Holiday in Kos

After our free holiday last month in Crete, this month we had another free holiday. My parents decided to invite the whole family on a short trip to Kos. This was partly to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday next month (and also my father's 80th birthday back in March), and partly an opportunity for the whole family to spend some time together. There were ten of us: My parents, my sister and brother-in-law, their 4 children (ages 15, 12, 3, 7 months), and Ivor and me.

We stayed at the Blue Lagoon Village, a luxury all-inclusive resort on the south coast of Kos. This resort contained many pools, restaurants, bars, shops, a water-park, and a beach. All the meals and drinks were included in the package, the staff were friendly and efficient, and the place was clean and well-maintained. My father has difficulty walking, and he was able to ask for rides on the electric golf carts when he needed to (though sometimes he had a bit of a wait). My only criticism of the resort is that the WiFi connection, which cost extra, was not available in the rooms but only in the public areas.

Blue Lagoon Village, Kos

Beach, Blue Lagoon Village, Kos

Readers of this blog will know that I love cats, so I was pleased to discover that in the resort there were two special areas dedicated to cats. There were cat towers for the cats to climb on, with a water bowl, and both guests and staff regularly fed the cats. The hotel asked guests not to feed cats in the restaurants, but encouraged them to take food to the cat towers, or even buy cat food in the mini market.

We went on one day-trip, which the hotel helped us organize. First we stopped at Zia, a village with a panoramic view and many tourist shops.

Zia, Kos

Next we visited the Askleipion, the ancient temple of healing. We climbed the stairs and explored the site.

Askleipion, Kos

Askleipion, Kos

For lunch, we were taken to a taverna recommended by the hotel staff in Platani, a village where many residents are descended from Turkish families, and there is still a Turkish influence on local cuisine.

After lunch we had a brief visit to Kos Town before returning to the resort. We were able to view some of the excavations and the harbour.

Excavations, Kos Town

Harbour, Kos Town

We had another enjoyable holiday, and being with my family made it a different sort of experience. Perhaps one day we will return to Kos and explore it more thoroughly.

Holiday in Crete

In August 2013 we spent a week in Crete thanks to the free holiday we had won. We received a week's accommodation in the Village Heights Golf Resort in Hersonissos. The resort is located in the foothills quite a distance from the busy tourist area along Hersonissos beach. It was a quiet location, but we didn't feel too isolated as there was a shuttle bus into the village (and back) a few times a day. Our apartment contained a living room, dining area, balcony, small but very well-equipped kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. It was comfortable and spacious, and the furniture was full-sized, without the compromises seen in some hotels, though as in most hotel rooms the lighting was somewhat insufficient. We had breakfast and a couple of dinners in the poolside restaurant, and the rest of our meals in cafes or tavernas while we were out, or prepared in the kitchen.

View from balcony toward sea, Village Heights Golf Resort

 
We visited Heraklion, where we have been a few times before. We returned to the Archaeological Museum, which has been renovated since our last visit. However, the air conditioning was not being used, presumably for budget reasons, so it was rather hot. We saw various finds, ranging from Minoan to Byzantine. I recommend this museum to any visitors to Crete. We had lunch in a cafe in the pedestrianized shopping area, and while we were eating an accordion band walked by playing some sort of folk song. Then we went down the the Venetian harbour and spent a while trying to photograph the impressive waves, while preventing our sunhats from being blown away.

Heraklion Venetian harbour

Waves on a windy day

We also visited Agios Nikolaos, a touristy but still charming coastal town with a lake. That day started out cloudy and overcast, and there was even a bit of drizzle in the morning, which made a pleasant change from the normal summer weather. We walked around the lake, did some souvenir shopping, and had lunch in a taverna where we fed some cats.

Agios Nikolaos lake, view from above

Agios Nikolaos lake

Agios Nikolaos, taverna cats

Another day we went on a guided tour to the Lassithi Plateau and Knossos. I enjoyed the drive through the mountains, where we saw wild goats and eagles. First we visited the monastery at Kera.

Monastery at Kera

Then we visited the Cave of Zeus, but after climbing up the hill we saw the long queue waiting to enter the cave, so we decided not to bother and returned to where the bus was parked and had a drink and looked around the souvenir shops.

We were taken to a potter's workshop to see a demonstration of pottery making. Then we had lunch in a taverna with windmills in its garden. These windmills were the traditional way of pumping water from the aquifer all over the Lasithi plateau, but there are not many of them left now.

