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!