July 1, 2016. Macin

Last night this year in Macin. The sunset is maybe as beautiful as the one in Oia, Greece.  

Sour cherries are ripe.

But we harvested the lavender, apricots, and some peppers. 

The chickens and cat are happy...

The house will return to normal...

Gardening and agriculture are ancient occupations here, and people grow their own produce even if they could buy everything fresh from the market.  Cheaper, too. They don't think about changing anything in the life of he town.  Schools shut down because the population is decreasing, with people going to work or study abroad. It's a sad town that doesn't look like the place where I grew up. If I had to return, I'd try to get everyone to regrow a sense of community. 

June 29, 2016. Macin

St. Peter and Pavel today.  

I found this little pouch I sewed in Third or Fourth Grade, when I learnt to sew kilim.

These tropical plants thrive in Macin despite the clear four seasons with extreme weather.  I guess my parents ensure a tropical climate inside the house.

I get a bit depressed when I come to Macin. I relive the gloomy feeling of being trapped.  The roads of macadam are utterly uneven, many houses and sidewalks are falling apart, the cinema theatre is dilapidated and abandoned smack in the center, and weeds cover most green areas.  Stray dogs and cats run around everywhere, spreading a sense of true desolation. 

And then you run into an entirely out of place villa with dainty gardens and a bright, modern look, you get passed by a luxury car, get blown away by a huge church dominating the downtown, or enter a modern Pharmacy. 

The polar looks of Macin are confusing to me. I don't feel at home, I don't belong, and I want to run away.  Except for my heart, which is always here with my dear parents. 

June 28, 2016. Macin

I met my best friend Gabi from kindergarten until Eighth Grade. We haven't seen each other in more than 20 years. 

Had some apricots-organic, never touched by pesticides-proof is the living matter you see on the left (worm)!

T-storms cooled the air a bit, but mosquitoes don't live us alone even in the morning.  

Here is a wax cherry tree ("circus us") from the entrance to my parents house.

 

It's great to stay home and relax, watch the muddy cows pass by... 

Smell the lavender...

 And watch the swallows build a nest on our porch...

Macin looks a bit better but there are still many dilapidated and ruined buildings. I will not share that sight ...

June 27, 2016. Macin, Tulcea county, Romania

Woke up at 6 and left for Macin at 7 with a friend's husband. Crossed the Danube at Vadu Oii in Constanta county. 

My mom waited for us with Crepes ("clatite") with rose preserve, eggplant a la greque, sour cherry preserve foam, and local feta cheese. It's great to be home. 

Here is an eggplant salad, nettle dip, and roasted pepper salad. Bon apetit! 

A swallow waiting in front of the house.  

And the master of the house: 

June 26, 2916. Santorini

Very cloudy and windy.  The Aegean Sea seems like a steel plate. It's chilly and the waves rattle the rocks... There is no sand on this beach, just smaller or larger pebbles and even big rocks, mostly black, with some grey or white.  

Finally ate a kebab for lunch, said goodbye to our Greek friend and then took off at 10:50PM.  Wind had quieted down by then and we even saw the sun for the second part of the day. 

Arrived at Otopeni (Romanian International airport) right after midnight.  

So many smokers and smoke in Greece and Romania! I'm Chocking...

This picture was taken at midnight on the airport... 

June 25, 2016. Santorini

Spent the night in Oia again. From the bus station into the city, a sea of people go towards the sunset point, and fewer people turn left towards the town. The right side is touristic, mostly with gift shops, whereas the left side had areas of marble pavement, pretty boutique hotels and very expensive boutiques and restaurants. 

We could not resist temptation and ate again kataifi and baklava. 

Clouds moved in and the wind started to blow very hard after sunset 

June 24, 2016. Santorini

Today we went with "Sunset Oia" on a cruise with a small catamaran, circling the caldera and Islands that make up Santorini.  

First stop was Nea kameni, with its volcanic sulphur hot springs mixing into sea water.  

Second stop was Red Beach on the opposite side of the island.  Chloe snorkeled and saw some fish, but was not allowed to go that far from the boat because jet skis were crossing nearby.

The red rock and sand are iron-rich. 

Next stop was the White Beach, which is circled by a calcium rich wall. Some pumice, also. 

I met one of the crew members, a very nice architecture major, Maria.  She is a young Greek woman who piloted the catamaran and helped with all boat jobs.  She pointed out to me the entrances into caves dug by people from the water straight into the mountain, which are used for storage.  

After some snorkeling in the perfect water

We sun bathed in the catamaran just above the water and then ate a lunch of chicken grilled also on the boat. 

Sunset was equally beautiful to what I called the rock show. From the sea we could admire the layers of rocks, sediment, and lava rivers that tell the story of the island with its volcanic past, the formation of the "caldera" and unpretentious natural beauty. 

