G & B

On the road between Vatera and Mytillini we have passed a small roadside stand that has among other things dried gourds and baskets, (G&B) plus herbs, hand made pottery and a few other items. On our way back from Mytillini we decided to stop in and look at the wares. Barb found a nice hand made crockery jug for seven Euros and the kindly old lady had to get her husband to cut the wire that was displaying the jug higher than we could reach. She took the jug and we thought she was going to wrap it but instead she brought it back full of water, we had no idea what to think of that since we only had the most basic of communication skills between the Greek and English. The husband motioned for us to come back behind the roadside stand and at first we were not sure if this was some sort of Hanzel and Gretel rerun where we would disappear never to be seen again.

But he took us to a white wall with faint paintings, and kept saying “Theophilos”, then he took us to a very large old tree (1600 years old) about 30 feet in diameter that was hollow inside but still alive. The inside of the tree was at least 11 feet in diameter and 30 feet high with a couple of openings in the top. He told us Theophilos lived in the tree and we were not sure of the rest. The property was quite large with a nice sized restaurant, a large spring (that is where the water came from) and there were lots of geese, swans and ducks in the ponds fed by the spring. So as Forrest Gump would say, “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what is inside’.

So, I did a bit of research and came of with this:

Theophilos Hatzimihail (born ca. 1870, Vareia, near Mytilene, island of Lesbos, Greece; – died, Vareia, 22 March; 1934), known simply as Theophilos, was a major folk painter of Neo-Hellenic art. The main subject of his works are Greek characters and the illustration of Greek traditional folklife and history.

He actually had a more interesting life than this but his biggest contribution to life is a large number of painting on Lesvos.

We did a video of driving in the narrow steep streets of Polichnitos, and embedded it below. In this video we enter the village driving through the narrow cobblestone streets, at one point we pass the grocery store, you see a guy walk in front of the car and then a woman with a red vest, the store is on the left, the final turn goes up the hill although it is difficult to tell how steep the streets are. Every road has small side roads and cars are everywhere on the small streets.

We are in Santorini today, absolutely beautiful, more information and pictures to follow.

Olives, no figs!

Yesterday, as I mentioned, the grocery store in Polichnitos was closed in the afternoon, so I went to the small mini market which is about 200 sq ft in size. Inside this store it is somewhat dark to save money on electricity, and the shelves are stacked with a variety of items, but not a great variety, just some of the basics. On my shopping list was a jar of olives from the island since Lesvos has 11 million olive trees and is known for the low acid olive oil. I picked up a jar that appeared to be olives in a dark jar and along with a bag of crusty bread and a few other things, then headed for Vatera.

Our meals consist of juice and fresh fruit for breakfast, (the oranges and apples are excellent) then for lunch we may have a Greek salad or sandwich, for dinner something light, maybe a tomato and cheese sandwich and we have even made pasta with sauce made from scratch. The traditional Greek salad varies by area and restaurant. Our neighborhood restaurant in Renton makes a great Greek salad; it contains lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, olives, and peppercini peppers, and feta cheese, they use a dressing of some sort that is very tasty. Here we have had a variety of salads made with red and green peppers, red onions, cucumbers, no lettuce, lots of olive oil and feta cheese, so the only common ingredients seem to be olives, feta cheese and tomatoes, very basic but still tasty.

But, back to the jar of olives from the mini market. When I looked at the jar after returning to our villa it did not appear to be olives, even though the picture on the label appears to be olives. After opening the lid, I discovered the contents were figs preserved in honey, what a great surprise! The figs are soft and taste slightly of cloves in honey, truly amazing, after eating the figs, the honey can be spread on the hard bread.

