by Justin
The Cinque Terre region of Italy has some of the most iconic sights in the world. You’ve probably seen pictures of it on your friend’s computer as a lockscreen or something like that. Almost everyone has, even if they don’t know it, but most of the photos …
Now, I think I have covered inland Crete pretty well, but a lot of you may be asking me “Isn’t Crete an island? When do I get to hear about the water?” Don’t worry, I’m getting to that. I will also mix in some recommendations …
One of the most fun things I did in Crete was go on a guided hike through the Platania Gorge. This spectacular gorge has a lot to love about it, but there’s one thing in particular that sets it apart from the rest of Crete’s spectacular landscape, Griffon Vultures. These spectacular birds are some of the highest-flying birds in the world. The wingspans on these things are massive, ranging between 5.3 and 9.2 feet in width. So, clearly, being the bird enthusiast I am, I had to take a hike to go see them. When I first heard that I could see these amazing birds here, my Dad helped to book me a tour. The company we chose was Staori Ecotourism Experiences, and I personally recommend you go on a tour with them as well. The tours are run by Haris and Eleni, who are both very nice and quite knowledgeable about the area, and there is no better way to go looking for Griffon Vultures. They take you on a tour of the Amari Valley, one of the most picturesque places in Crete, with lush, rolling green hills that seem to stretch on and on until they hit one of the island’s mountains or slope down into the rocky areas closer to the azure-blue waters of the island’s many beaches. If you would like to book a tour, click here.
If you choose to go on the tour, they will likely take you to the start of a trail that leads up into one of the more mountainous areas, through jagged cliffs of orange and yellow rock. Once you reach a certain point (which the guides will point out), you will be able to start seeing the vultures. I showed up there relatively early, and I got to watch in awe as close to twenty massive vultures took off from the outcropping and began to circle slowly around our position. It was incredible, watching as these birds, which had a wingspan larger than I am tall, floated gracefully on the wind like they weighed nothing more than a sheet of paper. It seemed almost effortless, too, and their slow, elegant, whirling flight paths traced a series of expanding circles in the sky around me. Then, I started to notice some of the late risers, tucked into convenient cubbies in the rock face. I also noticed the chicks, just waking up and walking out to the edges of their nest caves (which functioned very similarly to apartments) to get a look at the world around them. It was so cute to watch the adorable vulture babies climb over onto the rocks and stick their curious beaks out at the world. Granted, they probably had none of this in mind and just wanted breakfast, but I still think the way they poked their heads out of the nest was adorable. To their credit, though, the scenery on the hike was wonderful, too, so they had good taste. There were beautiful, giant orange cliffs stretching over verdant green valleys, and bent olive trees hanging over the trail. The trail was rather difficult and surprisingly steep in places, but the combination of amazing views and beautiful vultures made it quite worth it. Also, I may just be out of shape, since the old ladies in this area come up this trail quite often during olive season to harvest olives from the trees here.
After negotiating the rather steep downslope, when we got back from the hike, the guides offered us a sampler of homemade cheese and fresh apricots from their yard. The cheese was quite good, but the apricots really stood out. They were perhaps some of the most flavorful apricots I have ever had! I am very picky with my stone fruit, and these sure met my standards! After the apricots (which I probably ate too many of), we drove up Mount Psiloritis (more commonly known as Mount Ida) to look for bearded vultures. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any. But the mountain was beautiful, and the view over the valley was exceptional. Overall, I very much enjoyed our tour, and I think it was a great way to explore the wonders of Crete and get in some good birdwatching while you are at it!
