Leaving Home ~ Heading Home

"Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey."
~ Tad Williams

Our Stone House on the Hill

We arrived home last week.

We also left home last week.

Here again; gone again. 

Such is the life of part-time ex pats.

Restless nomads, with a desire for roots, but not in one place. Or senior citizens who’ve realized that the time to be a bit wild and crazy is now while we’ve got the  energy and health to enjoy it.

By whatever label, we’re settling into the rhythm of this ‘here-there’ ex pat lifestyle.

Touring real estate meeting owners

We’d shared the ex pat daydream for years. But it wasn’t until  two years ago that we decided to ‘at least’ look at some houses.

Greek sellers don’t plaster “For Sale” signs on their homes as we do in the States, so you don’t really know what is for sale until a realtor shows you.

And then, you usually visit the house while the owner is there! Again, not the way it is done in the States.

Our daydream, however,  was moving toward reality.

Even after finding this house, we were hesitant to make the commitment. Would it end or enhance our vagabond lifestyle? Even if we found something, did we want to travel 6,000+ miles between two homes. Of course, Greece’s charms had already drawn us back, time and time again in recent years, but did we want to put down roots here?

We took the plunge later that year, hitting a few rough edges of the purchase process along the way, and finally landed on our feet at our front door by December.

Fast forward two years. .  here we are, at home – for a few months --  in Greece.

Entry table - The Stone House on the Hill

“There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.” 

– Homer, The Odyssey

“So, what’s it really like?” ask some, a hint of a frown or a wiggle of the nose giving away the true question.  “Is is just wonderful?” others ask with such enthusiasm that they almost wiggle out of their seat. “You are living my dream, tell me everything.” some say with a deep catch in their voice.

If I do my writer job well, you’ll get a taste of  what it is really like through our next series of posts. We plan to introduce you to both people and places that make up this new part-time world of ours.

Sunset in Stoupa with friends and neighbors

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

-- George Bernard Shaw

Creating a new world: I’ll admit one of my fears about buying a home far away was losing touch with long-time friends back (at the U.S.) home. Articles about ex pat life caution that you should expect that to happen. Well, it has in a manner of speaking. While we’ve got a few friends who stay in touch regularly, others don’t.  Just as they said it would be in those articles. . .

What we hadn’t expected were all the new friends we’d make here. Friendships are being forged with both Greeks in the area and the many ex pats who populate the valley on either a full-or-part-time basis. With fewer than a dozen Americans to be found, our ex pat friends bring a whole new world of European experiences, language and culture to our lives. 

Our view of the Messinian Gulf

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

-- Benjamin Franklin

Slow down – we moved too fast:  In the first year, our neighbors used to watch us racing around the property – moving things, hauling old items out and new ones in, digging in the garden, patrolling the grove looking for ‘what needs to be done’. Perhaps it is just the way ‘we Americans’ operate. Part, though, was the fact that we are part-timers here. With a time limit set by our tourist visas of 90 days per visit, we didn’t have the luxury of ‘waiting until . . .’ to get a project started and completed.  New deck furniture – for a time – looked nice, but wasn’t used.

Tom, on table, Princess in chair - photo taken fall 2015

With major projects now completed, we’ve decided to follow the example set by our stray-cats-who-adopted-us, Tom and Princess. Afternoon sun is meant for ‘cat napping’ reading and sipping wine – there is no more perfect way to spend time. (The photo above was taken during our last stay - I am sad to report neither cat has been seen since we've returned.)

Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments.

-- Rose Kennedy

Exploring our New World:  One of the reasons we were drawn to this centuries-old area where everything is steeped in history, is that it is all new to us. So much to explore, to learn, to see and experience that there will never be an excuse for boredom. Exploring by car is quite simple. Driving here is far less stressful than on our congested roadways back in the  Pacific Northwest – we certainly prefer the traffic ‘jams’ here.

Traffic jams we've encountered 

Village life, These postcard--perfect places, dot the landscape around us. Each village with its own personality – tavernas, cafes, mom-and-pop family run businesses – make shopping trips more like a visit to a friend’s house than doing chores.

