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.)

Travel, in other words, is . . .

“Travel, in other words, is . . .

. . .an act of imagination, as well as the body.

Certainly it requires a reporters memory and eye for detail, research,

an ability to sponge up the stories one encounters.

But the travel narrative remains an imaginative act

an uncovering and forging of connections that

might not occur to another person

to be worth writing down.”

The quote comes from writer/poet David Mason. His book, “News from the Village”  takes the reader to Kardamyli, a small village in the The Mani area of Greece’s Peloponnese.  The photos are among those we took while traveling through that area last spring.

How would you complete the sentence, “Travel, in other words, is. . .”?

That’s it for this Travel Photo Thursday – head over to Nanci’s Budget Travelers Sandbox for more armchair travels! And if you miss us there, stop by The Tablescraper's "Oh, the Places I have been!"

“Gorging” Ourselves in Greece’s Mani

We’d set out one morning during our stay in the small town of Kardamili to explore the surrounding countryside in this part of the Peloponnese known as the ‘Outer Mani’ .

The two-lane paved road twisted its way through olive groves and wild flower bouquets up the hillside toward the peak of Mt. Profitis Ilias (Prophet Elias). The mountain with an elevation of 7,897-ft (2,407-meters) is the highest mountain in the Taygetus range. The towering mountain is visible from miles away.

What we didn’t realize when we started out is that we were headed to Exohori, the small hamlet that serves as a gateway to Viros Gorge (Gorge Virou), a stunning deep river gorge that runs  from the foot of Mt. Profitis Ilias to Kardamili (Kardamyli).

While the morning’s light cloud cover obscured the mountain’s peak, it highlighted the contours that make up  this popular hiking area.


The  map pictured to the left was posted at the beginning of the gorge trail showing just how many different directions you could explore. . .if you had  hiking boots (which we hadn’t).

So we set out on the wide gravel road to at least get a taste of hiking the gorge:

As we walked we couldn’t but think of the history held in the heart of these mountains. The name Taugetus or Taygetos is one of the oldest recorded in Europe (it is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey).

The trail beckoned us to walk just a bit further, then a bit further,  amid scenery that was a feast for the soul.

However, on the off chance anyone was walking along and was too dense to recognize their breathtaking surroundings. . .someone had erected a sign in Greek and English – which made us laugh - to help them take note:

If You Go:



The nearest airport is at Kalamata, Greece about 40 kilometers away, (click the link provided).

For accommodations, there is one hotel in Exohori, Hotel Faraggi that overlooks the gorge and it has rave reviews on Trip Advisor and Hotels.com. The gorge views from its balcony are unbelievable! (It can be seen on the left cliff in the second to last photo.) 

A larger selection of restaurants and tavernas are found in ocean side Kardamyli  (click the link provided).

That’s it for Travel Photo Thursday hosted by Nancie at  Budget Travelers Sandbox and Noel's Travel Photo Discovery which appears Mondays.