I hate soft cheese with a burning passion. Or at least, I did, until a cooking class in Crete changed my mind. I was walking down a small cobblestone path through the abandoned olive mill of Kapsaliana, enjoying the gardens as I went to the …
While the best way to explore the entirety of Milos is by boat, if you want to explore the parts of the island that are not touching the coast, exploring by land is a much better option. Additionally, boat tours don’t visit every beach. Therefore, …
Have you ever found yourself looking for a nice, secluded island getaway, with as much beautiful scenery as Santorini (at least, according to the people I talked to), but without as many pesky tourists? Well, Milos is the island for you. It is a small island, near Santorini, made from the same volcanic rock, but has way fewer tourists comparatively. The island is shaped out of beautiful volcanic stone, with all sorts of colors mixed in for variety. It has exceptional beaches (some of which I will touch on later) and excellent snorkeling. Another thing that is unique about Milos is that trees are very uncommon there. A noticeable lack of vegetation is clearly visible across most of the island, which is odd for an island formed by volcanic activity. Another odd thing about Milos is the airport, which is basically just a small building with one gate and a strip of asphalt outside for the planes to land on. The airport building is the size of a small house, and quite honestly, I thought the runway was a small parking lot until the plane started to fly towards it!
One of the first things we did when we got to Milos was take a catamaran tour around the island to see the sights and go snorkeling. This strategy of exploring Milos was especially effective due to the fact that the island has a lot of beaches that are amazing, but can only be accessed by boat. The company running the boat tour was Naya, and the boat used was very nice! There were multiple sun beds on the top, a nice net to sit on, comfortable seating in the shade, and a very quiet motor. All in all, a great boat! On the way to the first snorkeling spot, I sat on the sun deck, lounging and waiting for us to arrive, and wondering what the beach would be like.
When the boat turned the corner into the first cove, I was immediately impressed. The cove was a shallow area, with water that was a color as clear and blue as arctic ice, and nearly looked like a solid piece of stained glass spread between two peninsulas. The water felt very cold because of how early in the morning it was, but after a bit of indecisively sitting on the boat, I hopped in. Once I was below the water, it was even clearer than it was above it. I could see the bottoms of boats floating across the cove from me, and the view of the sea floor around me was amazing. The water had the same crystalline blue color down below it, and while there were not a lot of fish, there were a few unique ones. Namely, I saw a few with black and orange markings that drifted along the seabed like kites. When we were called to come back to the boat, I spotted another cool fish. There was a flounder that had flopped out next to the ship’s anchor chain, and I enjoyed watching the little undersea pancake slide around across the floor. It was quite cute, and I have a soft spot for two-dimensional fish. When I swam back to the boat, I discovered a surprise waiting for me! The people who ran the tour had set out a breakfast for us, some delicious toast with apricot jelly! Admittedly, I had at least four pieces of it, maybe more. It was that good.
After that, I climbed back up onto the sun deck and watched the sea go by. Then, with no explanation, the boat turned and began to head directly for a peninsula sticking out from the shore. The boat pulled in sideways, and I was surprised to discover that the peninsula had buildings installed in it. It had been a mine at some point, and so there were multiple buildings carved into it, including two tunnels, a tower, and a dock for ships to pull up, now eroded until only a few battered, rusted iron beams remained. We drove around the mines, taking in the sights as we cruised through the area, looking at how well the buildings in the cliff face were preserved. Then, we drove for a few more minutes before arriving at fig cave, a small volcanic cave hollowed out from the cliff face. I still don’t really understand why we went to fig cave, as we didn’t swim there at all, but it looked cool, so I am not complaining. The cave had an overhang above it, where a fig tree grew, likely what gave the cave its name.
Eventually, the boat pulled up to Kleftiko Beach. Kleftiko is a large beach with a very cool quirk, tunnels. The beach’s sections are partially cut off by cliffs, but a series of small tunnels in the rock connect the beach’s sections. These tunnels contain a ton of fish, which spill out all over the place outside the aquatic tubing, making the beach an excellent snorkeling spot. I snorkeled around for a bit, finding quite a few fish, including some weird little red and black ones (likely damselfish, but I didn’t know that at the time), as well as a bucketload of wrasse (which I thought were parrotfish at the time, but I am now more educated on the Mediterranean fish species) swimming anywhere and everywhere, and quite a few other small fish that while I do not know what species they were, I thought they were quite pretty. There were so many fish! On the way back to the boat, I discovered a new pastime, as well. Once I was done snorkeling and some people were still out, I discovered (with the help of some other passengers on the boat) that it was quite fun to jump off the front of the catamaran repeatedly. I did this almost a dozen times, and it was quite fun. I personally recommend this if you have extra time at the beach on any of your boat tours, as long as the water is deep enough.
