Mountain Rescue

Having eaten so much rich food over Christmas we decided that a good walk this morning would help to blow away any cobwebs. We set off through Lefktro up to the shepherd’s hut that’s set on a ridge high above Stoupa. Once we reached this we decided to extend our walk and head for Neochori, before returning home.

The morning was absolutely perfect for walking, warm sun and little breeze. Birds were everywhere in the olive groves and after the rains of the previous days it felt nice and fresh. We reached a path that would lead us down to Neochori then noticed one that led straight on, this we took thinking it was another way to Neochori which might be a better, longer walk. Little did we know how long.

Following the path for about half an hour through more olive groves gradually heading a little more inland and upwards, the path then seemed to turn and climb quiet steeply. A steep section of path led us to a gate that was chained and padlocked. On either side of the gate was barbed wire fencing and through the trees we could just make out a large house further up the track. It's unusual to find any gates or fences on these tracks so we decided it was probably better not to continue and retraced our steps.

On the previous bend in the road we could see across the hillside and it looked as if there was a track some way off that headed downwards. Would this be wise? Ahead of us the hillside was scattered with huge boulders and shrubs, some of which are covered in large thorns and are very vicious if you happen to brush against them. Despite this we decided to push our luck and try to get to the track rather than retrace our steps once again. Having scrambled slowly across the hillside we saw that there was a ravine between us and the track we hoped to reach. Our options were again to backtrack or now head uphill and try to get around the ravine.

Not wanting to be beaten we headed uphill. Not a wise choice! There were no tracks or paths anywhere and had this not been winter the possibility of snakes in the undergrowth would have made this a no go area.

After about an hour of climbing rocks and the occasional wall we finally reached the top of the ravine. Tired by now, we found ourselves amongst olive trees again, the land was divided into small terraces with high stonewalls. Seeing a track that led between these we followed it still further upwards. Finally it turned into one of the narrow tracks that have stone walls about 3-4 feet apart and we headed in the direction we originally intended. What a relief! Another 15 minutes and the track joined a dirt road, hopefully now we would be able to get to where we wanted.

As we walked along this road we could see Stoupa way below us in the distance and we realised just how far we had come. A track turned off to the right heading back towards the coast so we started down again, but after about 5 minutes it turned into a field and abruptly stopped. The terrain in front looked similar to that we had climbed earlier, so wearily, we again retraced our steps back up the hill. Our only option was to continue along the path heading still further up the mountain.

This track finally lead us into the village of Kastania, here we seriously considered texting our friends to come and pick us up but decided we were made of stronger stuff. We were about 8km by road from Stoupa and it had so far taken us about four hours. Rather than chance our luck, of which we appeared to have none, we decided not to risk a short cut but stick to the main road and headed straight for Pirgos, onto Neochori and back to Stoupa. Round trip of over five hours and well over 16km.

Tired, hungry, sore feet and probably none the wiser.

Christmas

Christmas morning arrived with better weather the sun was shining it felt warm again so we decided that we would have a walk to Agios Nikolaos as we had plenty of time before Christmas dinner which was at 5pm at a friends’ house. We were only a few minutes into our walk when our builder, Vaggelis, drove along the road and stopped to speak. He invited us to go for a coffee. It was Christmas morning, where would be open?

We jumped in his car and he turned round and drove back into Stoupa. Along the sea front we stopped at one of the bars and were surprised to find several people sitting there. Yes, they were open and Vaggelis assured us that by about 2pm it would be packed with people, mostly the local Greeks. He was right, we sat in the sun enjoying our coffee and chatting, a Christmas morning unlike any other.

Christmas evening we enjoyed a traditional English Christmas dinner with four friends. A good time was had by all.

Christmas Eve

The last few days the weather has turned to rain again. For two nights and three days we have had continuous rain that has kept us indoors most of the time, so not a lot to write about.

On Monday we drove into Kalamata to get some shopping and look to floor tiles. Kalamata has a few Christmas decorations and more people seem to be about shopping, but nothing like the frenzy that we remember from England. It’s far more relaxed and allows you to enjoy the sights and sounds.

We now have found another excellent place to eat cheaply in Kalamata if you just want a snack. Anyone who has been to Greece will have come across the ‘gyro’, Greek fast food at its best. It’s a few slices of grilled pork, onion, tomato, tzatziki and chips wrapped in thick, warm pitta bread, delicious. At this particular cafe these cost just one euro each, that’s about 70 pence, BARGAIN!!

As for Christmas Day, well we’ve been invited for dinner with some friends. Yes, we’ll be eating roast turkey, a traditional English Christmas dinner, right down to Christmas pudding and cake. There were suggestions that some people may go for a swim in the sea, but the weather is now too cool for all but the eccentric few.

We wish all our friends, family, and anyone else following our diary a Very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

All systems go

After about two weeks with no progress on the house everything is now going great guns again. In the last few days we have our waste tank in place, the iron has been laid and the cement pumped for the second floor; and the bricks are on site for the inside walls, which will be built while the concrete is allowed to dry.

Ashley noticed snow on a few of the mountain peaks that we can see behind Stoupa this morning. The weather today has turned very cold, as the wind is a north, north, easterly, although it is nice and bright. This afternoon we saw a few snow flakes falling, we have been told this weather is unusual for this area of Greece.

