She snuggles us at night, wakes us up in the morning and guards us in the shower.
The bottom shot is Isis in 1998 at 9 Hanna Avenue, a raw industrial loft space that Matt and I lived in for a wild and crazy year!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Newfoundland Escapes
Aare moved out to Newfoundland in the early aughts and on occasion comes back to Toronto to visit but the natural beauty of Newfoundland has kept him on the "Rock" for years.
In addition to staying at Esto's, we also visited Gros Morne, an amazing national park with wonderful trails.
The first time we travelled to Newfoundland, it was the Victoria Day Weekend and when we visited Gros Morne, there was still snow on the ground!
Alas, we did not hike that time but embued with additional wisdom, our next two trips were both in July, one over the Canada Day Weekend!
In 2008, we hiked the Gros Morne mountain trail, a long flat walk in followed by a climb over steep scree to the flat top of the mountain with amazing views out over the water (and also some caribou).
After a lunch break at the scenic vista, we continued on a loop around the mountain, complete with a stop at a lake with a moose on the other side, before descending at a much milder grade down to the trail that had brought us in. All told the trip took about eight hours and our bodies were sore after, our feet doubly so!The next time we came out in 2009, we hiked what Aare calls the Green Gardens trail (or so I recall). This was a much less strenuous trail with a descent from the entry point down to a trail along the water followed by an ascent and loop back to the starting point. It was aptly named as the whole journey was filled with lush greenery whereas the top of Gros Morne Mountain had been fairly bleak.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Espana - Summer 2009
Some time in 2008 (or perhaps 2007), Christos had the opportunity to visit a mining project in Northern Spain and after the visit he felt as though Spain was a country both he and Lisa needed to see more of, previously having only been to Barcelona and a couple of spots on Spain's NE coast while sailing in 2001. So in the summer of 2009 a trip to Spain was booked!
Our trip started with a train voyage to Northern Spain (from Madrid) where we biked from the town of Lugo down to the Camino Santiago and then once on the Camino we followed it to its terminus in Santiago De Compostela, a wonderful cathedral town in Spain's far NW of Spain. The train trip was fun in itself as an older Spanish couple was seated next to use and although we had trouble communicating, they insisted we share their wine with them!
The Camino is a pilgrimage route and the terminus (Santiago) hosts a wonderful cathedral that (supposedly) house the bones of Saint James, smuggled out of Muslim lands in the 9th century. On our journey to Santiago De Compostela, we stayed at several wonderful places along the way and ate heartily. One place that sticks in our minds was a hostel run by a little old lady ... we arrived after a bike through light rain and a bit of confusion as to our path (we got lost). So we were not in the best mood but all that changed after our hostess directed us down to a local restaurant for lunch. Christos has a keen sense for seeking out decent eating establishments and the parking lot of local workmen's lorries was the first strong sign of the restaurant's providence (always eat where the locals eat).
The place was a BBQ joint and the food was amazing. After a long lunch of BBQ goodies, during which a huge long table beside us filled up with about a score of people celebrating something, we rolled back to the hostel ... we had already arranged to have dinner there that night and even though we tried to caution our hostess that our bellies were already bursting it was to no avail. A few hours later it was time for dinner and it was both plentiful and yummy with the local caldo (soup/stew) of beans and pork, chicken wings, other fried foodstuffs etc. followed by a freshly picked pear for dessert. I think the bill came to $20 for the two of us, with wine. She also did our laundry that night; I think it was $3 for a huge bag of clean laundry.
We were on the road (on bikes) for about five days before arriving at Santiago De Compostela where we spent one (or perhaps two) nights at the amazing Parador Hostal Dos Reis Catolicos, the old hospital since converted into an amazing place to stay.Not a cheap place but well worth it.
Then it was off to Barcelona (via plane) for a weekend of fun, late night hijinks and excellent breakfasts at the lovely B&B we stayed at run by two very artsy gentlemen.
During our stay in Barcelona, we had the good fortune to observe the common scam three card monte being run on the Ramblas.
Note that many of the people in the image are in on the scam but appear not to be; we pegged at least six during the 1/2 hour we watched the drama unfold. The girl in purple is in on the scam; she wins when she plays and is there to entice others into playing (and not winning). At one point the scam artists got a little upset with us but Christos quickly explained we would not interfere with the gig, just observe. Still, they were not pleased by our presence.
