The (Greek) Cat Who Came For Christmas

Greece is known for its cats.  They roam the streets. They adorn tourist calendars. They pull at the heart-strings of cat lovers like us.  All that said, way back several years ago when purchasing a vacation home here was in the pondering stages, The Scout made one thing clear:

You cannot have a cat!

He was correct, of course, as our time here would be too fleeting to properly care for such an addition to the family. And in Greece many cats are feral; they want (and need) food – but they dash away from humans when approached. No problem, I thought.

'The Cat' on Our Deck

 

Fast forward: 2014. Pondering ended, purchase made. We were prepared for every possible ‘unexpected’ except “The Cat” that seemed to be as much a part of this house sale as the car and furnishings that came with it.

The Guy who said no cat and 'The Cat'

Sometime within hours of our taking possession of the house. “The Cat” appeared at our door ready to take possession of us.

'The Cat' supervises yard work from the olive tree

We ignored its meow’s for several days and paid no attention to the fact that it followed us much like a dog as we began the task of clearing the jungle (once a lovely garden) that surrounds the house.

'The Cat' in my lap

When I squatting to pull weeds the cat would jump in the lap, contentedly purring while I ignored it (not an easy thing to do, for a cat lover, by the way).

“The Cat” came and went. With regularity it would appear on the deck outside our two windowed doors or be sitting on a window ledge peering inside. It obviously has been well taken care of and has lived in a house.

Our friends, Don and Sue, (you met them in the last post) came to visit and Sue scooped up “The Cat” holding and adoring it (she also has several little bundles of fur at her house at the opposite end of the valley).  We began to weaken.

'The Cat' supervises the painting project

The first round of painting took place this week requiring doors to be open. . .a virtual welcome mat for “The Cat” who took it upon herself to be the project supervisor.  When the painters took a break, the cat joined them – the call of their laps too great to ignore. Furniture was delivered Wednesday – the cat insisted on a head rub from the delivery men.

I confess. I bought a bag of cat food two days ago and a saucer of it and another of milk was most appreciated by “The Cat” who now hangs out here most of the day, content in knowing ‘The Humans’ are nearby. We’ve joined our fellow neighbors (whom you will meet in a future post) in feeding “The Cat”.

Epilogue (of sorts):

The painting supervisor takes a 'cat nap' on The Scout's lap

We learned from the neighbors that the cat is owned by a fellow who lives down below us. He has gone away for a time (long or short, we don’t know) and has left the cat apparently to fend for itself (and don’t get me going on that!). So our neighbors have been caring for “The Cat”.  I’ve told them I will leave food for the little vagabond when we leave and hopefully it will still be in the neighborhood when we return.

So for those of you who met the cat on Facebook and made suggestions: thank you, but we are not naming the cat nor do we need a carrying case. Hopefully its owner will return soon and The Cat Who Came For Christmas will return home for a Happy New Year!

Again, thanks for the time you’ve spent with us as we embark on our Grecian adventure, in the Stone House on the Hill.  I will tell you next about Trimming the Tree on Christmas and then for those who want to see the garden, we will take a Jungle Tour of My Secret Garden.  Hope you are having a great holiday season.  As soon as we get back to internet land, I will visit my fellow bloggers to see what you’ve been up to of late.  We are currently limited to cafes and tavernas for internet time which makes for quick check emails, Facebook and blogs.

Decking the Halls ~ In Greece

Rosemary Clooney was dreaming of a “White Christmas” right after Elvis had predicted a “Blue Christmas” and somewhere between the plastic goods and kitchen accessories, Bing Crosby had swept us off to Hawaii with his rendition of Mele Kalikimaka. The store’s background music had shoppers pumped by the time they reached the enormous Christmas decorations area.

Kambos Town en route to Kalamata

I need not have worried about ‘missing’ Christmas because we are in Greece. The spirit – both Holy and Shopping – is alive and well in this part of the world.

Christmas Bazaar fund-raiser - Stoupa town

The store I described above called, “Jumbo” is in the city of Kalamata, the shopping Mecca of this region. Those of us in the surrounding villages make pilgrimages there sometimes once or twice a week. In this ‘stone house on the hill’ we are about an hour’s drive away.

