Crete - Rethymno, last market day

 The market wasn't crowded, just a steady stream of customers. Sometimes I was the only one at a stall, sometimes I had to wait for a couple of people in front of me to pay first. It is amazingly cheap to buy fresh produce here. At one stall I bought a cucumber, 3 tomatoes and a bunch of beets. The stall owner put them in a bag, threw in a handful (4) of small cucumbers and charged me 1 Euro ($1.50). At home...I have no idea, maybe $8. I also got some lettuce and some olives. I plan on eating a lot of salads this week before heading home to the land of "expensive and not so fresh" salad fixings.

I did not buy any snails, even though the stall owner told me that they were "very good".

I hadn't seen the egret for weeks and had wondered if he had flown on or found a mate.

Mural on the wall of the soccer stadium that blocks the view of the sea from this cafe.

Bordered by the old town, the fortezza and the soccer stadium there is a large municipal building and an open square surrounded by cafes/tavernas. Not a tourist area, an area for locals to gather. Rick and I had seen a protest happening there one day.

I found a bench in the sun to sit and sketch

next to the, occupied, cat cafe.

I am following some "urban sketching" groups on facebook and trying to loosen up my sketches. Some of the examples posted are very complex of busy city scenes. They totally overwhelm and intimidate me. But some are of very simple scenes and they can be just as interesting. I want to try more of those type as I tend to get lost in the details when I am sketching. A view more like this

and less like this.

Oh, this is the first time I have seen this set up, though on a Saturday I usually go to the market and then home rather than lug my purchases around town.

I have taken a photo of this very door, intending to paint it.

I sat at the table to the far left in this picture

had a salad and a glass of wine and sketched the Venetian fountain.

Luckily I was in no hurry because all the tour groups (and there were a lot in town this day) stop and talk about its history (none of them were consistent about the date it was built) and everyone wants a photo standing next to it.

There were birds, and therefor cats, in the canopy above

which was a huge Wisteria

in full bloom.

Trying not to get too bogged down in details. I may put some watercolour on later.

I walked back past the Venetian harbour,

a cat sitting on a table, mesmerized by a guy eating at the next one,

and round the fortezza.

From the area in front of the chapel, where people swim,

I could see the stairs!

A bird, morsel hunting in the rock pools,

got this puppies attention.

The little girl, walking him, so obviously loved him to pieces.

A day with lots of walking, so that was followed by a day with lots of reading. I just finished this. It was the only English language book on the bookshelf here. Excellent book, multiple characters, story lines and historical periods but written so well that they didn't get confused and held my attention.