After Barcelona, it was time for a trip south to Seville and Granada. We stayed at Las Casas De La Juderia in Seville. The hotel is a labyrinth of the buildings connected underground in the old city and was once (as the name implies), a main building for the Jewish community in Seville (the tunnels were in case of persecution). Quite an interesting experience and we managed to get lost a few times trying to find our room!
We toured Seville, visiting the amazing cathedral and bell tower (the Giralda) ... one evening a gentleman sat at the steps and played flamenco for some time. When we went over to see if he was busking and could use a euro or two, he just looked insulted, got up and walked away. He was playing just for the love of playing, not for money.
Lunch time nourishment in Seville was primarily sourced from the excellent Bodega Santa Cruz where tapas of all sorts are served with speed, precision and joy.
After Seville we visited Granada with the sublime Alhambra as well as other sites. Once more good food was found at a local bodega but interestingly enough there are two places very close to each other with the same name but one is a tourist trap and the other is excellent; supposedly they are run by feuding family members.
After Granada it was time to head back to Madrid for a few days and the return trip home. we stayed at the lovely (and reasonable) Hotel Catalonia Las Cortes in the Prado district (downtown), a short walk from the stupendous Prado museum (we spent almost an entire day here the first time we visited) with its Goyas and other works of fine art.
We discovered an amazing Galician restaurant in Madrid called Maceiras that Christos makes a point of returning to whenever he visits Madrid. The pimientos de padron are wonderful small fried green peppers covered in salt and almost impossible to find outside of Spain.
Our trip started with a train voyage to Northern Spain (from Madrid) where we biked from the town of Lugo down to the Camino Santiago and then once on the Camino we followed it to its terminus in Santiago De Compostela, a wonderful cathedral town in Spain's far NW of Spain. The train trip was fun in itself as an older Spanish couple was seated next to use and although we had trouble communicating, they insisted we share their wine with them!The Camino is a pilgrimage route and the terminus (Santiago) hosts a wonderful cathedral that (supposedly) house the bones of Saint James, smuggled out of Muslim lands in the 9th century. On our journey to Santiago De Compostela, we stayed at several wonderful places along the way and ate heartily. One place that sticks in our minds was a hostel run by a little old lady ... we arrived after a bike through light rain and a bit of confusion as to our path (we got lost). So we were not in the best mood but all that changed after our hostess directed us down to a local restaurant for lunch. Christos has a keen sense for seeking out decent eating establishments and the parking lot of local workmen's lorries was the first strong sign of the restaurant's providence (always eat where the locals eat).
The place was a BBQ joint and the food was amazing. After a long lunch of BBQ goodies, during which a huge long table beside us filled up with about a score of people celebrating something, we rolled back to the hostel ... we had already arranged to have dinner there that night and even though we tried to caution our hostess that our bellies were already bursting it was to no avail. A few hours later it was time for dinner and it was both plentiful and yummy with the local caldo (soup/stew) of beans and pork, chicken wings, other fried foodstuffs etc. followed by a freshly picked pear for dessert. I think the bill came to $20 for the two of us, with wine. She also did our laundry that night; I think it was $3 for a huge bag of clean laundry.We were on the road (on bikes) for about five days before arriving at Santiago De Compostela where we spent one (or perhaps two) nights at the amazing Parador Hostal Dos Reis Catolicos, the old hospital since converted into an amazing place to stay.Not a cheap place but well worth it.
Then it was off to Barcelona (via plane) for a weekend of fun, late night hijinks and excellent breakfasts at the lovely B&B we stayed at run by two very artsy gentlemen.
During our stay in Barcelona, we had the good fortune to observe the common scam three card monte being run on the Ramblas.Note that many of the people in the image are in on the scam but appear not to be; we pegged at least six during the 1/2 hour we watched the drama unfold. The girl in purple is in on the scam; she wins when she plays and is there to entice others into playing (and not winning). At one point the scam artists got a little upset with us but Christos quickly explained we would not interfere with the gig, just observe. Still, they were not pleased by our presence.
After Barcelona, it was time for a trip south to Seville and Granada. We stayed at Las Casas De La Juderia in Seville. The hotel is a labyrinth of the buildings connected underground in the old city and was once (as the name implies), a main building for the Jewish community in Seville (the tunnels were in case of persecution). Quite an interesting experience and we managed to get lost a few times trying to find our room!
