Greek Life ~ Our Trip Around the Sun

No, you never see it comin', always wind up wonderin' where it went
Only time will tell if it was time well spent
It's another revelation, celebrating what I should have done
With these souvenirs of my trip around the sun  

                -- Jimmy Buffett, lyrics, Trip Around the Sun

Our village, Agios Nikolaos

Several times in the last few days we’ve remarked, ‘This winter certainly isn’t like last. . .’ or ‘Last year . . .” comparing the weather, or state of the garden or happenings in the village.  And each time, I’ve thought how amazing it seems that we’ve completed our first trip around the sun living in Greece; fulfilling the challenge we gave ourselves to ‘live differently’ while we were still able.

The Stone House on the Hill

In our case, for you new readers, that means in a home at the edge of an olive grove on a hillside in Greece’s rural Peloponnese.

(For regulars here, I promise more tales of our Arabian nights will be forthcoming as I am feeling a bit like Sheherazade with more from our Arabian and Indian travels than I’ll ever be able to tell you. But as the year comes to a close it seems a time to reflect on this trip around the sun of ours and life’s souvenirs we’ve gathered along the way.)

Winter “Wonder” land

Honestly, I’m not sure if I’d have bet money we’d make it as full-time ex pats at this time last year.

Stormy seas, stormy skies, stormy day in Agios Nikolaos

We moved into full-time ex pat life just weeks before the winter storms arrived and what a winter it was!  Weekly, it seemed during the month of December, the wind whipped down the gorges of the Taygetos Mountains, howling and shrieking; a wind strong enough to knock over potted plants while rain came down in the proverbial buckets.

At the time, if we were honest, we’d have to say we wondered what had sounded so appealing about this ‘living differently in Greece’ idea. . .

For a day, sometimes two or three we’d hunker down to avoid the nasty weather in our Stone House on the Hill even though it was dark and cold thanks to power outages caused by blown transformers or downed power lines.

Even with a roaring fire in the fireplace and candles scattered about, let me tell you, you can start going stir crazy in cold, dark houses.

‘It isn’t a normal winter,’ the locals would say.

‘Haven’t had power outages like this for a decade,’ long-time ex pats would say.

‘This is driving us nuts!’  we would say.

In January – as you regulars here know – we set off for our Hawaiian timeshare life and had I not had my cats awaiting my return I might not have come back and doubt if The Scout would have resisted.

Springtime Came Early

Kalderimi near our home in the Peloponnese

By mid-February though we were reminded that most of the time our area – best known for the groves of Kalamata olives that carpet the countryside here – is downright breath-taking in the spring and luckily spring comes early!

The countryside was covered in blooms and you may recall I wrote about taking outings on the ancient kalderimi, cobble-stoned roads that were built decades ago for hooved animals that linked the villages. (They lace the countryside here and are most popular with hikers and outdoor enthusiasts., If you are considering a visit, you might want to time it to see the springtime blooms and experience these roads less traveled. )

Spring was also the time we began in earnest planting flowers and vegetables in our garden. I had visions of the harvests I would have. . .

The sunflowers towered over me. I built bamboo frames (as they do here) for the promising tomato plants. Strawberries were going to be plentiful.

I would make jam.

I’d probably have to freeze some of the tomatoes.

I’d give away potatoes.

Yes, the promise of spring. . .

And then Came Summer

And with it the realities of that Mediterranean sun. . .these photos taken in July tell the garden story. No amount of watering (morning and night) nor the addition of shade (using beach umbrellas) could save the garden.  My harvest was humbling (it’s okay, you can laugh as even I can laugh now) and is shown in the bottom photo – a few garlic, tomatoes, almonds, and potatoes.

Summer realities in the garden

By August another reality hit and that was the loss of our olive crop to the pesky dako, the olive fly that has destroyed crops in Italy and France, and now is invading Greece. We had no harvest this year, nor did many of our Greek friends. Ours is a hobby, so was disappointing, but we could almost cry for our many Greek friends who have hundreds or thousands of trees and who lost their crops on which they depend for income this year.

