Stretching Our Horizons ~ Mani to Manson

You are the one who can stretch your own horizon.

              -- Edgar Magnin

I like the idea of stretching our horizons but when it requires a 22-hour day of air planes and airports followed a few days later by a four-hour cross-state driving trip, I’ll admit I was questioning the need for such expansion.

Lufthansa brought us from Athens to Seattle -

If you’ve been a part of our adventures for any length of time, you know we are American expats who live full-time in Greece. We pulled up roots in the US just over a year ago and set off to ‘live differently’ for awhile. Remnants of our US life went into a storage unit and we set off for adventure.

Our Stone House on the Hill in the Mani, Greek Peloponnese

It didn’t take too many months though before we started asking ourselves: Do we really want to keep paying for an expensive storage unit in the Seattle suburbs? Do we need a U.S. address? Do we need a place to call our home when the adventure ends?

The other end of the horizon - Manson, Washington

The answers resulted in the latest stretch of our horizon.  We still live full-time in rural Greece, but also have just moved into a home in rural Washington State.  It is the ‘just in case’ place where our belongings are a bit more lovingly stored and comes with an assurance we have a place to go when the dreaded ‘if’ appears on our current horizon. . .if Greece doesn’t renew our residency permit. . .if health (mental or physical) dictate an early end to our adventure. . .if we tire of ‘living differently’ elsewhere in the world. We've had reports that a 'Medicane' (Mediterranean hurricane is barreling towards the Peloponnese this weekend while we are in the States moving so we are hoping that one of those 'if's' isn't, 'if a storm destroys our home while we are away. . .'

While some might call us prudent others might see us as paranoid.  We simply see it as stretching our horizons once again.  Hopefully to include the best of both worlds.

From one end of the horizon to the other

Lake Chelan on the left, Messinian Bay on the right

It seems we are drawn to water.  We wanted to be near the water no matter where we landed on earth. In Washington State, our new village of Manson sits on the shores of a 55-mile-long glacier-fed lake. In The Mani, we are in Greece’s Peloponnese – overlooking  the Messinian Bay (where the Aegean and Ionian seas meet).

Agios Nikolaos - Messinias Mani

We are Village people.  We’ve adjusted to village life in Greece like fish to water. The fishing village, Agios Nikolaos, (Saint Nikolas) and still called by its Slavic name Selinitsa by many locals, has a few hundred year round residents.

It swells with tourists in the summer.

St. Andrews Episcopal Church - 1897 built of logs - oldest building in Chelan

Manson, where we’ve re-planted our American roots had a population of just over 1,400 in the last census. It is an unincorporated community seven miles beyond the larger town of Chelan, with a year-round population of about 4,000.

Chelan and Manson swell with tourists in the summer.


Groves and orchards.  Our Greek life puts us smack dab in the midst of the Land of Kalamata olives. In fact our home is in a small olive grove and The Scout has dusted off his orcharding skills (learned in his family’s Chelan apple orchard decades ago) and put them to use in Greece.

The Stone House on the Hill from our olive grove 

Now, we’ll be returning to that same agricultural area where he honed his skills and be surrounded by those orchards that haven’t given way to vineyards.

Manson Vineyards

Vino with a View: In the Chelan/Manson area wineries have been sprouting at an amazing rate of speed; they number in the dozens. Apple orchards began giving way to vineyards a couple decades ago and the growth of the industry hasn’t slowed. The photo below was taken at Nefarious Cellars and vineyard which are on the site of what used to be The Scout’s family apple orchard.

It will be fun to be walking distance to several ‘tasting rooms’ – those places operated either by a single winery or by individuals offering a variety of wines – and also easy driving distance to wineries themselves.  Hopefully our visits to Manson will coincide with those facilities being in operation.

