Visiting with family in Mikrokastro and Megaro

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Finally managed to wake up at 11:30am, Steve is horribly hung-over and is just miserable. We got up and made breakfast and Steve laid down while I tried to straighten up my suitcase somewhat. After Steve got up we headed to Papadia’s house for lunch and on the way we went by Steve’s maternal Papous’ old farm to take some photos. Theo Thanasi farms there now; he keeps a few chickens and grows a bunch of vegetables. Thanasi stopped by while we were there and showed us around and gave us more vegetables. We went to Papadia’s and ate lunch with her, Papa, Naouma, and Vasou. We had no meat at lunch because they are all fasting until August 15^thfor the Festival of Panagia, which is basically the festival of Mary in Eastern Orthodox religion.

After lunch we visited Stergios grave at St Nikolas church in the village. It was really hard for Steve to go. His cousin died last year a couple days before Alice and Joe’s wedding. He was just 32 years old. While we were there Steve decided to make a music and photo compilation on his USB drive to leave in memoriam on Stergios grave so we spent a few hours transferring music and photos from his external hard drive to the USB drive. It is common in Greek Orthodox tradition to leave something in memory of the deceased person on their grave or in a memorial glass fronted display box that at the headstone. Most of the graves also had a metal box that you could light a candle and put it in the box in sand. I asked Steve why there were no graves in the churchyard that were more than 10-15 years old and he said that after so many years the remains are disinterred and the bones placed in a smaller wooden box and kept in a building on racks where they can be visited. This frees up burial space in the churchyard.

After all this we needed a nap, we slept a bit then drove up to Megaro to pick up Rachel from Thea Koula’s. When we got there we went to the house where Papous is staying, Papous said Rachel and Alexandra were at Thea Koula’s getting ready. But when we got to Thea Koula’s house she said they went to Theo Gianni’s house around the corner. So Steve and I walked to Theo Gianni’s house and his wife Thea Thespeau gave us cherries in syrup and homemade cherry liquor. Also Rachel and Alexandra weren’t there either!

Steve helped his Theo change some light bulbs on the patio wall, and then Rachel and Alexandra walked over to meet us. We visited for a bit and took some photos then headed back to Thea Koula’s house. Rachel was having an awesome time in Megaro and decided to stay with Alexandra in Megaro while Steve and I go to Salonika and Pefkohori. We arranged to meet up with Rachel again on Friday. We headed back down the mountain again through Grevena to Mikrokastro. Oh when we were in Grevena earlier on the way to Megaro taking the left by the bus station we saw the white VW Scirocco go by. Steve tried to grab a photo of it but mostly got the driver who was staring at us probably wondering why we were taking his picture! So when we came back through Grevena I spotted the Scirocco parked on the side of the road. Steve offered to run back and grab a couple photos for me. Of course the owner came out while Steve was taking photos and Steve had to explain that I love Sciroccos and we don’t have them in the US so seeing one in person is very cool!

Xristos wants to take us out again to Kozani or Kastoria but settles for meeting at Mythos in the village instead. We go down there and it’s pretty busy but we manage to squeeze a couple more chairs in around the tables. I talk to Kaliope for a while and then decide to call it an early night around midnight and give Steve a chance to visit with his cousin and not have to worry about translating for me. Steve insists on walking me back to the house since he noticed some Albanians sleeping in their car on the side of the road near the house.

I do manage to catch up on this journal though! I think I did 4 or 5 days worth of writing before my eyeballs were too blurry to see straight and I crashed. Steve thinks he came in around 2am.

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Photos

The Nissan we drove
We were very lucky to the use of this car while Maria was in the U.S.

Village Door
Old barn door in Mikrokastro