Old People Eating

Having spent an invigorating afternoon looking into the abyss of our personal finances we ramped up the excitement by taking a trip to Milton Keynes in search of a new pair of ladies jeans. This was successful, as the pair selected and purchased were identical to those being worn during the trip with the exception of not having the friction induced holes. Not yet, anyway. Having not eaten since 11:30am and it by then being past 6pm food was required. The initial yen for some form of Japanese (style; alleged) food might have been satisfied by a visit to Wagamama, where one of us would have enjoyed a ginger chicken udon, but this was overridden by the allure of mechanically delivered sushi. So, we found ourselves in Yo! Sushi. It wasn't busy, but neither was any part of The Centre: MK, however, the table we chose was (apparently) reserved. We sat at the bar, facing the conveyor belt that would later deliver our chosen food. Yo! Sushi asks their customers to scan a QR code...

We had just been to the excellent King's Farm shop to buy a juicy rolled shoulder of pork for Sunday lunch, along with a number of other items bought whilst hungry (Guinness crisps, chilli puffs, pork scratchings, that sort of thing) and we're making our way home when we remembered it was Friday. On these days Tring market is in operation and a recent and very welcome addition to it is Cypriot Souvlaki, selling Greek barbecue style food including Pitta Gyros. This was the one food item I had been looking forward to eating during our trip to Crete, but somehow failed to do so. The Gyros is a soft, thick, round pitta loaded with spit roasted chicken, french fries and a Greek salad of tomato, red onion, cucumber and tzatziki then rolled into a cone and wrapped in paper, as seen above. We brought them home, ate them in the garden and felt we had just added a bit to our holiday. Very tasty, very good value and very likely to become a regular treat.

  As a birthday celebration today we went to Cliveden House for afternoon tea. The picture above shows the view from our tea table across the parterre and south and alongside the River Thames. It is a very impressive location and a hugely grand old house, now an hotel. Tea was a traditional and typically English affair. Tending to the formal in its presentation, befitting of the surroundings, and all beautifully presented. There was a choice of teas including the Cliveden blend and several other teas and tisanes. Between us we tried the Cliveden, Rose tea and the Oak smoked tea (unsettlingly described as having been smoked over wood taken from a 350 year old tree), and would have tried the Earl Grey had our request not been misinterpreted for a refill of the Oak smoked. The food followed the traditional pattern. A three tier platter of savouries, sandwiches and cakes followed by scones, both fruited and plain, accompanied by clotted cream and strawberry jam. The savouries were desc...

  Our last full-day on Crete was taken up with a trip to the White Mountains and the Omalos Plateau. This proved to be a very special place, high in the hills and near to the snow line but warm and peaceful apart from the thousands of tunefully croaking frogs in the pools that are scattered across the flat landscape.  On the return we called in at the Botanical Gardens of Crete and walked the 2.5km path that snakes its way down into the valley from the visitor centre and then back up to the start. The oranges, lemons, bergamots and peacocks were plentiful and all of the trees, shrubs and other plants helpfully labelled. It was a very pleasant day. So, back to the Old Town of Chania to see the port in its evening dress. Lights twinkling on the water, that sort of thing. The gentlemen were released to enjoy a beer in the Rock Pub, which was an unusual choice but an appropriate one, where the friendly yet frightening Ivana was definitely the boss. Originally from Serbia she had y...

  Today's long trip took us to the island of Spinalonga with it's interesting history both as a strategic fortification, built in the 16th century and occupied variously by Venetians, Turks and Ottoman, and when it became between 1903 and 1954 Europe's last leper colony. Two of our party have read Victoria Hislop's celebrated historical novel 'The Island' and that was the motivation for the ~6 hour round trip, later unanimously agreed to be easily justified. We broke our return journey at the old Venetian port of Rethymno. It turns out that Rethymno is substantially bigger than the old Venetian port, but the bit that qualifies is very pleasant. On the small attractive harbour side are a number of restaurants including Remezzo. The name is the same as our recently visited restaurant in Chania, but any link between the two remains undiscovered. They made us very welcome, even to the extent of moving tables so that we would all keep warm as the evening progressed. ...

  It is a lovely sunny Sunday and we are enjoying a relaxed day in the old town of Chania. On our first visit a few days ago we didn't find the pretty bits but put that right this morning.  The harbour is very attractive, especially as it is early in the season and whilst not desserted it is far from capacity, making it ideal for strolling and appreciating the scenery and the atmosphere. A little light shopping was rewarded with a coffee stop and a wander through the old quarter just a street or two away from the waterside. It is a pedestrian area so no need to avoid traffic, not even the mopeds that seem to swarm through many Mediterranean towns. Not a Segway in sight, either. Eventually the now traditional late, light lunch beckoned and we found ourselves at Café Remezzo. Mostly the seating was outside and at least two of us had a view of the harbour, which must have been nice. So, to the food. One salad, one toasted turkey, salad and cheese sandwich, a dish each of taramasa...

  Today's long drive took us up over the mountains to the far south-western corner of Crete to the famous pink beach at Elafonisi. On arrival the beach didn't seem very pink and the large gentleman playing his choice of music through an equally large, and totally unnecessary, amplifier was a bit of a concern. However, after wading through knee deep water to the beautiful Elafonisi Island the drive seemed worth every mile. Except perhaps the unplanned detour through Kissamos where the navigator didn't navigate. A swim was undertaken by all in the party and with a speed that set a new record for cold water entry. The wetsuit clearly worked as designed. The trip home was broken in the village of Alos at the taverna Filoxenia. Being the first Saturday in Aprilit was their first day of service since closing for the winter and consequently several of the dishes we initially selected were unavailable. This proved not to be a problem and once we had completed the ritual discussion ...

One of the geographical features of Crete is the series of deep, narrow and stony gorges that run down from the snowcapped central mountains, mostly to the south towards the Lybian sea. One of these, the Imbros gorge, is around five miles long and played a significant part in enabling the evacuation of 20,000 allied servicemen and members of the local population, following the Nazi occupation in 1941. Not only because of its history but also for its beauty and the opportunity of some exercise, we spent the day there. It is, indeed, beautiful, peaceful and rugged and can be walked in either direction. We chose down! At the bottom is a taverna at which a taxi may be taken back up the start. Eventually. On this occasion we avoided the light lunch and stuck to our plan to go out to dinner. We chose Mitsos, one of around a dozen restaurants in Kounoupidiana a mere three kilometres from our base, partly because it was rated #2 in the town on Tripadvisor and partly because, unlike #1, it was ...

  Another day in Crete and this time a trip to the old Venetian village of Vamos, up in the hills of Chania the westernmost province of the island. We had walked around the old village, seen the ancient streets and decided to have a light lunch before driving back to our accommodation and later heading out for dinner. The host at Marouva welcomed us as warmly as is the custom here and brought the menus. We chose to have the house salad, one portion of chicken souvlaki, one fried squid, one chicken fillet and some local sausages. The salad was a deceptively simple affair but, by common consent, a high benchmark against which other salads may be measured. The key to this high accolade was the dressing made with orange juice and balsamic, together mixed with the orange pieces tossed through the otherwise standard Greek salad of cucumber, red onion, olives, tomato and feta cheese. We felt the menu might have made clear that the dish of 'local sausages' was just that and...