 And then came the memorable sunset...

Ate grilled sardines at 10 pm when we returned to the hotel, a fresh and delicious, simple dinner. 

June 23, 2016. Santorini

We visited Akrotiri today, a 3500-year old archeological site of an old pre-Minoic settlement fled away by the population when the volcano started the last eruption. The site is covered with a very modern, gigantic roof made of wood and narrow glass openings that move depending on the sun's position so the interior is always airy and cool.  

Houses had the windows always next to the door, and thus the word for window in Greek is "opening by the door"

At the time the population fled, they left everything behind: the storage ceramic vases, beds, and bath tubs.  

The earthquakes were so strong, they broke stone in half. 

This was an amazing X-Ray into the life of Phoenicians from millennia ago...

Next we visited the village of Megalohori: ancient village w narrow streets, white churches, less commercial than Phira and Oia.  

Looking at the churches here I noticed the horn-like motif, clearly a Minoic symbol, present in all churches. 

June 22, 2016

Today we had the best Moussaka ever!  It was made at home by our friend Nikos' mother. Perfect balance of eggplant, potato and meat - scrumptious! 

Besides the Classical Greek dishes, like moussaka, we discovered some items specific for Santorini: cucumber, which was crunchier than a usual one, cherry tomatoes, with a stronger flavor due to the scarce watering, and pistachios. 

After some time in the sun, waiting for the big lunch to digest, we embarked on the bus for Oia, a place famous for the sunset viewing.  

But before watching the Sunset in Oia, we stopped at a quirky bookstore called Atlantis, 

(Can you spot Chloe lost in the book galleries?)

We also had fantastic Greek sweets at Melenio: crepes, galaktobureko and kataifi.  

This is what the cafe owner posted for all those who'd rather have an electronic moment instead of enjoying the view:

Armies of Chinese tourists taking pictures of the sunset in Oia (pronounced Eea, as "Oi" is a ducting in Greek) cluttered the very narrow streets of the town. So we gave up on trying to wrestle with them and walked the small streets instead.

The Bus ride back to Kamari Beach reminded me of Romania with people pushing to get on the bus, cutting in front of you, and the Controler taking the change and cutting the tickets right there on the bus.  At one point, the bus came to a sudden stop that floored all those standing up in the aisle, including the controller. There are NO traffic lights in Santorini! 

June 21, 2016. Santorini

Breakfast at the hotel: tiny glasses of orange juice and miniature cups for  tea and coffee. It's hard not to notice these proportions when you live in America and visit Europe. This being Greece, the land of honeybees, honey was served in a extra large salad bowl from which one had to ladle the honey out into a smaller bowl! 

I'm losing my sense of proportion.  

Nikos drove us around Santorini a little bit and visited Santo Wine, a terrace/restaurant on the mountain facing the caldera, a monastery, many churches and villages, and also a street with houses built into the mountain, where the pumice keeps the homes warm in the winter and chill in the summer. 

We had dinner at Vasilikos, in Kamari Beach, where again, we had eggplant and fava, tarama, and Greek salad with the freshest tomatoes and feta.  In front of each restaurant on the beach was a guy trying to get tourists to sit down and dine at their place. They were so aggressive and annoying that we probably skipped some good dining places only because we got too harassed by them. One of the worst was Romanian who spoke perfect Italian and told Italian tourists that he was Italian... Great hook!

Shocking tax on good: 24%.  

Loved a "freddo cappuccino" that costs €3.5 though...   

Very friendly store clerks, Russian, Greek, and even Romanian. 

Santorini has 365 churches, most of them with blue cupolas like the one below.  

June 20, 2016. Santorini

This is history: first day in my life when I saw the sunrise and the sunset the same day, in Santorini. 

Sunrise:

Sunset:

Visited Phira and enjoyed sinple and delicious food: feta saganaki, fried feta covered w honey and sunflower seeds, tomato fritters w tzatziki, and fava (split peas from Santorini) spread with anchovies. 

This is Phira in late afternoon and evening:

June 19, 2016. Bucharest and Santorini

In Bucharest for a couple of hours, playtime with Peanut:

Fly to Santorini. Jet lagged. Hot! 

Most significant thing to mention is the great local food, which includes tomatoes, feta cheese, pistachios and olive oil.  I ate also the most satisfying watermelon I had in a while. 

Afroditi Hotel in Kamari Beach

Walk on the boardwalk - which is between hotels and restaurants, just above the beach.  Very different from Manhattan Beach! This is a volcanic island, with black pebbled beaches and  no sand, thus getting HOT in the sun. Everyone walks around in water shoes to prevent getting blisters on the feet! 

I called it "Charcoal Beach"

Very narrow beaches covered in beach chairs and umbrellas - Chloe calls it paradise 😀