Itisallgreek2me

Jillie, Rick, Bob, Lorna and Reinhard at Taverna Petra

 With a population of around 3,000, Kastelli Kissamos is classed as a small town, not a village, however, the feeling here is much more aligned to village life and fortunately, Kastelli has not succumbed to tourist invasion.  This morning at around 0330 hours I had need to go out to the bathroom and did so to the sound of “cocka doodle do”.  Thought to myself it is rather early in the morning for our rooster to be crowing – I have to admit I get confused with daylight saving hours, perhaps in reality it was 0430 hours and of course, the rooster has no knowledge of daylight saving!  

  Wherever I am I like to begin the day with a hot shower and in fact, I can be a little grumpy if this is not possible.   Because of the high electricity charges in Greece, the family mostly rely on solar heating of the water which means if we have had an overcast day, the chances are the following morning the water will be cold or at best lukewarm.  This morning I enjoyed a wonderful hot shower following yesterday’s many hours of sunshine.   A scattering of clouds in the sky today, nevertheless, our expected high here on Crete is 29 degrees C, 30 degrees forecast for tomorrow and Sunday with clear blue skies and sunshine.  In the concrete jungle that is Athens, the people there can expect 34-35 degrees C over the next 3 days, very uncomfortable in that environment.  It seems summer has arrived here as those of you antipodeans down under prepare yourselves for winter.   

A few thoughts on other trivialities – things which have changed and/or improved in Greece over the last 37 years.  1)  Beds and pillows have always been hard, often like sleeping on concrete, however, I am very pleased to have found this year some comfortable beds to sleep on.  2)  Mayirefta, i.e. oven baked dishes, in the past were usually served cold or at best lukewarm, now they are mostly served hot as they should be.  3)  Non smoking ferries are truly non smoking, it is out on the deck if you have need to, very welcome especially on a long journey.  4)  Other than in Gythio where as I have already written, the rubbish was a major problem, elsewhere there is much less of it and the Greek people are learning about recycling.  5)  Unlike the bone shaking cattle trucks of the past, local buses are now comfortable coaches.  6)  Although in places there are still far too many neglected street cats, more are in good homes and interestingly, the family have had the female cats fixed so no more kittens but not the males and I am in no doubt that they are out and about increasing the cat population.    

Today’s lunch is in the oven – Melitzanes Papoutsakia, i.e. eggplant halves stuffed with mince and topped with bechamel sauce (similar to Moussaka), to be accompanied by a lettuce and cucumber salad, bread and wine.  In the Greek language, papoutsakia means “little shoes” and that is what they resemble.   

Jillie sent a text this morning suggesting I meet them at 1400 hours at Petra Taverna in the Square.  In our company also was Reinhard, Gijs from the Netherlands and an English couple Bob and Lorna who looked very familiar to me.  Eventually came to realise they were on the same ferry as me last week from Gythio and had stayed for two nights at the same Hotel Leonidas in Gythio.  Some 4 years’ ago they bought a fully furnished and equipped house for 70,000 Euro (NZ$140,000 approx.) in the nearby village of Ayios Giorgos which is their permanent home.   

Roma has worked this week on Jillie and Rick’s balcony.   Not finished yet so no dancing on it for now!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.