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Greece Chapter 4
12-July-2000, Wednesday
Laundry today.
L mopped down our front step and swept up the cobblestone alley in front of our house. In return, a couple of our neighbours said hello. We think that they are getting used to us being around. Other people in the neighbourhood are starting to say hello as well rather then just staring at us (it's the Tilley hats that throw them off).
Our house is on Peston street. When you turn onto Peston, you go up about two houses and turn left into a narrow alleyway between two houses. The alley, about 6 or 7 feet wide, goes in one house-width and turns right. There are about 6 or 7 narrow houses along this alleyway and they are all part of Peston even though they are not actually on Peston. Peston street and our alleyway are all paved in stone. Our front steps are made of white marble. The main floor of our house is a combination of white marble and rose marble.
Once on Peston street turn left at the yellow house,
at the end of the alley, turn right,
and we are the third door down (with the marble steps).
Anyway, picked up gyro-pitas (i.e. donairs) and a couple of souvlakies (little kabobs, the word translates to 'small stick') for supper.
13-July-2000, Thursday
Went to Perama with the laptop to show mama the Gold Detector. Mama made us some Greek coffees while we waited for Norma to show up and translate. It seems mama is satisfied with the Detector and was ready to get the money out of the bank on Monday. We told her to hold off while we e-mailed the company and found out about shipping to Greece, etc.
Norma took us to her favorite drugstore (she likes the pharmacist but don't tell her husband, he's the jealous type) for some bug repellant. Apparently we couldn't find it in the grocery stores because it is considered medicine and therefore belongs in a drugstore. The Greeks here tend to specialize because there are so many small stores. L and Vikki once got a flat on Vikki's scooter and they went to a service station to get it filled with air. The air didn't stay in and L asked Vikki if they could just fix it here and Vikki said no way, you have to go to a Tire store for that. Therefore, you can get 'Raid' at a supermarket but you have to go to a drugstore for 'Off' (not that they necessarily have those brand names but you get the point).
We came home on the bus (right to our corner, too). We stopped off and picked up a grilled chicken (he cut it up with shears, put it in an aluminum pan and squirted it with lemon juice and sprinkled some oregano on it). We had some of it with a Greek (of course) salad and some bread. The large chicken, cooked, cost about 7.00 Cdn. Not bad.
In the evening, we went window shopping in downtown. We saw some very nice carpets at very reasonable prices. The first place we looked had machine made silk carpets from Belgium for under 150.00 Cdn. The second store had wool carpets made in Greece for about 400.00 Cdn. We did some more window shopping and then stopped at a restaurant on the way home for supper. Note that many of the restaurants that we stop in would be shut down by health inspectors back home who wouldn't even have to enter the front door. It's not that the places are especially dirty or anything, it's just that they are old and will probably never look clean again. Also, the food preparation standards leave something to be desired by North American standards. All in all though, we have been eating in quite a few of these places and we seem to be just fine so we think that the people are conscientious enough to keep the food safe. It's also where we have been finding the best (and cheapest) food. This place served us two very large plates of mutton stew and two beer for only about 14.00 Cdn. Keep in mind that the beer here tends to be in half-liter bottles rather then the piddly little 330 ml cans you find at home. Very good food and very good prices.
14-July-2000, Friday
Today, we took the bus to Preveza. It's a coastal town just over 100 kilometers from Ioannina and it took about 1-1/2 hours to get there. We went up and down many hills and the landscape was pretty consistent until we went through a tunnel about 2/3 of the way there. It was a small tunnel but, when we came out the other side, we saw a noticeable difference in climate. The first thing we saw was olive groves. We hadn't seen many olive trees around home but there were plenty of them now. We also saw cacti (looked like prickly-pear type cacti) and a few palm trees and lots of bamboo plants.
In Preveza, we walked along the docks and looked at the boats. We made are way over the beaches and eventually found a spot to settle down and go swimming. WRONG! The water turned out to be a little colder than we would have preferred (actually, a fair bit colder). We waded in for a while and then just sat on the warm beach for the rest of the time. On our way back to the bus station, we stopped at a little cafe and each had a bratwurst in a pita. Not bad. Got home around 7PM.
15-July-2000, Saturday
Good thing we went to Preveza yesterday, it rained all afternoon today and most of the evening. We did some shopping in the morning and then stayed home the rest of the day.
16-July-2000, Sunday
Overcast, lazy day. Most everything was closed today. We visited Vikki in the evening after going out for pizza. Vikki gave L a bicycle to use. Hopefully, when we fill the tires, they will stay filled. There was a band in the square near our house this evening. They started around 9PM, just as we were headed for supper, and they stopped somewhere around 3AM. We went to bed around 2AM and managed to fall asleep sometime before they stopped. Even with the band facing away from us the volume was quite loud. The music was great (traditional Greek, etc.) but the feedback on the speakers was terrible at times.
17-July-2000, Monday
OK, things get marginally more interesting again. Norma is tutoring a couple of young teens in Zitsa, a nearby mountain village, and she invited us to come along for the ride. We checked our busy social calendar and said yes.
Zitsa is situated near the top of an old mountain (ie. tall hill) surrounded by tall oak trees. There are a lot of vineyards on the hillsides and they supposedly make a rather nice wine. We picked up a small bottle to have with lunch tomorrow so we'll let you know. They say that the poet Lord Byron spent a lot of time in Ioannina and that he really liked Zitsa. He spent a number of days in a Monastery in Zitsa and wrote 'Child Herald' there. The Monastery was small but the artwork inside the chapel was very impressive (unfortunately, they asked us not to take pictures inside). The wall paintings were barely visible in places, however, due to all the smoke from candles and incense, etc. over the years. Some of the art was damaged by the Turks when they invaded Greece and banned Christianity. The Turks also banned the Greek language but our 'guide' showed us where a small 'secret school' was hidden behind a false wall. We were told that many books and 'vocabularies' where kept there and children were taught at night when they were supposedly asleep.
We also stopped at a small winery but it was closed. Just as well, said Norma. They would probably have had us try a little of everything and then none of us would have been sober enough to drive back down the mountain. We wouldn't have had too big a problem with that but Norma has kids so she can't just go missing overnight. Oh well.
The wine was quite nice, we couldn't take pictures
inside the monastery,
and the winery was closed
We wandered around town for a while, taking pictures and then we met Norma and her two students at a Cafe. Norma got us to sit and talk to the students for a while as part of her tutoring so that they would get a feel for English conversation. Apparently, Greeks do not 'converse'. Norma says they banter and they argue but they don't just talk. We're not quite sure what that means but, as we learn more Greek, we will probably get a better feel for it.
Zitsa, a fairly typical Greek mountain side town
The band was back in the square again tonight but the feedback seemed to be under control this time. We went to bed around midnight so we don't know for sure when the music stopped but it was probably around 3AM again.