July 26 - 31: Mani on the Pelloponese Peninsula

Our visit to the region called Mani has been one of the highlights of our trip.  It's real village life, even today, but if you don't ever get to hear the stories from a local, you really can't understand.  Kathy already knows a lot about the history of Mani from her previous visits, but I didn't, and once I learned a little from George (Kathy's brother-in-law) I gently pressed him for more details.  He loves to talk, so I learned a lot by listening and probing.

Not to belabor the the point or go on and on about George, but a little background helps to color the rest of the stories, so bear with me.  George was born in the village of Kotronas in 1950, the first child of a family that eventually had five children.  As the first son he was not only the favorite, but the one burdened with the most responsibilities.  He was born in the family home, as were all the children, and can still show the exact location of his birth.  He went to primary school in the village, but had to walk about three kilometers one way. Before school he had to get up around 4 AM and climb to the top of the ridge above his house to water and feed the cows and goats.  Below is the view from George's house; the bottom left is the village of Kotronas where he walked to school; behind his house is the ridge he climbed to water the animals, similar in height to the one in the background in this photo.

When he graduated from primary school he went to live with an aunt in the village of Olfani, about 45 kilometers away, for six years of high school.  After high school he spent a year in the Greek army and then went to sea as a merchant marine on international, ocean-going freighters.  After about 20 years and having worked his way up to captain from navigator, second and first officer, he was asked by the owner of the company to be his personal captain on a 145 foot yacht.  During his time on the freighters he learned to navigate with sextant, compass, sun, and stars and traveled all over the world hauling grain, oil, coal, iron ore and other commodities.  What an experience that must have been for a young man from such humble beginnings.  He self-taught himself the English language.  So much for George's background, but you get the picture that he is quite an extraordinary individual and that I am quite impressed with him.

On to the history of Kotronas village.  From stories I was told, George's house is over 150 years old and was built by his great-great grandfather with stones that four men could not lift.  It is not known how they were able to lift these large stones into position, but they remain there today.  Land was handed down and divided among the children of various generations; George ended up with part of a house with his brother, Costas, plus about 8,000 square meters of olive groves.  They produce over 2,000 liters of olive oil every year.

Many generations ago families had feuds over land, olives, goats or other personal issues that resulted in shooting wars between families.  The style of house in the Mani region persists to this day; tall, square towers top the houses so the people could see and defend their interests. 

George's father, Stavros, at the age of 16, escaped the German occupation and joined the resistance and for three years lived in the mountains fighting them.

Whether they were fighting the Germans or tending their fields, life was very hard for a long time.  A man's word was the law and everyone could count on either acceptance or rejection based on their behavior.  To the present day this holds true;  when Yugoslavia disintegrated and the Balkan states achieved their independence, about 600,000 Albanians immigrated, mostly illegally, to Greece in the 1990's. When about twenty families moved to Kotronas, the village elders, not the politicians, had a meeting with them, advising that they had to find jobs and that any misbehavior involving thievery, molestation or other serious social crimes would be rewarded with the perpetrator "disappearing in the hills" on some dark night.  Pretty stiff stuff, but all the Albanian families that move there are still in residence.

We spent our days swimming the clear, blue waters, napping, eating and talking (I was not talking as much, but listening more).  We went to about six different beaches, all different in their own way, but all beautiful.  I went to the Caves of Diros and took a tour; Kathy and Penny had been there several times so they didn't go this time.  Here are pictures of some of the beaches and caves:

The caves were about 1.5 kilometers long by boat and about 0.5 kilometers long by foot.  They were quite impressive; for me, the boat ride where you had to bend over to pass through some of the passages was most exciting.

The beaches...the waters...words cannot describe.  George provided fins, mask and snorkle when he came on Friday and that provided a new perspective.  There was not as much sea life as I expected, but with a mask I could see more.  Tropical fish were not abundant, as I had thought, but were there.  More prolific were schools of small perch, merida, atherina, gavros, which are all caught by net and deep fried in local tavernas and resemble french fries.  Delicious...in Greek...nostimo.

