Brown as a Berry...full as an egg!

We have a couple of sayings in Newfoundland that fit this situation perfectly... I am as brown as a berry and as full as an egg...Now one might ask... what does this mean?

Well, now let me explain... last night after dinner Don asked if I wanted to get some ice cream...usually the answer would be a resounding yes!

But, I am as full as an egg...which means that I cannot eat anything more...he continues with... but ice cream just fills in the coners! That's when the fight began...no just kidding. I said I am full as an egg (round rather than oval) I don't have corners anymore!

The days relaxing and site-seeing have been all sunny and I have not been adverse to keeping the companies who produce sun block in business! So, even though I have kept up with the sun block I am quite brown...as a berry!

Old sayings come in handy some times to explain the unexplainable...as in why someone would not want ice cream!

Olive trees and .... have never seen so many!

Greece is a wonderful country full of richness and fruit of every description. We have seen olive trees (forests) everywhere we went. We have also seen oranges, figs, plums, pears, apples, peaches, apricots, grapes (of course) and yesterday bananas... I expected a lot of fruit trees but not ....

greenhouses!

The country is warm most of the year so why the towns of greenhouses? The growing season here is most likely two or even three crops per year. I was amazed at how many greenhouses there are in many places in Greece from north to south...literally greenhouse landscape the size of fairly large towns. Actually larger than some towns here...

 

But then there are always the olive groves...nicely laid out against the harshest of landscapes... this is Greece!

 

Between a rock and a hard place...we now know the definition

This old adage has had many a usage over the years but we feel we have finally found the 'correct' definition and a have a picture of it! The definition is 'that space which comprises the layer of air between the pillow and the bed mattress' at our current hotel!

Needless to say we did not sleep well. I never knew that pillows could be made of rock! Nor did I know that beds could hurt that much! After sleeping on the ground in Africa I thought that we had mastered sleeping 'situations'. But, I will take the ground in Africa any day or should I say night!
I must say that the Hotel did do a 'nice' breakfast which may be its only saving grace (and only by a small margin).

 

Sun, Sand and Sea water

We are lazing around the Glyfada Beach Hotel http://www.hotelglyfadabeach.com/ for three days...oh the luxury! not having to pack and go each morning...

It is a beautiful hotel with great breakfast every day...and seconds away from the beautiful sandy beach with warm water to swim!
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu

The rooms are lovely and large and there are three dinings areas to choose from...we eat outside on the terrace facing the beach!

http://www.corfu-greece.biz/

The food is good and plentiful and the company is wonderful!

 

Olives and Oranges

We travelled quite a bit yesterday so I am blogging today! We are travelling for the next week on the Peloponnese peninsula - the land of olive trees and orange groves... two of my favorite things to eat. Needless to say I think I may enjoy our time here.
Our accommodation at the Sunset Hotel is marvelous! The owners are wonderful and friendly and the food is terrific! We would recommend this hotel to anyone. I would rate the accommodation a 9.7 and the food a clear 10!! We are very impressed at how wonderfully clean everything is, the beach just steps away from the door, and the care taken in the food preparation and service.
If you like honey and you like marshmallows you must try the fried eggplant as it is a heavenly combination of the two tastes with a beguiling texture that makes you want more.
Breakfast this morning was no less enticing with a buffet of delicious offerings. The hand squeezed orange juice was exceptionally sweet and wonderful.  We went for a refreshing morning swim in the Agean Sea and loved every minute of it.
If we had not had all our trip planned out we would have stayed here a few more days.Thank you to our host Asimina for a wonderful stay! We will be back,
www.mountsouris.gr

The open air restaurant by the ocean



The Greek salad to die for!

Fried eggplant... a must have!

 

peek-a-boo baby

This baby gorilla played peek-a-boo with us by bobbing her head in and out of the bushes while mom looked on.

Good Food...Good Friends...Good Fun

 The cruise to Mexico had some good food but what made it so great was our special family and friends!

 No one tells a joke like this guy..wonderful people and good foodies too!

The whole bunch...pretty chilly on deck at night! But we loved spending time with family and friends!

A beautiful spot in Mexico.

Africa and Gorillas

Yes, we are going back to Africa...thanks to Great Adventure People GAP! www.gadventures.com/ We have booked our tour and will be travelling through three countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanznia) and doing some fantastic stuff. We will be trying out a new trip journal and logging the trip as well and will keep everyone up-to-date.

Cruisin'

Our most recent trip was a cruise to Mexico. It is not usual for us to 'travel in the lap of luxury' so this was a great change and well worth it! We traveled with Holland America Line and for the most part the ship, crew, and other passangers were great.
There were a number of highlights for us one of which was the 'formal' dinner night. This was Fun! I really looked forward to getting all dressed up and eating a great meal with wonderful company. The food was fabulous and the enterainment teriffic.
The shore excursions were also good as we got a chance to 'do our own thing' and as usual true to form we walked the towns for the whole day...checked out a great aquarium, museum, and loads of local arts and crafts.
We also visited our grand-daughter who is doing volunteer work at an amputee clinic in Mexico. She showed us around her small town, had a wonderful lunch, and bought some wonderful local hand-crafted jewerly.
Check out the pictures

The Galapagos - and Quito

The Galapagos...can you get a much more exciting trip than this for anyone who loves birds and wildlife? I think not! We are planning a month long adventure tour to see some of the world's finest sanctuaries, the Amazon and the lovely city of Quito, Ecuador. Not to loose sight of the Inca Trail and Machu Pichu (supposedly fantastic views - but I have to check this out for myself!) which we will also include in our plans. Updates will be available as we progress toward fulfillment.

Breaking news....
The Galapagos, Quito, Amazon and Machu Pichu is in the planning stages.
As usual our travel agent 'extraordinaire' Lisa Derby of PTM http://www.ptm.cc/ourexperts/detail/Lisa_Derby is assisting every step of the way. We are really excited to be planning our first South America trip!!