Nefarious Cellars - on The Scout's old apple orchard

Regular readers know we sing the praises of Greek wines, served by the pitcher at restaurants – good quality without pretense and usually so inexpensive that we still are marveling at their incredible low prices. And much of our favorite wine is grown and produced right here in the Peloponnese. (We have been shell-shocked at wine prices in Manson: $10US for a glass would buy us two liters of wine in the Mani!)

Wine at sunset at the Stone House on the Hill

So our quest to expand our horizons continues as we this week begin moving our things into the house in Manson.  While in so many ways our two worlds are similar, in many ways they are vastly different (I'll tell you about those in a future post). But it will keep life exciting (perhaps a bit disjointed as well).

They moved us out of our old world and are moving us into the new one

We’ve allotted ourselves three weeks in which to get our belongings organized and all the logistics of establishing a new residence completed.  We’ve not had a lot of down time since our arrival but hopefully by next week the internet will be functioning and I’ll have time to give you an ‘inside’ peek at the other end of our expanded horizon.

The Scout and the realtor in front of our Manson house

Again, thanks for all of you who’ve come along on this adventure – either in real time or in the blogosphere. We are most appreciative of the time you spend with us and are grateful for your help and words of encouragement.

Until next week, safe travels to you and yours ~

Linking this week with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Best of Weekend

Changes in Latitudes ~ Changes in Attitudes

‘If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.’

                             -- Dr. Wayne Dyer

Our Maggie Mae watches the world from The Stone House on the Hill

We are now a few weeks short of our first anniversary as full-time expats. By whatever measure: One year. Three hundred sixty five days. Twelve months. Four seasons. We've managed to make our goal of ‘living differently’ before old age, health or common sense prevented us from doing so.

As I’ve told you periodically throughout the year, our change of latitude -- from a suburban Pacific Northwest city to village life among the olive groves in the rural Greek Peloponnese -- has prompted new behaviors in us both. We’ve developed new skills and been surprised by the resurfacing of some of the long lost talents within us.

From Seattle suburbs to Agios Nikolaos - a change in latitude

It isn’t the latitude, but it and the way of life, that has prompted most of the change in attitude.  Some of the changes have happened so gradually that I was rather gobsmacked by just how differently we – especially, me -- see things now.

I'll look back on this

and smile

because it was 

LIFE

and I decided to 

live it.

                     -- Unknown

Less is More (than Enough)

A small rectangular glass casserole is my serving dish, baking, roasting and marinade pan.  If I bake a cake in it, I plan my subsequent cooking to synch with when it will be empty. In our previous life I had stacks of such dishes, which I didn’t ever really use but I sure liked knowing they were there IF I needed them. Our tiny Greek kitchen just doesn’t have the space for all the gadgets I once routinely had stored away for occasional use in our U.S. life.

Old-life walk in closet; new life cubby hole.

Speaking of tiny, take our bedroom closet. Well, it isn’t a closet. It’s more an armoire and a definite downsize from the walk-in closet in our old life. No walking into this one. In fact the bedroom is so small there’s no walking past it either if the other of us is standing at the end of the bed. Our far-fewer clothes co-mingle in this tiny space. Seasonal items get folded up and put in storage bags until they are needed. A small clothes rack holds daily wear. Shoes -- instead of lining the length of a closet – sit together on a small rack.

I remember last year wondering how we’d (I’d!) ever be able to  live – full time!! -- with such little storage and so few things. Now, I wonder why we/I had all that stuff?

The local junk man collects unwanted metal and hauls it away

It's those changes in latitudes,
Changes in attitudes nothing remains quite the same.

                 -- Jimmy Buffett

Paciencia manana es otro dia – Patience, tomorrow is another day

I’ve concluded, by watching us deal with situations here, that our American upbringing and lifestyle encourages a lack of patience.  We expect a quick fix/repair/response to all problems and situations.

However, Greece – like Mexico where the phrase above was a daily mantra -- is still attempting to teach us to have patience. If it doesn’t get done/fixed/repaired/solved today, there’s always the promise of tomorrow.