When I came back to the boat, lunch was ready. It was a platter of grilled chicken and salad, but I pretty much only ate the chicken and some tomatoes (although both of those were great). We ate lunch with another group on the boat, a family from Italy, Elisabetta (although she is usually called Betty), Nicola (he is quite funny, in case you ever meet him) and their daughter, Carolina (who is very nice and quite friendly). We hung out quite a bit during the long boat ride to the next beach, which was quite a ways off from Milos, on one of the nearby islands. I talked to her family, and they were quite nice. Carolina really seemed to like my photography, and her family also appreciated it. In return, I saw a lot of photos of her family, and they were great! Another interesting thing about their family is that they spoke amazing English, so it was nice to have friends from Italy that I could easily communicate with. By the time the boat reached the next beach, we were already friends.
When I got to the next beach, I was amazed by the water there. This beach was nicknamed the “Blue Lagoon” for a reason, the water was a beautiful sapphire color, like the surface of a massive disc of opal, and I absolutely loved it. The fish seemed to love it, too, as there were swarms of them surging through the water here like flashing waves of silver (and some other colors, too), refracting the light. It was amazing, and once I tired of snorkeling (which took quite a while), I jumped off the front of the boat several more times, too. Some people got the idea to climb the cliffs beside the lagoon and leap off of those into the water, and they somehow survived (I discovered later that they were practiced cliff-divers back at their home), swimming back just a few minutes after their enormous leap, which I would’ve never done, even if you paid me. The high dive is just about the top height I will jump off of (on a good day), and I don’t particularly want to jump off anything taller than that, especially not a giant cliff with rocky spears protruding from every available surface.
On the way back from the remote island, Carolina’s family invited me and my family to go to dinner with them at Medusa, a local seafood restaurant. We accepted, as it was a good opportunity to hang out with our new friends. Once we got to the small village of colorful fishing houses where the restaurant was, we found Nicola standing near the restaurant. He explained that Carolina was down at the docks with Betty watching the sunset, and that they should be back soon. Sure enough, they walked up from the stairs leading to the water just in time, as he had just gotten a table for us. We all sat down, and the waiter asked if we wanted bread. Nicola immediately asked the waiter “why would I not want bread? I am Italian, so I definitely want it.” We then ordered appetizers, and enjoyed our basket of bread (and went through two more before dinner was over). After everyone ordered an appetizer, we shared them with the table. One of the best appetizers was a little bowl of smoked eel, which was incredible! I never knew eel had so much flavor! The entrees came, and I really loved the grilled octopus, which was amazing (and while it was technically an appetizer, they added an extra tentacle and it became an amazing entree). My mom’s swordfish souvlaki was also excellent, though. Then came the interesting part. Carolina’s dad ordered a plate of fried calamari and challenged me to an eating contest. Little did he know, I have a practically bottomless stomach, and I kept pace all the way to dessert. Then, I finished off an incredible, tangy lemon cake, which was a wonderful dessert (you should order one if you can) and ended the contest. I had held my own in an eating contest against an Italian! We both laughed about this for some time, and unfortunately, since we had polished off dinner so fast, we now had to wait for everyone else (also known as my mom) to finish theirs.
On the next day, I enjoyed a goat tour, wait, no, I meant a second boat tour. The lines between the two were blurred this time, though, as we traveled to Poliegos, a small uninhabited island off the coast. The name meant many goats in Greek, and was aptly named, there were in fact many goats. This tour was unique for multiple reasons. The first reason was the boat we used, which was a traditional Greek fishing boat. Another reason this tour was unique was because Andres, the guide of this tour, also delivered fresh fruit to a multitude of other boats on the way, and basically ran a grocery restock service for a lot of the yachts in the area. Another unique aspect was Andres himself, who was quite funny! For example, when someone drove into the cove we were in to snorkel, he drove the little lifeboat out to them just to offer them some bread he had grilled recently. It was quite funny, because when they said “you can keep it” he responded with “what, are you telling me you don’t like food?” It was really enjoyable to watch, and it was also quite the spectacle to see him driving the little boat one-handed while holding a stack of grilled breads with tomato and olive oil on them.
