Well the last couple of days, following the Big Fat Greek Party were largely devoted to recovery. It was 8:30 am before Polley and I crawled out of bed (for those of you who know us that equates to about noon for the normal!) I did finally recover enough to get in a morning walk, this time Drepano. Walks are becoming increasingly warm and I usually return completely drenched. Days are now regularly topping our in the low 80s.
We helped Ingrid clean up a bit following the party. Because of the heat, we thought it better to walk to Tolo, along the beach, for a glass of wine. We returned for lunch and our siesta and then just enjoyed the day and our books. Polley is working her way through Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and I finished up Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer, which is an easy read, but great fun. I have now jumped into David Grossman’s To the End of the Land, which I am enjoying, but is not an easy read.
Saturday evening some of the guests gathered around the bar. Some other friends, Frank and Irena, also came over, having been the object of a horror story at their condominium. The only “it takes only one bad apple to spoil the barrel” certainly seemed to apply as they struggle with an abusive owner in a nine-owner partnership. While I sometimes envy the ease of condo living, the hassles in association meetings I have heard about, seem to make it less than ideal. We did have a more light-hearted moment as Ingrid decided to become a two-handed smoker from her position behind bar.
About 9 Polley and I were to meet Martha, her friend, Merta, and the Italian film director, Ennio and his wife for dinner at a friend of Martha’s, Ilias. He owns a place in Tolo. We were, of course, early, like a half hour or more. However, we got some wine and just sat outside on the sidewalk. It was a still, warm evening; I think it is the nicest night we have had since arriving. Tolo was alive with activity, both Greek families and some tourists . Martha and her entourage arrived about 9:45 and we then had a feast that nearly defies description.
We started with this work of art.
It is a Greek salad and it was amazing. Sculptured skins of cucumbers and tomatoes formed to appear as flowers. Beside this were huge chunks of feta smothered in olive oil and oregano. That was followed by mussels in a tomato sauce, something called Saganaki Shrimp. There were, of course, endless carafes of wine and then, the main course, fish.
Martha was almost a surgeon in her deboning of it. We then has a grappa-like shot of white lightening. It was nearly one in the morning by the time we staggered into our bungalow. So much for resting up on vacation!
Sunday was another nice day. But we made sure it was for ourselves. Well, almost. In her drunkenness, Polley has volunteered to show Martha and Merta a couple of Pilates exercises for helping the back. So at noon we found ourselves on the side of the road above Tolo, waiting to follow Martha up to her home. She and Merta each own small bungalows above Tolo. The view is marvelous. The bungalow is not really much bigger than what we have at Ingrid’s, but the view of the bay defies description. So I will just show the pictures.
We didn’t stay long, but did manage to stop at Kastraki for a glass of wine. It was the first time in quite a while that there were just the two of us. It was nice to sit by the water and we were pleased that Kastraki was full. The tourists have been slow to arrive, but it now appears, as the weather warms up, that they are on their way.
That evening we planned another period of time alone with dinner at Nikos. However, we had not been in the restaurant 10 minutes when this fellow, a regular, struck up a conversation with us . . . and did not stop all evening.
He calls himself Frederico and he is from Austria. Fascinating guy who appears to be a homeless person, but who, in fact, seems to have some money and just chooses to appear to be a bum!
Very nice, but his limited English made it an exhausting evening. Turns out he is a big country music fan and he was delighted when I told him he looked like Kris Kristofferson! It is in fact kind of true. Kris would just need to be missing all his upper teeth! Service was very slow at Nikos as well. By the time our entrée came, we were too full of Tzatziki and bread that we just had Niko box it up for another day.
Like most places, the social calendar just seems to grow and grow. A couple of days of rest are in order. We shall see if that happens.
Ed and Polley
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