It has been a long journey. A lot of things have happened, a lot of posts have been written, a lot of memories have been created. But now it's the time to wrap it up.
It's time to pick up the thread of the story as we were getting ready to leave the scenic town of Sitia, the village of my grandparents and the island of Crete altogether and start the return trip back to Nafplio.
It was the first of November when we started this trip, it was the first of December when we took our way back. The picture below was taken on our first stop, shortly after we left our village. It has been a really busy morning, loading the car and closing the house for the next months and it was only after we left that we relaxed enough to grab a bite and drink our coffee cocoa. And this spot seemed just perfect! December was starting with the same good weather that seemed to be after us :)
Since both my parents are from Crete, we have two villages to say goodbye to and two houses to prepare for the winter. But everything seemed to be going very smoothly that day. So after the chores at the house and before we meet with some cousins of mine for a late lunch (or an early dinner, whatever) we still had time for sightseeing!
We saw an old chapel carved into the rock and a few Roman tombs, also carved in the rock. Both among trees and lush vegetation. Nothing too fancy but enough to make us forget all the work we had done that day and get into travel mood for once more :)
The next day we were in Athens, the capital of Greece and also our home for many years, in the past. We stayed for three days to enjoy a bit the big city and see a few more friends and family but the first thing that we had to do, the one that we couldn't miss, was to go for a long walk to the park in our old neighbourhood. Plus that Marcos, our canine friend, would never forgive us, if we didn't :)
Ancient monuments, big trees and neat pathways in one more familiar scenery that we haven't visited for a while. The essence of that trip turned out to be exactly that. Revisiting familiar places that used to be part of our daily life but we have been distanced. And the confusing feeling, not to be able to figure out if you are going or you are returning. One familiar place after another, one familiar face after another until the circle closes and we find ourselves in the beginning.
On the 5th of December we were back in Nafplio. Everything was as we left it, more than a month ago. The port, the big pedestrian street in our neighbourhood or the ducks in the park, they all seemed to be waiting for us.
And of course our favourite beach under the medieval castle and the sea almost as warm as we left it :)
This was the thirteenth and final part of our trip from Nafplio to Crete, in order to harvest our olives and visit the places and the people that formed our daily life for almost a decade. It lasted from the first of November till the fifth of December and it was totally different from whatever we ever anticipated.
The photos of this last post are from my phone but all the previous ones are taken with my dslr.
If you haven't followed my journey and you feel like doing some reading, you can find below the links of all the previous posts or you can just visit my blog and scroll down.
All the pictures and the words are mine.
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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