Our first stop was the blue lagoon, which was still quite fun to swim at, even though I had been there previously. When we got back, Andres had prepared us some melons from his farm, which were exceptional. It was probably one of the best melons I have ever had. Once we had eaten our fill of the melons, he picked some up, split them into little pieces, and fed them to the fish, which shot up like little torpedoes to devour the melons as they were thrown. Apparently, the fish liked them as much as we did. After that, we continued along the shoreline, with Andres stopping to drop fresh produce at a dozen yachts along the way. A little ways along the coast, I spotted two winged shapes darting overhead, and, after an inspection of their flight patterns, location, and speed, I deduced that I had seen a pair of Eleonora’s falcons. These majestic birds are similar to Peregrine Falcons, but are harder to find due to their habit of nesting on extreme sea cliffs in remote areas of the world. This was certainly the first time I had ever seen one, and they were amazing to watch as they shot through the skies like arrows.
We stopped at the next beach a little bit later, a little knife-thin cove cut into the sea cliffs, which gradually widened into a sheltered, sandy shoreline. As we drove in on the boat, goats began to emerge from the rocks. At first there was only one of them, but more quickly appeared and soon we had a surprisingly large number of goats in the area (I believe we ended up with seven or more goats eventually). Andres explained that the goats know the sound of his boat’s engine, and that as soon as they hear it, they come running from nearby areas to get food. We stayed there for most of the day, and it was a wonderful beach to lounge at. As soon as we got there, Andres pulled out a charcoal grill and began to cook our lunch, and the smell of grilling bread, calamari, and skewers started wafting from the grill in huge waves. While we waited for lunch to be ready, we fed the goats (which were adorable, and I wanted to take one home). The goats were wonderful, as they loved the attention, as long as it came with food, giving us an amazing way to interact with them. After feeding the goats, I swam around for a little bit, then came back in, as the bread Andres had cooked was ready. It was amazing, grilled bread with fresh olive oil and tomato sauce, with just the right amount of crunchiness. It was amazing, and I had never eaten cooked bread that was so delicious it was nearly a meal before! Then, Andres pulled out the main course (after the salad, which I promptly ignored, so I can’t tell you about the flavor of it, but I bet it was great, everything else Andres made was very good). It was exceptional. There were piles of chicken, beef, and lamb skewers with calamari rings stacked on top in a massive hill upon the serving plate. I piled the food I wanted into a slightly smaller hill on my plate and began to eat it, savoring the way the juice rolled down my mouth from the outrageously tender meat. It was amazing, especially the lamb and calamari, which were extremely tender and seasoned to perfection. I also discovered the wonders of Greek soda on this boat tour. Specifically, there was one sour cherry soda that was perhaps the best carbonated drink I have ever had. This soda was so good that I was able to convince my parents to buy it from an online shop, and they have never been fans of sugary drinks. It was amazing, an explosion of flavor unlike anything I have ever had before. I mean, my mom loves it, and she hates sour treats with a burning passion. That is how exceptional this drink was. If you go on Andres’s tour, I personally recommend checking his cooler for a sour cherry drink, but if you don’t want it, that’s your loss. Oh well, more for everyone else on the tour, and they will definitely appreciate it.
On the way back from Poliegos, we stopped by an old cave that pirates used as a hiding place. It was quite cool, but we didn’t get to stop there for very long, as Andres had another destination in mind back on the main island of Milos, Seagull Rock. This rock (at least, when we got there) didn’t actually have many seagulls (there were about three on the entire rock that I could see), but what it did have were beautiful granite pillars stretching up into a weird geometric design that made it look like a child had built it with a play set made up entirely of gray geometric pillars of different lengths. It was really cool, and I never knew that rocks like that existed! Then, just as the sun began to set in a blaze of gold and pink light, we came back into the port. It was an amazing boat tour!
