August 2007

It has been a while since I put pen to paper (or should I say fingers to keys) to write a letter. To let you know how our life is going here in sunny Greece.

As you will have heard by e-mail we are still here and liable to be so for a few more months. The job is getting easier, but there are some items, such as a full tax audit of the bank’s books from 1998 until now, to be completed.  This involves me in meetings with auditors, consultants, accountants and lawyers.  Sounds like a lot of fun eh? Not!!!!

However the beauty of it all is that we can play more golf and do more travelling.  We are picking off all the places we have wanted to go, and now have a pretty good idea of which areas are of interest to us.  I am going to use a recent weekend as an example of some of the trips we have taken.

It is Friday morning about 10.30 and we are in the car loaded with all the stuff we will require for the weekend.  Cameras, clothing, swimwear, chairs for the beach and so on.  I have completed all the phone calls I need to do for the day and we are clear.

We head down to the National Road, a major highway leading from Athens to all points north. However on this occasion we are heading south to link up with the west bound highway out of Athens.  We are headed for the Pelopennese, first stop Corinth. 

It is hot as ‘Hades’, and the temperature indicator in the car is showing 39’C to 42’C.  It takes a long time to clear out of Athens even at this time of day, so we are stuck in traffic surrounded by hot buildings.  Thank God for air conditioning.  Many Athenians are also on the road going on vacation or like us just going for the weekend.

Once we are clear of the city and it’s environs we can get up to speed.  We generally cruise at about 130 to 140 kmph (the speed limit is 120).  However, we are constantly being overtaken by crazed Greeks doing 160 or 180.  There is a high level of testosterone in the Greek male and many of the females too!

Our first stop about 1 ½ hours later, is at the Corinth Canal, where we have, in the past, found a restaurant with a good toilet, fair fast food, and reasonable coffee.  It is situated beside the Canal. The Canal was started in Roman times, and eventually finished by a Frenchman in the 18 hundreds. The canal is quite a sight, and many people stop to have a wee look.  It was dug through 4 kilometres of solid rock.

On this occasion we do not stop for long as we still have a long way to go.  In any case we have visited the Canal on a number of occasions with friends and family.

We are now heading for Tripoli (pronounced Tripoleeeee in Greek).  It is a good highway paid for by tolls along the way, and well within an hour we have covered the 100 km to Tripoli.

By passing Tripoli we head for Sparta, which is about 60 km further on.  The road is not nearly so good and one has to watch for the testosterone driven Greeks coming around corners too fast and on your side of the road.  We managed to miss all of them and made it to Sparta.  This town is rather disappointing considering it’s history of the warrior race who lived there.  Apparently, the Spartans examined babies after they were born to decide if they were flawless and going to be strong enough and make good warriors or warrior baby makers.  If they were not strong enough they were thrown over a nearby cliff. When a boy reached the age of seven, he was taken from his mother and put in very harsh camps to make him into hard heartless killer.  The kids were fed little and had to fight for their food, or steal it.  If they were caught stealing they were punished, not for stealing, but for getting caught.  You can just imagine the type of people this must have created.

We did not stop long as there is little left to see.  The Spartans did not build forts or castles, which might have lived on, for as you can imagine no one came near them!

On now to much narrower roads and with many a twist and turn we reach our destination, the small and ancient town of Monemvasia.  It is situated on an island at the very bottom of the Pelopennese. The island was formed by an earthquake in 374AD, and one can clearly see how the large rock split from the mainland.  It formed a natural defense for the people of that time, and it is referred to as the ‘Rock of Gibraltar of Greece’.

The town built on the island within a high city wall, and was obviously well defended for it was never taken in battle despite many attempts.  The only way it was ever taken by an invader was by siege, and on a number of occasions that took up to three years to complete.  It did have many inhabitants throughout the centuries.  The local Monemvasians were there at the beginning.  Another of these Greek city states.  It was held by the Venicians, the Knights of St. John (the Crusaders) and the Turks.  There is evidence of all of the inhabitants in the architecture.

A causeway was built in the 6th century from the mainland.  Now you can drive right up to the old city gate.  However, that is as far as you can go.  You must park your car and walk into the city with all of your baggage (so don’t take too much!)  As you pass through the gate it is like walking into the past.  The lanes are very narrow, and the houses are as they were a thousand years ago.  Eventually we find our hotel and Rosa takes us to our room.  We have to hike off again with all of our stuff through the town, across the old square and past an ancient church. Our room is hidden on the lower side of town (I don’t think it is a slight on our capacity to pay).  Up some stairs, unlock a padlock on the door and in we go.  The ceiling is very low (watch your head Dave!), but the first little room is nicely set up with a small couch, some wooden stools, a sink and a hot ring. Up some stairs to the bedroom. 

Very rustic, but clean, and with an en-suite shower room and toilet.  The toilet and shower are actually in the same space, so one could almost do two things at the same time, but it does make everything very wet and slippery, particularly the marble floors.  Anyway it is quite adequate for our purposes, so we settle in and then go for a stroll around town to get our bearings.

The town is built on a slope down to the sea.  Up above is the upper town which, can be reached by climbing a very steep path/stairway.  Not to be tackled now, better in the cool of the morning.

