the sand for a long time. It was endless happiness. Only when it started getting dark we went home.

And yes, joyful Greeks. First of all, maps are absolutely USELESS in that country. And if you turned right once on “your” direction sign, there is no guarantee that you’ll get your destination safely. No, you’ll meet millions of crossroads without ANY signs and  only Lord knows where you should turn. Finally, we got absolutely lost in one of the small towns so we had to ask locals (who actually were not that good at English) where we should go.  After that we took wrong roads about more dozens of times and lost a hope to understand where we were and where we should go, and why a single track road suddenly changes to double track one and vice versa.  And when finally when we saw a plane flying pretty low above the ground we cried with happiness because they fly so low exactly above our hotel. That’s how we deduce the Greek way of orientation on the spot “by guesswork” and “by planes”.

P.S. As for the weirdest ways of getting sunburnt, Nastya contrived to get red strips on the legs because of lying with crossed legs for half an hour. And I’ve got sunburnt toes where they were not covered with sandals.