We drove to Mytillini this morning to arrange for out Turkey trip which will start on April 14 and involve ferries, driving in Turkey, ferries to Chios, then a ferry back to Mytillini, about five days total. Yiannis is very helpful with the ferries, hotels etc since he also has a travel business. We discovered the family also has olive groves and produce about 2000 liters of olive oil for sale locally. The hotel is called Aphrodite from his grandmother’s name who deeded the property to his mother who deeded the property to Yiannis who built the hotel. These are very nice people, we are treated like family and looking forward to the Easter celebrations, roast lamb on a spit, ouzo and dancing!

Tomorrow we leave early for Santorini! Living on the edge of a crater!

Lazy day in Lesvos

Today was beautiful; the sun was out, no clouds and just a little haze. Yiannis and his family are painting, cleaning and fixing everything at the hotel in preparation for the opening on April 23. The initial opening coincides with the Greek Orthodox Easter; they provide a package that includes lodging food, and all the festivities associated with Easter, including transportation to the church in Vrissa for the Good Friday, Saturday and Sunday Easter services. On Sunday they provide a big feast with roast lamb that they cook on a spit, plus dancing, lots of Ouzo and all around great fun.

We took a nice long walk on the beach collecting small rocks to bring home. There are not many shells on the beach, maybe because of the tides, but lots of colorful rocks. I drove to Polichnitos for groceries and after arriving, remembered the stores close between 2:00 and 5:00, so I went to the little mini-market which has a minimal selection at higher prices.

Returning from Polichnitos, I stopped photograph an old double arch bridge that has been replaced with a shiny new concrete structure, the concrete bridge lacks any character, but apparently is safer. I tried to get Barb to drive across the old bridge with me, but she mentioned something about driving over the frozen St Croix River in Minnesota, and the imminent death and destruction awaiting anyone so foolish as to drive across either.

Next to the river were a small herd of sheep grazing, which is not unusual since just about anywhere you look here there are sheep grazing. In the higher elevations goats are everywhere, goat milk and cheese are abundant, but trying to decipher the Greek language when buying milk and cheese in the store is a challenge, sort of like buying mystery food.

Tomorrow we go to Mytillini to take care of our Turkey ferry tickets, and then we can shop at a larger grocery store. Saturday we are off to Santorini Island the jewel of Greek Islands. I have heard there are jewelry store in Santorini, plus lots of other shopping since it is a major tourist area, not much shopping here, everything is still closed except the mini mart. The owner is very nice since I gave him a US dollar, he had two on dollar bills under the glass on his counter, I gave him a dollar which is only about .63 of one Euro, we are now best friends and he gives me great deals on crusty bread. It is hard to find a soft bread here such as a baguette, most of the stores have dried chunks of bread, and small toast, we can’t figure out why, maybe it is for dipping in soup or something. Everything is so Greek here!

Molyvos (Mithymna)

Wednesday in Greece, the weather is pleasant, slightly overcast and somewhere in the mid-60’s. Yesterday we saw a young couple on the beach dressed in swimming suits, and in the water for a brief time. Actually the young lady dipped her toe in the water and urged the guy to dive in, after some hesitation he did just that, mere seconds later there was a yell and he bounded out of the water headed for a beach towel. So while the young and foolhardy go swimming in early April, the older folks are content to sit and watch the young people get cold.

This morning we stopped at the mineral springs and spent about one half hour in the hot water, this seemed to be a better idea than jumping in the cold ocean. Later we drove to Molyvos, which is supposed to be the tourist capital of the island. Molyvos is on the North end of the island which requires a long drive through hills and valleys, on narrow winding roads and through several small villages. The drive is through olive groves, along the coast with great views of the Aegean Sea, and finally a view of Molyvos that is truly a postcard view.

The region of Molyvos is known for ancient vineyards, and of course full of Legends about Achilles, the birthplace of Arion, the 7^th century BC poet. The village is built on the hillside which is topped by a Byzantine castle later modified by the Genoese adventurer Frencesco Gattelluzi in 1373. In 1462 the castle fell into Turkish hands during the campaign of Mohammed the Conqueror. Until 1923 over a third of the population was Muslim and the architecture of the buildings reflects the Turkish influence. In 1923 politics forced the relocation of all the Turkish peoples from Lesvos to Turkey and Greeks in Turkey were sent back to Greece. This relocation ripped friends apart and changed both the Turkish and Greek countryside. Just another chapter in the centuries old conflicts in this part of the world. Molyvos is the Turkish name of the town, the Greek name Mithymna has been revived in recent times and is used as an alternative. Overall this is a beautiful town with a nice harbor and lots of hotels, but of course none are open since it is still early in the season.