And what’s the rush anyway?  We wait for parts to be delivered to stores, we wait for repairmen to appear, and wait for our mail to arrive once-a-week, on Thursdays. We even wait in our car when the driver of the car in front of us stops in the middle of the road, rolls down his/her window and chats with the person driving the car going the opposite direction.

Life continues on and we are really no worse for not getting things done with immediacy.

Kalamata coffee houses - no rush, no worry

We collected another example this week in Kalamata when we had back-to-back appointments at the dentist and the hair salon. We had them synchronized down to the time it would take to walk between the two places. Then the dentist arrived at work 20 minutes late.  As the first one in her chair, I told her I had only about 40 minutes until my next appointment. Her response, “You want me to call your next appointment and tell them you will be late?”

I was late to the salon, as was The Scout, who followed in the scheduling progression, but we seemed the only two to care about it. The teeth were cleaned and the hair was cut . . .paciencia, manana es el otro dia.

You get time to appreciate things.

Perspective, you start looking at things differently. .

  -- Tupac Shaker

Building a New World

I’ll admit now that I was the one who fretted most about ‘leaving friends behind’. While I wanted to live differently, I also wanted to keep things the same when it came to ‘my world’: I had friends I met for coffee and others for lunch and others with whom I chatted on a regular basis.

We all vowed to stay in touch.

Of course that wasn’t going to happen.

We knew it as we said it.

But several of us do stay in touch by writing long chatty emails (almost as good as face-to-face). Other friends have thrilled us by making the effort to come visit – most by combining a visit to our place with visiting some other destination on this side of the Atlantic. We’ve had quality time with those guests and spend hours in conversation and laughter that we likely wouldn’t have made the time for back in the U.S.

Off for a morning coffee with my friend

In our new world, I  now have a regular coffee date with a friend here and instead of hopping in the car as I used to and racing to the coffee shop, I walk our twisty road down our hill, through olive groves to a beach cafe. My friend follows a similar route. The walk and the coffee take most of our morning – but, why not? There’s always tomorrow for the things we don’t get done today.

A new world is built: friends gathering for Easter Dinner 

As a couple, we have new circle of  friends with whom we socialize regularly and to whom we know we can turn to for help if needed. Coffee, lunch or dinner with them can span hours – and again, if something doesn’t get done because of it, there’s always tomorrow.

Chelan, Washington: 48.027 latitude

The Mani, Peloponnese: 36.84 latitude

It seems somewhat ironic that as our first year comes to a close we are heading back to Washington State to move those remaining belongings from our suburban storage unit near Seattle to our new house in the Chelan/Manson area of  rural eastern Washington State. We’ll be out of the internet world for awhile next week, but I’ll report back on our Northwest moving adventures as soon as we are again 'connected'.

And by mid- October we’ll be back to our hillside home in the Peloponnese to start the next chapter of ‘living differently’.

Safe travels to you and yours. And thanks for the time you spend with us on these adventures of ours and for all the support you’ve given us through your comments and messages. It is good to have you with us, no matter which latitude we find ourselves.  See you soon!

Linking this week with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Best of Weekend

Making Lemonade on Zakynthos island

It was late afternoon on a hot August day on the Greek island of Zakynthos.

Our Greek island hopping road trip had put us on a rather well-worn old – and very crowded –  ferry heading to the island also known by its Italian name, Zante; our final stop on this week-long adventure.

Alexandro Beach Resort - Zante

By the time the ferry arrived, we were more than ready to be at the resort on Tsilivi Beach we’d booked for three nights. But as we wound our way through its pedestrian- and car-congested streets we realized it could rival Waikiki Beach in terms of resorts, restaurants and souvenir shops competing for space and customers.

Our long travel day was getting longer as the cell phone overheated with its GPS churning to find the place with no address other than ‘on the beach’.

We gave up and I called the hotel asking for directions. The desk clerk put me on hold after I asked how to find them.