Occasionally we are frustrated by our lack of ability to describe what we are wanting to buy (sometimes Greek and English don’t mesh). We think of how easy it would be to find it at the big-box-store-shelf in the U.S. . . .but then at the big-box they don’t often give us the handful of nails we’d come to purchase or a screwdriver to use with the screws we’d purchased as has happened to us here.

Stoupa Village

Developing cultural competencies:  Back in the U.S. I spent a lot of time in a volunteer position, sitting in conference rooms talking about the need for developing ‘cultural competencies’ – which loosely defined means both an understanding of and skills to better teach, work and live with others from different cultures.  Here I am no longer just talking the talk, I am walking the walk. But the tables are somewhat turned as I am the newcomer to a country.  Each day is a learning opportunity whether it be a new Greek word, a new approach to repairing something or a lesson in religion and history.

Religion, culture, history, cuisine - lifelong learning opportunities abound here

Celebrating life: Greek Orthodox Easter is coming in May and decorations, candles (to be used on Easter Eve at church) and candy are for sale in every store. The Easter we celebrate back in the U.S. was just another Sunday around these parts. What we would think of as Good Friday was Independence Day here, celebrated with community parades, students marching and a band playing. We also have the 3rd Annual Kardamyli Jazz Festival coming up in May.. There will be any number of ‘Name Days’ to be honored during our stay; those are Saint Name Days, by the way – and if you are named after that saint, it is your day to celebrate in much the same way you’d celebrate on your birthday.

We think this ex pat life has given us much to celebrate as well. So hope you’ll be back to celebrate and explore our slice of Greece with us.  Until then, happy and safe travels to you and yours~

Linking this week with:

Mosaic Monday – 
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration

Alanya, Turkey ~ On the Turkish Riviera

It appeared we were docking below a medieval fortress and that pirate ships – the tourist variety -were plying the waters around our Oceania Nautica as we approached Alanya, Turkey.

Approaching Alanya, Turkey aboard Oceania's Nautica

These first scenes from the ship - when you aren’t quite sure what you are seeing are what we think keeps cruising exciting and will bring us back time and time again to the sea.

Nothing like fortress walls to spark the imagination - Alanya, Turkey

It was day 33 of this cruise that had begun in Bangkok, Thailand and taken us on a Magic Carpet Ride to new and exotic places in the Far and Middle East. We were headed to Istanbul, Turkey where most of the passengers would be leaving the ship.  We had made arrangements to disembark a day early* while the ship was in Rhodes, Greece, so this was our last full day of the cruise.

Ships of every shape and size - Alanya, Turkey

After the rushed and people-intense whirlwind tour of Israel the day before in Israel, we were looking forward to exploring this town on Turkey’s Riviera on our own. The ship was docked so that it was an easy walk into the heart of this tourist city. No metal detectors to walk through as we disembarked as we’d had in Haifa, Israel, no taxi drivers to negotiate with as we’d had in Oman, or tuk-tuks to climb aboard as we’d done in Phuket, Thailand and Cochin, India.

Oceania Nautica docked at Alanya, Turkey

Alanya, a very popular seaside resort town, according to legend was given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony back in 44 B.C.  It was during the Middle Ages that it rose to prominence under the Seljuks, who built the castle with its more than 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) of walls, 93 towers, 140 battlements and 400 cisterns. The Seljuks were a Sunni Muslim Turkish confederation that ruled much of Central Asia and Anatolia between 1071 and 1194.

The walls which once encircled numerous villages now have some spectacular homes within them.

Numerous homes are found within the old fortress walls - Alanya, Turkey

Not ones to shop for souvenirs, we had weakened our resolve a bit and set off to buy some Turkish rugs, as our Stone House on the Hill in Greece, was in need of floor coverings and it was our destination after the cruise. And when in Turkey, why not? Right?

