Souda, Crete

Last stop Crete.  Mom was feeling better and was able to join us at our last port of call.

 This day was unexpectedly very nice for me.  I didn't think our Shore Excursion would be that great, it turned out to be much better than expected. 

 We went to the Botanical Park of Crete.  First, the man above told us all about what they grow there and about the very healthy diet of Cretians.  70% of the calories they eat come from olive oil.  Zeeks! I family of 5-6 consume about 1 liter of olive oil a day!   

 After we sampled a few tasty morsels of leaves, Pat and I went on the hike through the park.

 

 It was a nice, somewhat stenuous walk.  But very pretty!

 

 This is the off season, so many things weren't growing.

 

 While we walked up and down and all around, Mom stayed back at the lodge and thought about how smart she was not to tackle the walk!

 

 Above is a "Buddha's hand".  I had never heard of, let alone seen one of these before.

 A few grapes still hanging on at the end of the season.

 

 The walk was about 1 hour long.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  (I also liked knowing that I could have a roll at dinner that night after a workout like that!)

 

 Our last stop was the town market.  The locals use it as well as the tourists which is nice.  Above, Mom and Pat make some purchases.  The rest of my family may not like to have their photo taken, but we all do like to shop!!

 Pat decided not to buy the Aphrodite lotion.  I guess she wasn't ready to bring out the Greek Goddess in herself yet!  (you probably can't see it, the top of the poster says, "Bring out the Greek Goddess in you.)

 

 There's lots of fun things in the market.  My companions wouldn't go down the fish aisle though!

 

What a surprise...all the shore excursions got back at almost the same time..which was a few minutes before us.  We had to wait in line about 30 minutes to get back on the ship!  The next day was at sea and at 430am on November 2 we were back in Rome.

 

I'm so happy that I was able to spend time with Mom and Pat on this trip.  It was nice to go together, enjoying each other as well as the magnificent sights.

 

I'll be home for awhile now..planning my next big adventure!