We toured Seville, visiting the amazing cathedral and bell tower (the Giralda) ... one evening a gentleman sat at the steps and played flamenco for some time. When we went over to see if he was busking and could use a euro or two, he just looked insulted, got up and walked away. He was playing just for the love of playing, not for money.
Lunch time nourishment in Seville was primarily sourced from the excellent Bodega Santa Cruz where tapas of all sorts are served with speed, precision and joy.
After Seville we visited Granada with the sublime Alhambra as well as other sites. Once more good food was found at a local bodega but interestingly enough there are two places very close to each other with the same name but one is a tourist trap and the other is excellent; supposedly they are run by feuding family members.After Granada it was time to head back to Madrid for a few days and the return trip home. we stayed at the lovely (and reasonable) Hotel Catalonia Las Cortes in the Prado district (downtown), a short walk from the stupendous Prado museum (we spent almost an entire day here the first time we visited) with its Goyas and other works of fine art.
We discovered an amazing Galician restaurant in Madrid called Maceiras that Christos makes a point of returning to whenever he visits Madrid. The pimientos de padron are wonderful small fried green peppers covered in salt and almost impossible to find outside of Spain.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Italy 2007
In the summer of 2007, Lisa and Christos went on a three week tour of Italy! We started with a bike trip in the north-east (started in Vicenza and ended in Venice) before heading over to the amazing Cinque Terre for a few days followed by a visit (on a whim) to Sienna before returning taking a bus to Rome for the flight home.On the bike trip, we visited the mountain town of Bolzano where a walk with shaded trees commemorates the Italian Partisans who died fighting the Nazis in WWII; it was very moving as each tree had a plaque with the name and age of the fighter, some also had photographs. Most of them were well under thirty when killed.
We also found a lovely osteria run by two brothers that we had way too much fun at (damn that cheap wine) and visited two or three times during our stay.
Of course we also visited all the historical highlights such as the Doge's Palace containing the Bridge of Sighs and a cell where the infamous Cassanova was imprisoned (and escaped from!), Saint Mark's Square and the Arsenal.In Sienna we had the good fortune to arrive just before the Palio, an annual horse race in the center square. We watched them cover the pavement of the town square with dirt for the horse race but had to eave the day before the actual event. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing as all the hotels were booked up starting on day one of the Palio and the city becomes very crowded and crazy during this time.
While in Sienna, we quite enjoyed a show of falconry that was put on just outside the city walls. Beautiful birds that were well trained by their humans but even domesticated one could still see the hunter in their eyes.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Europe - Before Digital
We stumbled upon some old photos that we had digitized years ago from our Europe trips in the early oughts ....
Dinner at Los Caracoles, Barcelona 2001.
Dinner at Dugi Otok, Croatia, 2004.
A break from the trip up to see Parga castle, 2003.
The infamous Baba the Lemon Thief! Near Nicopolis, Greece, 2003.
In the depths of Parga Castle! Parga, Greece, 2003.
Lisa and Sally somewhere in the Ionian Islands 2003.
Champagne Charlie's, Barcelona, 2001.
Tunis in the Bazaar, 2000.
Tunis, on the roof of the bazaar, 2000.
The Wedding Throne, Tunisia, 2000.
The view along the gunnels of Elifthiria, what a joy she was to sail.
Dinner at Dugi Otok, Croatia, 2004.
A break from the trip up to see Parga castle, 2003.
Champagne Charlie's, Barcelona, 2001.
The view along the gunnels of Elifthiria, what a joy she was to sail.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Sardinia, Croatia, Romania and Budapest Summer 2004
In the summer of 2004, Christos and Lisa had their last sail on the wonderful Elifithiria with Alex and Sally.
We flew into Italy for a brief trip over to Sardinia where Christos went on a mining site visit before heading to Croatia where we met Alex and Sally. Two glorious weeks were spent sailing the Dalmatian Coast with visits to the island of Dugi Otok and the ports of Zadar and Split as well as other smaller ports. Croatia is quite a beautiful country and although not as expensive as Italy or France, by 2004 it had been discovered as a tourist destination and prices, while reasonable, were certainly not cheap.
The stay at Dugi Otok was particularly memorable. It is an island off the coast of Croatia:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Dugi+otok,+Croatia/@44.021175,15.0226648,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x47620015c670e1df:0xf5623705331cee03
With a natural park (Park Prirode Telascica) at the southern end that has a long bay leading into it providing excellent shelter. The bay is popular with yachties and has one restaurant grandfathered in but is otherwise devoid of settlements.