Windmills on the Lasithi Plateau

Ruth & Ivor with windmills

After lunch we were taken to Knossos, the Minoan palace, which we had visited before. The first time we were there we saw peacocks living on the site, but they don't seem to be there any more. It was hot and quite crowded, and we wandered around on our own instead of staying with the group. It was good to see the site again.

Knossos

Knossos dolphin fresco

We also went for a walk in the local villages not far from the hotel. We visited Old Hersonissos, Piskopiano, and Koutouloufari. These villages are in the foothills above the busy coastal area. We enjoyed seeing a more authentic view of Cretan life.

Church, Old Hersonissos

View towards the sea from Old Hersonissos

In Piskopiano we visited the Museum of Rural life, which contained a collection of artifacts related to farming and village home life, and also an impressive collection of traditional Cretan weaving and embroidery.

Household items, Museum of Rural Life, Piskopiano

Courtyard, Museum of Rural Life, Piskopiano

View toward the sea, Piskopiano

We had lunch in Piskopiano and then walked downhill to the touristy seafront of Hersonissos.

Hersonissos beach

We enjoyed our holiday, and found a balance between wanting to go out and see things, and also needing to rest and enjoy some quiet times in the hotel. Crete provides something for everyone. The locals are friendly, the food is excellent, the public transport is reasonably reliable, and we were fortunate to be staying in a hotel more luxurious than usual.

Winning a free holiday

A free holiday must be one of the most attractive and valuable prizes you can win, after a large sum of money and a free car. Here is the story of our experience of winning a free holiday.

Last summer we were on holiday in Rhodes. We were walking down a street and a girl in a blue t-shirt stopped us. She was from a tourism company called Aegean Blue, and her job was to persuade tourists to find out more about their holiday plan. First she asked some questions, and we fit their required demographic: married (or cohabiting) couples aged over 30, with full time jobs, home owners, and perhaps she also asked about owning a car.

She gave us each an envelope with a prize in it. Ivor got a free ticket for a local tourist bus, and I got a card with a picture of a key on it. She got all excited, saying that the key meant I had won one of the big weekly prizes, which included an iPad, a music player, and a free one-week holiday in one of the group's hotels. To find out which prize I had won, we would have to go to the sales presentation at Aegean Blue's offices and visit their local hotel. She got us a taxi to Ialyssos, a village just down the road, and we attended the sales presentation.

The idea was that you can buy the right to a certain number of weeks in advance, and then use them over the next few years in any of the chain's hotels. This is like time-share but more flexible, since it's not limited to one particular hotel. The sales rep explained the principle and showed us the hotel. When we got down to how much it would cost, we had to tell him that we couldn't afford it. He took it quite well, saying that of course they wouldn't want people who couldn't afford it to get into debt for sake of their holiday package.

Finally, the card I had received with a key on it was compared to a list of prizes, and we were told we had won a free week's accommodation. This was not conditional on buying their package, though we were told we would have to attend another meeting with a sales rep during the holiday.

This was exciting news. The group has hotels in Rhodes and Crete, and we decided to go back to Crete, an island we have visited several times before.

You can't look a free holiday in the small print, as it were. There was a registration fee of 99 Euros, and it did not include the flights or any meals (the hotel suites had a kitchen, and restaurant meals were available at extra cost), so we knew it would not be entirely free. However, it gave us an opportunity to visit Crete again and stay in a higher class of hotel than we usually do.

We booked our stay at the Village Heights Golf Resort for this summer. We later found out that Aegean Blue had been acquired by Diamond Resorts, a larger group, just a couple of months after we won the holiday, but this did not alter the terms of the free holiday.

During our week in the hotel we had the required meeting with the sales rep, and once again explained that we couldn't afford the sort of package they were offering. She accepted it and didn't bother trying to persuade us. We were also invited to a free dinner and entertainment evening, and nobody put any pressure on us during that event either. We had an enjoyable holiday and were treated just like the paying guests. The stories we had heard about pressure being put on people to buy various time-share packages just did not apply to our experience at all.

I will write more about the hotel itself in a later blog post.

Ken MacLeod - Intrusion

Ken MacLeod, Intrusion, Orbit, 2012.

Ken MacLeod is the most political, or politically conscious, SF author I read. Politics is fundamentally about what is in the best interest of the individual, what is in the best interest of society (or sub-groups within society), and how to balance these interests.

