Blogs from Pelopennese, Greece, Europe - page 7

Among the Greeks The alarm sounded as soon as I closed my eyes. At least it felt that way. So after getting roughly 2 hours of sleep within the past 48, we were all up and ready for the day. All 37 of us. The trip package included breakfast and dinner each day and a large spread was waiting for us this morning. These tours have learned through the years that Americans eat a great deal more for breakfast than the Greeks do. They usually just have a roll and coffee. That will just not suffice for us. They had pastries, eggs, ham, turkey, fruit, coffee, juices, rolls, olives, cheeses, cucumbers and tomatoes. I guess all Greek meals have the options of bread, tomatoes, cheese and olives. There was no real plan for today since our ... read more

Gritty City Sojourn and Family Joys. December is here and we realise that the thief of time leaves us with a few weeks until we return home ! But first Nina is coming to visit for 6 days and as we are fetching her from Athens we decide it would be silly not to enjoy a night there before collecting her from the airport. It’s many years since we were last there . We have done the sight seeing visits to the Acropolis many times, so decide on this occasion to take in a visit to the Ancient Agora and Temple of Hephaestus and otherwise to just wander the streets and markets, absorbing the atmosphere and enjoying the sunshine whilst stopping for endless coffees , snacks and drinks of course! We stay at the Plaka Hotel, ... read more

Exploring Richness We begin our 6th week exploring further afield in the Peloponnese; we have done some in the past with visits to Mystra , Sparta, Nafplio, Methoni, Koroni and Pylos and the western Messinian coast .This time to Monemvasia via Gythio to meet Peter for a few days before bringing him home to the Mani for a week! What Riches this land has , in antiquity, in history, in spirit , in time taken and given, in local food and produce, olive trees with their gifts of succulent fruit and oil,in wonderful wine from local vines, in landscape that opens the heart and soothes the soul and in filoxenia (hospitality and welcome) to mention but a few. So being time rich and relaxed to the core off we go, stopping for a coffee in beautiful ... read more

Siga Siga (Slowly, Slowly) So week two began with a walk along the coast road to Trachila, another perfect fishing village at the end of our little stretch of coast road , so still, quiet and peaceful. We left by 10 and walked slowly, absorbing the views of the coast, katifigio caves and rocks, the caves on the hillside , the birds, the butterflies and the clear waters, to arrive eventually in this perfect village and drink iced coffee in a little kaffenion near the harbour under the plane trees. Greek ladies chattered animatedly and still unhurriedly. The buildings overlooking the narrow road and harbour are perfect, their wrought iron balconies and shuttered windows still in the late morning sunshine ... bougainvillea still flowering in the autumn sunshine and the smell of basil and the sea ... read more

Most of the time these days, Maria Chiara and my holidays have something to do with weddings - either ours or other peoples'. On this occasion friends had invited us to their nuptials in Nafplio, a pretty town in the Peloponnese Peninsula, with Greece basking in late summer heat. It's a widely known fact that Greece is a summer paradise, and so plane tickets were incredibly expensive. After days of searching we found cheap tickets arriving on one Greek island and leaving from another, neither of which were particularly close to the wedding. It was a bizarre scheme, despite which we still managed to pull off a fairly stress free holiday and most importantly we didn't miss the wedding (although that was by a fine margin.) Once we had safely negotiated the attendance and enjoyment of ... read more