George and the argonauts

In June, during another bank holiday, we took the family to Greece. However, this was not to be a pleasant vacation filled with exploring ruins, lounging on beaches and catching up on sleep against the backdrop of antiquity.  No, this was a working vacation. Rebekah and I signed up for an intensive 7 day sailing course. The kids were merely collateral damage.

To be honest, we packed for warm weather, threw in some books, board games, our cameras, and expectations for a pleasant week. As we set sail the first day in near gale force winds (7 beaufort on the scale), the true reality set in. We all sat on deck, wind and water in our faces, trying not to be sick.  What had we signed up for? The kids were crying and scared. Rebekah was at the helm, and our quintessential, if not stereotypical, Geek captain (Captain George) began what would be an almost continuous slew of yelling, insults and corrections.  

But as with all weather, the winds and rain eventually passed. The seas calmed, and even the captain relaxed. However, our eyes had been opened to the type of trip we were on.  We would be exploring the Northern Sporades island group, made up of 24 islands south of Thessaloniki.  As the name implies, the sporades (root of sporadic) means "those scattered" islands. 

Luckily, we had convinced my Nephew Anthon Jackson to join us for the week.  It was great to get to know him better and share our misery and woe.  He, along with Weston, became a lightning rod for  rath of captain George, sparing the rest of us from nonstop nagging.   Hopefully Anthon does not hate us now! Luckily Captain George believed in aliens, Centaur's and other otherworldly creatures and powers, so he and Anthon had a few things to chat about. 

Actually, despite the long hours, poor weather, numerous night sailings, challenging moorings, and overbearing captain, we had a good time!  I can not speak for the kids and Anthon, but it was great to have them along. 

With such long days, we had loads of time to chat, work on our tans (when it was not raining or night time), and of course practicing knots and our sailing techniques. One thing we did not do was study our text book (but more on that later)

We also did not pay much attention to our kids.  I think they spent most of the time hiding from captain, and reading in their cabin. 

The sea was beautiful, and the islands were characteristically barren, rocky and dry (however the Sporates are know for their trees and forests!)  We enjoyed some great sunsets and sun rises, and came to appreciate and monitor the constantly changing weather.

The latter was one of my favourite things.  The chance to get back in touch with nature (as cliche as that sounds). I began to notice the clouds, the waves, currents, and winds.  I began to anticipate them (or at least try to). I had no reason to check my cell phone, stress about current events or the state of the world.  We were too focused on staying the course, trimming the sails, and avoiding the wrath of Captain George. It was relaxing and invigorating in a strange kind of way.

When we did stop, the kids were forced to leave the boat and explore the beaches and villages.

Shaynie spent one afternoon playing tug of war with an Octopus (for her flip flop). She was beaming for hours. A highlight of her trip.  Weston worked on his rock skipping.

The fishing villages were usually very small. It did not take long to explore the harbour, and exhaust the sights.  It would have been a good time to study. Instead we spent time eating. 

We spent one night on Skopelos (a larger village of around 4000 people).  This was the only city of consequence we saw (aside from Thessaloniki) on the trip.  It proved a welcome opportunity to explore the winding alleyways, climb the steep roads, and meander among the white buildings.  It was a charming little place. 

It was the only real tourist outing we had. We even took the kids along with us. It was good to see them again, and make sure they were still alive.

Anthon is a professional photographer, and takes amazing travel photos. With that in the back of my head, I did not take too many pictures. In fact, I have created a separate post of just his pictures (so they are not tarnished by my drivel and iPhone pictures).

However, I did snap a few shots when he was not around.

We spent  a lot of our time exploring the water front (since the rest of the village was set on a steep hill). There were many locals out for dinner, playing in the park, and enjoying the night.

We experienced a magnificent sunset, awash in hues of red and purple. Since we had nothing else to do, we just sat and watched the whole thing unfold.  Very relaxing. Try it sometime. There was no rush to go sit on the boat with Captain. 

I should mention that we were all pleasantly surprised by the food. Even the kids enjoyed it. When not eating on the boat (captain cooked all our meals so we did not ruin or mess up his kitchen), we spent long stretches ingesting local cuisine.

Of course there was loads of fruit, vegetables, salad, feta cheese, (and pizza for Weston). There was also much more then the ubiquitous Moussaka, baklava, and gyro's. We enjoyed tzatziki, greek yogurt with honey nuts and fresh fruit, numerous eggplant dishes like Briam, with red peppers, olive oil and a tomato sauce.

Of course there were phyllo based delights to many to mention, stuffed with everything from cheese to spinach (spanakopita). A favourite were the special local Skopelos pies. We enjoyed both the custard, and spicy cheese/red pepper mixture.  Hard to beat fried food with cheese. 

Of course we had tons of fish and sea food. I think we had squid or octopus every day. While I love that as much as the next guy (or Shaynie for that matter), I have to confess suffering from calamari overload by the end of the week.

We ended the week back were we began, Thessaloniki,  home to Aristotle, the famous philosopher, scientist, tutor to Alexander the great, and all around genius. A fitting place to test the knowledge and skills we had learned during the week long ordeal. We all showed up for the test, not sure what to expect. After 10 questions and an hour or so later, we were no closer to understanding what was expected of us? The test was vague and confusing at best. Captain graded us on some unknown scale. Perhaps it was based on alien logic. In any case, some passed, some did not, despite having roughly the same scores and considering the fact that captain had not even taken the time to read our answers. 

Perhaps he wanted us to come back. He promised we could take the test again for free any time we were back in Thessaloniki, which was kind.  I think he was mad we did not study the text book as often as he wanted us to. How could we?  Who would have sailed the boat?

Regardless, it was an educational and different experience. I left with an even more profound respect of the ocean, both its dangers and its beauty.  It was great to spend time and bond with Rebekah and Anthon, to break bread (or at least pita) together and engage in long conversations as we drifted (at -4 degrees) across the Aegean sea. I am excited to go back to Greece again.  I think next time I will take the kids. 

Greece Photos

Thanks to my talented nephew Anthon for coming to Greece, taking these pictures and then sharing them with us! He has an amazing online gallery. 

http://anthonjackson.photoshelter.com/

Rebekah and Captain George

At the helm

Around Skopelos

Are we there yet?

Family Time

Kitchen Garden

 One of the main reasons we visited the Netherlands was to see the flowers. As the largest exporter of flowers in the world, Holland has a long history with bulbs and buds of every kind, dating back to the Tulip Mania of 1637 (which some people consider the first economic speculative bubble in history).

Of course the 'fleur du jour' was the tulip. Some tulip bulbs were sold for more then the average worker could hope to earn in a decade!

The "Semper Augustus" pictured above holds the record for being the most expensive ever sold.

Today, if you want to see Tulips you go to Keukenhof (or Kitchen Garden), the largest garden in Europe, and second largest in the world (after one in Dubai of course).

With over 7 million flowers, it is an overload for the eyes. Everywhere you look is well manicured beauty and color.

Originally Keukenhof was used to grow herbs for the Kitchen of a nearby castle (in the 15th century).  Thus the name. Today it is all tulips, all the time.  Actually that is not true.  There are other flowers.

And the garden is only open from the end of March until mid May.  A very short season to accommodate over 800,00 visitors.

Everywhere you look is worthy of a picture. The kids wanted to kill us.  "This is the last picture!"

However, they enjoyed trying to find the elusive 'Black" tulip, and noticed that Green was the missing color (at least when it came to flower petals.) I could not prove them wrong. We never found a truly green tulip.

But they had every other color.

Nancy disappeared for a while to do some painting. She became an attraction herself, and probably could have sold her sketch!

Keukenhof is full of meandering paths, streams, ponds and mini gardens. Every new bend seemed to be the 'most breathtaking'.

Soon, we (or at least the kids and I) could take it no longer. We made our way out of the park, with aching feet and camera memory cards bursting with images. What does a person do with 800 pictures of flowers?

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