The Market - What a Treasure!

The goal was to live differently. We wanted to stretch ourselves beyond our suburban America comfort zone. Being an expat in Greece for a half dozen years has certainly provided us those opportunities.

New roads to new adventures in expat life

As we continue to settle into this lifestyle, we are reminded every so often how routine so many of those 'different' things have become. But just as those 'different' things were treasures to be discovered in the beginning, we now see them as everyday treasures to be enjoyed in this unconventional expat world.  One such treasure is:

Market Day

Market Day is a treasure

The kind of market I am talking about is the laiki, those once-a-week shopping events that seem to sprout in parking lots or plateas (plazas) of small towns and villages throughout Greece. Being one day affairs, they set up in the early morning and are packed away by early afternoon. Shopping at them, you find yourself buying from the people who grew the fruit or vegetables or who caught the fish or who harvested and bottled the honey. 

Going to these outdoor markets can turn a routine shopping trip into what feels like a road trip. It is certainly more fun that a trip to the much closer, but ubiquitous supermarket. Such has been the case with our Saturday market outings to Areopoli, a town just 29 kilometers/18 miles to our south. 

The Journey

We are on the far right, the road is behind the houses

The short distance is deceiving as it will take us just under an hour to travel there and another almost hour back. We set out by continuing up the narrow track road through the olive groves that leads to our house.  We are told this track road was asphalted not very many years before we arrived on the scene and the road being built by landowners long before us. 

Roadblock on our track road slows our journey

About a kilometer away from our house we routinely pass a herd of sheep that are usually gathered near or in the roadway. No matter how often we pass this group, though, I yank out my camera to snap a photo or two. . .after all, I never encountered a herd of sheep when shopping in my old Seattle suburbs. 

Similar traffic slowdowns occur on this main highway

At the top of 'our' hill we leave our tiny road at Platsa, the first of many small villages we will pass through on the way to the market. Here we enter the 'main highway' (as we call it) a two-lane asphalted roadway, the major link between north and south of this point of the Peloponnese.  

The highway just misses the Church of the Anargyoi - Nomitsi

The road comfortably winds its way through three tiny villages -- Nomitsi, Thalames and Langada -- each with a rich history. In the town of Nomitsi, there's a small Byzantine church, on which the construction began in the 10th century, that visitors shouldn't miss.  Actually, you literally barely miss it as its entry door opens onto the highway. You look both ways before stepping out. Every so often we stop to admire the interior frescos in this Church of the Anargyoi.

You don't want to meet a bus on this stretch

Passing through the fourth village, Agios Nikon, we slow as the roadway narrows between the centuries-old buildings constructed long before modern day roads came into being. 

The Main Road passing through Agios Niko

Here we hope we don't meet an oncoming truck, RV, or tourist bus, as pullouts are limited. The village, once called Polianna, was in 1929 renamed for Agios Nikon, the Repentant, a soldier, monk and missionary who is credited with turning much of the Mani to Christianity. 

Taygetos Mountain slopes along our route

Most of our journey is through a vast empty stretch of land where stone fences line the roadway and the vast Taygetos Mountains stretch to one side of us and the Ionian Sea on the other. 

Limeni

Just before Areopoli, it is the expansive bay on which New Oitylo and Limeni villages are located that takes our breath away each time we crest the hill and it comes into view. Now a popular resort destination, hillsides are filling with bay-view vacation rentals and hotels and restaurants hug the shore. A much different vibe than a century or so ago when pirate ships plied the turquoise and sapphire waters of its bay, and the area was known for slave trading activities.

Cafes and churches line the streets

The road loops around the bay, then up another steep hillside and we've arrived in Areopoli, home to some 800 residents.

Shopping at the Market

Market displays in Areopoli

In Greek, the laiki agora, literally means 'the people's market'. They are also called farmers or public markets.  This one pretty much operates year-round with just a handful of vendors braving the winter's cold (and it does get cold here) while in the summer vendors' tables and trucks spread out over a large portion of the bus station lot. This isn't a place to go looking for souvenirs, it is a market catering to the locals. Honey vendors -- no less than three on most days -- plant sellers, a vendor who offers a variety of men's clothes in camouflage colors, and sometimes a fish vendor join the regular lineup of fruit and produce sellers.

Potatoes are absolutely the best in Greece

We recall our 'newbie' days when shopping at the laiki, seemed an extraordinarily 'different' experience. It was almost overwhelming. Greek speaking shoppers surrounded the displays, grabbing past us for an item they wanted, and little old Yiayias (grandmothers) who didn't want to waste time with tongue-tied foreigners like us often crowded in front to get their shopping done while we were still trying to figure out how to choose, bag, and pay for an item. 

Nowadays, we have the routine down pat: Select, bag, buy. Done and dusted, as our British expat friends would say.  

