A Bit of Wine and Watching in the Afternoon in the Village

We’ve been a bit preoccupied with ‘house things’ since arriving in our part of Greece’s Mani two weeks ago today. 

Inside and outside - projects. 
Errands and deliveries.
Repairmen and installers.

Yes, turning that daydream of ours into what we envisioned for The Stone House on the Hill required some focus. But we’ve seen the proverbial  ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and are slowing our pace on projects.

For a treat every so often after chores are done, we’ve headed to our village, Agios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas) to join the cafe culture ritual of ‘watching’.

‘Watching’ isn’t limited to people, but includes cars, buses, bikes and the like. What ever passes by is fair game for ‘watching’.

(That is ‘Ag. Nik’ in the distance - 4k away – our closer village, Ag. Dimitrios doesn’t have a cafe or taverna.




In our case, we sip a bit of wine as after all it is usually 6 p.m. or later – the time of day we consider evening, but considered by locals to be afternoon. The sun doesn’t set until about 8:45.

Main Street in Agios Nikolaos

I wanted to have you join us on one of these outings. So I picked an afternoon/evening at our newest bistro in town, Bistrot Rock Cafe. Run by a lady named Ellie (who runs a restaurant, Ellie’s, two doors down) it offers inside seating but we prefer outside seating on either side of the main road that runs along the water’s edge. A perfect spot for watching:

Settled in for 'watching'

We order our wine here by the pitcher, a miso kilo of krasi to be exact, or a half liter of wine. These are our some of our favorite Greek wines – served from a barrel or, these days, a cardboard box – and they usually cost no more than 4 euros.

Bus from Kalamata

We instinctively pull our feet back as the bus from Kalamata eases past us on the southbound run at 7:10. And if we are still there, pull back again as he returns heading north to Kalamata a half hour later.

Bus stop in Ag. Nik

The bus stop is right across the street from where we are sitting and is marked by the KTEA blue sign right under the word Gregg’s on the cafe canopy. We watch arrivals and departures.

We watch the 'watchers'

From our spot we can also watch the town locals gather in those blue chairs right at the edge of the port so that they can watch the fishermen prepare their boats and set out for a night of fishing. (In the morning, they sit in those same places and watch as the night’s catch is sold.) Now if you look closely, between the third and fourth post from the left you will see our Stone House on the Hill. Okay, so I admit, I often remark, “Can you believe that is OUR house up there?!?!?”

A quick visit

Now some of you might be rolling your eyes and thinking, “How boring could that be?” But it is a great way to get to know schedules, and people, like the little old man who rides his bike to the port every night about 7 and is called “El Capitan” by the locals. We are beginning to recognize the three boys who ‘Drag the Ave’ on this stretch of road; their bike chains clanking as they pedal past time and time again. We watch the motorcycle pull up so that the waitress can hug and kiss the wee ones riding on it (yes, they do stack them on it without helmets; just don’t think about it).

This ritual of ‘watching’ is one of the enchantments of Greece as far as we are concerned. It drew us here. And it will keep us coming back, time and time again.  Glad you could join us! Thanks for the time you spend with us – and happy travels to you and yours! Have you had similar Greek or other European village experiences?

Note: I just learned that it wasn’t our travels that knocked me off Live Writer, it was a system-wide glitch that has just been corrected by the techno whiz kids at Microsoft and Google.  So this is a test run to see if the glitch is gone. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start posting photos from the Far and Middle East ports of call we visited prior to coming here.  Please do come back soon!

Linking up this week with:
Travel Photo Thursday
Weekend Travel Inspirations