When George was here over the weekend he went diving for octopus and caught several, which Penny prepared on Sunday night...again...nostimo!  Once caught they are pounded on the rocks and "washed" until they firm up.  There are at least two ways to prepare them.  The first is to boil gently in a little water until the water boils off; then add a cup or so of vinegar and boil until the vinegar boils off; cut the octopus up into medium size pieces and then add a cup or so of dry, white wine, oregano, lemon juice and a little pepper and again boil it down.  Serve and enjoy.  The second way to prepare it is to dry in the sun for 8 - 10 hours and then grill on the BBQ with olive oil, oregano and salt and pepper.  This is good, but not as good as the first.  I was advised that taking frozen octopus and thawing it in local sea water provides the best way to duplicate fresh octopus.

Now I am preparing to leave Athens for the USA.  A final post will be forthcoming, as there is more to tell!

July 21 - 13: Athens and Surrounds

George & Penny

After looking at my photo albums of pictures downloaded to my PC it turns out that most of the activities involved relatives and friends from Athens, Vari, Koropi and other areas.  This may not interest everyone reading this blog, but suffice to say, all of the people I've met are very kind and loving toward me (Dan) and treat me as one of their own, if not a little better!!  I won't go into all the dinners, coffees, lunches and outings, nor publish all the photos of Greeks no one know but Kathy and I.  But, the next time I have the time and have downloaded more photos, I have to tell you about Mani on the Pelloponese peninsula.  There are amazing stories to tell.  Until then, yasu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 13 -: 30: Athens, Vari, Koropi, Plaka, Monostiraki, Mani, etc., etc., etc.

What to say?  The memories are all there and I'll try to be faithful in recording them, but as you all may know, that's easier said than done.  Starting from today, July 30, I'll be working backwards.

We are in Mani, a small village by the sea in the southern part of Greece on the Pelloponese peninsula.  It's cooler than Athens, quiet, quiet, quiet, and windy.  The style of houses is different...we are in Sparta! 

It's very relaxing after the noise and action of the big city.  We spend our days drinking coffee in the morning, swimming at different beaches, having lunch at a seaside taverna (great home made food, fresh fish and octopus, greens, tomatoes, and feta cheese), napping after swimming and then coffee again and finally dinner at 10:00 pm in village restaurants.  If this doesn't sound relaxing I don't know what else does!  The women get the "1000 yard stare" early in the morning before they've had two coffees!!  The gas strike continues, but word is that fuel will be flowing again by tonight, so I guess we won't be stranded...too bad! 

We spent five days at Kathy's parents' house in Vari where we did much the same without the swimming and not as much going out.  Mama cooked great vegetables and roasted chicken or fish.  Papa and I went for walks to the bakery or a kiosk for him to buy cigarettes.  Relatives came and went most days and we napped in the afternoons.  After dinner we would sit in the yard under the stars where there was usually a light breeze to cool us down.  Here is the yard where we sit.

Back in Athens we followed pretty much the same plan except for the added shopping and visiting places in the city.  I took one day by myself and took the Metro (subway) to the Acropolis museum and visited the Acropolis, Philoupapou monument and the plaka and Athens flea market.  The museum was extraordinary.  The collection of statues, friezes and artifacts was amazing.  They have put together a very coherent history of the Acropolis, starting at about 450 B.C. up to the 19th century.  It is a shame what was done to that place; at one time (not in chronological order) it was a Christian church, a military munitions storage depot (during which time part of the building was blown up), a mosque and of course in it's glory days a religious and pagan site of worship.  Vandals knocked down some of the statues and friezes and in the 1800's Lord Elgin from England violently (the Greek description) absconded with several of the most beautiful statues and artifacts that are still in England on display in their museums.

Now comes the Big, Fat, Greek wedding; on Saturday, July 25 we went to the wedding of one of Kathy's nieces.  The service in the Greek Orthodox church near her parents' home was beautiful and thankfully short, only about an hour long.  Then everyone adjourned to a restaurant where all 200 guests were served appetizers, dinner and non-stop beer and wine.  The band was so loud that I and several others spent a good deal of time outside.  I walked home by myself at about 1:30 am to let my head clear, but Kathy and Penny stayed to the very end, about 3:00 am.  Here are pictures of George and Penny doing a traditional Greek dance and Kathy and me, too:

On July 22 we took a fast boat (hydrofoil) to the small island of Agistri near Athens and spent one night there.  We went swimming at a nude beach (bathing suits optional) where we had to climb down a cliff to get there and at another beach where we had to jump off a concrete pier into the water.  There was no beach to walk out on so we had to climb up a ladder to get back on the pier.  The waters were so clear and deep it was deceiving; what appeared to be relatively shallow was in reality probably ten meters deep...I couldn't get to the bottom.  In Agistri where we stayed we had a room overlooking the sea for only $30 Euros a night, including breakfast; it was beautiful.  The place was run by a couple from Wales who came there 28 years ago.  There were many boats in the harbor and moving about on the sea.  Here is one of my favorites.  How would that look on Hood Canal?