Intrusion describes a near-future society where the state decides for individuals what is in their best interest. In a commentary on the theme of "health and safety gone mad", the state's concern for children's health has led to women having to wear a monitor ring that records their exposure to smoke and alcohol, both before and during pregnancy. Parents have to install cameras in the home. Everyone's behaviour and interactions are logged and monitored, and certain key words and contacts can get people into trouble.

At the same time, scientific advances known as Synthetic Biology have enabled the creation of a pill that fixes certain genetic problems in the fetus. This has not quite become compulsory, but it is considered the most responsible thing for mothers to do.

The story follows a young couple, Hope and Hugh, who are expecting their second baby. Hope refused to take the fix for her first child, and does not wish to take it for the second child, for reasons that are never quite clear, perhaps even to herself. This is where the balance of interests comes into play. Should an individual be allowed to choose for herself, when society in general has strong opinions about the interest of her children? Hope's MP makes this position explicit:

"The government isn't making choices for anyone. Like I said, it's enabling people to make the choices they would make for themselves if they knew all the consequences of their choices" (Intrusion, p. 149).

This statement can be applied to many situations in our current reality. We have to ask ourselves about the assumptions behind the decisions that are made for us. 

Since MacLeod is really a writer of SF, even when his work appears to be a near-future thriller, there is also an interesting speculative element to the story, which is not explored in as much detail as the dystopian society and remains tantalizing in the end.

As in MacLeod's other novels, I felt there was a certain lack of healthy cynicism in the characters, and in some cases they were, or became, overly honest and trusting. This seems to be a matter of principle for the author. His characters tend to be driven by their ideology or opinions and refuse to compromise or dissemble the way normal people do. This can be admirable, but it sometimes detracts from their realism.

This is an interesting and thought-provoking novel about the meaning of freedom, and I recommend it to a wide range of readers.

Foster Dad John as a Role Model

For over a year now I have been watching the Foster Kitten Cam, which shows live video of mother cats and kittens being fostered before adoption. Foster Dad John takes in the cat family, usually shortly after birth, and keeps the mother and kittens in a special room. He provides shelter, food, and toys, but most importantly human interaction, so the cats become socialized.

I find John's attitudes and behaviour to be an inspiration, and consider him a worthy role model, not only as a cat fosterer but as a person. I should stress that I only know John's public persona, as expressed when he appears on the cam, on the chat, or on his Facebook page, The Critter Room. However, I believe this is a genuine reflection of his personality, and that he is almost certainly the same person in his private life, as a father, a friend, and a professional.

First, he is always very calm and very patient. These are qualities that are important when interacting with cats, but also in almost any social situation.

John puts the cats' well being as his top priority. This means that he is not broadcasting the cam for his own needs, but in order to observe the cats. His other aims in setting up the cam are to inspire other people to foster cats in need, and to educate the public about cats and kittens in general. This sort of dedication to the object of his work is something we can all learn. When you are doing something, do it for the thing itself rather than for your own needs. If you end up with a feeling of achievement and satisfaction, and perhaps receiving appreciation from others, these are positive side effects, but should not be the rationale for our actions.

Finally, John acts altruistically. Not only does he put the cats' well being first, he also cares deeply about the people who eventually adopt the cats, and about the cam's viewers. He wants to provide as many people as possible with positive interactions with cats.

John's role as a fosterer is not easy. He has to love the cats completely, and then give them up after two or three months when they go to adoption. He has done this almost 40 times now. In a post on his Facebook page, The Critter Room, on 24 July 2013, he writes:

The Plight of the Foster Care Provider

The first thing that people typically think about when they hear that someone is fostering kittens, puppies, etc. is “cute fuzzy babies!” It’s hard not to feel like rainbows & flowers when you’re looking at a tiny creature that only recently came into this world, still unable to care for itself.

For the Foster Care Provider, we feel the same way, but we also face a world in which the skies occasionally darken. It’s not easy fostering animals - you dedicate many hours of your own time, pouring a little of your very soul into each tiny creature, only to say goodbye to them a couple months or so later as they are adopted into what we hope to be a good home. Then there are times that the foster is too sick or too weak and despite our best efforts pass from this world.

Sometimes, we’re told to distance ourselves to prevent from being hurt - but that’s not possible, and we couldn’t even if we tried. People foster because they want to make a difference for an animal, to give them a better chance at finding a home to live out their lives with love & contentment. To best prepare the fosters for such a future, we have to spend time with them, interacting with them, showing them that it’s okay to trust people, to love people - which wouldn’t be possible if we kept our distance.