Tourist town - no doubt about it - Alanya, Turkey

Located on beautiful gulf and  framed by the pine-forested Taurus Mountains, white sand beaches, caves and sea grottos are easily accessed from this town on the Mediterranean Sea.  Its location in the Mediterranean basin means rain comes mainly in the winter and summers are hot and dry. It’s Tourism Board uses a slogan, “Where the Sun Smiles” and that was certainly the case on our springtime visit.

The day and our cruise comes to an end - Alanya, Turkey

On board the ship, a pool party – “Sheik, Rattle and Roll” – the final event of the cruise, began at the same time as our 9 p.m. departure from Alanya. As we watched the lights fade into the distance it was time to start saying goodbyes friends we’d made among both staff and fellow cruisers. 

Our bags were packed - we were ready to go - Alanya, Turkey

As for those Turkish rugs, three of them were folded up inside that bag on the lower left in the photo above.  The large suitcase was filled with items for the house – many of which had been purchased along the way.

* Note: It was possible to disembark a day early but arrangements to do so were made before we before we started the cruise. Port authorities and cruise folks had to approve it. When they send the authorization, they remind you that you don’t get refunds for unused nights.

The route of our Magic Carpet Ride - Oceania's Nautica

Thanks for joining us on our Tales of the Magic Carpet Ride of a cruise. We’ve enjoyed your comments and the conversation our posts generated.  The cruise was an excellent way to see many countries that would have otherwise been difficult and costly to visit. We often use cruises as introductions to areas and then return later as was the case with Egypt. The cruise was our introduction and we returned for more last December.

So now -- like at the end of this cruise last spring -- we are off to The Stone House on the Hill.  We hope you’ll be back again next week as we have a lot to tell you about our little slice of Greece.

Happy and safe travels to you ~

Linking this week with:
Mosaic Monday – 
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration

Israel – Where Reality trumped Imagination

                                                                                               

It was all there: places we’ve ‘known’ since long-ago Sunday School teachers introduced us to Bethlehem and its Manger; Jerusalem and its Tomb. Our young imaginations were unleashed by those lessons and stories, in turn, enabling us to create images of both places and people.

However, as a child the thought of ever seeing these places was really quite unimaginable.

Then, decades later, on a warm spring Saturday we found ourselves in Israel. Finally, those  imagined places would become reality.

Dome of the Rock

It almost seems sacrilegious to cram a visit to Bethlehem and Jerusalem into a single 12-hour period.  There is far too much to see and far too much history to absorb in such a short time. But sometimes travel reality trumps the imagined itinerary as well.

We’d lost one of two days planned for touring Israel when our cruise ship was delayed for a full day in transiting the Suez Canal. In order to see as much as we could in a single day that we had remaining, we signed up for a big-bus cruise ship tour (12-hour, $195 p/p). We’d depart from Oceania Nautica’s cruise ship, docked in Haifa, at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m.

First stop, some two hours away, was the Mount of Olives for a panoramic view that stretched out over the old –walled city of Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock and the sprawling modern city that has grown around them.

In this small, overly-crowded area we had one tourist tout leading a camel and offering rides; he competed for business with the man, walking along side his donkey carrying a sign that read, “Take a ride with Jesus”. For a price you could have your photo taken atop the donkey with the Jesus impersonator.

“We’ve got Egypt to the south, Syria to the North and Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan to the east. That’s the neighborhood. It’s a tough one. Thanks for coming to visit. I am sure you got those looks from family and friends when you said you were coming here.”  

                      - Our tour guide, as we traveled past Tel Aviv en route to Jerusalem

Obviously from the crush of tourists – all vying for the best view point, the best photo angle and the best selfie, there were a lot of people visiting despite real or imagined threats to safety. A parade of tour buses stretched for miles on this warm Saturday morning. The Israeli/Palestinian unrest wasn’t keeping everyone away.

Tour buses and taxis for as far as one could see at The Mount of Olives

Despite the gaggles of tourists everywhere we went, it was interesting to finally see places that we’ve ‘known’ all our lives; places like the Garden of Gethsemane, the site of Jesus’s betrayal and the magnificent Roman Catholic Church, known as the Church of All Nations (aka as the Church or Basilica of the Agony), that stands next to it. 

