Photos and stories from my travels
Yineka-mou and I were intending to have a very quiet day, and an especially quiet night, after yesterday’s Birthday Party with the Mad Brothers. So, up relatively early, we went for our usual morning walk around the island followed by a compulsory swim at Italida beach ( no problems with wet bathers at Italida, nobody […]
Read MoreWhat a coincidence, we just happen to be here in Koufonosia at the same time as my Australian mate, Mad Petros. He’s here to help celebrate his younger brother, Stratos’, 60th birthday. His two other Mad brothers, Giannis and Thomas are also here, along with wives and girlfriends etc. The ‘Mad’ Brothers…. I had introduced […]
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I certainly didn’t think so at the time, but Oman Air did us a big favour in cancelling our original flight, and forcing us to arrive in Greece a day earlier than planned, rather than a day later. Had we stuck to the original plans, we’d still be in Athens right now, instead of enjoying […]
Read MoreWell, we made it, and what’s more, so did our luggage! Our delayed Malaysian Airways flight from Perth got us into KL with less than 45 minutes to spare in which to get our connecting Oman Air flight to Muscat. Thankfully, the pilot of MH126 decided to stick to the flight plan this time, and […]
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I’m beginning to recall that old adage “too good to be true” ever since making a booking for flights to Greece with Oman Air a couple of months ago. Yineka Mou had come across an ad on her Instagram feed, (always a reliable source) which promised a business class trip to Athens and return for […]
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I’m really in need of a ‘Fix’ after making it back in one piece, after that awesome trek along the side of the mountain, and the terrace at Pauvlo’s Taverna is the perfect spot to have it ….. icey cold and goes down a treat….. not even touching the sides…… just as well that not […]
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Ever heard of Loutro? no, I didn’t think so. It’s a very small, some would say tiny, laid back village on the south coast of Crete. The only way to get here is by boat, unless you are very adventurous….. or very stupid….when you will arrive here on foot…..by walking about 7 kilometres from the […]
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Breaking News. Aussie Blogger Arrested in Crete. By Xania Xpress reporter, Vasilis Katsikisaki Well known and widely followed Australian Blogger, TomTwice, was arrested and detained two days ago whilst at Chania Airport in Crete and charged with one count of trying to enter the country illegally and four counts of smuggling prohibited articles. According […]
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Καλός Ορίσετε στην Ελλάδα ……..or Welcome to Greece. It’s been just over a week now, since Yineka-mou and I arrived in Greece, and probably about time to start this years first blog update. Last year, when we flew to Athens, we used Etihad Airlines for the first time, and although cheaper than either Qatar or […]
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Oh, the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men, He marched them up to the top of the hill, And he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up, And when they were down they were down, And when they were only half way up, They were neither […]
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Well it’s now been over two weeks since Yineka-Mou and I arrived in Crete, and I haven’t written a word since…. just too busy! Doing what I hear you ask, and to tell you the truth I’m not really sure. A couple of days a week I go to language school, and YM has joined […]
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Yes, it’s true, Tom Tom Takes Off ….. and apologies to those readers who may have misread it as TomTom takes it off…sorry! It’s that time of year again which I consider to be the ideal time to take off to Greece. If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you’ll remember that […]
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“Freedom or death” were the words uttered by the Bishop of Patras on March 25, 1821, as he raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Agia Lavra in the Peloponnese, and these words became the motto of the War of Greek Independance against the almost 400 year rule by the Ottoman Turks. Today […]
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In Greece it’s called ‘Apokries’ and it’s the 3 week period before Lent, with many different customary events taking place. It culminates in a carnival of street parades on the Sunday before ‘Clean Monday’, the start of Lent. We have heard that the best Carnival in Crete will be in the old Venetian port town […]
Read MoreWoken up this morning, after the first night at our Xania house, by the church bells ringing….. What the….! it’s only 7am and as dark as the inside of a black cow in our bedroom. I then realise that YM had closed all the shutters on the windows and doors the night before, and so […]
Read MoreIs it Chania, Hania or Xania? Lets start with the Italians, or to be more precise, the Venetians….but before they got here in 1252 , the place was ruled by the Minoans, (this was in 3000 BC!!!!) then much later by the Arabs, then the Byzantines…..then the Welsh …… Anyway, right up until 1645 or […]
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I took a bit of of a punt on my choice of hotel to stay at during our two night stopover in Athens. I’d never stayed there before, nor even heard of it…… It’s location on the edge of edgy Exharcia could have been a problem, and it’s name ‘Athens Way’, well, I’d hope that […]
Read MoreEureka…. that’s a Greek word that you maybe didn’t know was Greek, made famous by Archimedes while in his girlfriends bath. But what’s that got to do with our arrival in Athens? Well for me, as our Qatar Airlines flight was coming in to land at Elefterios Venezelos International Airport, it was snowing like hell…( […]
Read MoreIt's 1:30 pm on Friday afternoon, we have just been driven to the port by Florian. Yineka-mou and I are, sadly, having to say goodbye to Koufonisia after just over two fantastically enjoyable weeks here. We are now going to get the seajet ferry to Naxos, there catch another ferry to Piraeus, to spend a […]
Read MoreMonday 3rd June, aboard the Anek Lines ship 'Forza' , somewhere in the Adriatic, en-route to Patras,Greece. After two nights in Venice, ( and YM has at last had her long-held wish come true…. a gondola ride with a handsome lover…. OK, maybe she didn't get exactly what she wished for, but a ride is […]
Read MoreAfter arriving one and a half hours late in Patras, we disembarked the good ship 'Forza' at around quarterpast midnight. We walked down the gangway to the deserted 'new port' and I asked ( in Greek) a couple who were waiting on the jetty where I could get a taxi…They looked at me in surprise […]
Read MoreBoth Yineka Mou and I are hot, sweaty, uncomfortable and cramped….and the guy sitting in a seat directly behind Yineka Mou, is violently and loudly vomiting into in a sick bag. Really nice eh! We are aboard the so called Super Jet, a high speed catamaran, which we boarded in Naxos at 3 pm this […]
Read MoreMy friend ( and Greek language teacher) Costas, along with Frank, Nick and the rest of the mob on Costa’s Odyssey tour, are leaving Naxos today on the 9:30 Ferry to Piraeus. The previous evening I had rashly promised to go down to the dock and wave them goodbye. This morning, about 8:45 I was […]
Read More2nd October 2012, Naxos Island, Cyclades, Greece. Yineka Mou and I left Koufonisia this morning…we were booked on the 8:20 am ferry to Naxos. Black Anthony drove us the 800 meters to the port in his beat up little VW Polo…it’s a miracle that he even fits in it, as he’s quite a large chap… […]
Read More29th September 2012 Last night we didn’t go out until late… it was around 10:45 pm, a beautiful clear and still moonlit night… A full moon no less. We’d had a late siesta after coming back from the beach, and woke up at 10pm. Elsewhere this might be a problem in finding somewhere to eat, […]
Read MoreMy new novel, 'Tom Fleck' - set in 1513, the year of Flodden. Also, you'll find some enamel art and writing.
Your Dynamic Detox home
Geoffrey Gibson
Travels with a TomTom 