The restaurant is excellent and their specialty is a lamb dish that they cook slowly buried underground; one needs to order it in the morning in order to get it for dinner that night!
There is a dirt road over the hills and out of the bay that leads to the town of Sali on the exterior coast; Lisa and Christos paid it a visit by hitching a lift in the back of a truck and then walking back.
While in Croatia, we also did some spelunking although for the life of me I cannot recall the name of the cave we visited.
After the sailing with Alex and Sally, we left for an overland voyage to Romania where Christos had another mining site visit planned to the Rosia Montana project.
After a harrowing 24 hour trip by bus and train, we arrived in Romania in the early hours and were picked up by their local guy (Adrian) who not only chaperoned us for the tour but also took us on a three day weekend tour of Romania after the site visit was complete.
It was a real eye opener for both of us as out expectations and preconceptions as to what Romania is were way off.
The mine tour itself was very interesting as the project has a long history (2000 years) starting with the Romans and ending after the Ceausescu era when subsides were removed and the operation could not operate economically. An old rusted "shovel" from the Ceausescu era remained as a monument to previous times.
While touring Romania with Adrian, Christos spied two vampiric wooden carvings that he quite liked and before he could buy them, Adrian purchased them for us! They have graced our walls ever since and are known as "Vlad and Adrian".
The stay at Dugi Otok was particularly memorable. It is an island off the coast of Croatia:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Dugi+otok,+Croatia/@44.021175,15.0226648,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x47620015c670e1df:0xf5623705331cee03
With a natural park (Park Prirode Telascica) at the southern end that has a long bay leading into it providing excellent shelter. The bay is popular with yachties and has one restaurant grandfathered in but is otherwise devoid of settlements.The restaurant is excellent and their specialty is a lamb dish that they cook slowly buried underground; one needs to order it in the morning in order to get it for dinner that night!
There is a dirt road over the hills and out of the bay that leads to the town of Sali on the exterior coast; Lisa and Christos paid it a visit by hitching a lift in the back of a truck and then walking back.
After the sailing with Alex and Sally, we left for an overland voyage to Romania where Christos had another mining site visit planned to the Rosia Montana project.
After a harrowing 24 hour trip by bus and train, we arrived in Romania in the early hours and were picked up by their local guy (Adrian) who not only chaperoned us for the tour but also took us on a three day weekend tour of Romania after the site visit was complete.
It was a real eye opener for both of us as out expectations and preconceptions as to what Romania is were way off.
The mine tour itself was very interesting as the project has a long history (2000 years) starting with the Romans and ending after the Ceausescu era when subsides were removed and the operation could not operate economically. An old rusted "shovel" from the Ceausescu era remained as a monument to previous times.
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Summer Sailing in Greece
The summers of 2002 and 2003 saw our third and fourth sailing experiences aboard Elifthiria. In 2003 we flew via Rome while in 2003 we flew in and out of Athens.
In 2002 we met Alex and Sally in beautiful Taormina and sailed along the boot of Italy (past Crotone) and then were laid up for several days due to bad weather at the heel of Italy's boot.
At one point, the weather got so rough that even in a protected harbour, the boat rolled all night allowing no sleep ... the four of us gave up and rented a hotel room (on land) for the night! Fortunately, while the weather was rough, the food was excellent, particularly the seafood!
Finally we made the crossing over to Corfu and spent the last part of 2002's sail in and around Corfu, visiting Parga castle and I believe sailing the Ambracian Gulf, visiting the ruins of Nicopolis where Alex stole watermelon from a local farmer's field!
In 2003, we flew into Athens and then took a quick flight to Corfu to meet up with Alex and Sally who were staying at the Gouvina Marina, just a stone's throw from Corfu town.
Evenings were spent at a local bar (G&M's) with day trips into Corfu city and around the island.
G&M's was a bit dangerous as the drinks were cheap, the music loud and the owner very personable as can be seen by his joy at being with Lisa and Sally.
The big deal came a few nights into our stay in Corfu when Christos popped the question to Lisa and begged for her hand in marriage! There were flowers on the boat and at the fish restaurant where we had dinner that night. It was beautiful.
After a few days it was time to set sail and we hauled up the anchor, and headed south along the Greek coast.