The Garden of Gethsemane

Church of Nations

We followed a maze of narrow pedestrian streets through Jerusalem’s walled old city. Being on a tight timeline and being jostled and bumped by competing tour groups and local shoppers we had no opportunity to stop at the inviting stores that made up this bustling souk. Our path led from the Wailing Wall to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher – on the Via Dolorosa, the route on which Jesus carried the cross to his execution (at least the route as it was defined later in history by the Crusaders).

Stations of the Cross on Via Dolorosa drew the faithful to touch the walls

I couldn’t help but think of the story of Jesus chasing the merchants and money changers from the Temple when he returned to Jerusalem for Passover when I saw this sign along our route on the Via Dolorosa . . .

We merged into other tour groups squeezing into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the place housing both where Jesus was believed crucified and his empty tomb. It was a claustrophobic sort of tour . . . but nothing as claustrophobic as our afternoon visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem

Our tour guide who'd been with us since boarding the bus and who provided most of our day’s narration was Israeli. Because Bethlehem is in Palestinian territory, another guide – a Palestinian – took over the narration and led the tour of that portion of the day’s outing.  She led us to the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square, both places where reality was very different from those Sunday School imaginary places. We went under the church to a stone-walled small room (not for the claustrophobic) and there peeked through a small hole in the wall at the room said to be ‘the manger’. As our slow-moving line inched past those who'd peeked into the manger, we decided the less time spent in this underground dungeon the better.

“Palestine and Israel talk of ‘quiet’ not ‘peace’ for the sake of tourism”            

- our Israeli guide

In addition to the Holy sites our whirlwind tour had taken us past lush agricultural fields and suburbs with towering high-rises that housed some of the world’s tech giants. 

Sadly, what may have been far more moving than scenes dating back 2,000 years, were those, like 'the wall'  that spoke of the present day:

Armed guards The Mount of Olives

The Gate between Jerusalem and Bethlehem

The wall separating Jerusalem and Bethlehem - Israel and Palestine

We'd had a long and interesting tour. Perhaps with fewer people and a slower pace, we'd have reacted differently to the sites we visited.  Many had told us in advance of our visit of their experiences in which they had wonderful - downright, moving - reactions to the place. We didn't. Someday, maybe, we’ll get a chance to return. We likely won’t go out of our way to do so.  There are many other places along our Magic Carpet Ride of a cruise route that we’d rather revisit.

The brief stop did spark an interest in knowing more of the story and for those of you history buffs out there, we highly recommend, Jerusalem, The Biography, by Simon Montefiore:



Next week, we’ll conclude our Middle East cruise tales with a stop in Turkey. Then we'll be heading back to our other life at The Stone House on the Hill in Greece and we've got some road trips to take you on while there!  As always thanks so much for the time you spent with us – hope to see you back again soon.  Happy and safe travels to you and yours~

Linking up with:
Mosaic Monday – 
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration

Jordan’s Wadi Rum: Camping anyone?

It was somewhere between Jordan’s ancient rose-red city of Petra and meeting up with the Bedouin guide that the urge struck us. It’s not an unfamiliar sensation and most of you’ve probably felt it at some inopportune time in your travels. . .

Jordan's Wadi Rum

All that bottled water they’d been having us drink to stay hydrated had done its job, but now we both had a pressing urge to part with some of it. And the endless Wadi Rum desert-scape stretching out before us held little promise of any bathrooms appearing soon.

A turn-of-the-century Turkish train - Wadi Rum, Jordan

Well, that was until a small train ‘station’ – think “Lawrence of Arabia”  here – seemed to appear out of nowhere.  A train station that had a vintage Turkish train sitting on the tracks in front of it; one that probably had been in use back when the real Lawrence was traipsing through this part of Jordan.  The station-turned-modern-day-coffee shop -- with advertisements for its espresso drinks and undoubtedly, a bathroom inside -- was closed.

