30x30 :: Drink a cup of coffee with no milk and sugar...in Italy!

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On January 10th 2012 I drank black coffee.  In fact, I took it to a whole new level and had some espresso in Italy.  Oh snap! I got off the ship as quickly as I could in the early afternoon and spent about 3 hours ashore.  I told my cruising buddy, 'we have one mission....let's drink some espresso'!  He jumped right on the band wagon and we found a quiet cafe in which to partake.

We ordered two espressos and a pastry.

You know what?  It was disgusting.  You heard me.  Dis.gus.ting. 

It was just so strong....and bitter.  I kept thinking if only I could add a little milk and sugar to this...

Thank goodness we ordered the pastries!  We needed chasers!

What I will say is that the experience was lovely!  It came in cute little cups.  The wait staff looked at us like we were crazy Americans.  The place was pretty empty and then we sat outside anyways.  We got out our phones and cameras and documented the occassion.  Then we both cracked up because we agreed that it wasn't delicious at all.

After walking around town for a bit we had a nice meal....and get this....we did it again!  We guzzled our second espresso of the day!  Oh yeah, I'm an espresso bad ass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Very Cretan New Years!

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We pulled into Souda Bay, Crete on New Years Eve.  We were met with fog, rain and snow on the mountains.  It looked like winter!

 

Welcome to Crete!

 

After a watch full of hooking up hoses, commencing discharge, blabbity blabbity, I took a nap and went ashore to ring in the New Years!

It was back to Chania (I was lucky enough to get ashore here during my last rotation).

My favorite area is the old harbor.

 
 

 

 

 

I learned that Chania had once been under Venice's rule (from about 1212 lasting 4 centuries).  This certainly explains the Venitian architecture and artistic influences. 

 

 

 

After walking around the town for a bit I ended up in an alley that was strung with colorful glass lamps.  Every single lamp was a different design - some were quite colorful and almost all of them were fairly ornate.  I kept cruising around and ended up  finding an aparment that had its door wide open.  I'm not sure if it was an open house or if they simply wanted people to take a peek and wish to stay.  It was a studio apartment that was adorable. 

 

 

 After beeboping around for a bit it was time to have some food!  Lets order every appetizer!  Is there a better way to eat when travelling?  I think the Saganaki might be my favorite - tomato with feta warmed up and spread on bread ours had shrimp and prawns in it...yum-o!  (The stuffed grape leaves take a close second.)

 

 

Back to work after having such good food isn't easy!  It's also very hard to wake up at midnight if you've spent your afternoon ashore - ha!

Leaving Souda we watched the sun set behind her.  All in all it was a pretty lovely way to spend the New Years!

 

 

HOW DID YOU ALL SPEND YOUR NEW YEARS?!

Gibraltar :: The Monkeys!

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OH. MY. GOD.  THE MONKEYS!

 

 

This was HANDS DOWN my favorite part of the Gibraltar tour.  I've been going through my photos of monkeys for days and days and days.....I couldn't narrow it down!  I finally decided to post every photo that was even quasi decent.

Now, technically the monkeys aren't monkeys - they're apes.  But when I think ape I think Gorilla...and these monkeys were small enough to sit on your head....I know because the monkeys sat on my head!  SERIOUSLY.

When you get to the 'top of the rock' there is a large monkey population.  They are probably the largest tourism draw on the island - and they know their business.  They steal things from you...jump on your tour van and grab the wheel....steal treats from your driver....pounce on your head when you aren't looking....pounce on your back and crawl up to your shoulder so that your tour guide has to feed them to make them happy...I'm telling you, they know their job...which is...entertain the tourists damnit!

When we got to the tippy top of the rock their was a little family a Mom, Dad and two babies.  Ridiculously cute.  The Mom was picking lice out of the Dad and the babies were playing nearby.  One of the babies comes over to bother the parents and the Dad literally swats him away and makes a face!  Ha!  Then the babies move further away and start mock fighting with eachother.  It was awesome. 

I also really liked the mom with her baby playing with a discarded plastic bag.  They looked so lovingly at eachother!

Big Papa sleeping near the swings kinda cracked me up....he was probably the biggest monkey I saw.

I have a bunch of photos of the monkeys scaring the crap out of me as the pull my hair and sit on my shoulder...sometimes dragging my shirt off my shoulders....risque little monkeys!

This is the last of my Gibraltar series but, if you ask me, I saved the best for last!  (The Mom, Dad and babies were my favorite....)

Which ones were your favorites?!

(Don't forget you can easily scroll through this gallery by clicking on an image - there are about fifty so you'll need to open tabs 1,2 and 3....)

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Gibraltar :: The Airport

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Gibraltar has a pretty crazy airport.  It is directly on the Spanish border and both sides of the runway drop off into the water.  What's even crazier is that the main road - the one in and out of Gibraltar goes directly across the runway!  When we left Gibraltar we literally had to walk across the runway (along with TONS of others).  Apparently, the road simply gets shut down anytime there is air traffic (I think I heard mentioned that there are 4 flights a day landing from the UK).  If that's not crazy I don't know what is.

 

Gibraltar :: Around Town

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I had English Style Fish and Chips at The Angry Friar.  It is said that it got its name from a Friar who lived across the street and would come over to the pub to yell at the patrons for having a hard cider.  It was literally named after The Angry Friar!  Ha.  Of course, I had to add a patio covered in trellised vines and a steeple framed by tangerine trees to the series....I mean really.