Greece Time is Winding Down

Dear Friends and Family, Our time in Greece really is winding down. We are at the point where we are giving thought to which tavernas to get back to, which Greek dishes to order, how to get one more shot at the beach and what to finish up in the refrigerator. So, yesterday it was once more to Karathona Beach for a dip in the Mediterranean. It is not only a nice setting, but the place we go has lovely beach chairs and tables all for free. You are just sort of obligated to by a drink or two. For us, we share a large Mythos beer over about an hour an then head to a taverna. The Greek sun is so hot at this time of year that an hour is really more than enough. Yesterday we did our hour and then it was time to decide which taverna. Polley selected the little, very traditional taverna in Drepano. I have pictured it before as it looks out on the bustle of activity of this very small village. The lady now knows what we want to order (the guy at the beach also greets us with, “One Mythos, no glass!) and it is almost on the table before we sit down. Then it was over to Maria at the grocery for another tomato. The tomatoes are going to be sorely missed upon leaving the country. We can only hope there are some in France. We had a lovely lunch of Tomato, flat Green Beans and Kalamata olives, washed down, of course, with a bit of Retsina. Then it was siesta. After getting up, it apparently siesta time for the youngest kitten on the premises.

He was a very scrawny little fellow when we arrived and, in fact, was under nourished. Polley has been on a mission with him. She has continually encouraged him to eat. The result is that he is growing and that he required an afternoon siesta as well

Around 6, we thought we knew the rest of our evening and had planned to go to our little Kastraki taverna. First mistake was stopping by to see Yorgos and Ingrid at the bar. Actually, we do it almost nightly, but tonight it turned out that Yorgos has bought a fish in Nafplio and Ingrid decided the two of them could not manage to eat it. So, we were invited to share. I had had my mouth set on the wonderful fried potatoes at Kastraki, so I got an order to go. Amazingly, Ingrid, who was short an onion of the salad, told me to ask the taverna for an onion to go with my potato order. And they sold me one! I just told them “Crazy Ingrid” wants an onion . . . no problem! When I got back the table was set

And we we sat down to potatos, a lovely salad, a whole fish stuffed with with garlic, oregano and rosemary. It was delicious. Everything was good. I added a bottle of wine we had bought in Nemea and the party was on

Eventually, the young German couple showed up with the husband’s parents. They spoke little English. Another German couple arrived and they did not seem to have much English as well. So, after 20 minutes of listening to strange guttural sounds, we exceused ourselves and went back to the bungalow for a very small ouzo and, hopefully, a very long snooze!