Two Sore Backs

This is a first – a hotel gets its own post. Katafigi Hotel is unique. It is hotel with a tower. We have so many photos. ____________________________________________ Leaving Kythira….. Being ‘rule following’ Canadians, when the fine print says be at the terminal an hour before, we comply. We are slow learners – it will take…

Lots of things fell into place during our visit to Kalamata. Parking spots magically appeared when needed, I found a good barber just around the corner, we (finally) found a good dash mount for my phone, the coffee shop nearby had amazing breakfasts for next to no cost, walking the town was easy and interesting…

This was the ferry from Neopoli to Diakofti, Kythira. That’s our rented white Opel Corsa, centre frame. Driving in Greece, with its super narrow streets, is quite the experience. Once you know your car, you slow down and stay right in the tight spots, and just marvel at the Greek drivers, young and old, as…

The drive from Kyparissi to Monemvasia is something else! Those narrow roads and switchbacks get you high up the mountainside and take your breath away. As we drive into Monemvasia we see the castle town that the Porto Heli friends mention as a must see. ‘And stay at the castle’ they advise. Now we get…

OK, this should be short and sweet, mostly photos. The road to Kyparissi climbs up mountains and descends to the sea several times over.  Switchbacks are everywhere. It is spectacular. We arrive in Kyparissi and check to see if there’s room at the Avra Hotel.  We like to avoid booking online. That way the hotel…

Paras, Denis and friends make terrific suggestions and before we know it we have 30 pins on a map of Greece. We have a rental car, our batteries are recharged, laundry is done – so off we go! We don’t travel far to get to our first stop. The Ancient Theatre of the Asclepieion of…

I had the very good fortune of working with Denis Blais for over 20 years at Capilano G&CC. Denis was Executive Chef, I headed up the Finance department. We often talked about career parallels – a country club isn’t normally a chef’s dream job. Neither is it the dream job for most accountants. But the…

warning: this post is lengthy. My posts from Greece will be much shorter: I’ll let the photos tell the story. I promise. ____________________________________________ This is our last stop in SE Asia. Reflecting back, we begin in Laos – a country not so progressive or well heeled and we finish in Singapore, the perfect modern city…

After KL, we decided to take a detour away from the railway line, out to the city of Malacca. Malacca was declared a UNESCO world heritage site, around the same time as George Town in Penang, mainly due to its history as a trading port. It’s not on the railway line, so that meant getting…

Carrying on with a theme from the previous post, Kuala Lumpur is a large modern metropolis with some old ‘bits’. We spend a day focussing on the old bits. National Museum of Malaysia Daily tour in English at 10am. Perfect. Our guide is terrific and the 1 hour tour takes 90 minutes. History Here is…