The sailing was amazing! Clear water, blue skies, the Captain's Treat (ie beer) when the hook was in, Sally's amazing cooking, cold white wine, visits from fellow yachties (sometimes with their dogs) and in general a time to relax and not think about the stress of life back home.
In 2003, we sailed past Parga (and its wonderful castle) down to Messolonghi and then near that most ancient of Greek sites, Delphi (which we took a bus to). Both Messolonghi and Delphi were wonderful experiences.
Messolonghi is well of the tourist trail but played a crucial role in the Greek fight for independence from the Turks (1830s) and is where the Hellenophile Lord Byron died! In Messolonghi, we moored in the largely empty harbour and Lisa and Christos went ashore to the local town hall that also serves as a museum of sorts. The minder let us in (the door was locked) and gave us a tour of the place which included artifacts from the war of the 1830s as well as some amazing Delacroix paintings!
We also encountered a large turtle that seemed to live in the harbour, one evening we watched it make the long circuit of the harbour, surfacing every few dozen metres to breathe and look around. It was an ancient beast that seemed to reek of wisdom (or maybe just the sea).
Delphi on the other hand is a very popular tourist attraction and although the people can be a bit much, it is well worth the visit for the amazing history and ruins of the place.
We also sailed to Ithaca and Kephalonia, where the most wonderful dolmathas lured us back to the same restaurant two nights in a row. The restaurant was located just outside of town, one walked for under a half-hour up the road and dined looking out over the mediterranean sea as it swallowed the day's sun ... truly magical.
After a couple of weeks sailing with Alex and Sally we returned to Athens for a couple of nights before heading back to Canada. Christos had arranged to meet with an Athens based Greek shipping company he had been introduced to in Toronto so off we went to the Athenian suburbs early one morning ... the executives listened patiently to Christos' pitch before basically saying thanks but no thanks (they were already working with JP Morgan) and then proceeded to shower us with gifts as it was the christening of the owner's grandson and thus all were in a festive mood! After lunch with the shipping company we headed back to Athens but not before they informed us that they would have a car pick us up the next day to take us on a tour of Athens; Greek hospitality is something to behold!
So the next day a black limo arrived at our (shabby) hotel and the driver whisked us to all the sites (Acropolis and others), picking up the tab on the way and generally treating us like VIPs. What a fun day it was!
In 2002 we met Alex and Sally in beautiful Taormina and sailed along the boot of Italy (past Crotone) and then were laid up for several days due to bad weather at the heel of Italy's boot.At one point, the weather got so rough that even in a protected harbour, the boat rolled all night allowing no sleep ... the four of us gave up and rented a hotel room (on land) for the night! Fortunately, while the weather was rough, the food was excellent, particularly the seafood!
Finally we made the crossing over to Corfu and spent the last part of 2002's sail in and around Corfu, visiting Parga castle and I believe sailing the Ambracian Gulf, visiting the ruins of Nicopolis where Alex stole watermelon from a local farmer's field!
In 2003, we flew into Athens and then took a quick flight to Corfu to meet up with Alex and Sally who were staying at the Gouvina Marina, just a stone's throw from Corfu town.
Evenings were spent at a local bar (G&M's) with day trips into Corfu city and around the island.G&M's was a bit dangerous as the drinks were cheap, the music loud and the owner very personable as can be seen by his joy at being with Lisa and Sally.
The big deal came a few nights into our stay in Corfu when Christos popped the question to Lisa and begged for her hand in marriage! There were flowers on the boat and at the fish restaurant where we had dinner that night. It was beautiful.
After a few days it was time to set sail and we hauled up the anchor, and headed south along the Greek coast.The sailing was amazing! Clear water, blue skies, the Captain's Treat (ie beer) when the hook was in, Sally's amazing cooking, cold white wine, visits from fellow yachties (sometimes with their dogs) and in general a time to relax and not think about the stress of life back home.
In 2003, we sailed past Parga (and its wonderful castle) down to Messolonghi and then near that most ancient of Greek sites, Delphi (which we took a bus to). Both Messolonghi and Delphi were wonderful experiences.
We also encountered a large turtle that seemed to live in the harbour, one evening we watched it make the long circuit of the harbour, surfacing every few dozen metres to breathe and look around. It was an ancient beast that seemed to reek of wisdom (or maybe just the sea).
Delphi on the other hand is a very popular tourist attraction and although the people can be a bit much, it is well worth the visit for the amazing history and ruins of the place.
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