mikeharron

Wednesday 1st Feb A white cat was sitting on the pergola, waiting for some little birds to come along and eat the left over grapes still on the vine. Except I went out with a wooden pole and sent him on his way. Thursday 2nd Feb We went to Athens on the Train at 10am today and got to Athens at 6pm. The trip was supposed to take 5.5 hours, but with nearly snow all the way to Athens, had to get new train loco to clear tracks, etc. So an 8 hour trip. There was actually snow covering everything when we left Perea at 7am to catch the bus to take us to the railway station. Looked lovely, and we were the first ones to walk on it- amazingly no cars had driven in it.Apparently ... read more

26th Dec- 4th Jan 2012 We bought Mama a sewing machine and the guy gave us a little demo of its functions. We carried it home on the bus. We made (Mama and I) a covering for it as only a thin plastic one came with it. She was very happy, as she has a hand turning one which is very heavy and needed to be kept in the spare room and used from there. We also bought some fabric and cottons from two different shops in a market area built in early 1900 Going into the city to get it, there were 3 Italian Tourists who must have come from the airport and were catching the same bus as we were. So Michael spoke English to one of the girls and told them we would ... read more

Monday 12th was the Name Day of St Spiros and a good opportunity to commence putting up the Xmas Decorations and Mama has the custom of changing the chair covers and floor rugs to – the Christmas Period. I think a lot of Greek people have the same practice.Mama put the flotaki rugs on the sofas and put up the starched doilies on the buffet and we put up some Xmas Decorations around the lounge room. After lunch, we went up to the block again Michael used the axe to cut down some plum saplings. There was a shepherd with 150 sheep grazing on the vacant blocks that have not been fenced. I did not see a dog, but I have been told he did have one. He must milk the sheep- not sure if by ... read more

This is the first Travel Blog of our 2011 Trip to Greece, staying with Michael's mother. Michael's brother Tony came for the first month and it was the first time in 42 years that the three brothers had been together- since Michael came to Australia. Well,we all know that the economic crisis has hit Greece severely, with many businesses closed down and unemployment unacceptably high. Michael's mother has her home in a town called Perea and on Mondays the local market is held in several streets. No cars are allowed during the market time and there were many more stalls than I recalled from two years ago with a larger crowd of shoppers too. There was this little old lady who knits indoor slippers and also sells some herbs and some chillies. I took a photo ... read more

Our trip to Kythira Island. 6th September. We leave from Nea Epivates , about a 15 minute walk away from Mama’s house at 6.30am and the bus carrying the group of 34 people heads towards Athens. After skirting Athens, we stopped at Corinth to see the Isthmus Canal- the canal near Corinthos allowing shipping to go from the Ionian to the Aegean Sea without having to go “the long way round”; we noticed there is now bungee jumping down the canal’s steep sides. We passed through Sparta, and eventually arrived in Neapolis, (a small town at the end of Peloponnesus) around 11pm, after the 850km traveled. We stay there overnight to catch the ferry boat in the morning over to the island of Kythira. The ferry trip takes about one and a half hours to Kythira ... read more