Crete's hospitality

Today we had two very nice experiences of Cretan hospitality which really touched us.

We did a good long ride today, and in a tiny village we made our first stop for coffees. We noticed there were several locals dining here, and just one other tourist couple. As the waitress delivered the coffees to our table, she told us that they had been paid for by a certain other customer as she indicated a distinguished looking older gent with a wonderful moustache seated at the table next to us with his three friends. We had greeted the four of them when we first walked in with a big "kalimera", one of the few Greek words we know, meaning good morning. Apparently they appreciated it. Of course we thanked him. They offered us some of the raki they were drinking with their Sunday lunch, but we declined given we were on the bikes and it was still early in the day! Frank and the man exchanged a handshake later that Frank said was the firmest he'd ever experienced!!

The gentleman who bought our coffees this morning.


Later this afternoon, we stopped in another village and ordered a cappuccino and a beer in a cafe with only a few locals there. The waiter brought the beverages, and told us they had been paid for by a man sitting across from us!

We were really surprised. But what a lovely gesture. Perhaps it's  their way of welcoming tourists? Or is it just becase we're a bit odd when we show up on our bikes and they're showing respect! Not sure but it was lovely.
Typical rural scene. Another little church amongst the endless olive trees.

A downhill section of today's ride

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Big Plans Ahead! Another European Bike Tour

Image
 The count-down is on for our next cycle tour! On Sat Aug 24th (that is tomorrow!) we leave for yet another cycle tour in Europe. This one will see us flying to Frankfurt and riding from there south towards the Alps via Bavaria, a little part of the west of Austria (Tyrol) and on into Italy, eventually ending up in Venice. Lots of similarities to our last tour two years ago, but quite a different route. We have set aside six weeks for this journey. The main goal of this tour is to cycle a route called the Via Claudia Augusta . This route starts in Donauworth, Germany (located on the River Danube) and ends either in Venice or at the Po River south of Verona (depending which fork of the road you take). The attraction here is that it follows an old Roman road that once connected the northern part of the Empire via the River Danube, with the Adriatic Sea via the River Po or the Venetian lagoon. So there's lots of history attached to it, and it takes you through a lot of beautiful scene...
Read more

We reached the Danube!

Image
  Yesterday's ride on the last day of August will be memorable because of the village we reached halfway through the day, called Harburg. Here an impressive castle sits atop the hill, this one dating from the 11-12 th century, and said to be one of Germany's oldest castle fortifications. Hamburg and its hilltop castle We didn't climb up to the castle (these hilltop establishments are oft best viewed from afar in our opinion, especially when you're on a heavily loaded bike). Instead we stumbled on a delightful little café on the old stone bridge over the slow-moving Wornitz River where we had coffee and the most delicious pieces of homemade cake. We had quite the chat with the owners who seemed quite surprised to have Canadians on bikes in their place. Our large pieces of apple cake and plum cake Chilling in the heat of the day   Anyway the eating was followed by a good hour just relaxing in the shade under the trees along the river, resting up before hitting the ...
Read more

Complications at Reschen Pass: Italy here we come!

Image
 Monday morning Sep 9th Pfunds, at the foot of Reschen Pass, the route to Italy Before leaving home, I had read about a road closure here at Pfunds that would affect the main road, causing the diversion for traffic to use the minor road up the pass that is the official Via Claudia route for bikes. So it sounded like our bike route would not be affected, although it might have a lot of traffic. However, at breakfast this morning we learned that it's actually the cycling road that is completely closed for the building of a rockfall shed, effective Sep 1st. There is apparently an alternative signed diversion for bikes that follows a really rough gravel path. Not the best for heavily loaded bikes, although we did it over Fern Pass in good weather. Fortunately, there is a Via Claudia bike shuttle service, and we've just secured ourselves 3 spots at 12.00. This will save us a ton of hard, unpleasant riding in damp weather up the pass, and get us to the town of Nauders, several km bel...
Read more