Update!! Macho mentality

Oh! How I hate the macho mentality!

I am doing a workaway at a cafe-restaurant in Crete, all the tourist are very nice. However, the local men think that women are here to serve them. They do not ask, they demand, and they expect you to serve them with a smile.   And of course, none of them tip.

It is good that they don’t come that often, once a week is more than enough for me. Only four of them come every day, and they don’t complain, they eat whatever I give them.

Well, when I cook the tourist do not know if it is done right or not. However, the local men know the Cretan way, so if I cook something a little different, they let me know.

Like I told them more than once, I am not from here!!! So they can eat what I cook or they can go someplace else.

 Jaja… there is no other place in town.

At least now the owner is back, so he is cooking, I just serve. YEAH!!!

As long as I am bitching: everybody smokes inside.

Three more days and to Santorini I’ll go…

Update

Today there was a memorial service at the church, from 8 AM to 10:30 AM.

After the service, everybody came to the restaurant to eat and drink.

I had all the tables ready and the food was in the refrigerator or on the counters. I thought I was so organized…

As soon as everybody arrived, the men sat at the tables, and the women run into the kitchen.

They run here and there, serving the men. They put the food on the tables, they served them.  They made the coffee, they took care of everything.

There were way too many women in there, one on top of the other, taking care of everything. Obviously, I left the kitchen as soon as they came and I saw what they were doing. After all, who am I to tell them they cannot do it. The way I look at it, less work for me.

They even washed the dishes and glasses and cleaned the kitchen, while I sat in the patio with a very nice man from Norway. He was bicycling through the area and stopped to get a drink. Well, he ate a lot, because they kept on feeding him too.

So, now I understand why the men act the way they do.

They are not allowed to do anything, it is the women job to serve them and take care of them.

And to top it all, some of the women put some chairs in the kitchen and eat there. Incredible!  

The mineral thermal waters of Pamukkale, Turkey

I have seen pictures of Pamukkale so of course, I wanted to go there, and I am so glad I did.

Pamukkale which means “cotton castle” is a hill full of terraces formed by mineral thermal waters in the center of Turkey.

                As you get to the park (35 TL = $ 11.96) you walk up the white mineral formation toward the natural pools in the terraces.

As the walk is over the mineral, you have to walk bare foot. I don’t like to be bare foot, much less walking on stones, so I put my river shoes and I went up.

                The white mineral waters in the pools are only one to two feet deep, just enough to sit in the water and get wet.  These waters are rich in chalk, calcium, travertine and limestone.  These are slightly radioactive minerals and they are supposed to be great for ailments, as arthritis, muscle aches, and many other aches and pains. Of course just one day and a little dip won’t do anything to you. You will need to go there for at least one week to see any results, if there are any.

Of course, where there are thermal waters, they were Romans.  They built a spa circa 190 BC next to the terraces.

There are ruins of a Roman Theater, a necropolis (5 TL = $ 1.71) with some sarcophagus and an antique pool with submerged Roman columns as the result of an earthquake (32 TL = $ 10.93). Of course I went swimming in the thermal waters of the antique pool. I sat at one of the columns until my fingers stared to wrinkle and to look purple. Event that I did not want to get out I did.  I was so relax, I felt great!

I did some more walking to see the ruins of a church and some of the gardens, and then back to the terraces.

On the way down I took a dip in all the terraces once again.

It was a great day, very beautiful and relaxing.

Fairy Chimneys of Cappadocia

In the center of Turkey in Anatolia, at the foot of the Taurus Mountains, you find the most amazing natural site.

Formed by volcanic erosion over 4000 years ago, are the most breathtaking cones and towers formations known as fairy chimneys.

Since the Bronze era this area has been inhabited by Hittite.

These fairy chimneys were used by troglodytes (cave dwellers) and later on by Christians.

 There are many underground cities, and tunnels with churches, monasteries and chapels, with beautiful frescos or rudimentary seccos.

You can also see the influence of Byzantine and Islamic eras in the paintings.

Due to rain and wind eroding the soft rock, the fairy chimneys lose 2 millimeters = 0.5/64 inches a year.  At the same time new fairy chimneys are formatted. However the change is so miniscule that it is impossible to see. It will take one million years to see a different landscape. So, I guess I won’t’ see it.

There are many different types of formations, and all of them are dramatically beautiful.

From the beehives to the mushroom tops, varying in color from cream to gray, to peach, they are amazing.

This is a must see place.