A pregnant yogi?

I'm feeling a little off today. I'm pretty sure it's because I started my day with a night of not-so-great sleep. Toby decided last night that it was his turn to help me prepare for sleepless nights by being up and around the apartment at all hours of the night.

So I've started something new the past couple of weeks…prenatal yoga. Since we've been in Basel, I've been meaning to find somewhere to do yoga, but just hadn't gotten around to it. I was also feeling like I needed to add something else to my three hours of walking a day. Not that walking is not good, but just needed something different. The challenge with this one was to find somewhere that did prenatal yoga, in English, in Basel.

I did find a place right in the center of Basel. It overlooks Marktplatz, which is where city hall is located. They offer the class in English and Spanish, which I find amusing, considering that we live in a German-speaking city. I really like the class, although I actually think that I could possibly still go to regular classes since I've been doing yoga for quite a few years now. But then I would be the annoying attendee who has to have a modification for every pose, and I'm just not into that.

The class has been somewhat of a new experience. The place that I go to yoga is very "yoga-y", if you know what I mean. Crystals in the corners, incense burning, calm music playing, chanting…this place has all the stereotypical characteristics you might think of.

Often during class I have to physically stop myself from laughing. Not in a disrespectful way, but sometimes trying to "connect to my motherhood" and "surround my child with love" just gets me. I mean don't get me wrong, I think the intention is great, but I guess I feel that I'm connected enough right now carrying the Lentil around with me everywhere I go and for everything I do.

The other thing that gets me, and I feel the need to come home and report to BK about, is that nearly everyone in the class looks like they're about to pop. I think there is one other regular attendee that is fewer weeks than I am, but the majority of women are late into their pregnancy, as in between 35 and 40 weeks. Yikes!

My brain just can't take me there yet. I know at some point I will have a big belly sticking out, but right now it's just still kind of weird to me. I am to the point now where I can still wear my yoga pants, but by the end of the class they tend to have slipped down under my belly that's starting to poke out. The instructor often tells us the various positions that are good for labor, but I can't help thinking:

1. Ew.
2. No thanks, I plan to be in a hospital bed, not squatting on the floor. 
3. BK would totally freak out if he saw this right now.

I feel certain this class will provide plenty of amusing stories over the next five-ish months, but I do enjoy it and think it's good for the Lentil and I. I'm going on my first hospital tour this week, so things are getting more real for us every day. I'll let you know what they say it would be like to deliver in a private hospital in Switzerland. We'll see…should be interesting.

The last stop in Greece: Crete

Our last stop in Greece was the island of Crete. We took an evening ferry from Santorini and arrived in Crete quite late. Crete is actually quite a big island, so BK and I decided to rent a car and drive from the port city of Heraklion to Rethymno, which takes about an hour. Surprising, our navigation went pretty well, outside of a little trouble getting out of the port city.

I cannot say enough about the hotel we stayed at in Crete, the AVLI. It is a suite-only boutique hotel in the center of Old Town Rethymno. It has about 12 apartment-type suites in three old buildings in the city. It is also owned and operated by a chef and her family, so it also has an amazing restaurant attached to the hotel. When we arrived late that night, they happily welcomed us and provided a delicious meal. A traditional Cretian breakfast was served in the garden of the restaurant every morning as well.

Restaurant garden

Crete was a very relaxing island as well, and I really wish we would have dedicated at least another day or so to being on the island. I don't think we realized just how big Crete was when we decided to visit. We spent nearly almost all of our time in the city of Rethymno, which was only about 2 full days.

Old town alley

We wandered around the Old Town of Rethymno the first morning and afternoon on the island, as well as exploring a little bit of the coastline in the city. There are many shops and small restaurants you can visit, with many offering only local products and cuisine. Old town Rethymno is really nice and has lots of small streets and alley to wander down. Additionally, most of old town is pedestrian only, making it really easy to get around.

Cretian coastline

After BK and I walked around for a bit, we enjoyed some relaxation and then went to a cooking class hosted by the owner of the hotel and restaurant. It was only BK and I in the lesson, which made for a really unique experience. We started with the chef telling us about the history of Cretian food and gave us an overview of what types of food were native to Crete. As a fairly large and distanced island, Crete has to be fairly self-sufficient in relying on others for food. We cooked in the restaurant kitchen, making dishes native to Crete with local ingredients, including some from the restaurant garden.

BK in the kitchen

After we made a couple of appetizers, a goat main dish and an orange dessert, we enjoyed our creations in the garden. After our appetizers we took a break, then came back a later and enjoyed our main course and dessert.

Our appetizers

The next day we got up and enjoyed another breakfast at the hotel, then headed out to explore the island before catching an overnight ferry from Heraklion. During the afternoon we went through a number of small towns between Rethymno and Heraklion, stopping at an old olive mill, military museum and a traditional Cretian house.