After our walk we are ready for a glass of wine (we always bring some refreshment with us), and then a wee snooze before dinner.

We have dinner within the town, and sit on a balcony over looking the sea.  Given that we start dinner at 9pm we have a beautiful view of the moon rising full over the ocean with the moonlight glinting off the water.  Dinner consists of the standard Greek appetizers such as Tzatziki, Greek Salad etc., and then on to Souvlaki washed down with half a caraf of red wine.  After dinner we stroll down to the waters edge, holding hands in the moonlight.  It is all very romantic as we head for our room.

We wake early the next morning, and get up and out early to get the best light for our photographs.  We wander around town taking some photographs and then climb the winding stairway to the upper town.  This part of the town has been abandoned, and given the steepness of the climb I do not blame them.

A quick shower and brush up and then we are ready for the day.  We decide to go exploring and leave the town of Monemvasia, taking the car over the causeway again to the village on the other side where we find a very nice restaurant overlooking the harbour where we can sit in the sun for breakfast.  Not our usual breakfast however as all they have are chocolate filled croissants, very hard toast and jam and at least a good cup of tea.

So eventually at 10.30 am we are off along the coast looking for a good place to spend the day.  We end up on a small beach, which is a dead-end and not very attractive, so we turn around and then head up and over the peninsula to an island on the otherside to which we have been recommended.  It is called Elefonisi and supposedly has very good beaches. 

After some exploring around through a few farmyards and dirt roads we find the right road.  Road signage is limited and mostly in Greek which makes life very interesting at times.

We arrive at the ferry jetty for the island to be faced with a long line of traffic waiting for the ferry over to the island.  It is of course Saturday and many Greeks are out for a day on the beach.  Greeks seem to like to congregate in large numbers on the beaches, surrounded by noise, vendors and restaurants.  This is not our style so we look along the coast and find a small beach with some umbrellas for hire (Euro 5 for the day -Cdn$ 7.50), so we grab one of these.  The water is perfect, a little cool from the 35’C temperature outside, but lovely and warm when you are immersed.   We open our books and stretch out to enjoy the peace and quiet.  We find a small bar nearby and have a beer and some nuts for lunch, an idyllic spot to spend the day. 

At 4.30 pm we decide to try and find our way back to Monemvasia , and after an interesting journey through new farmyards and very steep and rocky roads we reach our destination. (Note to self: pass on roads marked in yellow on this map).

Back at our room and a couple of glasses of wine make us ready for a siesta (who says the Greeks are crazy this siesta thing is a great idea. 

At 8.30 pm we decide to walk the causeway in the moonlight to have dinner in one of the restaurants in the village on the other side.  It is a lovely evening and the road is busy with Greeks heading into Monemvasia for dinner.  We find an ‘open air’ restaurant situated right on the beach. We can sit at our table with our feet in the sand.  The owner serves us and is delighted to hear that we are from Canada.  His two brothers are restaurateurs in Montreal.  We have a very nice dinner of Kalimari and a local fish, some red wine, and we feel that we are receiving special treatment.  We are both a little shocked when the bill come for the princely sum of Euro 75 (Cdn $ 110).  However, I guess it is time to squeeze the money out of the foreign visitors.  We keep forgetting to say that we live in Athens in these situations.  A lovely walk back up the causeway leads to bed, which we are both ready for.

Next morning we rise a little later and decide to go exploring in the other direction.  Our guidebook tells us that there is an interesting historic site, about 60 kms away in the town of Geraki.

A quick breakfast at small outdoor restaurant at our door gets us on our way.  It consisted of orange juice followed by yogurt and honey (a standard Greek breakfast).  The location is lovely, see photo, but the price is out of sight at Euro 17 (Cdn $ 25).  Again it is hot and we head off across country through some barren land and then olive grove after olive grove.

Ancient Geraki proved to be a bit of a bust in that the site was not open.  We found the modern?? town, which was situated on a small hill, and consisted of ancient houses and very narrow alleys.  We were not sure if the town has a one way system, but clearly only one car can fit down any road (alley) at one time.  We only stayed long enough to have a beer in the local square (platia) where the men were sitting discussing the politics of the day, and drinking ouzo.

We moved on to Molia where we had lunch in yet another platia, and then climbed up through the town to view the surrounding countryside from a church situated on the hill above the town.  The Greeks like to put their churches in places where you have to work or pay a penance to get there.

We wander back to Monemvasia and after yet another siesta, have our last dinner here in a garden restaurant. The food was basic, but tasty. 
We are both pooped and head for bed early.  Up in the morning, and having settled our hotel bill the night before, we are free to be on the road at 8.30am.  As we leave we see a lovely ship sitting in the bay.

We follow the eastern route, which takes us through the Parnonas mountains. The scenery is magnificent and in one area we have to descend about a thousand feet through hairpin bend after hairpin bend.

On up the coast road which has many twists and turns but magnificent views over the ocean, beaches and lovely summer homes to Napflio. Eventually we reach Corinth again, and the highway back to Athens.  We arrive back in our home at 2pm and I head to the office to catch up on the e-mails.

Such is a weekend with the Tait’s.  Anyone want to join us on one of our trips??