Monday, July 4, 2011

Last few days in Molivos :(

We've had a lovely last few days in Molivos! Everything's just been really relaxed.  Here's some photos from our last few days!

We had a pita picnic on the beach on Saturday evening.  BEAUTIFUL sunset :)

Beautiful picture that Joe took of the sunset!

Post our pita pig out!




Our last full breakfast in Molivos! We had fresh pastries, oranges, bananas, pears, yoghurt with honey (in case anyone is curious, in German, it's yoghurt mit honing.  German is such a beauuutiful language.), and cucumber, onion, and feta salad! So good!

On Sunday evening, we went out for our last dinner in Molivos!

Mama and I before we headed out to Galliano!

Joe and Mama :)

Me and the Joe man!

Mama fanning herself at dinner.  She got a bit warm on the walk down.

Mama and Joe at our lovely table on the terrace!

So we go to take a picture together, and Joe starts biting his hand. .......  We were a bit confused.  But then we just decided to turn it into a pose!

Joe and I at dinner :) Waiting hungrily for our appetizer! We forgot to take a picture, but we had avocado and orange salad and insalata mozzarella (mozzarella slices with tomatoes and basil/lettuce and a nutty pesto sauce). So yummy!

Mama had the Chicken Delizia over tagliatelle pasta!

I think I had the best dish.  I had tortellini stuffed with ricotta cheese and pear and covered in a pesto, pine nut, and basil sauce :)

Joe had the grilled beef fillet with spicy tomato sauce and fries and salad :)

OK.  I've been laying out EVERY TIME we've been to the beach.  I've been wearing sunscreen, but I've been working really really hard on my tan.  WHY IS JOE SO MUCH TANNER THAN I??? HE WEARS A T-SHIRT AT THE BEACH FOR GOODNESS SAKES!  It's just not fair.  It's not.

Sleeping in on the last morning of the trip :)

Today has been another slightly frazzled packing day in the Hoovler villa.  We're going to have pitas for lunch (we really are obsessed) and then just wait for the taxi to come get us so we can get on the overnight ferry to Athens!  We're sad to be leaving Molivos, HOWEVER, here are some things I won't miss.

1.  THE TINY SHOWER.  Read the last blog if you want to know WHY I won't miss it.
2.  That might actually be it.  I think really the tiny shower is the only thing that bothers me.

Here's what we will miss :)

1.  The view from our terrace
2.  Walking up to the bakery for fresh pastries
3.  Going to the beach :)
4.  Did I mention the view from the terrace?
5.  Lana and Richard Bosley, our hosts 
6. Fresh seafood
7.  The castle!
8.  "The time spent together in a beautiful place"- Papa Joe :)
9.  Relaxing around our villa
10. Being able to call someplace we live a villa
11.  THE FOOD
12. Being within walking distance of everything!

We've had the most wonderful relaxing vacation.  It's just been so beautiful and wonderful.  Happy 4th of July!  More blogging to come for our vacation in Athens! Happy reading! :)

Saturday, July 2, 2011

B.S.E. Boating, Shopping, and Eating

First of all.  I did not come up with this title.  Title courtesy of Papa Joe.  ALSO. Blogging has apparently become a chore, because I was just instructed to, "START BLOGGING." Oh yessir, yessir Papa Joe, Master Joe, may I have a bit more gruel before I go back to the grindstone, sir??


We've had the best couple of days! It's been so relaxing and wonderful.  On Thursday, we woke up late and went down to the beach for the day!

We had a pita picnic at the beach! WE'RE OBSESSED.  Joe had  the ladotiri pita, which is a special cheese made here on Lesvos.  They grill the cheese and then put it in a pita with french fries, tzatziki, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, and lettuce.  "It's really good, that one."- Direct quote from Joe

Mama with her pita! She and I both had the picant  cream cheese pita, which is a spicy creamy cheese with all the fixings! 