Our House day three

Our shopping has been focused this week on more practical things: coffee pot, microwave, rugs, furniture, bedding. . .so I am afraid if you were hoping to see this perfectly decorated new holiday home of ours, you are out of luck!  In fact, I am writing this post sitting on a folding chair hunched over a small end table in our nearly empty living room.

We bought the car as part of the house deal

 I must thank all of you who wrote comments or sent emails containing good wishes about our finally catching the daydream, and purchasing the stone house on the hill. They all meant alot to us and I would normally respond to each, but because we are limited to cafe internet time this trip, a bulk thank you will have to do until I get back to Wi-Fi land.

Some of you said you were eagerly awaiting more about Christmas and others wanted more about the house. . .so today you are getting a mish-mash report with a little about both.

We purchased the house ‘furnished’ just because that is the way it was sold. The well-used furniture was not to our taste so in addition to buying furniture, we have been selling furniture this week.The heavy, and far-too-big-for-this-house furniture (see last post) was sold Friday

And for another few days we are ‘camping out’ in our home. The new stuff is scheduled for delivery December 24th! And what a present that will be!  (Our good-sport English friends, Sue and Don, pictured in the photo were our first guests yesterday, proving again that good times can be had in the barest of surroundings.)

The painters arrive tomorrow to start the process of ‘warming up’ this hospital-white-from-ceiling-to- floor house.  The color chips have been selected and by the time the furniture arrives it should have a warm, colorful setting in which to reside.

For those of you wondering whether we are enjoying this or whether we are having second thoughts, I can assure you we’d have missed one of life’s great experiences had we not thrown caution to the wind and chased the daydream.

Waterfront in Stoupa Town Saturday night

Merry Christmas!

Road trip Greece: Porto Kagio in the Peloponnese

“. . . the main road cuts across the peninsula to the tiny east-coast fishing village of 

Porto Kagio, set on a perfect horseshoe bay.

A looping road led to Porto Kagio  

The village’s three competing accommodation options are in as remote a place as you’ll find anywhere on the Peloponnese.”

~ Lonely Planet guidebook

Akrotiri Hotel

With only three hotels, we’d emailed a couple of days in advance of our arrival and secured a reservation at the Akrotiri Hotel pictured above.  We should have paid attention to that part about ‘remote a place. . .’ and not worried about needing that reservation.

Porto Kagio

As we descended into the port, the narrow paved road that had looped us down the hillside became a rocky beach. The photo above shows the ‘main road’ of the aptly described, remote village. Didn’t take us long to figure out that we were the only tourists . . .in fact, we seemed to be among only a dozen villagers. (Despite the remoteness cell phones worked for those who had them and we had strong wi-fi connections.)

So deserted the place seemed as we drove into the village, we were somewhat surprised to see that our room – 40-euros-a-night -- was charming and had a large (by Greek standards) en suite bathroom.  That price included breakfast. (One of the best breakfasts we had on this trip, with egg, tomatoes, feta wedges and olives, I might add.)

Once we dropped our bags in the room we set off to explore this port that we had all to ourselves. Here are some of our discoveries:


A trail that led up and over a craggy knoll to a small chapel overlooking the sea ~

The chapel door was ‘locked’ with a simple hook so any visitor/worshipper could enter with ease.

The harbor was as picture perfect as the guidebook had described it, just a bit lonely in this early spring, on the cusp of tourist season.

On the far distant cliff-side there appeared to be other villages; we pondered how one would reach them. . .I zoomed in with the camera lens for a closer look.

It was a tranquil place, almost a spooky sort of tranquil, as though time had stopped here. It came to life for a moment with the arrival of a boat in the early evening. . .

 

Then it quieted back down to its slumber state. We sipped wine. Had some dinner. Stared out at the tranquil bay. And continued our explorations the next day. Lonely Planet described it well, it was as remote a place as we’ve ever stayed in Greece. It might well be one of the most memorable as well.

That’s it for this week’s Travel Photo Thursday. Head over to Budget Travelers Sandbox for some more armchair travel.  Thanks much for the time you spent with us! By the way, what's the most remote place you've stayed?

Greece: As this Odyssey comes to an End

By the time many of you read this our time in Greece will have come to an end. We fly to Istanbul Friday afternoon.