Old olive mill

Our last stop before dinner and boarding our overnight ferry, was ancient Knossos. The ruins are really interesting. They are nothing like the ancient ruins in Athens, but mostly because in the 1800s an English archaeologist discovered the ruins then began to rebuild them the way he thought the would have been. None of the other ruins in Greece are like this, primarily because the Greeks want people to see them how they are now, not replicas. So when you visit Knossos, some of the ruins are rebuilt and some are not.

Knossos

We departed from Crete later that night and arrived back in Athens the next morning. We spent the morning in a harbor and had breakfast at was essentially a yacht parking lot. We spent the day wandering around, had a massage and enjoyed lunch poolside. We then headed back to Basel via Geneva to come home for a week before departing for our surprise visit to the US.

Yacht parking

Back to the Grecian Isles for a bit

I thought I would take you on a little vacation today and go back to Greece. I left off when we were in Mykonos for the day, then apparently really got into the island mode and didn't post again while we were on the trip. Santorini was my favorite island we visited. When you think about the Grecian Isles, with the whitewashed buildings built into the cliff, beautiful blue water and stunning views all around, Santorini is what you're picturing. And I can tell you, it looks just like that and does not disappoint.

Santorini at dusk

We were there at the end of September, which I thought was a great time to go. The weather is still pretty warm, with highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. The nights on the caldera side of the island can be a little chilly, but only because of the breeze coming off of the ocean. On the island you can choose either the Caldera side, which is the cliff side, or the beach side of the island. We stayed on the caldera side in Fira at a great hotel, Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites, just on the edge of Old Town. The only disappointing thing was that there was not a view off the caldera, but otherwise the hotel had great service and the location was ideal.

We did much more relaxing in Santorini than we had done in Athens, but did get out and go the first day. We rented an ATV to get around the island, and yes, the Lentil and I rode on it too. But don't worry too much, there was no off-roading, ATVs are used just like cars in Santorini and BK and I wore helmets the whole time we were on it.  You can get around the entire island quickly, as it is pretty small in terms of area. My advice is to just jump on one of the main roads that go around the island, then when you see something that interests you venture off there. For example, the red sand beach is a great stop to make.

Red sand beach

A couple of our highlights from the drive around included stopping for lunch on the black sand beach, and just taking some time to chill out for a little while.

Our spot on the black sand beach

And venturing to a monastery at the highest point on the island which offers 360 degree views of Santorini. The monastery's grounds and buildings are really pretty as well.

Entrance to the monastery

Seem like we had a big first day traveling around the island? That was only the first part of the day. In the afternoon BK and I regrouped at the hotel then did the hike from Fira to Oia. It is a great hike right along the cliffside that allows you to discover some of the island that is not right on any road and not in any of the towns.

It took us between two-and-a-half and three hours, and even though BK did time us getting there, we stopped to take plenty of pictures and have water and snacks. The hike is pretty easy- you can take it at your own pace, and I would say unless you have serious health issues you should be able to do it with no problem. Our goal was to get to Oia by sunset so we could sit and enjoy the view from the west side of the island. It was relaxing after the hike, and we enjoyed talking to others who had come for the same thing.

Sunset in Oia

The next couple of days in Santorini weren't so packed with activity. We kept the ATV so we had an easy way to get around, but pretty much spent our whole next day on the black sand beach relaxing. We did make one other stop for lunch before we went there and did a little bit of driving around the island, but otherwise napped and read on the beach. We ended our day with a massage at the hotel spa and an easy dinner across the street from our hotel. I feel relaxed just thinking about it…

We had one last day on the island, with most of the day in Santorini before our ferry left for Crete that evening. We explored more of Fira's Old Town, which offers tons of shops and lots of easy places to stop and grab something to eat. Speaking of which, I haven't said much about the restaurants in Santorini. There are many restaurants on the island, most of which either offer traditional Greek food or seafood. All of the food we had was good, and you can easily find quality places by just asking around.

The other thing we decided we should do on our last day was walk down to the old port, which seems to be right below Fira. You can take an aerial cable car up and down, take a donkey, or walk the 800ish steps down. BK and I walked up and down.

Old Port

The worst thing about the walk is the donkeys. You're constantly competing with them for a place to walk, and when you start your descent the donkeys are lined up against the wall, and you have to walk behind them to get by- it's a little unsettling. It also smells like poo because of all the donkeys. There's not much to the Old Port, but I'm glad we walked down to explore a little bit more.

Donkeys on the way down

Like I mentioned before, Santorini was my favorite island and was incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. We were off to Crete after this, but I'll save that one and take you back there tomorrow. Time to get back to reality…time to finish laundry and practice German.