Florida Coalcracker Chronicles

Friday, May 25, 2018

EuroFest Day 5 - My Trip Calendar

Some people travel with a very detailed itinerary or calendar. Lulu handles all that. How do I know when it is time to go home? I have two plastic bags - one with 70 gummy probiotics in it - one with with 70 gummy fiber drops in it. When the bags are empty - it is time to catch a plane home.

Fiat Cretin Roadtrip - Herakleon & Knossos Palace - EuroFest 5

Still smiling after the road trip.

The girls packing for our road trip.

Cretin definition - A Person that is brainless - stupid - child-like - and full of pointless information that makes no sense and appeals only to other cretins. They can be found in abundance in every single populated internet forum - where they race to post as many mind-numbing messages as possible in a single session.

I am in Crete and I plead guilty to being a Cretin.

Yesterday - Thursday - EuroFest 5 - we rented a tiny Fiat 500 Convertible for a road trip to Herakleon and the Knossos Palace. Lulu - Mimi - and Lucy went along and we all enjoyed the 90 mile each way trip in the sun and breeze. Lulu always wanted one of these little cars - and I must say I was quite surprised by its overall performance. The highway between the two cities was a two lane - well-paved thoroughfare. The shoulders are smooth and it is the custom to move over and let faster cars pass. Homes - beaches - mountains - valleys flew by. It took two hours to cover the 90 miles.

Our first stop was the Knossos Palace - the oldest palace in the oldest city in Europe. In 1971 - Herakleon was made the modern capital of Crete. It used to be Chania where we are staying in the old governor's mansion. Knossos Palace was built - off and on - since 1700 BC. There have been attempts to restore some of the ruins. Some archeologists are a little snooty about that. I like the work they have been doing. It gives you a better sense of how it was. The original site is well-documented and diggings are going on in the present.

I paid 15 euros for a ticket to both the palace site and the archeology museum. Lulu showed her professor card and got in for 8 euros. We spent a little less than 2 hours in each site. Next we drove to the archeology museum downtown. It is filled to the brim with artifacts from the digs. It is a well-done although endless display of jewelry - pots - tools - weapons - and models. It has the musty feeling of antiquities. It is extensively-womened - just full of guards - making sure you take pictures of only certain items. I still do not understand why you can photograph some - and not others right next to them. I half-expected that the ladies would grab my iPhone and throw it out the window.

Next was a nice Greek lunch in a restaurant right across the street from the museum. The girls did a little shopping and it was time to head home. PS - I am 70 and can call them girls. :-)

About half way home - we saw Bali - a tiny resort community painted on the edge of the mountain and the sea. Lulu and Lucy enjoyed the 75 degree water - which was clear and full of fish. They also enjoyed the sites of the shower afterwards - the people are not modest there. There were very few Americans and the bar tenders were very attentive to Mimi and I as we watched the others swim. I had the best chocolate milkshake for 4 euros - Mimi bought it for me.

Another hour and we were home. I dropped them off at the mansion and returned the rental car. The Fiat was $60 - plus $30 of gasoline. I filled it up with $7 a gallon fuel. We got over 40 MPG with 4 people in the Fiat.

We only saw one camper on the 200 mile trip - I was driving so I did not get a picture. I am guessing $7 a gallon gasoline stifles that.

Our mansion is above my head.
Fiat at sunset.

Fiat in front of our
governor's mansion.

Crete is the largest Greek Island.
Chania to Heraklion is 90 miles

Knossos Palace

Visitor entrance to palace.

Palace main steps

Part of restored apartment.

The main section of palace.

Entrance not throne room

Plastic covers over digging.

Throne room

Food storage.

Restored paintings.

Wooden model of Knossos Palace.

Lots of bull figures.

Symbol of Zeus.

Archeology Museum downtown

The Women of Bali.

Lulu and Lucy swimming with the fish at Bali.

I really liked the Fiat 500 Convertible.
It is short and easy to park.
It holds 4 people.
Nice steering - good gas mileage.
They make an Abarth version
with 50% more HP

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Our Greek Governors Mansion - We Rented It For The Week

Here is a 6 minute video of our place in Chania - Greece.

EuroFest Day 4 - Crete at Sunset

This is a panorama picture of Chania - Greece - from our balcony on Tuesday night. At sunset - the lights on restaurant row are flickering on. The picture is distorted so you can see the windows to the left and right of me - although it is a flat wall.

We leave here on Sunday - August 27th - for our one month stay near Frankfort - Germany.

On Thursday we plan to rent a car and drive to Heraklion - the capital of Crete.

We bought SIM cards for our iPhones here. 10 euros got us a week of phone service and 3 GB of data. It would have been less but there is a startup fee of 7 euros. The second week would only be 3 euros.

Greece is the first country I have visited that most signs are in a different language with a different alphabet. Many other countries do their main signs in English - not here. It is so good having the iphone for maps and internet searching on the fly. There are no uber cabs here - so we walked 7 miles yesterday.

I got a good night of sleep from midnight to 9 AM.

Crete was a great place to start our 70 day adventure. From here - all flights are local - and we are adjusting to the time nicely. The house is really a luxurious pleasure. As I type at the kitchen table - the housekeepers are working around me.

I will post a video of our house - mansion - flat - condo - apartment - whatever you call it.

I love this 3 wheel scooter - 2 people.