As I write this, though, we are still on Tinos, one of the most picturesque of the Cycladic Islands, awaiting the high speed ferry that will zip us to Athens’ port of Piraeus; a trip of  less than three hours.

Windmill on Mykonos Island

My writing is interrupted though by the distraction of watching one of the several large vehicle-carrying ferries that regularly serves this island pulling away; our harbor front room providing us a perfect vantage point for watching the transportation activities. Tinos doesn’t have an airport – the only way to get here is by water. This ferry is bound for Mykonos, the island where we spent three nights prior  to arriving on this, our last island of our five-week-long Greece Odyssey.

Porto Kaglio - Peloponnese

Cretan Countryside

Our late March arrival coincided with that of spring. A fickle spring it seems as our weather has been a mix of warm, sunny days and others that had us wearing our silk long johns (or using those Seattle umbrellas we luckily had with us.) Spring flowers have carpeted our route through the Peloponnese, Crete and the  Cyclades.  

We have eaten some of the most fabulous food imaginable. . . wild greens from the mountains, or grown on the family farm, fresh made cheese, breads just out of the oven, olive oil that was pressed ‘just down the road’. . .you get the idea.

Pavlos Restaurant - Loutro, Crete

Each meal holds a special memory but one we won't soon forget was eaten in the kitchen at Pavlos’ Restaurant in Loutro, on the south coast of Crete. This was one of those ‘long johns’ nights – it was far too cold to sit outside in this open air restaurant so Tonya (the chef) and Pavlos, the owner, set us up in the kitchen. That is a chopping block to The Scout’s  right. (We told them that in the U.S. people pay big bucks for such private dining – and that absurdity made them laugh!)

Goats and historic ruins - a favorite scene, this is one in Crete

The Greek countryside and its islands are among some of the most beautiful lands on earth, to our way of thinking.

 

We’ve covered a lot of kilometers on this trip and seen some of the best of the best – yet have barely touched the surface of all that Greece has to offer. It surely calls out for a return. . .

  And the warmth and welcome we’ve received in Greece is so fabulous that you must experience it to understand that statement.

It isn’t often that I hug and kiss hotel owners upon leaving their establishments back home in the States - let alone tear up as we drive away. On this trip I’ve done it so many times, that I’ve lost count. 

Approaching Athens Airport from Istanbul in March

Our next report will be from Istanbul, or Constantinople, as it is still referred to in Greece.  Hope you’ll still be with us as we bring this trip to a close there. 

We’ve tales and tips to tell you about the people and places in Greece – hopefully, we’ll convince some of you to try some of the out-of-the-way (charming and inexpensive) places we’ve discovered along the way. . .
. . .as always thanks for the time you spent with us today. And a special welcome to our new followers of the blog and those following TravelnWrite on FB ~ many of you we've been lucky enough to meet on this trip!

Linking up with Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox.

Patras to Nafpaktos ~ A Greek Road Trip

We spent last night  in the largest city in Greece’s Peloponnese: Patras. This city with a 3,000 year history is the port for ferries heading to Corfu and Italian port cities; a university town of some  200,000 residents.

"Highways' cut through towns in The Mani

The big city stay marked the end of our first two weeks in Greece; the first week spent travelling between small villages and the second in the village of Kardamili.

The town of Leonidio, Greek Peloponnese

We’ve been both spoiled  and smitten with those small villages as the result of our experiences there. The people we’ve met in the small towns both warmed our hearts and made us welcome.

A clever marker in the town of Agios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas) The Mani

Patras, was a shock to our slowed-down-small-town systems. “Pay me now” said the waitress at our hotel’s coffee shop as she served our afternoon cappuccinos.  Such words would never have been spoken in Kardamili and no eyebrows would have been raised had we sat for hours with those yet-to-be-paid-for coffees. 

The Scribe enjoys a cappuccino in the Leonidio village square

 
In visiting Patras, we finally found a place in Greece that didn’t capture our hearts.  In all fairness to the city,there was a country-wide strike occurring yesterday so many stores were closed.  University students filled the very hip, upscale coffee shops that line the streets.