So we, along with another carload of tourists who had arrived, explored the train.

‘Not to worry’, our guide told us.  "You can use the bathroom at the Bedouin camp."

‘Right!’, I thought to myself.  We’d seen a couple of those ‘camps’ along the way. . .

Bedouin camp between Petra and Wadi Rum

. . .but then again there comes a point that one can’t be too picky or prudish when one travels.

So we climbed into that Bedouin guide’s pickup (you can read about that here)and set off into the Wadi Rum; first stop the Bedouin’s camp bathroom. 

And, here is where my Magic Carpet Ride tale takes a 180-degree turn. . .



The camp was amazing.

Posh. In fact, so posh I’m ready to return and do some camping – or better yet, glamping.


This Bedouin camp is designed for tourists, one of several the Bedouins have built and operate to provide accommodations to the growing number of eco-tourists drawn here. In this case, the facilities rival many we’ve seen in America that label themselves ‘glamp grounds’ (On the off chance you’ve not heard the term, ‘glamping’ it is short for ‘glamorous camping’. )

We walked through the restaurant/lounge area to reach the bathroom. . .

Restaurant/lounge at the Bedouin camp - Wadi Rum, Jordan

And as I opened the door in the tent-structure housing the “WC’s”, I thought I was seeing a mirage:

Ladies room - Bedouin camp, Wadi Rum, Jordan

With our pressing needs taken care of in the most luxurious of desert settings, we were off to explore the rest of this Bedouin camp:

A solar lighted walkway links the common areas above and the individual tents.

Tents at the Bedouin camp - Wadi Rum, Jordan

Can’t you imagine sitting under the stars sipping a glass of wine on your deck?

You can rent this tent - Wadi Rum, Jordan

And then retiring for the night in your own Bedouin tent. . .in a setting like this you’d almost expect Sheherazade to appear at your bedside, ready to lull you to sleep with one of her 1,001 Arabian tales.

Tent interior, bedroom and en suite - Wadi Rum, Jordan

If that cluster of tents was too crowded for you, they also provide some singles that are out a bit further:

For those wanting more solitude - Wadi Rum, Jordan

There was something magical about the Wadi Rum, and I am certainly ready to go back. Perhaps even in our brief time there we experienced what Lawrence of Arabia said best,

   “No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry… the imprint of the desert… and he will have within him the yearning to return…. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperate clime can match.” 

T.E. Lawrence*

Details:

Information about Jordan can be found at the country’s tourist site: www.visitjordan.com

Photos in this post were taken at:

Petra is to the north of Aqaba (the port city where our Oceania Nautica was docked for two nights as part of the cruise we took from Bangkok, Thailand to Istanbul, Turkey). It is an approximate two hour drive between Petra and Wadi Rum, both are marked with red pushpins on the map above.

(*Thanks to blogger friends the Traveling Solemates – I used the Lawrence quote from their site; they also are taken with Wadi Rum.)

Our 35-day cruise was coming to an end, but not before we transited the Suez Canal and headed for Israel, so we've got a few more Magic Carpet Ride tales to tell. Thanks for being with us. A big welcome to our new Google Friends and subscribers! Happy travels to you and yours ~

Linking this week with:
Mosaic Monday – 
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration

Exploring Jordan’s Wadi Rum: What are we doing?!

The afternoon sun was intense by the time we arrived and the wind had stirred up the desert dust. Jordan’s Wadi Rum looked as vast and unforgiving as it did in the epic movie, Lawrence of Arabia.

Sand storm brewing in Jordan's Wadi Rum

We’d spent the morning at Petra, the ancient rose-red city carved out of sandstone cliffs centuries ago. We were on a day-long outing -- booked long before boarding our Oceania’s Nautica cruise ship in Bangkok bound for Istanbul.  We’d opted out of the cruise ship’s tours offered in the Kingdom of Jordan. Instead, the two of us set off with a tour company’s driver who turned us over to local tour guides at Petra and  at Wadi Rum, with whom they contract for services.