As I nommed away on my pita, Joe toasted his in the back.
Tanning at the beach!  We're still easily the most modest people  at the beach.  Still entirely too many topless women at the beach.  Also, there was a girl tanning across the pool from me who was just like a LOBSTER.  She was so sunburned! And there were also old men in speedos.  REALLY THOUGH READ MY BLOG, THAT'S SO NOT OK.

We rented a paddleboat for an hour and paddleboated around!!! It was so much fun!!!  

I was trying to figure out how to turn the boat around so Joe could get a picture of us.  I was a little directionally challenged with the steering.

Just paddleboatin' it up!  Also, once we got out on the water(this may be too much information, but deal with it),  I realized I had to pee.  So I decided to hop out of the boat and take care of it.  Ok, so once I'd done that, I had to climb back in.  It was much higher up than I realized.  I SO do not have the upper body strength required to hoist myself back in the boat. I spent a good 7 minutes trying to manuever my way back in and once I finally got up, I slipped on the side of the boat and banged my knee and now I have a gigantic bruise.  SO GRACEFUL.

Cool water splashing on the rocks!  Taken by Papa Joe :)
After we came home from the beach, we made dinner at our villa and then decided to watch a movie.  We picked Face Off with Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, thinking it would just be a fun, mindless action movie. Seriously, probably the worst movie I've seen in like 5 years.  And I watch SciFi B movies.  It was TERRIBLE.  Here's a link to a choice Nicolas Cage clip that you might enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVNDjs5Xq9E.  That gives you just a teensy clue as to how bad this movie was.  Also, John Travolta.  You disappointed me.  You disappointed me bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P--C-t60lI.  I used to like you.  Now all I can think about is your TERRIBLE hair cut in this movie and your butt chin.  True facts.

Yesterday, we got up leisurely and walked up to the bakery for some pastries! Then we went to a dress shop my mom and I had been wanting to shop at.  It was so fun!
The outside of the dress shop!

The inside! So many cute dresses and skirts and tops.  Papa Joe was our fashion advisor and sat with us while we tried on a bunch of things! Both my mom and I got really really cute reversible skirts! So exciting! 
After shopping for a while, we headed home to just hang out.  We all read and just enjoyed our villa and the view :)  Then, we all got dressed up and went down to the harbor for dinner!!
Mama and I in our new skirts!!!!

Papa Joe and I :)

We went to the Captain's Table for dinner!  I should learn.  Don't order house wine.   It's just not that good.

Parents at dinner! So cute and classy :)

The three of us! :)
We remembered to take pictures before we had eaten half of our food!!!  This is our appetizer.  We had grilled bread, fresh olives, Captain's Dip (walnuts, parsley, sundried tomatoes, and greek yoghurt) and fava dip (a bean dip).  I LOVED the Captain's Dip but wasn't too fond of the fava.  First of all, it was a lot of bean.  Which  I understand is a little ridiculous to say because it was a bean dip, but it was.  Also, it made me think of that part from Silence of the Lambs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjGpcEA-FyE.  THAT PART.
Joe and I had the Captain's Platter for two!  We had calamari, sardines, anchovies, gilt headed bream,  mackarel, shrimp, and a side of chips! SO much fish, but it was completely delicious.  Also, all of the fish were whole and it didn't bother me a bit!!!  I just chugged right through it.  Also, Joe was really nice and boned all of my fish for me and took the heads off.  We did have a slight incident where Joseph mentioned, "Oops, one of the eyes popped out!" and I told him to kindly refrain from such sayings during our fish dinner.

Mama had the special! Gilt headed bream with a side of chips :)

Joe and his squid.  They were besties.
After dinner, we went home and hung out for a bit, and then I went out to the Congas! The Congas is an outdoor dancing bar.  There are lanterns hanging from the ceiling and a straw roof and lots of good music playing.  I went last Friday night as well, with Richard's sons Nick and Ryan.  I met a bunch of really nice people! One of the girls, Aphrodite, was our waitress at dinner last night and she invited me to come out with them again!  So I got to go out with the same group of people from last week and we had a really good time.