The town does have perhaps the most beautiful Orthodox Church, St. Andrews, that we’ve ever seen and some stunning neo-classical buildings like the renovated Hotel Byzantion in which we stayed (and will tell you about in a future post), but the city has been marred with graffiti and that, mixed with some empty squares and storefronts, gave some parts of the city a shabby feel.

So we moved on today driving across the striking Rio-Andirio suspension bridge that connects mainland Greece to the Peloponnese. We are now in Nafpaktos, a beautiful beach town that still has a stunning Venetian built harbor, castle and fortress.

We will be here for two nights then on the road again. . .back to Athens on Monday and off to Crete that afternoon.  Hope you’ll be with us!

Porto Kagio - a town of five residents and we were the only tourists (more on that later)

The photos I’ve used in this post were taken during our first two weeks.  Linking up today with Nancie’s Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Traveler’s Sandbox. We finally have some good internet connection so bear with me if I bombard you with another post in a day or two!

Greece: Searching for “That” Stone House. . .

Our travels in Greece the last week have brought us back to Kardamyli, the town on the west coast of the Peloponnesian central peninsula, that we first visited last year.

Kardamyli, Greece

  

We returned to this village in The Mani; as we were as taken with it as had been the English-born writer Patrick Leigh Fermor and American David Mason. Both have written of its beauty. . .and both of them, like us, have been hoodwinked by its charms.

Think Tuscany and you’ve got an image of this area ~ only this is better, we’ve decided and we do love Tuscany.  From our balcony at Hotel Vardia we look over a lush green countryside covered with olive and orange groves stretching from the snow-capped Taygetos Mountains to the east  to the Messinian Gulf to the west. Mediterranean cypress trees are scattered about as if added with an artist’s brush.

We had planned to stay here for four nights but we’ve already extended that to seven (it is nice to travel as we do with flexibility built in). 

One of the many we've visited so far in our search

You see, we are searching for ‘that’ stone house.
'That’ perfect house. . . to buy.
A second home.
A getaway.
A daydream.

And perhaps we are simply chasing a daydream. . .ahh, but for those of you who remember Bucerias, Mexico. . .you will know, perhaps not.

Daydreaming. . .of possibilities

Many who know us well, won’t be surprised  when I say part of our day today was spent in a law office chatting with an Albanian contractor who has a home he wants us to buy (and his sister who helped translate) and two Greek lawyers, one of whom spoke English and translated the rapid-fire Greek answers to our questions. Note to lawyers out there: we were there for a half hour and there was no charge.

Later we were hiking a goat trail through an olive grove to get a better look at another house that had caught our interest.  And even if it is a daydream, it isn’t every tourist who can say they’ve had that experience, right?

Lemon tree and artichokes abound this time of year

“You’ve been here before?” asked a shop owner two days ago, “and you are American?"  She shook her head in disbelief. “Americans usually come only once – they stay for two nights; they come with a tour, it is called Rick Steves, you have heard of it?”

Too bad they don’t stay longer, we thought. They, too, would likely be seeking ‘that’ house for themselves.

We've had some problems with the blog in recent days so I hope to be back soon but if not, I will as soon as we are able.  Watch for daily updates on Facebook and Instagram.  Hope to link up with Travel Photo Thursday (if I can figure out when Thursday is in South Korea vs. Greece - we just had daylight savings time here so we are now 10 hours ahead of West Coast America.)

From a Place Called the Peloponnese

I write today from Poulithra, a small coastal village in the Peloponnese. It is a rather enchanting sort of place; but then to our way of thinking many such Greek villages are just that.  We fell under this village's spell last year and returned Friday after spending our first night in another charming town, Astros, some 30 miles north of here.
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By now we’ve decided that marathon flight day/night/day of 24 hours plus, to get here was worth it, although at the time we weren’t sure.

Having picked up a rental car the size and the color of a ripe cherry, we’ve embarked on a road trip that will take us through both the history and hidden corners of this part of Greece.

Our route – still not cast in direction or dates - will take us back to old favorite places and yet lead us to new discoveries ~ the entrance to Hades, among them.

 We are well off the “American’ tourist track. It is a shame more of our fellow countrymen (and women) don’t venture into these postcard perfect areas that draw hordes of European travelers in the summer months. The tourist season in Greece kicks off with its Easter holiday week and continues through summer.