It’s decision time for us; the electrician has been booked for the 5th January so we have to decide where we want the light switches and the plug points. We also need to decide on air conditioning, as each unit needs to have an electrical point near by and an umbilical to an outside compressor unit. Even though we are not sure whether we will have air conditioning it is still best to have vents and the plug points put in place before the walls are plastered. That way if we decide at a later date to have units fitted it won’t be a problem.

On Monday we were in Kalamata to visit the bank, the vet and to do some other shopping. If you live in Greece you have to learn to be patient at times. In the bank a relatively straightforward transaction took over an hour. This is nothing to do with us being foreigners; it’s the way of life for Greek people every day. As we left the bank it started to rain and we headed for the vet to get some antibiotics for Dolly, as she still has a nasty rasping on her chest, plus some worming tablets for them both.

Having bought some tablets we crossed the road and found a restaurant frequented by many locals. We had an excellent lunch of roast chicken with vegetables, potatoes and fresh warm bread at a cost of only €7.00 for us both.

We chanced upon a tile shop and found some floor tiles that we like. The problem is now deciding on which floor level to have them laid. If we have them in the bedrooms chances are we won’t find any we prefer and wish we had them in the living area. If we have them laid in the living area we most definitely will see some we prefer. Such a dilemma! Unfortunately this is not the only one; we also need to make decisions on aluminium windows, shutters, mosquito nets, kitchen units, bathroom fittings and numerous other things.

With the rain now pouring down we headed towards a shop selling fitted kitchens and bedrooms that had been recommend to us. We were absolutely soaked through by the time we got there and unfortunately the owner who we needed to see was in England. However, we bumped into a very good friend who insisted that we return with him to his home, as we hadn’t seen them since last May. He and his wife dried us out and then insisted on feeding us again.

We asked their advice on how to prepare eating olives as we have heard of so many different ways. They brought out several jars they had prepared, some of which were this years and some from last year, with various flavourings to let us taste the difference. Anyone who has spoken to Lainie about olives will know that she can’t stand the taste of them. Surprise, surprise, she actually found that she liked some of them! My batch of olives I was looking forward to eating has suddenly halved in quantity.

Although we didn’t visit half of the places we intended, the chance meeting turned this very wet afternoon into a thoroughly enjoyable time.

The build is at a standstill

It has been a pretty uneventful week with work on the house at a standstill. Everything is dictated by the weather which unfortunately has turned and we are experiencing the sort of weather that the UK gets only once every few years, when its causes mayhem. Winds so strong that trees are uprooted, tiles are lifted off roofs and garden fences are damaged. The wind roars around the house pulling at the shutters, windows and doors finding every crack, causing terrible draughts, which makes it feel very cold. However outside it remains quite mild, as the winds are not coming from the North, that’s if you dare to venture out. Unbelievably the worst damage these terrible winds appear to do here is break a few flowerpots, that is apart from the noise keeping you awake at night.

Lula the older cat has given up on us completely and we haven’t seen her for some time now. Dolly and Tara, as you have probably noticed from the recent pictures, have come on leaps and bounds and are delightful. They now look well-fed and loved pussycats and from their behaviour it is obvious they are feeling happier and healthier. We picked up some acorns while out walking recently which they absolutely love. They chase them round the apartment pushing them under anything they can find, cupboards, slippers, chairs and have great fun. It is their favourite game and they have acquired great dribbling skills. Quite often they have mad moments when they stalk each other and play fight, something they simply never had the energy for in the past, most of this playing and fighting, you might guess, takes place after we have gone to bed.

All our worldly goods arrive

At the end of last week we had a couple of unsettled nights, on Sunday it rained continuously, but when we awoke on Monday once again the sun was shining.

We had arranged to meet with our engineer and builder at our house around lunchtime, to discuss the progress with our house. We wanted to make the most of the weather so took a packed lunch and decided to walk via Neochori. We passed right by a friend’s house, we hadn’t seen them since we were last here in May, so we stopped to say hello. We then walked from Neochori down towards Ag Nik. Part way down this track we came across a snake basking in the sun. Actually, he was only about 12 inches long!

Later in the week whilst on one of our jaunts we came across a tortoise busily munching away, he was about 10 inches long and had a damaged shell. We stopped to take a photo and I picked him up to place him for Ashley to get a good shot. He was clearly unhappy at being disturbed as he kept hissing at me.

Have a look in the picture gallery.

We arrived at our house just in time for our meeting. It went extremely well, everyone was pleased with the results and our engineer was very pleased with progress and the look of the house. Later we walked home along the coastal path between Ag Nik and Stoupa, the sun was still shinning so we decided to take some photographs to publish on our site to show you how we are missing the UK. Ashley set the camera to automatic, balanced it on a rock and ran like a lunatic to get in the picture.

Wednesday our belongings arrived, unbelievably right on time. They said 8am, which I said to Ashley would not happen. I was wrong, at 8am on the dot our mobile rang; it was the carriers to say they were in Stoupa and to ask directions. They worked extremely hard and off loaded everything in 30 minutes; they were excellent. No problems, all boxes accounted for, nothing appears to be broken, Ashley’s happy his computer’s here and I’m happy our bikes are here. We spent the rest of the day out cycling; its difficult here to go anywhere and not have to go up hills and cycling is much harder work than walking.

During the evenings Ashley sometimes works on the computer while listening to the radio, the stations of course are always in Greek. He found a station that played music from the early seventies, not pop, but album music that he enjoys. This was followed by another program on which the disc jockey had obviously come across Bob Harris somewhere on his travels. He was providing a very good Greek imitation of the beloved “Whispering Bob”.