Now it's only July 22 and I still have a long ways to go to get back to our previous post!  I'll start again from here on the next post.  Yasas!

July 12 - Athens

Sitting in an internet cafe in the 90 degree heat drinking Greek coffee.  We arrived here last night after a 10 hour train ride from Thessaloniki.  We are staying with Kathy's family and visiting or being visited by all the many relatives.  Although the news tells us that Greece is in bad shape financially, the activity in the city is just as hectic and busy as the last time we were here in 2006.  The public employees have had to take pay cuts and everyone's taxes have gone up, but it was unavoidable since both individuals (via credit cards) and the government (through deficit spending) have been spending more than they earn for a number of years.  But, the Greek spirit is still as free and fun loving as ever.  We will be moving around to different locations and taking day trips to islands nearby for the time being until I leave on August 4th, and Kathy will be here until September 30th, spending most of her time with her family.  Will add more posts when I have time.

July 8 - Thassos Island

I found a mermaid on the island of Thassos!

Anyway, we made it to Greece after an aborted cruise that nonetheless turned out fine for us.  Between June 24, our last post, and now, we visited several cities and villages by bus since the ship was unable to pass under a bridge.  Landing in Bucharest we stayed for three nights before taking the train to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.  After a hot nine hour train ride (we won't go into the details of the WC, other passengers, cleanliness, etc.) we arrived in Sofia at about 10:00 pm not knowing where our hotel was or how to get there.  Fortunately for us, we made a friend on the train.  Eva is a young woman who works for Sony and Microsoft as a contractor responsible for business development in Bulgaria and Serbia.  She told us what to expect regarding taxi cheaters and helped us negotiate a cab.  Got to the hotel uneventfully and then went out for a bite to eat.

Our hotel was right downtown so we were able to walk everywhere to take in the sights.  Since Sofia is the capital there was a lot to see.  Here is the government palace where every hour they have two guards that march around with rifles.

Between Budapest and Sofia we went to Kalocsa, Vukovar, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sremski Karlovski, the Iron Gate on the Danube, and Bucharest.  While in Bucharest I rented a car and with another couple from the ship (Bob and Ethel Story from Seattle) and drove to Sinaia which is up in the mountains.  It was a beautiful village that is a ski resort in the winter.  We visited a monastery and the castle of King Carlos I before eating some of the best local food and beer.  We had a GPS to help us find our way, but on the way it quit and we had to navigate with maps and windage.  Not knowing exactly where we were when returning to the city (Bucharest), we stopped for a beer and asked for directions.  The waiter said to go to the end of the street, turn right and go 30 meters and we would be at the hotel!  What a pleasant surprise!!  Here is something from the castle in Sinaia. 

There was a stained glass skylight that was retractable and a hunting armory with weapons dating back several hundred years.  The opulence was over the top, but beautiful.  The original plan was to drive on from Sinaia to Bram and Brasov where we could have seen the "famous" castle of Dracula, but without the GPS we decided "seen one castle, seen them all".  We had a great day with our friends but were glad to get safely back to the hotel.

After all the excitement of driving over 250 km in a foreign country the next day was spent saying goodbye to new friends and moving to a new hotel for one night.  This one was booked on the Lonely Planet website and proved to be a good choice, inexpensive, breakfast and free wireless internet included.

In Kalocsa we saw traditional horsemen perform, drank their local distilled plum schnapps and enjoyed ourselves.  These horsemen are the Romanian equivalent of the cowboys of the western USA and were very accomplished.  Of course, it was a show for tourists, but the authenticity of the equipment and dress was impressive, as was their good humor.