During a trip to Areopoli, we take advantage of the availability of a service station with car wash.  We leave the car at the station, head off to shop and return a few hours later to find the car clean inside and out for only price of 12 euros.

Mrs. Milia's bakery - a must visit place

One shopping destination we don't miss is at the far end of town, the Fournos to Psomi tis Milia. A wooden sign reads The Bakery/Mrs. Milia. As the story goes, her kids and grandkids have continued to run the bakery named for Mrs. Milia, a widow at age 29 who raised six children while discovering her passion for making bread at the bakery owned by her husband and in-laws. 

Loaves coming out of the oven a shopping treasure

Bread is still baked in the generation's old wood-fired oven.  The family-run establishment offers breads, pies, cookies and other baked goods and is one of those 'must go' places.  There is nothing better than arriving in late morning and eating still warm bread from that oven.

Sittin', sippin' and watching the world go by

Coffee shops like in all Greek towns are everywhere, so a morning cappuccino usually rounds out the visit. Each market day here feels like a step back in time, when life's joys could be as simple as ripping into a loaf of fresh-baked bread and sipping a cup of coffee. 

Every so often, something happens to remind us of how differently we are living here as compared to our American life.  A couple weeks ago we were loaded down with produce from the market and decided to leave our bags in the car before heading to the bakery at the other end of town. But the car was already in the washing bay.  

Yes, you can leave your bags, he said, they'll be fine.

Could we leave them somewhere out of the way in the station we asked. 'No problem', the attendant responded, pointing to a spot in the retail store, 'just put them here - they'll be fine.' 

Market honey on bakery bread - treasures, for sure!

And they were just fine - just as we had left them.  We certainly wouldn't have done that back in our old world. Again, we were reminded of how differently we are living these days yet surrounded by everyday treasures. 

How about you?  What are the everyday treasures you've discovered in your world? Leave a comment or drop us a note!  Speaking of treasures, we consider each of you reading this a treasure and thank you for the time you spend with us.  We'll be back with more tales soon, hope to see you here then! Until then, wishes for safe travels to you and yours~

The Americans ~ Eight Years Later

 Actually, it is Amerikanos, (Ah-mear-E-kah-nos). Greek for the Americans, plural. 

'There, up on the hill,' says the Amerikani 

We usually say it as part of the phrase, 'the Amerikanos up on the hill' while pointing towards the hill on which our house sits.  It serves to differentiate us from the other Amerikanos who live in this area. And you might be surprised at how many do live here now. So many, that it isn't unusual to not know some of them. What a change that is from when we first arrived!

Eight years ago already!

It was eight years ago this week that we purchased our slice of the Greek Peloponnese. Little did we know at the time we purchased what has become known as our Stone House on the Hill, that it would ultimately change the course of our orderly life back in the Pacific Northwest corner of the United States.

Venice, two hour's flight, not two days away any longer

Back then we reasoned that a house in Greece would provide a base for exploring more of this country and other European countries, Africa, and the Middle East. We had expanded our travels on this side of the Atlantic after leaving our work life behind.  This Greek-base, we decided, would allow us to travel more often and go further.

We wanted a project and definitely got a few!

Truth is back then we were rather bored with that orderly life. We needed a project, something to do besides ease ourselves deeper into old age. This home certainly gave us a 'project' as the home was in need of updating and a bit of repair. As it turned out, each of the completed projects gave rise to new projects and continue to do so.

One last fling or perhaps a few more are in store. . .

And the purchase would constitute a - sigh - 'final fling' before we got too old to have such adventures. Age was among our considerations as we talked ourselves first out of, and then, into the house purchase. We wondered if we were then too old for such a leap into the unknown. Since we are still here, I guess we weren't - we are glad we took the leap!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. . .in our world

Development comes to the Mani 

As David Bowie sings, there have been ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in the Mani, since we became a part of it. Development is running wild in this once remote and little visited region of Greece. Both private home and rental accommodation construction continues to be on a fast track. It is difficult to find year-round rentals now in our area as so many have turned their homes into Airbnb's. One, a recently constructed Mykonos-style home on the hill above us rents for 1,000 euros a night. 

British writer and long-time Kardamyli resident, Patrick Leigh Fermor, who predicted several decades ago that the remote and rugged Mani would never attract tourists, would likely not recognize the place now.  Tourism is on an upswing.  

Hiking is drawing outdoor enthusiast here

We have local businesses that offer hiking and biking tours of the area.  A new launch site for parasailing has been constructed in a hillside village a few kilometers away.  Our beaches were filled with visitors up until October.  

New restaurant brings change to the village

Change doesn't always come easy. An upscale restaurant opened in our village last spring following an extensive refurbishment of a wonderful old building on the waterfront.  From our perspective, it is a delight to sit inside and admire the stonework as the previous traditional taverna had only outside seating. Yet, some continue to grumble about the change.

