Home
Greece Chapter 1
26-May-2000, Friday
We left Calgary on Thursday, May 25th, and arrived in Athens on Friday the 26th. We met up with J's co-worker, Dimitris, a few hours later when he arrived from Libya. Dimitris lives in Ioannina which is why we picked that town to stay in.
We spent the night in Athens and visited some of Dimitris' friends there. The next day, we flew on to Ioannina.
A couple of views from our Hotel and a zoom shot of the Acropolis from the balcony of Dimitris' friend (click on them for larger versions)
Dimitris' sister had found us a hotel room in the nearby village of Perama (only a few kilometers from Ioannina). The Persa Hotel was quite new and the room was nice. It had a private bath, a balcony, and twin beds (we made do). It didn't have any cooking facilities but it would do for a month or so until we could find a furnished apartment or something. The hotel promised to arrange for a phone in the room and a small refrigerator. Dimitris promised to take us to the OTE Phone company to arrange an Internet account.
Perama from our balcony, storks nest on the village church, and Ioannina across the lake
28-May-2000, Sunday
We went walking around the village the next afternoon. Locals were all telling us to go home and nap. They were probably right but our bodies were still on Calgary time even after the 12 hour sleep we had last night. Ian (one of L's co-workers from Lee Valley) would have loved this place. He kept insisting that it would be covered in Geraniums but it wasn't. It was climbing roses! The air is wonderful, there is humidity, for one thing (a rarity in Calgary), and then the smell of the roses. Such a wonderful base for the general smell of the village (roses, sheep, hay, charcoal cooking fires, and the ever present car/scooter).
We awoke to the sound of the sheep bells as they walked past our hotel (actually, J awoke to the sound of 100's of sparrows arguing in the trees nearby but it was the sheep that made us get up and look). Most of the houses have at least a few chickens in the yard. The streets are only 3 J & L couples wide (that's probably why so many of them are one-way) and most streets are cobbled, not paved.
We met another Canadian this afternoon (in time we began referring to her as "THE other Canadian in town"). Norma has been here 10 years and one of her first questions was why we picked her husband's village to come to. She probably thought that we were running away from taxes or something. She lives only a couple of doors down from our hotel, we will become good friends of her and her family.
View from our Hotel balcony, from a park in Ioannina, and looking down towards our hotel (it's behind the big house in the middle)
Ioannina and all the surrounding villages have a wonderfully authentic look to them. They are not "dressed up" for tourists. Neither are they poor towns. Beautiful white houses with red tile roofs cling to the lower slopes of tall hills all around the lake with mountains in the background. There are a lot of tourists here in the summer time but they are mostly all Greeks from the surrounding area, here to visit the caves, hills, lake, and mountain rivers (there's kayaking in the mountain rivers, we have no plans to try it, though). Most foreigners come through only on tour buses and only stop long enough to see the cave and then move on.
30-May-2000, Tuesday
We spent yesterday learning the bus route and exploring on our own. The local shops got in the first of the fresh cherries and peaches. The growing season here seems to be about 6 to 8 weeks ahead of Calgary. We picked out a shop to be our regular shop. It has a nice variety of fresh fruit that we pick up for breakfast. They don't even look at us strangely when we only buy 3 or 4 pieces and walk away eating them. Norma says that this whole village is pretty much related to each other (shades of Deliverance flashed through our minds, unjustly) so by now, they all know who we are and where we are from. And only two days since we arrived. Not bad.
31-May-2000, Wednesday
We visited the local tourist spot today, the Cave of Perama. It is really difficult to describe. A bit of the claustrophobia like the Great Pyramid in Egypt but with 100% humidity, room to move, and reasonably good lighting. Hope the photos turn out (they did).
J at the Entrance, one with the flash, and one without (you can just see L in the distance).
The view from the cave exit (composite of three photos)
4-Jun-2000, Sunday
It has been a busy few days, we have explored Perama and Ioannina mostly by foot, so lots of walking. We are getting into the afternoon nap habit just fine, thank you, as well as getting used to being up late. Today Bobbi, Dimitris' dad, took us to his home village of Asfaka where we saw his garden (ie. small farm). We went for coffee at a local Coffee shop (L is really beginning to enjoy iced coffee, what they call frappe) and then to his sister's house/restaurant for a "snack". We had Goat cheese, ripe tomatoes, cucumber, a paste made of walnuts and garlic (lots of garlic, L really liked it) and small, fried smelt-type fishes. J says they were tasty enough and "at least they cut the heads off but I wish they had been gutted as well". Oh, and way too much beer. We've quickly learned to eat what is put in front of us, knowing that people are serving us their best and/or favorite food. Most of it is really good even though many things we would never have tried at home.
We took our laptop (Hermes, god of messengers, thieves, and medicine) over to Norma's in the afternoon, hoping to use her Internet connection to send this first chapter off to our friends and family. Unfortunately, her connection wasn't working (it turned out that their account had run out and they hadn't gotten around to renewing it yet). No problem, we should be getting our phone soon and then we can get our own internet account.
Norma, youngest daughter Ellie, and L showing them Hermes, our laptop
Bobbi picked us up at 6:30 pm to take J to the airport so that he could go back to work in Libya. L is on her own for the next four and a half weeks.