Overall, boat tours were an amazing way to get to see Milos, and I recommend them for anyone who wants to get a full tour of the island, as well as some great food and some wonderful access to remote snorkeling spots. I would also recommend these two tours we went on, as they were both wonderful! Personally, I really enjoyed Milos as a whole, and I think that if you went, you would love it too!
Athens is a very unique city, with history readily available for anyone to see. It is like someone pulled the city out of a textbook, and made it come to life. The city does not just showcase the past, it is the past itself meshing …
Point Reyes is an amazing place, with some of the most impressive biodiversity I have ever seen. Just by taking a quick drive along the main roads, you can tell it is a haven for nature. There are tons of birds, as well as a …
I really liked the birds in Grand Teton National Park, but I get the feeling that some of you are waiting for the mammals. Therefore I will acknowledge the moose in the room with this post (elephant didn’t seem quite right for a post involving moose, which are massive animals that almost felt like elephants) and talk about our large mammal tour of Grand Teton National Park. As usual, remember to respect the wildlife and bring bear spray. I am tired of saying this, but I need you to make sure that you don’t get murdered by a bear (I doubt that would be good for my reputation or your life). We used EcoTours again, and, just like last time, the guide (Ryan, this time) was excellent. We found some great wildlife, including moose, a mother bear with 3 cubs (I took photos from inside a car for this), pronghorn, bison, and elk.
Our guide, Ryan, was extremely knowledgeable about ethical wildlife photography, and was overall a great guy. He even gave me a helpful photography tip sheet after the tour! He also knew tons about the local wildlife, and where to find it. Almost everything we found was in the same general area he said it might be. The bears were near where we went looking, the pronghorn and bison were in the plains that he took us to, and a moose was down by the river, eating off the trees he told us to keep a lookout for (because moose like the leaves). Speak of the moose and the moose appears, I say.
Believe it or not, this actually happened. We were driving down the road (in the EcoTours special wildlife viewing vehicle, complete with a large sunroof that can be opened to photograph out the top of the car), on our way to search for animals, and we had started talking about how we could find a moose. Right after we finished planning, we saw a car pulled over on the side of the road. In Grand Teton, this is usually a sign that the owner of the car found something interesting. We climbed out of our car (which was more difficult due to the incline) and made our way to the riverbank. At first, I only saw bushes, but then I noticed a disturbance in some of the bushes in question. Slowly, a moose emerged, first the nose, then the antlers, and then the rest. It was enormous, with huge, pan-shaped antlers and a beautiful coat. This was the first time that I realized how chocolate mousse got its name (mousse is the same color as a moose). This massive, beautiful moose munched on some nearby leaves, then loped over to the water (moose are surprisingly graceful for a large mammal) and took a drink. It was not a very effective drinking method, though, and water kept dripping out of its mouth back into the stream. The moose then did the weirdest yoga pose I have ever seen in order to itch its leg using one of its antlers. Satisfied, the moose disappeared into the bushes, and we got on our way, leaving this beautiful moose to do whatever it needed to do.
After the moose, we checked the plains in search of bison. We were expecting to see a few, but as the car rolled in, a massive herd came into view. There were wall-to-wall bison, so many it looked like a herd of oversized sheep instead of 2000-pound behemoth, black and brown bison. There were some in the field, and the rest were behind a fence. I assumed they were stuck, but watched in amazement as one bison after another leaped the fence like they weighed 50 pounds, not close to 2000. These things were crazy, jumping a fence that was their height. It was absurd (bison are the last animals I would expect to jump a fence, and they did it without a running start, too!) After these acrobison, we saw an animal that would be much more likely to partake in fence jumping, the pronghorn. These things are built for speed, and don’t even become that much slower when pregnant. This is due to a strange factor, always having twins. This may seem more difficult, but I believe it makes them more aerodynamic while pregnant, so that they can continue avoiding predators. How do they do this, you may be asking? The pronghorn’s stomach does not sag when pregnant, and instead the young grow on the sides, helping them maintain their impressive speed and agility. A pronghorn is a sheep (although they look more like an antelope to me) with white and tan coloration and a black nose. The males also sport impressive black, forked horns.