Fostering is chock full of rewards though! Watching the animal open their eyes for the first time, taking their first steps, learning to run before learning how to stop - the milestones of their development met. Watching a semi-feral transition from being extremely fearful to curling up in your lap to sleep, watching the eyes of their adopters light up when they first hold their new family member.
They fill our lives with glee as we take care of them until the day comes when we say goodbye - a day that is always bittersweet. For the first time fosterer, they look into their heart & soul, to see if it is strong enough to endure it again. If they find it so, they start the process anew. For some, their heart couldn't bear to part and they adopt their fosters - we dub them "Failed Fosterers" but there's never any malice in it for we secretly wished we did as well.

This expresses very well the attitude that makes Foster Dad John a good person.

Marriage equality as a matter of principle

The discussion regarding the legality and social acceptability of same-sex marriages in the US and other countries touches upon some fundamental matters of principle.

As I see it, people's outlook on life is positioned on a spectrum between two poles. At one end there are universal values, derived from feeling empathy with other human beings and considering everyone equal. People with these values consider things like slavery, racism, and discrimination against individuals or groups to be evil. They believe everyone should be treated the same way.

At the other pole are group-specific (often religious) values held by people who consider their own group and way of life to be somehow superior to other individuals and groups, and who identify closely only with people similar to themselves. Their values tend to be derived from the group's traditions, and are sometimes based on the way society was understood in the past.

When someone makes a statement about what is or is not acceptable, we can always ask why. So when someone says "marriage is between one man and one woman", we can ask why they think that is the case. The answer will often come down to the idea that marriage involves having children. However, not all marriages result in children, not all children result from marriages, and same-sex couples can use medical advances to have children of their own, or adopt children, if they wish to do so. So this explanation makes no sense.

If people with this position are more honest, they might say that they are just uncomfortable with the idea of people who are so different from them. However, feeling uncomfortable does not justify discriminating against people. By wishing to be married, same-sex couples are demonstrating that they are actually similar to the majority and want to have a normative lifestyle.

Here in Israel we are very far from having marriage equality, even for heterosexual couples, let alone same-sex couples. Most people don't like to admit it, but in matters of marriage Israel is a theocracy. Couples can only get married in a religious ceremony, and this means that couples who do not want a religious ceremony or are of two different religious backgrounds cannot get married. Among Jews, only Orthodox marriages are legally recognized, and there are certain limitations on who can marry whom (for example, someone descended from the priest class cannot marry a divorcee or a convert).

Israel recognizes legal marriages, including civil marriages and same-sex marriages, from other countries. As a result, couples who are denied the right to marry in Israel often go abroad to get married. Other couples draw up a legal agreement that is almost, but not quite, equivalent to marriage.

Over the years there have been several attempts to introduce civil marriage in Israel, but there is a great deal of resistance and opposition from religious and traditional groups.

I believe that applying the universal value of equality for all requires countries to allow civil marriage for any adult couple regardless of gender or religious or ethnic background. Religious people are free to continue holding their religious ceremonies, but should not force their values on others who do not share them.

Don't kill Haifa's wild boars!

For the past few years I have enjoyed watching from my balcony the wild boars who visit our garden at night during the spring and summer. I consider it a privilege to be able to watch them from my home.

These animals have no natural predators, and have traditionally not been hunted for food in this area, since the local Jewish and Moslem population consider pork to be unclean for eating. The boars' natural habitat is the mixed woodland of Haifa's forests, hills, and valleys. As humans have encroached on their living areas, they have, in turn, ventured into residential areas where they can forage for food.

Here is a video Ivor filmed of a sounder (family group) of boars in our garden back in August 2011:

Now it is reported that the Haifa municipality is allowing the hunting of wild boars in residential areas in an attempt to cull them. Some residents dislike the boars because they dig up people's gardens. Others are just afraid of meeting large animals in the dark. There has also been an argument that boars could cause traffic accidents. So far I have only heard about accidents with boars on dark intercity roads, and I don't think there have been any within the city, where streets are better lit and cars drive more slowly.

I strongly object to shooting the wild boars in the city. The boars lived in this area before humans did, and we have to coexist with them. They don't cause enough damage or pose enough of a risk to humans to justify murder. At this time of year the young are still nursing and dependent on their mothers, so killing the mothers would sentence the young to starvation. I also believe hunting with guns should not take place within residential areas due to the risk of shooting humans or pets or damaging property.

Please sign this petition to oppose the shooting of boars in Haifa (in Hebrew):

http://www.atzuma.co.il/pigs