New 5-star hotel - Kalamata waterfront

Up the road an hour away, our big city of Kalamata is becoming the poster child for change: a new 5-star hotel in a refurbished early 20th century building offers a restaurant with a Michelin-starred chef at its helm.  Two abandoned flour mills on the waterfront are also being turned into hotels - one a 5-star and one a 4-star.  Next spring the city is the European site of a conference of travel bloggers, actually, 'content creators' (as they call us now). Some 350 are expected to come visit and write about 'our town'. 

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes . . . in us

Adapting to the Mediterranean lifestyle

At the time we bought the house we told ourselves we'd give 'it', the fling, the adventure, the house, whatever we called it, five years.  If we were ready to move on, move back or give it up we would.  Those years went fast as a blink of an eye.  

During which time, we began changing and adapting to our new adopted world, so much so, that we decided we wanted to live here as expats.  We are just entering our sixth expat year here and have a residency permit allowing us another year after this. 

Our world at night

We've quit setting timelines. We will be here as long as we are able and continue to want to be here (or as long as the government allows us to be).  I know a lot of you reading our blog are considering moves to Greece and other destinations in the world, so I would close with a quote attributed to Paul Coelho, 'Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute for experiences.'  

Thessaloniki bound

For those who responded to my teaser in the last post, you were correct! We are soon off to Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki. Our decision to go there is driven partially by its beautiful Christmas decorations and partially by the call of its culinary reputation.  I'll report back on both next time!  Thanks for being with us today . . .in fact many of you have been with us through our entire Greek adventure, and we've loved having you with us!  Thanks to you all for your continued support and encouragement!!

Expat life An Alternate Reality; but, of course!

You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, like you’ll not miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.

                                             -- Azar Nafisi (Lolita in Tehran)

Sun sets in The Mani

The debit/credit card issued to us five years ago when we opened our Greek bank account expired several years ago.  On occasion since the expiration we've thought about getting a new one. . . but it has seemed more trouble than it is worth. It is a much different process here than the one used back in the States.

In our former life, we must have had three or four cards -- all unsolicited -- arrive weekly in our mailbox. Each from a different bank or lending institution and each activated by a single phone call. New cards for accounts we did have, were sent weeks before the card expired and each activated in a similar manner with a phone call to some faraway toll-free number.

Fruit and vegetable vendor in Stoupa - a new way of buying

Not so in Greece.  The process for getting a new card -- like so many things here -- is so completely different, that it sometimes feels like we are living in an alternate reality.  The way things are done here and the way we react to it,  just can't be reconciled with what was once our lives and behaviors.

We can thank our friend, Bill, who owns a taverna called Hades in the village for helping us get a grip on this upheaval to our senses. He says, 'It is an alternate reality. The light turns green and you think you should go, but everyone else is waiting for red.' 

Yes! That is it exactly! What once seemed logical, well, . . .just isn't.

He offered his insight several weeks ago while some of us were discussing our most recent experiences, often chuckling, sometimes shaking our heads at the stories being told. All the while knowing that each tale was true because we've all had the experience or similar alternate reality moments since moving to Greece. When telling these tales we usually exclaim with howls of laughter, that our friends and family 'back home' just wouldn't understand.  

A Greek balancing act in The Mani

But today I am going to try you out: we've had some realities this summer that are too priceless not to tell you about; realities like renewing the debit card. . .

Several months ago while having our passbook brought up to date(yes, banks here still record account activity in passbooks), I said to the teller that I'd like a new debit card. For some reasonat issuance, the card couldn't have two names, so mine had ended up on it.

 'But, of course!' he said, with a smile, using the ubiquitous Greek answer, we've learned, to any and all questions asked of a Greek, from a doctors to wait staff and bank tellers.

'You will need to bring in copies of your latest Greek income tax return, a form from the phone company verifying that you have a phone number and a copy of your latest utility bill.'  He then looked toward the section of the bank lined with a dozen desks -- only two of which were occupied -- and said, "And then you'll talk to one of them."

Now we've obviously gotten along without the card, but at that point it became a matter of principle for me.  I dutifully made copies and obtained forms and marched back to the bank a few weeks ago, ready to get our new card. (After all it accesses our account with our money in it so it would be nice to have a current card, I reasoned.)

Dining out, is one of the many things, done differently here

The Scout hasn't been sold on the need for the card and was skeptical about my efforts and insistence that very warm morning but humored me as we stood around the empty desks awaiting our turn to speak to one of the two people working at them. The customer ahead of us was getting a new debit card. It was taking awhile.

After nearly an hour's wait, there we were, seated at the desk, my paperwork laid out before the banker. Passports to the side. Ready for success!  As she called up our account on her computer, she began alternatively drumming her fingers on the desk and frowning at the screen. 

