General Strikes in Athens

Today was the fifth of a series of one day general strikes protesting about the measures taken to deal with the Greek economy. So we decided to join in ourselves and have had our own strike staying at the hotel out of trouble! Saw protests on the television at the port with the police reportedly using tear gas on people arriving from the islands on the boats. What a warm welcome to Athens.

From our sunbeds on the rooftop could sometimes hear loud hailers from a few streets away but couldn't see anything going on even with the binoculars, (knew they would come in useful!). Mind you while we were having a huge lunch on the pavement just behind the hotel three or four large police buses with armoured windows etc went past. One way full of people the other way empty after going to the police station I guess! Mark is hoping the airport staff will come out in sympathy and we'll be stuck here for a little longer!

Cycladic Art - My favourite so far!

What better way to start and end the day than on a roof top terrace in the sunshine overlooking the Acropolis? Think that will be one of my special memories of Athens. However it had the cheek to rain at lunch time! Sandwiched in between relaxing on the roof we went to the Museum of Cycladic Art on the hillside in Kolonaki.

Over four thousand years old, the statues, all apart from a few, under 30cms tall, were beautiful. Simple and stylised shapes of the human form were created from a very pale marble and no-one really knows what they were for. Most are of the female form and show the body with the feet slightly pointed, the arms folded across the chest and the head slightly tilted,leading some to think they should be viewed laying down not suspended. Think Easter Island style faces, very plain but strangely haunting. Apparently Picasso was influenced by their style and they made me think of Henry Moore. Couldn't take photos so you'll have to look them up if you're interested.

Mycean Gold

Spent the afternoon in the National Archaeological Museum learning about the history of Greek art and sculpture from Greek antiquity. The Mycean Gold from the grave circles at Mycanae was the most fascinating. The death masks are the most famous, the photograph supposedly being the face of Agamemnon. There were hundreds of beautiful amulets, pieces of jewellery and gold cups all thousands of years old. Some of the designs were simple and could quite easily have been taken for contemporary apart of course for the quality of the craftsmanship.

Stopped for a snack and a drink in the gardens outside the museum where we were served by a waiter who had studied town and county planning at Oxford Brookes. The world isn't really that big!

Athens

Arrived in Athens in lovely warm sunshine on Saturday. Our hotel is in the Kolonaki area which is to the east of the city centre and has a roof top view of the city to all sides including the Acropolis high up on the hill, (see the photo). Gave the binoculars a good outing looking out over the city roof tops and picking out all the sites. Spotted an amazing sculpture of a man running outside of the Hilton made up of layers of broken glass. Had our first Greek supper of mousaka at the hotel and fell into bed exhausted.

Hummingbird Tea Party

It was a gorgeous afternoon for a girlie tea party in the garden with some friends from St Nic's. We were also celebrating the imminent arrival of Baby Edwards but despite much discussion still didn't settle on a name! Sugar overload was the order of the afternoon with me trying out many recipes from the Hummingbird Bakery cook book that I was given at Christmas. After lemon drizzle cake, cup cakes and chocolate brownies we overdosed on the new cupcake phenomena, "Whoopies". Try one and I bet you can't eat more than two! Originating from the Amish community in America they get their name from the cries of delight, "Whoopie", when lunch boxes were opened and the cake spied. Place your orders now, selling out fast!

Elderflowers Galore!

The elderflower season has begun as you can see from the full basket I collected for Elderflower Cordial. It is absolutely delicious and was so easy to make once I had hunted down the citric acid that I needed. This morning have also made rhubarb and elderflower jam which has the delicate scent and taste of the elderflower pollen.

Top tips for gathering elderflowers. First always harvest after a couple of days of sunshine when the pollen is dry and high, you get a better flavour that way. Secondly according to folklore each elder tree has a resident witch from whom you should ask permission to gather the flowers before you do. Whoops, forgot that bit but doesn't seem to have impaired the flavour! Have received my first commission for cordial for a friend's wedding so going into production again this week!

Fox Cubs and Rhubarb!

Finally the rhubarb is beginning to thicken up but not enough to make anything of any great quantity. So for rhubarb jam I had to resort to other sources, namely Aldi! Request your jar soon, limited stock available!

Got a surprise this afternoon when I looked out into the garden and saw a fox sniffing around the onions. Even better she was being followed by one small cub who was really enjoying frolicking around in the grass which needs cutting. The vixen looked quite scruffy as she is in the middle of her moult and the cub must have been over 6 weeks old as they don't leave the earth until then. They hung around for a few minutes but not long enough to get a photo. Hope they come back again.

First Harvest 2010

Can't believe how much the garden has grown while we were away. We celebrated the first harvest last night with a meal using homegrown lettuce, pak choi, spinach and an onion. Only just enough for two but with all this rain and some warmer weather we should soon be harvesting in abundance!

Castella Castle

Castella is our nearest local town with a population of 7000 people. The castle has recently been restored but not been up to the top yet, you can only take the car part of the way! The hills all around can look lovely at sunset when the sun hits the rock at a certain angle for a brief period of time. Beautiful weekend again this weekend but a bit shocked we are returning home to rain according to the forecast. Seems like the tan is starting to fade already!

Drive to Denia

Drove to Denia which is in the north of the province of Alicante,(population 44,500).
Guess who has swallowed the guide book?! Beautiful beaches with rocky coves are overlooked by the castle that rises in the middle of the town. However your eye is drawn higher to Mount Montgo in the background, 753m high.

After having lunch in one of the 300 restaurants in the town we took the road up to Montgo. Driving was a bit hairy at times on the narrow hair pin bends but Mark wasn't gripping the door handle too tightly! Though he did lose concentration and we got a bit lost. Ended up doing a huge circle back to where we started rather than to the motorway!

Spanish Haircut

Was brave enough to get my hair cut by a local hairdresser with no English and I have no Spanish. The word for enough, enough in Spanish is "Basta, basta". Should have said it a bit "Fasta, fasta!!" Hey ho it'll grow!