Greece: Searching for “That” Stone House. . .

Our travels in Greece the last week have brought us back to Kardamyli, the town on the west coast of the Peloponnesian central peninsula, that we first visited last year.

Kardamyli, Greece

  

We returned to this village in The Mani; as we were as taken with it as had been the English-born writer Patrick Leigh Fermor and American David Mason. Both have written of its beauty. . .and both of them, like us, have been hoodwinked by its charms.

Think Tuscany and you’ve got an image of this area ~ only this is better, we’ve decided and we do love Tuscany.  From our balcony at Hotel Vardia we look over a lush green countryside covered with olive and orange groves stretching from the snow-capped Taygetos Mountains to the east  to the Messinian Gulf to the west. Mediterranean cypress trees are scattered about as if added with an artist’s brush.

We had planned to stay here for four nights but we’ve already extended that to seven (it is nice to travel as we do with flexibility built in). 

One of the many we've visited so far in our search

You see, we are searching for ‘that’ stone house.
'That’ perfect house. . . to buy.
A second home.
A getaway.
A daydream.

And perhaps we are simply chasing a daydream. . .ahh, but for those of you who remember Bucerias, Mexico. . .you will know, perhaps not.

Daydreaming. . .of possibilities

Many who know us well, won’t be surprised  when I say part of our day today was spent in a law office chatting with an Albanian contractor who has a home he wants us to buy (and his sister who helped translate) and two Greek lawyers, one of whom spoke English and translated the rapid-fire Greek answers to our questions. Note to lawyers out there: we were there for a half hour and there was no charge.

Later we were hiking a goat trail through an olive grove to get a better look at another house that had caught our interest.  And even if it is a daydream, it isn’t every tourist who can say they’ve had that experience, right?

Lemon tree and artichokes abound this time of year

“You’ve been here before?” asked a shop owner two days ago, “and you are American?"  She shook her head in disbelief. “Americans usually come only once – they stay for two nights; they come with a tour, it is called Rick Steves, you have heard of it?”

Too bad they don’t stay longer, we thought. They, too, would likely be seeking ‘that’ house for themselves.

We've had some problems with the blog in recent days so I hope to be back soon but if not, I will as soon as we are able.  Watch for daily updates on Facebook and Instagram.  Hope to link up with Travel Photo Thursday (if I can figure out when Thursday is in South Korea vs. Greece - we just had daylight savings time here so we are now 10 hours ahead of West Coast America.)