The absurdity of the situation hit me with such force I nearly fell off the chair. I looked at The Scout who seemed to be staring off into space somewhat in a self-saving trance and I thought I was going to start laughing. Who were these two people sitting here? This couldn't be us?! We don't do things like this  just to get a debit card. . . 

Ahh, but in this reality we do! And did!

This wine tour was more fun than a trip to the bank!

Meanwhile the banker examined the documents I'd presented, then returned to her computer screen and said, 'You still have a U.S. address. Do you have proof of your U.S. address with you?' 

I was ready! "Yes! I have a government issued driver's license from the State of Washington with my address on it and a photo as well."

Turning from the screen to look at us, she shook her head, 'I can't accept that. But, do you have a current utility bill from there with you?' 

But, of course, I didn't! 

At which point The Scout gave me one of those 'husband-to-wife looks' that carries the proverbial death threat and I said to the banker, 'We will obviously have to get the card later!'

Outside the bank's double security doors I raised my voice and announced to anyone within earshot, 'Done! Defeated! No card!'  Not now! Not ever! (I know I saw The Scout smiling out of the corner of my eye.)

I don't think we are in Kansas anymore, Toto!

              -- Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

From The Stone House on the Hill 

There are eight homes on 'the hill' as we call our slice of The Mani. They are accessed by traveling on 'our road' ,a narrow asphalt track that winds through the olive groves, connecting the villages of Agios Dimitrios and Platsa. The road was destroyed two and a half ( 2.5!) years ago during a major storm. When we asked locals about when we could expect to have it repaired, the answer we got was,'nothing will happen to the road until the election.'   

The Scout working on a traffic jam on our road

And they knew what they were talking about because it seemed that about the time we saw posters going up for hopeful candidates back in March we also saw huge machinery lumbering up our road. Finally, repair crews began ripping out its storm-damaged sections and preparing it for a new surface.

Silly us! In that old reality, we expected the surface to be put on immediately. Not so in this reality. The concrete trucks didn't lumber past until May. (Of course the election was set for June so timing may have been influenced by that fact.)

Platsa, the village above us

The concrete trucks rolled past for several days as they repaired the section of roadway just beyond our homes. We talked of all the guests we could have this summer; people who've been afraid to bring their cars up our damaged road. We talked of a street party as the concrete truck dumped its first load on the damaged section we drive to get home.  They emptied the truck said they would be back.

In this new reality, we should have asked, 'When?'  as they haven't yet returned.

Several of us who travel that torn up roadway regularly decided we'd had enough. It was time to visit the Municipal Office and ask when the road would be repaired.  

The first husband-wife team was told, 'The contractor said It is done!' No one from government had checked his claim. But the team was armed with photos of the still unfinished road. So a quick call was made from the Mayor to the contractor and the new completion date was set for the next Friday. Nothing happened.

In early June the second delegation (The Scout and I) were also told the road was completed. Pictures were again shown. And soon the lady helping us reported: "The Mayor extends his deepest apologies but the contractor has run out of money and can't complete the job until he has money."  We (back in our old logical reality mode) asked when that might be. "When he submits a bill to the Municipality, we will pay him for the work and then he can buy more concrete to finish the work."  But, of course, we should have known that!

Repaired section or road above us

So the third husband and wife team went to the Municipal offices and the answer they got, was that the Municipality has no money to complete the job. 

But, of course, they were told, if we residents would like to pay for the repairs that would be most welcome. But, of course. . .,the government official added, we must first apply for a license to do so. . .

View of The Stone House on the Hill

Some of our alternate reality moments are much lighter and less frustrating than dealing with business and bureaucracy. One takes place each summer in our part of town. There is a family who has a home here and uses it only in the summer months. Wonderful people and we are always happy to see them arrive.  It was another alternate reality moment when we realized last summer that the male head of household likes to garden in the nude.  Now, after the initial stuttered conversation, I am able to greet and chat with him as though it is the most natural of things; me fully clothed and him fully nude. Sure wasn't like that in our old world though. . .

These are but a few of the many examples we have from the 'alternate reality' in which we live these days.  The quote with which I began this post is ever so true about becoming ex pats and leaving the old norm, that old reality behind:

'. . .but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.'

To alternate realities

Each expat we know here recognizes that he or she has changed. It isn't always easy. It doesn't always make sense. It certainly isn't how we used to be. We do things very differently. We see things differently. And then we think,

But, of course. That's why we wanted to be expats!.

Hope you have a great week and that you and your loved ones have safe travels.  Next week we will be talking about driving in Greece. . .that is another reality of Greek life!

Thanks for being with us today. Your time is always appreciated! And thanks to those who've written and commented, we so enjoy hearing from you!

Linking soon with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday