Month: August 2016

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Elounda, Crete

Our Cretan journey landed us in our final destination, Elounda, after a lovely morning in Chania and drive across the island. Elounda, on the northeastern side of the island, is a town of many beach resorts thanks to a calm inlet and shockingly clear beaches. The view from our room at the resort, the beautiful Blue Palace looked out on the island of Spinalonga, where we visited. I'll share more in the next post about that. We woke to hot sunshine and the most enormous buffet breakfast (they even…

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Rethymno to Heraklion, Crete

My father-in-law has a knack for finding the local take when we travel, and on our recent Greek trip, had booked a tour from Chania across the island with Lefteris. When the taxi arrived, his daughter Alexandra was there to pick us up--she was petite, spunky and super fun, and drove across the north of Crete west to east to our final destination of Elounda. If you drove it straight, I'm guessing it would take 3.5 hours, but Alexandra took us to so many incredible sights along the way that the to…

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Chania, Crete

Eurotravaganza, as we dubbed our recent European galavant, continued from London and the Cotwolds (posts 1 and 2) with a direct-flight from London Gatwick to Chania, Crete. Pronounced "hahn-YA", Chania is an ancient town on the northwest side of the island, the second largest town on Crete. Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and in our few days on the island, we discovered enormous geographic variety: from olive trees and barren hills, to pristine-turquoise beaches, to some of the oldest…

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The Cotswolds, Part 2

The Cotswolds are so still you almost check behind your back for fairies watching you. And then add the thatched roofs and you have no doubt they're there. I mean. And after our day in the gardens, we had a Secret Cottage Tour booked. I really didn't know what to expect, but was most excited about peaking under those thick mats of thatched roofs. More on that soon. Our day started in Moreton-in-Marsh, where our tour leader Charlotte picked us up in a Landrover and then we were off through vale…

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The Cotswolds, Part 1

Eight years later, and I still feel with mirror precision the peace and quiet of sitting on an old bench by the shallow stream that barely moved through the center of Bourton-on-the-Water when my dad and I visited. (Side note: He was dropping me off at grad school in Scotland. 8 years ago!) You could see straight to the silty bottom of the foot-deep stream, inviting ankles. We would've gone nearly anywhere, but how lucky that our friends decided to marry in the heart of this lovely place? After…

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London

I worry that this blog sometimes slides into a pool of nostalgia. This is mainly because my life already has so many highlights that I can always be nostalgic for lovely places we have lived. So to avoid that as we approach a place that holds some of our beautiful past, let me just get it out of the way: London always shocks me with its beauty, and we loved waving at all the places that once enamored us when we were first enamored of each other. We arrived jet-lagged into the thick of London's …