The Island of Lesvos

Lesvos, located in the North Aegean Sea is the third largest island in Greece and probably still more ‘authentic’ then the heavily visited tourist islands further south. After being here a little more than one week we are getting to know our way around, have met some of the locals and been somewhat accepted. This is a male dominated society although the women are certainly independent. In the tavernas which are really the local meeting place, it is almost always men who are there, while women are tolerated it is usually just the foreign women who will go in for something to eat or drink. The local taverna in Polichnitos has free wifi so a more diverse crowd including tourists spend time there. The only issue is the smoking which is illegal but still tolerated.

The hotel we are staying in on the beach in Vatera is very nice, but of course since we are early for the season, we are the only guests. The owners live in Mytillini most of the year but spend the summers managing the hotel, at other times during the year they have a travel and rent a car business. Yiannis Hahathakis, his brothers and parents all take part in running the hotel, plus they have other hotels on the island, and probably an olive grove somewhere. The parents live permanently in Vatera and are in the same building next to us. They have been out preparing the garden for summer; they supply the hotel kitchen with fresh vegetables, and she does much of the cooking. The brothers are good musicians who perform on the weekends for the guests, so this is quite a nice operation with about 40 rooms that are full in the summer with Northern Europeans and a scattering of people from all over the world. Many people return here each summer since it is a very nice beach and not overrun with tourists.

About 10:00 every morning we hear music as the baker from Varissa drives slowly down the street with fresh bread to sell. This morning the music was traditional Greek but then he stopped and changed it to early American rock and roll. On other days the fish monger drives through the streets selling fish from the back of his truck, no music but a loudspeaker announces his presence and presumably the goods he is selling. Since it is all Greek to us, we are never quite sure what people are saying or what we might be ordering. We have resorted to our pocket translator when we get desperate but for the most part we are able to buy what we need simply by pointing. The Greek language, and for that matter Turkish and Arabic are difficult since the alphabet and writing are different from the normal Latin alphabet. We were at the taverna yesterday trying to order something from the waiter who has a limited English vocabulary when he asked one of the other patrons to translate. The patron spoke excellent English and Greek so we were able to get what we wanted. It turns out the patron was from South Africa; he had migrated to Greece some seven years ago and is now a taxi driver in Polichnitos. Polichnitos is about 60 km from the main city of Mytillini and would be considered somewhat remote since it takes about one hour by car to travel over the mountains around the bay, through the woods and olive groves on twisting narrow roads. Polichnitos is the municipal capital of the area and even has a small hospital. At one time there were two brick factories and two china factories but now only one of the brick works is still operational. Tourism and sheep seem to be the main industries, with olive oil production still a part of the culture. Everywhere you look are the large clay pots used to store olives, and olive oil. Many of these pots are over 200 years old and were originally from Turkey. Now, most are used for decorative purposes, flower pots etc. These containers probably each held 30 gallons of olive oil being aged; the pots were buried in the basement to keep cool.

The Petrified Forest

Dateline: Sunday, April 3, 2011.

Today was a bit cloudy and cool so we decide to drive to the Western part of the island to the Petrified Forest. Lesvos is a volcanic island and somewhere in the far distant past eruptions of ash covered a standing forest which later became fossilized. The drive to this area is over mountains through valleys on an ever twisting road with dramatic changes of elevation. This island has several thousand people, mostly living in Mytilini and Molyvos which are on the Eastern side of the island, the rest of the inhabitants are scattered throughout the countryside, outnumbered by sheep, goats and a few cattle. There are a number of smaller villages along the road and for the life of my I am not sure what they do for a living, except sheep herding which seems to be the predominate industry.

