Farewell Crete

Farewell Crete

We are back from our holiday in Crete now and I can honestly say, it has been one of the best we have had.  It has had moments of chaos and moments of crazy but we have relaxed and we have chatted and we have rested and we have laughed to the point where we have had tears rolling down our faces and stitches in our sides.  We have also stuffed our faces with so much meat, that my thighs are now the size of two Cretan mountains and my belly could shade the entire south side of the island.

I cannot publish a photo of my thighs, I am too ashamed, so enjoy this pair I found earlier instead…

thighs model’s own

On one particularly gorgeous day in Plakias with the Syrpis-Novitz Griwi family and friends, we hung out on the beach and swam in the sea while the other Griwi twins, Kris & Alex, took turns to read stories to Zachy and take him into the water.

A particularly gorgeous long lunch to celebrate Philip & Tonia’s 10th wedding anniversary followed, where we tucked into grilled octopus, calamari, chicken, rice, tzatziki, courgette fritters, lamb chops, souvlaki, fresh fish (I could go on all night but we have 15 hours of tv gold recorded on our planner a tonne of laundry to tackle) all washed down with ice cold beer, carafes of wine and raki.

Kris and Alex have really looked after their ‘godbrother’, Zachy, on this holiday.  We call them godbrothers on account of the Greek God(zilla) being Kris and Alex’s godfather and Kris & Alex’s dad, Philip, being Zachy’s godfather.

Spending quality time with our lovely godfamily has been both a treat and a pleasure – seeing how much Zachy looks up to the older boys (they are 7) and watching them take him under their wing, has been one of the highlights of the trip.  We are very lucky to have them in our lives.  We must make more effort to see them now we are all back in the UK *slaps wrist*.

We took a drive up to Selia later that afternoon, which is the mountain village where YiaYia was born.

I am surprised the car made it up those steep mountain roads carrying us and our big fat full bellies on the back seat, but BB took each corner in first gear and somehow we made it to the top and descended upon YiaYia’s relatives.

Within minutes, Auntie Loula had whipped out a table cloth and laid out cheese pies, crackers, biscuits, sliced peaches and cucumber wedges.  Uncle Strati had whipped out the raki.  As did cousin Andreas when we popped in to the kafeneio to say hello.

It appears you cannot go far in Crete without someone whipping out the raki.  The trick is to sip it slowly, not down it in one.  Rob will know better for next time 😉

Andreas is preparing for his daughter’s wedding later in the month and was telling us that he will slaughter 50 lambs for the village on the eve of the wedding. They anticipate to eat a further 1 tonne of meat at the actual wedding.

I cannot imagine what 1 tonne of meat looks like and google images could not either.

Crete Autumn/Winter collection

Zachy has enjoyed the beach so much more this year and has also loved jumping in and out of the swimming pool at the hotel next door.  My nerves could not take more than a few minutes at the pool as Zachy had a habit of running away from me on the slippery wet floor, trying to jump in the pool by himself and then screaming at the top of his lungs if any of us went anywhere near him.  Apart from BB, she was allowed.

Also, running after a toddler in a swimsuit is not a good look for me.  I had mentally prepared myself only to be seen lying down in the one-piece, not doing circuits of the pool with boobs flung everywhere and every centimetre of bare flesh wobbling uncontrollably and every single lump & bump glistening brightly in the sun for all to see.  No thank you.  It was much easier to set up base on the beach, or in the Tropical taverna next door.  Yes, we like it there very much.

Zachy with Yannis at Tropical

So, farewell Crete, we had a brilliant time.  We will back again next year, wearing a bigger dress size and a burkini.

Do you love to holiday with the extended family or prefer to escape from them all?

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9 Comments

  1. indreamworld
    September 5, 2011 / 8:51 PM

    Sounds like you had a lovely summer – I’ve never been to Greece and your description and pictures look and sound amazing! I’ll have to go one day…..
    (Found you through Twitter and have been ‘following’ for a while now – like reading your blog.) 🙂

    • Grenglish
      Author
      September 8, 2011 / 3:04 PM

      Thank you! Will check out your blog right now 🙂

      Greece is amazing, such a fab holiday, roll on next year

  2. Angie
    September 5, 2011 / 9:59 PM

    Ah sounds great! Hopefully join you another time. Zachy looks so grown up with the bigger boys 🙂 Can’t wait to see him when we get back. See u soon xxx

  3. katie
    September 5, 2011 / 10:31 PM

    What a fab holiday….can’t wait to catch up, hopefully see you wednesday x

    • Grenglish
      Author
      September 8, 2011 / 3:03 PM

      sorry I missed you yesterday, hope Alfie feeling better xx

  4. September 6, 2011 / 1:07 PM

    How lovely! What bliss those bars and beaches and eating sessions are. And how happy the kids were in the pool/beach/sea. And how I too am missing the heat and the sun – roll on next summer!

    • Grenglish
      Author
      September 8, 2011 / 3:01 PM

      roll on indeed, it seems to take forever to come around and then passes in a flash x

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