The weather has certainly changed here, at last! Yesterday was another pleasant, warm day. Polley and I, in anticipating at trip to Athens to see the new Acropolis Museum, went into Napflio to check on the bus schedule. While I have driven in Athens before, it is not fun. So we are looking to take an early bus into the city sometime next week, visit the museum and perhaps just reacquaint ourselves with the city. We have certainly enjoyed it in the past, but it has been several years since we have spent much time there. The only problem now is that since the new economic restrictions, there have been flash strikes, closing down the city. That means that busses, all government buildings, including museums and even the University shut down. We hope to avoid one of those days.
We enjoyed the sunshine in Napflio. After getting a sense of the schedule for bus, we strolled the quaint streets lined with interesting, but often, very expensive shops. Things are still quiet in the town and in talking with one shop owner, her business is down about 50%. She says the islands are quite busy, but the Peleponnese seems to be suffering. We stopped for some wine and did what has become our favorite thing, just watching the activity on the large central square. There is a preponderance of kids, but, as we all know, they can entertain as well. After the wine and watching, we headed back to Ingrid’s.
Lunch and a siesta and some reading. We have read a number of good books on this trip. Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, The Postmistress and The Help are all worth looking for. We are both now becoming committed e-book readers. It is so easy to carry and the whole world of books is open to you with the ease of an internet connection.
We have had a couple of nice evenings with Ingrid, Yorgos and other guests. Polley got a call into Rae and all seems well at home.
We headed off to dinner at Kastraki, the little place up the road that we go to regularly. Lovely sitting on the bay, very nice people, and very good food. Last night we tried something called “Eggplant Imam.” We also had shrimp dish in a very tasty tomato sauce with feta, and peppers. It was a little tricky to eat. The shrimp, heads, tails, shell and all, were huge and covered in tomato sauce so that you could hardly see the shell from the flesh. Excellent flavor, however. Also had the requisite, flat, friend potatoes. Wonderful.
The night before we tried a new place in the village of Drepano, called The Pelican. It looked like a nice setting and as we sat down they handed us a huge menu. However, when the owner, Yanis, came to discuss it with us, they seemed to have only about one thing for each category! No matter when we seemed to be drawn to, was not available. The one category that seemed to have the most options, was the meat and we just don’t eat a lot of meat in Greece. Why would you? Eventually, we had a delicious fried cheese (saganaki), some zucchini balls (if you weren’t aware that they had them) that looked a bit like oatmeal cookies. They were also very good. We then had the strangest calamari I have ever had. It was the whole squid, grilled. It was then our job to cut it up and eat it.
It was very livery tasting and Polley thought it was very fishy. Not our favorite calamari. The tail, however, was wonderful. Anyway, not high marks for The Pelican. The owner later came over to us and said that this early in the season and on a Monday, selection is always limited. He hoped we would return on a weekend. He then proceeded to vent about the Greek government, the economy and the European Union. Like every where else we have been, the creation of the European Union and the advent of the Euro seems to have widened the gulf between the haves and have-nots. People are really struggling. When you add the declining tourist dollars, things do not look bright for the future.
Nevertheless, we are trying to do our part and enjoying ourselves and the people. More later.
Ed and Polley
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