We travelled by several monasteries, some very poor in appearance, one that had quite an industrial appearance with olive groves, sheep, many buildings and large farm areas, to a monastery that was on top of the highest mountain. This monastery appeared to be the epitome of desolation, desperation and starvation, probably perfect for a monastery. Along the way to the first we skirted the Bay of Kolloni , along the tidal flats were large numbers of European white storks feeding in the estuary. These storks were nearly extinct in Europe but are now returning to substantial flocks. There are a number of cities designated as stork friendly in Europe that provide habitat for the returning birds after their winter migration from North Africa. These large birds build their nest on chimneys and tall smokestacks in cites, and on top houses. We have a couple nesting in Polichnitos that already have young. Lesvos is a stop over point for the migrating flocks as they return to Northern Europe, but I am not sure if we are either early or a little late to see all the flocks.

Monday, April 4, 2011.

Today we drove to Mytillini; the weather is very nice, lots of sunshine. We were planning a trip to Santorini for later in the week. Santorini is probably one of the most visited tourist islands situated on the remains of an ancient volcano that exploded in Minoan times. We plan to leave on Saturday and return to Lesvos the following Tuesday. The weather improves everyday and in Mytillini we saw a few brave souls in the bay swimming, for me the temperature is still a bit on the cool side for any swimming but sitting in the sun like a lizard is okay.

Saturday – Bath Day

The day dawned with sunshine so we took a nice long walk on the beach in the early morning. The Mediterranean, Aegean seas do not have real tides since they are inland with only a narrow outlet at Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean. With these minimal tides, the flotsam and jetsam on the beach are only a few yards wide; we have found some interesting things on the beach including a few shells, some colorful rocks, pieces of fishing nets, and plastic of every description. Had Tom Hanks been marooned here he could have made a nice meal with the sealed one kilo bag of couscous, packaged dry soup, containers of juice and lots of water bottles, plus made a decent fishing net instead of the little spear. The beach is here is pretty empty at this time of year since the rest of the ‘foreigners’ do not show up until the beginning of May, so we had the beach to ourselves.

About 10:00 we drove to Polichnitos for a bath; that would be the hot mineral baths that were used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to heal their battle wounds, we had no battle wounds but according to the literature, these baths can heal any sort of affliction from a spear in the chest to lumbago. The baths are very nice, there are two large pools, one for men and the other for women, with showers and changing rooms, the cost is only 2 Euros which is very reasonable. A small café and store selling natural items from the area helps bring in a little more income. They had local olive oil, honey, soaps and other natural body care products. The water comes from the volcanic cracks in the ground at 67 degrees Celsius, or about 152 F, the water is tempered so in the pool it is about 102 F, full of minerals, radon and other mysterious properties, it was overall a pleasant experience.

When we left Vatera, the rain had started so after the bath we went to the local taverna for coffee and something to eat, plus the free internet. The local tavernas are usually filled with men playing backgammon, smoking, drinking coffee, and the occasional tourist. The local establishment provides small computers for the customers who will sit for hours spending little money. Saturday was a busy day with lots of young men in the taverna, normally there are just a few people during the weekdays. The taverna is a community meeting place, again normally just for the men, the Greek government recently banned smoking in all indoor facilities, but like many rules in Greece, (including the traffic laws) the smoking ban is universally ignored and no one says anything. The taverna owners are always concerned about losing business, and during the warmer day they do have outside facilities. The owner of the taverna is gruff older fellow who is very nice to us, there is also a younger man who works with him. The interior of the taverna is separated into two rooms, the main bar area and the larger dining type room. There is always music playing, many days American music, other days, French, Spanish and Greek music, two large screen TV’s provide either sports or movies. So for a few Euros, it is a nice warm place to sit and use the internet, have some coffee and a little something to eat.