When he returned to the phone, he told me to call back.  I did.

The phone wasn’t answered.

Not the best way to start . . .

Beach Resort Zante

We did finally reach our destination, the Sentido Alexandra Beach Resort, but only after stopping at another hotel and getting a map and directions.

Once checked in, we figured the trip was looking up as we headed to our room in the expansive hotel wing overlooking the pool and the sea.

Now those of you who’ve ‘traveled’ with us via this blog for some time probably recognize, that this isn’t ‘our kind’ of hotel. We go for the small, quaint, mom-and-pop-type places but in August Greek beach accommodations are booked months in advance, this sprawling resort had availability, looked fine in photos and was pretty highly recommended on TripAdvisor. So what the heck? We’d give it a try!

It was clean, the grounds well maintained and it was packed with families and holiday-makers.

Not quite functioning

Our  room, with its shades of tans and beige paint, was the same color palette used for bed and couch coverings. There were no decorations or wall hangings. It felt functional – well, until: we flushed the toilet and it wouldn’t quit running; or when the bathroom door would swing open and hit the toilet with a dull thud. The internet signal was so weak we couldn’t connect and the hot water pot for coffee didn’t work.   The price of the room was 188 euros ($218) per night.  ('But other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?').

The Lemon

We’d obviously landed a lemon of a room. My note for a replacement water pot was tossed the next day by the maid while the malfunctioning pot remained. Niagara Falls continued to flow through the toilet, the door ‘thumped’ and the front desk is probably still ‘looking into the internet’ as they promised they would.

We stayed two nights and moved after finding an available night in another hotel. The resort did  refund our third night’s advance payment.

The Lemonade

We'll be back to Freddie's for sure!

You really can make lemonade out of lemons! The saving grace for the hotel was its location: walking distance to Freddie’s Beach Bar – a long-time favorite of visitors to this area. This family owned place was the highlight of our stay in Tsilivi – we spent two delightful evenings there enjoying the ambiance, visiting with owners Robert and Ritsa Wallace and staff and dining on excellent food and enjoying libations. A trip to Zante is not complete without a stop here.

Out and About!

Blue sea, striking coastlines - Zante

The island of Zakynthos lies in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and it is part of the Ionian Island group. Its neighbor island Corfu is likely better known my Americans, but Europeans flock to this place – especially in summer.  And don’t let the story of getting a lemon of a hotel room color your thinking about the island – it is beautiful and we can see why it is popular.

Zakynthos - an island of contrasts

We spent a day touring the northern part of the island; the narrow winding road led us through olive groves, along the coastline, high up into the mountains through small Greek villages and roadside stands. Its residences range from modest to mansion.

Zante/Zakynthos Town

The pedestrian area stretches for blocks in town - Zakynthos

Our final day and night were spent exploring this sprawling harbor town - a delightful contrast (in our minds) to the over-run beach resort. There were plenty of tourists but it was large enough an area to absorb us all and  didn’t feel as congested as had the resort area. In fact, for an hour or so we had a rooftop bar at a harbor front hotel to ourselves as we watched marine traffic.

Let the harbor show begin.. . 

Well, some of the crew members were pretty entertaining as well.

The wee assistant caught our eye

Three days was hardly enough time to touch the surface of exploring the island and its beaches. We  could spend another day or two wondering the streets of town, visiting churches and museums.  And one day we’ll likely return to continue those explorations – sometime other than the August!

A fantastic ferry - brand new and like a cruise ship!

The ferry that took us back to the mainland was recently built and top of the line.  We’ll make sure the next time we travel we do so on the Levante Ferry Line!

September has arrived at The Stone House on the Hill and with it, signs of autumn’s arrival.  We are coming upon a year of being full time ex pats and next week I’ll tell you a bit about how our change in latitude has definitely changed some of our attitudes. Thanks for being with us! Safe travels to you and yours ~

Linking up today with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Best of Weekend
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