Tropical Greece

Dear Friends and Family, What a difference a bit of wind makes! Monday we were sweltering with temperatures in the high 90s, at least. Tuesday the wind came up and it was delightful, with one of the nicest evenings we may have ever experienced in Greece. My day begin with a good walk to the village of Drepano, a real Greek village with none of the pretentiousness of tourist locations. Tolo, the beachside village to the west provides that completely different ambiance of a tourist beach location. More on that tomorrow. After the walk, Polley and I mostly just relaxed with our books until about 10:30 when we finally needed to face the reality of getting some supplies in. So we got in the car and headed to reacquaint ourselves with Maria, the proprietor of the market in Drepano. Maria is a delightful little plump lady of about 40, with the slightest smattering of English. However, when we got there, a young girl, perhaps Maria’s daughter, was working and she had quite good English. In fact, one of the things we were looking for were a few more hangars. She gave me the Greek for “hangar” (Kemastra) in exchange for the English. Anyway, we gathered in the usual initial supplies: paper towels, ouzo, tuna, eggs, mayo, etc. Once done, we rewarded ourselves with a little wine at a very local taverna on the town square

For 2.50 euro we had a very dry and quite nice local rosé, poured straight from the barrel. There was that breeze blowing and we just enjoyed sitting there watching the daily life of the village pass. One thing that proved kind of funny, was while we were drinking our wine, two local guys sat at another table chatting. Later, in the evening, we had dinner at a place called Nikos. When we arrived, the same two guys were sitting there still chatting away. It may have been all they accomplished all day. Once the wine was gone, and the shopping done, and a quick picture of the Drepano church taken,

we came back to enjoy the fruits of our labors; we had lunch! The rest of the afternoon was a combination of reading and resting. We did go to Ingrid’s little bar for a drink around 5 and had a nice conversation with Yorgos. We have always enjoyed the social interaction around that little bar. So far it has been a bit quiet, but business is expected to pick up as we move into September. Then Polly and I headed for dinner at the “Tavernetta.”

It does not seem particularly small to deemed a “Tavernetta,” but Nikos is a pleasant fellow and as I said, the night was so nice that we just had a leisurely evening, sipping on ouzo, and enjoying a very nice Spanakopita (spinach pie) and stuffed tomatoes and stuffed peppers.

We had been hankering for these, but they were not on the menu last night. We had seen them on Nikos’ menu last year, but he did not have them because it was too early in the season. Last night, they were there and they were delicious. One thing to know about eating at Greek tavernas, it that basically their menus all read the same. What you must look at is which dishes have a price opposite the item. If a price is listed, they have it, if not, you will not find it in the kitchen. Not to belabor the point, it was a lovely, almost tropical evening with a nearly full moon

Then it was back to Ingrid, where both Ingrid and Yorgos seemed really charged up. We had more to drink, mostly what Ingrid kept pouring in our glass and finally around 11 we gave up and staggered to bed. It feels so good to be here.