You feet never touch the ground.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

EuroFest Day 3 - Our House in Chania - Greece

Our front door - last night the key was under the flower pot.

The top left balcony is our bedroom.

All those restaurants on Chania Harbor.

Our first two days were spent getting here. We flew from Tallahassee - Atlanta - New York City - Paris - Athens - Chania. I heard Anderson Cooper bragging about being in 3 cities in 24 hours - tell him to stand back and pick a number. We will be in Chania (pronounced Hania) for one week. Lulu rented the former governor's mansion. Chania was the capital of Crete - the mansion is over 500 years old. Being OCD - I like to line things up - including numbers. Our flat is the third floor. We have a giant living room and kitchen - 4 big bedrooms - and a full roof sun deck. There are lots of steps to get up here.

The house was $2600 for the week. That is $53 a night a person. I am sharing it with 6 lady library professors. It ends up being much cheaper than hotel rooms - and much more luxurious. I will do a complete tour of the interior soon. We are right in the center of the harbor and all the shops and restaurants.

I slept last night from midnight to 9am - like a log. I did not get up for anything. I was awaken by Lulu showering to go to the convention.

The first two days are usually the hardest with all the travel and time changes. It was eased a bit by being bumped from our Athens flight. Delta gave us $4000 for volunteering to give up our seats. We have a choice of credit at - Delta - Amazon - Target - among others.

Our secret to getting bumped so much - is to not check bags. The airlines must remove bags once you are bumped - this saves them a big hassle. They did pass over two others guys because - they had lots of luggage checked. They were not happy. Lulu travels with one small suitcase and one backpack. Yes - she has 70 days of clothes in there. Lulu has 4 professional outfits in there. I am proud of her.

Cosmote Telephone offered us a deal. We can have a phone SIM card with number and 3GB of data for 10 euros. This will be just for Greece. We like having the phone to surf the net on the street - get email on the street - using maps on the street. In the flat we have wifi.

In the flat - our Slingbox TV works - and our Sirius Radio works. We can watch news from home.

There are tons of shops and restaurants here - it reminds you of Venice. Restaurants line the harbor. Competition is great. I got euros out of an ATM machine - no fee.

Two cleaning ladies are here doing the flat right now. There are mother and daughter.

Night 17 - Seaside - Grayton Beach - Panama City Beach

Airstream food court at Seaside

Lulu loves shopping in beachside kitsch

Sunset on Topsail Beach

We spent night 17 in our Roadtrek at Topsail State Park. But we enjoyed visiting other towns and parks on the visit.

TopSail State Park and Beach are beautiful places. The beach is very private - there are no parking places by it. You can walk - bike - or take the tram on the 3/4 mile path to it. The sand is so white and clean - the surf is blue and clear.

Grayton Beach State Park is similar - except you can drive your car or camper to the beach. There is a big parking lot - beach houses - showers - toilets. The beach is wide - white - and the surf awesome. We paid $5 to drive to the beach there. We looked at campsites - they were not as nice as TopSail - but were good - more open.

Next we went to Seaside. Seaside a a designed town with expensive craftsmen styled homes that create an ideal "turn of the 19th century look and feel." The streets are made more for walking than driving. There are beautiful town squares. It is like Disney's Celebration - but right on the beach.

I loved the Food Court made of Airstream Trailers. There are pretty permanent - but they provide a variety of comfort food. There are second floor restaurants and pubs where you can eat - drink - and view the surf. The "cottages" are available for rent - some of them look like giant mansions. They are all placed around the narrow bricked streets. We found a free spot on the town square - parked the camper there - and had lunch. There are some really cool stores there - throwbacks to the country store time.

We visited Seaside 30 years ago - when it first opened. It has matured nicely. I think most of the homes are vacation homes - the homes has signs with the owners' names and city/state. Of course Lulu said that we could live there and drive the 130 miles to FSU every day. When we lived in PA and she worked in NYC - she drove the distance once a week. I had to remind her - that she is 63 - and someday she would retire.

After Seaside - we went to Pier Park in Panama City Beach. It is a very nice mall/shopping center right on the beach by the pier. It is my favorite beach because it has the whitest sand - the warmest clearest water - and great places to eat - drink - and park your camper right by the beach. We ate and drank at the Hofbrau House - great German food and drink at reasonable prices. If you get lucky you can see a Bavarian band - or European Football.

Then we changed in the camper - crossed the street with our chairs and umbrella and enjoyed a couple hours of sun and surf. On the west side of the pier was a beach with lots of dog owners. It was fun seeing the dogs enjoy the water too. There was a helicopter port right by us that was giving short rides along the beach. The concrete pier sticks at least a 1/4 mile out into the water.

After the beach - we showered in the camper - and put on our riding clothes. As we pulled out - Lulu settled into the bed making phone calls. Pretty soon she was zonked out - and I did not see her until we pulled into our driveway. She slept the 2 hours - and was very fresh as she did most of the unloading.

We put about 300 miles total on the camper - mostly at 60 MPH. We spent two nights at TopSail for $20 a night. I keep a running tally of the camper use and cost. We paid $32,000 for it. This was night number 17. So it is down to $1882 a night. I hope I live to see it down to $100 a night. Someone said I should just sleep in it in the driveway.

All pictures taken with an iPhone 7s - unretouched - and free for anyone to use as they see fit.

GRAYTON BEACH - FLORIDA