But  now the villages are blissfully quiet, streets are empty but for the locals who call out greetings to each other and the two American tourists who stroll in their midst.

The air is filled with bird song and the scent of orange blossoms. There’s still a nip in the early morning and evening air.  We stroll along narrow streets to tavernas to dine each evening – the sky a star-lit umbrella. We are still among the early eaters – dining at 8 or 9; Greek diners begin arriving after 9.

We’ve re-couped from the jet-lag that always packs a punch for  the first few days. We’ll be back on the road again come Monday. Hope you’ll come along with us. And this weekend, take some time to stop and smell the flowers ~ we are!

[Travel Tip: I wrote our last post in Istanbul where we spend the night en route to Greece.  That routing  saved us about $1,000 in airfare costs – thanks to a deal The Scout found on Kayak.com. We used a free night stay coupon at the Marriott Courtyard and the airfare to Athens was about $125 for the both of us. And we’ll spend a few days at the end of the trip visiting that fascinating city – a double win, to our way of thinking.]

Another Serving of Greece. . .

Our appetite for Greece seems insatiable. . .and that’s why we will be returning this spring for another serving of this amazing country.

In preparation for the upcoming sojourn we spent some time in recent days looking at photos of last year’s visit. I need to confess,our mouths watered at the reminders of the tastes and flavors we had experienced and soon will be again enjoying. . .

We watched pickup loads of artichokes -- looking like bouquets -- being delivered fresh from nearby gardens while in the small town of Galetas, on the Greek mainland (Peloponnese) across the channel from the island of Poros last spring.

“Locally sourced” may be the rage among restaurateurs in the U.S. but it is a long time practice in Greece.

Artichokes being delivered in the Peloponesse

Our favorite meal included a plate of fresh artichoke hearts and potatoes served in a lemon and butter sauce. Each version differed slightly as these photos illustrate.



And what would a Greek feast be without a few servings of Moussaka, that multi-layered marvel made with aubergines (eggplant) and topped with a melt-in-your-mouth béchamel topping?

Only problem is that this deep-dish delight is made in huge pans. Because of the quatity, it is sometimes difficult to find in the springtime, shoulder season for tourism  – when we find ourselves in Greece. Restaurants don’t make it unless there are enough diners to use it all. So, when we did find it, it was a real treat! (Servings are also huge, so one is easily shared, as we did with the one in the photo below.)



One of our favorite springtime veggies is Horta, the wild greens harvested from the rugged Greek hillsides.  Admittedly it looks like a plate of spinach, but to our minds there’s nothing like Horta:



And while on a semi-healthy train of thought, there’s the fabulous Greek salad with wedges of tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and Kalamata olives topped with small slabs of Feta cheese, finished with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkling of fresh oregano.



A new favorite we discovered on our last trip to Greece was Orange Cake – think sponge cake flavored with fresh orange juice and, of course, served with just a dab of ice cream . . .and it came as the complimentary finish to our meal at a small taverna – a place we plan to visit again this year. (Can you guess why?)

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The prices were ridiculously reasonable. An example taken from my travel journal while in Kardimili, a town in The Mani region of Greece's Peloponnese:

"Dinner consisted of the large serving of bread (routinely brought with the flatware and napkins), olive oil to drizzle on it. Wild horta, a moussaka that we split, and a half liter of wine:  13.70E (about $16US last year). Maria and Harold hugged us and kissed us goodnight as we left."

While the food is amazing, it is often the settings – the tavernas, the restaurants, the family-owned places – contribute so much to the dining experience that it is difficult to leave even after a meal that we might have stretched into hours of enjoyment. Add to that a hug or kiss of thanks from the owner, or an invite back into the kitchen. . .well, for us it's the kind of place we want to linger longer. . .perhaps for the remainder of a lifetime. . .or at least return to as often as possible!

From upper right: Napflion, Polithro, Kardamili, Gerolimenas - all Peloponnese locations

We have a ‘honey’ of a Greek story to tell you next week on Foodie Tuesday and we are taking you on a behind-the-scenes tour of cruising later this week. Hope you’ll join us again then! As always, thanks for the time you spent with us today.  Safe travels~

Linking up today with Inside Journey's Foodie Tuesday.