Now, for the main event! The one you’ve all been waiting for! After a small detour near the river, we came upon a car parked on the shoulder of the road. We pulled over next to them, and scanned the area. At first, I assumed I had found another moose, but I didn’t see any antlers sticking out. Then, the bushes rustled, and a beautiful bear slowly emerged. At this point, I was wrestling with my camera bag trying to get my camera out, so I almost didn’t notice the 3 cubs trailing behind her. The cubs were incredibly cute, and some even had dandelion fluff stuck to their fur from walking through a bush in the rain. The little bears were amazing, romping around and occasionally standing up straight with their front paws in. It truly was a precious experience.
These bears were amazing, and you would need to see what I saw to understand how amazing it was. The mother bear was named Grizzly 610, and is one of the one of the the most famous (and aggressive) female bears in the park. While the mother bear was enormous and impressive, the cubs, on the other hand were just pure bundles of cuteness condensed into small bears. They were just so playful, and their faces were so expressive! Of course, there always seems to be an idiotic tourist who thinks he or she can get away with getting out of the car near the bear with no bear spray. Please, don’t die on me (or even get injured) the way these tourists risk, it is kind of a problem for all parties involved. I really doubt you want to see how much a bear could cost you in medical bills. Not speaking from experience, but a bear that size can move boulders and 610 has been known to charge a car to defend her young. This can also become hazardous for the bear, as a bear that is deemed “too aggressive” is often killed to minimize risk.
Again, Grand Teton is truly an incredible place, with beautiful wildlife and amazing scenery combined. Ironically, despite this combination, Yellowstone is much busier. If you want more amazing wildlife with fewer less-than-amazing parking lot traffic jams, Grand Teton is the place for you! In addition to this, the food is actually quite good, a major step-up from Yellowstone’s school hot lunch food. A few food recommendations are The Bird (a burger place with incredible food and hilarious shirts, one of which I got for myself, they were that good) and Persephone Bakery, one of the best bakeries I have ever been to, with exceptional almond croissants (and I am practically an almond croissant critic myself) and a delicious hot chocolate with a homemade vanilla marshmallow. Another incredible place to eat is Cafe Genevieve, which had an incredible combination of delectable green chili fries and an exceptional bison patty melt. I’m talking really exceptional here, probably the best sandwich I have ever had!
Other fun pastimes in Grand Teton involve a raft trip down the river (an excellent way to see wildlife) or unguided wildlife searches, there is a lot to do outside of the tours. There is also the incredible scenery, but our vacationing often doesn’t leave a lot of time for staring at rocks, even ones as large as the Tetons. Our favorite unguided nature walk was Moose Pond (which had no moose whatsoever). The fox we saw there was awesome, and we also saw some marmots, who had very different opinions about the fox than we did. They were quite vocal about their opinions too, screeching and chirping to all who could hear them. We may have actually saved their lives, too! We started hearing this chirpy chaos as we walked down the path at Moose Pond, and eventually found the source, 2 marmots chirping from the top of a rock. At first, I didn’t understand what the ruckus was about, but then the fox from earlier made an appearance. It was creeping over a fallen log, and the marmots were chirping to warn the others. I actually thought the fox was going to go for the ones we found, but we must have been too close to them, likely saving their lives. Overall, Grand Teton is an incredible place, with wonderful wildlife that never seems to disappoint (at least to me, but I saw bear cubs, so I can’t be talking) and beautiful scenery (at least nobody can tell me otherwise here) and wonderful food (especially after the horrific food options in Yellowstone). Grand Teton is a wonderful place, if you ask me!
While Yellowstone is amazing and has the unique aspect of geysers, if you are just interested in wildlife, and can’t BEAR me talking about geysers, here are some wildlife posts just for you, fresh from Grand Teton National Park. Grand Teton National Park is an …
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