So, from Kalocsa we went to Vukovar, which was bombed to smithereens by the UN "Peace-Keeping" forces during the war with Serbia.  The town is in the process of rebuilding itself and they are understandably obsessed with their plight and the rebuilding process.  We were given a tour of the new town hall and the town church, along with speeches by the "mayor" about the troubles they've had and the city pride.  Some of the pictures I took were of bombed out buildings and incomplete reconstruction projects.  It was heartbreaking to see what had been done to this town; the effort they are making to rebuild the town is immense and inspiring, but there is still a lot of negative propaganda concerning the Serbians.  The bullet-ridden wall above reminds one of how fortunate we are, but the flowers someone has planted in an abandoned building show the spirit of renewal.

Now we are off to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.  The contrast between here and Vukovar iwas  striking, but of course Vukovar is a small village and Belgrade is a large city.  Exerpt from Wikipedia:  Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia.  It lies at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans.  With a 2007 estimated population of 1,630,000 Belgrade is the third largest city in Southeastern Europe, after Istanbul and Athens. Its name in Serbian translates to White City.  

Belgrade's wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe, the Vinča culture, as early as the 6th millennium BC.  In antiquity, the area of Belgrade was inhabited by the Thraco-Dacian tribe of Singi who would give the name to the city after a fortress was founded in the 3rd century BC by the Celts, who named it Singidun (dun, fortress). It was awarded city rights by the Romans before it was permanently settled by Serbs from the 7th century onwards. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times since the ancient period by countless armies of the East and West.  In medieval times, it was in the possession of Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Serbian rulers.  In 1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Pashaluk of Belgrade, as the principal city of Ottoman Europe and among the largest European cities. Frequently passing from Ottoman to Austrian rule which saw destruction of most of the city, the status of Serbian capital would be regained only in 1841, after the Serbian revolution.  Northern Belgrade, though, remained a Habsburg outpost until the breakup of Austria-Hungary in 1918.  The united city then became the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia, up to 2006, when Serbia became an independent state again.

We experienced Belgrade and Serbia as tourists, but the major impressions were of a country responding to new freedoms after the fall of Yugoslavia and Tito.  In all the Balkans we found that most people missed the stability that Tito provided.  After nearly 50 years of communist rule under him people now have more freedoms, but agree that life is not only different, but harder is many ways. 

June 24 - Novi Sad, Serbia

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since my last post, but our ship has not gone under the bridge in Novi Sad, Serbia due to high water.  The cruise ended four days early but our vacation has not; we elected to stay on board while about 130 of the 150 passengers chose to take a bus to Bucharest where they will stay at the Hilton and take day trips.  We are enjoying the city of Novi Sad and are also taking side trips on the bus, provided by the cruise line.  This is much more relaxing than the big city; we go to Bucharest tomorrow and will have our stay there for two nights on the cruise line and then two nights on our own.

This post is a little out of order and I will post an update of what we did between June 16th and today when I have time later today.

June 18 - Danube Flora & Fauna

The Danube, meaning "deep water" or "two rivers", is alternately called the Donau by the Germans and Austrians,  Dunaj or Dunay by the Slovakians, Czechs and Russians, Duna by the Hungarians and Dun_rea in Romanian.  The ancient Romans called the Danube "Danubius" and worshiped a river god of the same name.  So far on our trip it has been mostly wide and fairly slow moving, but in some parts is only about 200 meters wide.  The color of the water is light brown, but that is likely due to the runoff from rains that have been pounding the region for weeks.  It is the second longest river in Europe at about 1,775 miles long, and is the only river to flow from west to east.  Only the Volga river is longer.  The Danube flows through more European countries than any other and since the political upheavals of the 1990s now passes through ten countries; Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldavia and Ukraine.

Most of the shoreline is lined with deciduous willow, alder, oak, chestnut and other smaller "shrubs" that fill in the understory.  Early in the trip when we were in Germany there were stands of evergreens such as fir and pine mixed in on the higher elevations.  Only where humans have chosen to live is the shoreline flora broken with either residential, commercial or industrial buildings.  Quaint villages are seen from time to time and many castles command the highest points along the way.  Church spires sprout from villages, sometimes two or more in each.

The only wildlife we've seen are birds; cormorants (they look like them, anyway), great blue herons, mallard ducks, small terns, gulls and in only one spot a couple dozen white swans.  However, there was this one meerkat we saw in Passau, Germany.  The tour guide was not pleased.