This morning, my mom and I went a got a pedicure in town!  It was so nice and relaxing and the lady who did it for us was so nice! We just chatted and had a lovely time :)

My toes! I have little star diamonds on my big toes :)

Mama's toes! She has a little flower on each of her big toes :)
One more thing I wanted to deal with in this blog.  I've tried not to complain about too much being here, first of all, because there's really not a whole lot to complain about and second of all, because it's silly to complain when you're in a place as beautiful as it is here!!!  HOWEVER.  There is one thing.
This is our shower.  Now, I have a shower in my bathroom, but it's only a handheld shower head and I tried it once and it was just a complete disaster.  So I thought, well if I use my parent's shower, its shower head hangs on the wall, so I should be able to handle it.  I CAN'T HANDLE IT.  A) It's TINY.  I'm a fairly petite person but this shower literally makes me feel claustrophobic.  

This is the part you stand in.  I wish I had a  ruler so I could measure how small that is.  CAUSE IT'S REALLY SMALL.  Also.  If you don't have the shower curtain sealed just right around the edge of that TINY TINY space, you will get water ALL over the bathroom.  And while you're showering, the curtain is constantly trying to suction itself against your body so then you're not only trapped in this itty bitty space, but you're also trying to fight off the wet slippery shower curtain while also trying to just get a little shampoo in your hair, but not get it in your eyes and needless to say, IT'S A DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE.  SO.  I can't wait to go to Bulgaria, where I will have a full tub and a shower curtain that keeps its hands to itself.
We may go out again for dinner tonight or we may have a pita picnic on the beach :)  Happy reading!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Weee'reeee backkkkkk!

Here's the second part of our blog catch-up extravaganza! Since you missed us so much the first time, then you must be JUST ecstatic that we're doing a two-parter!

The castle on our way out!

A pretty church that we could see on our way down from the castle!
In case you were wondering, I conquered those steps.  I conquered them hard.
Lawrence of Arabia Joe meets a real person.  Typical.  Typical Joe and Rachel behavior.
The entrance to the woodworking shop! We went to their house for dinner on Sunday night.
Mama and I walking in for our dinner! They have such a lovely home.
The field behind Philippa and Eric's house.  It was so beautiful and we had the loveliest evening.  We sat around and talked, played with their three dogs, saw a baby hedgehog, ate a beautiful dinner that Philippa made for us, and Elleni (their daughter) played the guitar and I sang.
The last few days have been really lazy! We went to the beach on Monday and Tuesday, but it was too chilly to stay both days.  The wind has been blowing a lot and it's been really cloudy.  But here are some pics from the last few days!
We took a picnic lunch to the beach! My dad got up to take a picture and caught me with all of the food in my lap.
My mom, all covered up at the beach.  Swaddled really.  A) Because she was chilly.  B) Because SOMEONE (aka her) got all kinds of sunburned and wasn't allowed to have any sun exposure at the beach.
I've become a fan of making random whiny noises.  They tend to irritate people around me.  Aka, my parents.  But I think it's fun.  My dad caught this super attractive picture of me.  
A better picture of us at lunch!
Joe has the best picture poses!

Joe and I at our lunch by the sea!
Beautiful sunset we could see from our porch! There were so many cool clouds!

Mama at dinner! We've found our new favorite food for sure.  It's pita bread stuffed with meat (if you're into that sort of thing, which I'M NOT because I'm a veggie-saurus), french fries, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, onion, and cheese. OHMYGODSOGOOD.
Me at dinner!

Papa Joe and I at dinner!

I can't help it.  Just straight thuggin'.

There's an open air cinema in Molivos! We went last night to see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  Joe and I couldn't remember what the title of the movie was.... "On ebbing and flowing tides? On the in and out tides? On waving tides?"  Stranger.  Gee, that was a tough one.

Joe and I before the movie started!  
We're off now, to get some pitas for lunch and shop! Happy reading!