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Published: October 9th 2009
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that's our town down there, kardimyliaHello,
9/22 - 9/26
Ryan: One night in Tropea, Claire and I had a few drinks and decided that Greece sounded good. So that's it, our first train was at 6:50am the next morning and we arrived in Brindisi (on the West coast of Italy, port jump off point) at 6pm. We took four trains and one 15-hour ferry to Patras, Greece (about 28 hours total travel). We made it to the port and booked the ferry with 1/2 an hour to spare. We booked a room and Claire demolished more of Ken Follet's sequel to Pillars of the Earth. The next morning we were back at it, a 4-hour train ride south along the west coast of the Peloponnese to Kalamata. We thought of staying, but the real town we wanted was just another 38km, fine, we waited till 6pm at the bus station and took that hour ride further south.
Claire: While waiting in Kalamata for the bus to Kardamyli we realized that we needed a different adapter for Greece...Ryan can't live without his iphone..neither can I! So I left Ryan at the bus station with a beer and set off to find one. Of course,
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great setup they are never in the places I would think they would be. I go into stores with paint, lightbulbs and other hardware type things and they laugh at me for thinking it would be there.
I wandered for a while and all of a sudden hear a man yelling in Greek..I look up and realize he's yelling at me. After a few classic communication follies, he realizes I am American and from Chicago! He's been to Chicago several times. He tells me everything he knows about Obama: first and foremost that he's Muslim, that he lived in Hawaii and that his mom was white. Who knew? 😊 He is very excited that I am from Chicago and that I've been to Greek town..he loves our Greek town. He then brings me into his shop where his family is congregating in the back. (every store closes about 2pm on Wednesday's in Greece. When I asked why, they said because its Wednesday) He shows me to his family and says shes been to Greektown in Chicago. They all nod and stare at me.
After this I tell the man I'm looking for an adapter and he takes me around to
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view looking to ocean, sweet. about 10 different stores in search of one. I keep telling him he doesn't have to take me but every time we go into one store they suggest another and he says..just this one more. He tells me that it is his duty to be welcoming and helpful because Greeks are friendly and they like to show their country to visitors. In the end we did not find the adapter, but I had a great time looking!
Ryan: Finally in Kardamyli, we booked the most amazing room. 37 Euro/night with an equipped kitchen and porch with ocean view. There's a playground right across the street. Our hotel is also a restaurant and we had dinner there our first night. I had Mousaka (egglplant stuffed with meat and cream). Claire had lemon chicken with fries. Mine was sooo good.
Kardamyli rests right underneath the mountains, nestled among the coastline's winding coves of silver olive trees (gosh he's a poet isn't he). The second day we hiked to just such an olive tree swimming cove. Everything is perfect about this small little town. There's a small grocery that has every vegetable and fruit we like. I've been having amazing salads
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on the balcony looking inland with lettuce, tomatoes, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, feta, and avocado.
Also, everyone is very old here. Like everyone, it's the geriatric dream team assembled in greece, they all train here with their walking sticks and floppy hats. On 9/25 we did a gorge hike, very cool, check pics.
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anonymous
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what would a men at the ocean do when there is no wave??? right: diggin' a whole and takin a nap--a good one ryan!!