Stretching for more than 278 miles (720 kilometers),Wadi (Arabic for ‘valley or river channel’) Rum is also known as The Valley of the Moon.  Our tour was through just a small portion of this expansive landscape, yet, that which we experienced seemed a vast, isolated world. 

A long lonesome road in Jordan's Wadi Rum

We left the main highway and were following a narrow road to nowhere it seemed, when in the distance we saw a beat-up old pickup along side the road. Our driver pulled up behind it and its driver, a Bedouin man with a red checked ‘shemagh’ (scarf) covering his head, came back to our car to get us. He was our next tour guide.

With sand swirling out over the landscape we opted to ride in the cab with him, instead of in the back bed of the truck with its rather firm seats. His command of English was a bit limited, but far better than our ability to speak his language.

With our original tour-company driver assuring us he’d meet us in a couple hours for our trip back to the ship, we were off!  In an old pickup. With a Bedouin driver. In the Wadi Rum. In Jordan. In the Middle East. . .

Setting off in the Wadi Rum - Jordan

. . .and when the pickup left the pavement and began bouncing over the desert sand, I have to admit that for several moments, my brain was bouncing as well.

It was silently screaming, “What are we doing?!?!” 

I had obviously let  my imagination get away from me – I’d listened to too many ‘well-meaning-but-overly-cautious-ones-back-home’. 

What were we doing?

Wadi Rum - Jordan

In reality, the time spent in that pickup traveling where roads didn’t go, may have been the highlight of the outings we had during our month-long cruise through the Middle East.

The Wadi Rum was designated a ‘protected area’ in 1998 and in recent years it has become a popular destination for eco-tourism.  Hiking, camel treks, rock climbing and camping bring thousands of tourists here each year. And that thriving tourism business is providing a new source of income for the Bedouin communities of the Wadi Rum. 

Still, with increasing tourism, we saw just one other tour 'truck' similar to ours in the distance and one other  Bedouin with his camels, hoping to convince some visitor to take a ride on his giant beasts.

Visiting with the camel-ride vendor - Wadi Rum, Jordan

Our guide knew his route – we’d have been hopelessly lost and turned around without him – and after slipping and sliding over the sand (which reminded us of driving in snow) he topped to point out some of the area’s ancient rock drawings carved into the sides of the sandstone and granite mountains that make up the Wadi Rum.

Ancient rock drawings - Wadi Rum, Jordan

Then on we bumped and slid through the sand, no markers or signs in sight but our driver with some innate GPS system it seemed knew which way to turn and when.

A portion of our route - Wadi Rum, Jordan

Amazing stretches of desert. And some of the astounding moments we experienced still bring goose pimples and smiles when we look at these photos. . .

Absolutely loved this and not a posed scene for tourists - Wadi Rum, Jordan

Time went far too fast and we ended our tour with a stop at The Seven Pillars of Wisdom landmark named for the book – by the same title – written by Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia.  Much of the award-winning 1962 movie, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, was shot in this Wadi Rum.

Seven pillars of wisdom - Wadi Rum, Jordan

Our time at both Petra and Wadi Rum was too short.  We wouldn’t combine the two places into a single day’s outing again.  Both are deserving of far more exploration. Should we return, we’ll do it in the early morning before that unrelenting Middle Eastern sun reaches its full intensity.

Any number of tours are available in the Wadi Rum and a good source of information is found at www.wadirum.jo    Should we get back there, I want to camp out over night.  Next week I’ll tell you where I plan to camp! 

Just for the record: I did leave information in our ship’s cabin that provided the name of the tour company, phone numbers, our destinations and estimated time of returning to the ship – just in case something had happened to us (intended or accidental) or that might have caused a delay in our return.

Safe travels to you all and thanks to those subscribers who’ve alerted me to problems with Feedburner’s distribution of blog posts.  If you’ve subscribed but are not receiving posts regularly on a weekly basis in your inbox, please let us know in the comments below or send us an email to travelnwrite@msn.com.  Many thanks!

Linking this week with:
Mosaic Monday – 
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration