Tag Archives: beach

Bye-Bye Beach

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Today was our last beach day. I have mixed feelings about this. (Well, not really.)

I’m not a beach person. The sunscreen I have to wear is sticky, the water is too cold to swim, the sand is to… well… sandy, it’s too windy to keep an umbrella up and a towel down, and it’s hot as anything.

So it was with some relief that I pulled on my striped dress and purple flip-flops, grabbed my green bag, and headed back to the car. Today being our last beach day also means that we’re nearing the end of our time in Crete, Greece, and abroad.

 

Ethan and I swam in the pool after eating slices of chocolate cake with our parents, since today was Fathers’ Day. For supper we went to Zisi. It’s a really good thing we’re leaving soon so we don’t have to return there because the food is mediocre, the tzatziki is probably the worst I’ve ever had (although all the other places have had really good tzatziki), and the service is atrocious. Our waitron knocked over our bottle of water when he could have easily stopped it, and he served raki even after Dad refused.

Ciao!

Southside Story

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I woke up this morning to the crashing of waves and the coolness of a shower. It was a lot cooler shower than I had yesterday in the same building.

After breakfast (cereal, olive and plain bread [with mocha spread], and apricots), we headed down to the beach for some sun. The water was very high, and Dad, Ethan, and I were walking along the rocks. Mom went around the rocky peninsula, asking, “Why are you going up there?”

Moments later, she was soaked up to her thighs and had her answer.

 

After several hours of lounging around (the water looked too rough to swim in), we packed up and returned to the north side of Crete. Ethan and I swam in the pool before supper, which was at Thavma. Since ‘THAVMA’ is made up of both Greek and Latin characters, we asked our hostess how to pronounce the name (it’s ‘Thavma’).

Supper was tzatziki, potato balls, chicken with mustard, Greek salad, vegetable pies, and grilled peppers. Ethan was scared of the sheep-like dog (as usual). It was sheep-like because it was white, very calm and patient, and had a thick, wooly coat. In the middle of the day it must be a hot dog.

 

Only eight days!

Ciao!

To the Average Reader:

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Well, we went to another beach today. I don’t remember what it was called, but none of us went swimming. Dad finally found it after hours of driving, and after about two hours on the beach, we (more or less) retraced those hours. At home, Mom, Dad, and I dipped in the pool while Ethan swam.

So… it was a pretty interesting day to us as each thing happened, but to the average reader it sounds like we’re taking it super easy.

(To the average reader: don’t believe it!)

Ciao!

Bye-Bye Baklava

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Well, it’s happened again: we’ve finished yet another platter of wonderful, chocolate-coated baklava.

 

This happened after several hours at Agia Fotini (a beach that we’ve been too before), where we tanned and Dad, Ethan, and I swam. On the home-bound drive, Ethan and I slept. As soon as Dad stopped the car outside our gate so Ethan could open the gate and let the car in, I jumped out with my stuff, tore off my clothes, dropped my bag, and jumped into our pool.

Ethan and I played in the pool for half an hour. I finally did a full twist, which was exciting.

While Dad tanned outside, the rest of us huddled in the house and used our electronics. For supper we went to the cat restaurant. The cats were feeling more dominant and gave us the evil eye(s) as we sat in our chairs with chicken on the table.

After supper, we returned home and, sadly, polished off the baklava. Back to the supermarket!

Ciao!

Wet ‘n’ Wild

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Ethan was the only one of the four of us brave enough to venture into the cold, wavy Libyan Sea today at Agio Pavlos (Saint Paul). The rest of us sat under our new, striped umbrellas on the sand and had our hair swept around by the wind. When we arrived home after a stop at the bakery, Ethan and I went out to the pool and swam. Ethan and I made up a game with our new blue floating bed. The ‘shark’ was on the bed and the ‘minnow’ started in the opposite corner and had the goggles. The goal of the minnow was to get to the opposite corner and back without being tagged by the shark. The shark had to keep all body parts on the floaty except their arms and hands. If they flipped over, the game was paused as the shark returned to an upright position.

After this, I did schoolwork (I only have 40 questions of US history left!) until we left for supper at a waterfront restaurant run by the same people as our villa, which is called Villa Ivi. We ordered seven dishes: tzatziki, vine leaf rolls, grilled pepper, stuffed tomatoes, Greek salad, zucchini balls, and a swordfish steak. This swordfish was much, much better than the one that Dad and I had five years ago in the Caribbean. As Dad said, I don’t really like it when swordfish is served as a shoe (a.k.a. unchewable).

The food was all very good, and the dessert (melon and cherries) was entertaining.

Ciao!

Beachy Keen

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We went to yet another beach today. Well, actually we went to two. First we drove across the island to a taverna, and then walked west among the slippery boulders. We finally got to a beach, but since the tide was up it was invisible underneath the waves. Ethan and I threw pebbles at rocks for half an hour, at which point we walked back to the taverna. Dad said that we had to stay for a while to show the people at the taverna that we were going to the beach, not just making a huge mistake.

We drove three minutes to the east, and then walked on the sandy beach in the same direction. We stayed at this beach for about an hour, with Dad and Ethan jumping in the surf. Afterwards, Ethan and I sat in the shade under some rocks that smelled like something had died recently.

At home, schoolwork was completed before we headed out to dinner at a pizzeria by the bakery. The table at which we ate had white chairs with pink edges and pink seat cushions. The ashtray was blue glass, and the glasses came in orange, green, red, and purple. They even had normal—not red wine—vinegar!

Oh, and the pizza was okay, too.

Ciao!

Let Them Eat Cake

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While we aren’t in France any more, someone still thought that today: me.

After lounging around at the half-off beach (it cost five Euros) and Dad and Ethan swimming in the blue waters, we returned home but stopped by the bakery and supermarket on the way. Our first stop was the bakery, and I chose a beautiful chocolate cake there. Mom also bought some bread and chocolate pastries for breakfast tomorrow. At the supermarket, Ethan stayed in the car with the cake while Mom, Dad, and I went inside and chose, among other things, 20 SPF sunscreen (we only have 30 and 45 right now), cherries, green beans, and peaches.

At home, we lounged around (we did that a lot today!) before heading out to supper at 6:25. We returned to the restaurant on the hill and ordered seven dishes: chicken with zucchini in a lemon sauce, greasy zucchini crisps, tzatziki, chili with egg, Greek salad, vine leaf rolls, and onion pastries. It was delicious, and supper there was a lot easier for me this time because Ethan sat in the chair facing the setting sun.

We returned to our house, and I sliced the cake into five pieces (one half and four eighths) and then served the slices.

Let them eat cake!

Ciao!

Chicken of the Sea

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“Ethan! I dare you to swim out to that rock,” I called. “That one—out there!”

Ethan looked up from the shore and saw the black rock that I was pointing to. He gamely started swimming out to where Dad was, but he wasn’t trying very hard and kept being pushed back by the waves. Finally he got to the rock where Dad was, but kept turning back on his long swim out to the big rock because he was worried about jellyfish.

“You know how an iguana is called ‘chicken of the tree’?” I asked. “Well, you’re the chicken of the sea.”

He took offense to this comment and, gathering his pride and his courage, hastened out to the rock and back. Dare done, he sat back on the rocks next to me and enjoyed the warmth on what we nicknamed Jelly Belly Beach—the name was chosen due to the large number of small, round, colorful rocks on the water line that reminded us of one of our favorite snacks.

Ciao!

Darwin Down Day

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It was so nice to be able to sleep in today!

After a (too-long) breakfast of rice, beans, and toasted (and non-toasted) crumpets, Dad sorted pictures, Mom did laundry, and Ethan and I forced ourselves through grueling hours of schoolwork: a review and mid-book test in Science, reading a lesson (or five) and a book in History, and doing a day’s section in Math. I also finished reading Prince Caspian and started on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. So far, Reepicheep, Kings Caspian and Edmund, Queen Lucy, and “Useless” Eustace have been captured as slaves. Aslan has not yet appeared. (In case you don’t know who I’m talking about, I would advise you to read The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.)

After eating our peppermint Magnum bars, Dad decided it was time to Do Something. So we got in the car with our swimsuits on to go to the beach and Do Something. Casuarina Beach is an actual beach, unlike the rocks outside our apartment. Ethan and Dad went way farther out into the surf than Mom and I did because I was worried about jellyfish and Mom didn’t want to be burnt to a crisp.

Soon enough we left and drove to Wentworth’s. Mom and Ethan got out there to buy groceries while Dad and I continued to the Greek restaurant and ordered supper. I memorized the twelve flavors of ice cream alphabetically: Boysenberry Swirl, Butterscotch, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Coffee Chip, Mango Swirl, Mint Chip, Rainbow, Rum and Raisin, Strawberry, Triple M&M, and Vanilla. Sadly we didn’t get any, but we did get a salad (consisting mainly of cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions and not much lettuce) and four pita-wrapped things in three different flavors: one Chippy, two Falafel, and one Saguaraki (we think that’s how it was spelled). We enjoyed these at a picnic table across the street from our apartment, and Michelle, our landlord, came to talk to us.

Ethan biked up and down the path by the side of the beach until he tired of it, then we all came in, and hopefully we’ll have chocolate ice cream and go swimming before bed. Ciao!