Each day begins with a walk. I head in one of two directions, west to the beachside town of Tolo and east to a very small, yet very traditional Greek village, Drepano. Yesterday, I headed for Tolo. The skies were quite cloudy and gray (more about that later). I am now trying to make sure the camera is with me on these jaunts as there are some pretty amazing sights. Yesterday, I caught this fellow looking for morning snack on the dumpster!
Bon appetite!
Tolo is pretty typical of any beach town. It sits on a calm bay. This photo was taken on the road leading into town, across that bay.
It still seems to be very quiet. Everyone says that business is down and added to that is that it is still a bit early in the season. Some hotels and inn, in fact, have not even opened. Apparently, to take advantage of all that Greece has to offer, you really need to come in July and August. The problem is, of course, it becomes very crowded. You just can’t win!
Walking east, as I did the day before is the village of Drepano. It is quite a contrast to Tolo. While what seems to be happening in Tolo at 8 am, is the sight of various groups of tourists staggering out of the few hotels operating in early May and getting on to waiting tour coaches. Restaurant owners complain that these tours come for an afternoon and a night in Tolo, but many are all inclusive so they eat and drink at the hotel and hardly see the town, let alone spend any money in it. By 8 the next morning, they are on their way.
Drepano, on the other hand, is an active village at 8 am.
Old Greek men sit at various tavernas drinking strong black coffee. Old women, in their long, black dress with their hose around their ankles, sensible nun shoes, sit talking, often with some embroidery in their hands. Young kids are on their way to school, walking hand-in-hand with a schoolmate or with a parent. Older kids are zipping into and out of town on motorbikes. Bakeries are open and Maria in her market is rolling up the doors. It is alive.
Yesterday, Polley and I went into both Tolo and Drepano. Tolo was a housekeeping excursion. While Ingrid’s is nicely furnished and the kitchens quite nicely equipped, the size of the coffee cups just don’t meet American standards. While we do like to live as the locals lives, when it comes to the size of mugs, a change was necessary.
Ingrid’s cup is on the right, the new standard is on the left.
Our trip to Drepano was for supplies. We found ourselves back at Maria’s.
What for? You guessed it, cat food! Our bungalow has a veritable parade of cats throughout the day and all through the night. Sleep is often disturbed with the lyrical sounds of cats crunching Friskies.
While in Drepano, we stopped for a glass of wine under the shade of some trees.
We just sat there and watched the daily life of a Greek village go by. One thing you see in the old Greek villages is the most fascinating group of faces. Clothes around the world may look similar, but faces are much more distinctive. I will try to capture some of those faces in future blogs.
One of the things that has always been fun in Greece is being exposed to the various salespeople who pass through the town, usually on some bull horn announcing their wares. We have seen the standard fish, vegetable and meat trucks, along with those selling plastic patio furniture. Yesterday was a new entrepreneur. Ye Olde Brother Hubbard and his Shoe Mobile!
He pulled up at an intersection and people came flocking, including, of course, my wife!
When we returned home for lunch, Ingrid predicted a thunderstorm at 6 p.m. She was right, however, it came a bit earlier, around 5. We sat with Ingrid at the bar as the rains poured down. We also decided to just stay in last night, enjoying a wonderful Greek potato salad that she made. We have previously done little cooking at Ingrid’s, but with have been a bit more adventurous this time. Partly, it is still early and the weather has been changeable. Better days are predicted for the weekend and the first of the week. I will stay in touch .
Ed and Polley
No comments:
Post a Comment