Reality set in back in August

Many versions of ‘why’ exist but the most often given is that Spring's warm, wet weather also nurtured the fly’s eggs and thus doomed the crops.

Hot time in the summer in the villages

Crop failures aside, summer was a wild, wacky time in the villages.  Streets closed to traffic in the evening and taverna tables filled the roadways. We are so used to our American friends never having heard of our area, that we were stunned to see the hundreds of tourists who flock here every summer from other countries.  It was hot, but it was grand!

Autumn’s Arrival – how quickly it came

By this point in our grand adventure of living differently, we’d given up the idea of being homeless in America. We’d made it for almost a year.  We realized that boomer-aged people who have money in financial institutions and medical care providers in the US, and well, who have to deal with the government (Social Security and Medicare) really need a residential address in the U.S. Greek addresses (which we don’t even have) and Greek phone numbers just don’t fit in the forms (we were square pegs trying to fit round holes).

Another adventure in living: Manson, Washington State

Autumn brought a return to the U.S. so we could move our belongings into our residence we’d purchased back in July (it can be done from Greece) in Central Washington State. For now the home will serve as a landing pad when we visit, provide that much needed address, and be our fall-back plan and destination when the time in Greece comes to an end.

Winter Comes Again

December 28, 2018 Stone House on the Hill

Winter has returned to The Mani, this place where we’ve lived while taking that trip around the sun. This year storms have been few, temperatures are mostly spring-like.
 
Our trip around the sun has been filled with making new friends and creating ‘our world’ here, continuing to learn the nuances of a new culture, struggling to learn a Greek word here and there and planning for ‘next year’.

We will be reapplying for our resident permits in the spring and if granted we can continue on as full-time residents for another three years.

And you know?  I think we just may do that!

A toast to you on solstice in Abu Dhabi at The Grand Canal

Our wishes to you all for the Happiest of New Year’s and we hope your travels – whether in real life or armchair – take you to places you’ve always dreamed of visiting.  And our thanks for coming along with us on this journey and all the others on which you’ve joined us. We appreciate the support and cheerleading when we needed it and all the  kind words and comments you’ve made along the way.

Hope to see you back here next week and bring some friends along with you!!

Linking this week with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Communal Global

Yes, Virginia . . .They Celebrate the Season

We’ve been walkin’ in a winter wonderland and rockin’ around the Christmas tree since setting out on our Middle East and India adventure nearly two weeks ago.  And that is certainly not what I expected to be telling you when we headed to Abu Dhabi on the northern coast of the Saudi peninsula!

Mural - Abu Dhabi

Over coffee one morning in Agios Nikolaos, the Greek village we call home, my American expat friend Marti and I speculated on whether or not there would be much evidence of Christmas in the Middle East. . .a place where you ski sand dunes, not snowy hillsides. Probably some on the ship, we concluded, but little elsewhere.

In a Winter Wonderland

Were we ever off base! First, it is winter in the Middle East. While we tourists from Greece (it is in the 50F back there) are basking in temperatures hovering at the low 80’s, department stores are selling coats, sweaters and woolen scarves. It is cold here for the locals.

More than once we heard the refrain playing in the malls, “Oh the weather outside is frightful, but inside it’s so delightful, let it snow, let it snow, let is snow.” And the malls had snowflakes hanging right along side banners of their ruler, the Emir.

Snowflakes in an Abu Dhabi Mall

The Festive Season

And the decorations sure looks like Christmas but here it is called The Festive Season. It comes complete with gaily decorated evergreens (Christmas trees) and even gingerbread houses.

Tree trunk goes up in Emirates Palace Hotel - Abu Dhabi

One of the largest seasonal displays we saw was under construction at the opulent Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The place showcases the Arabian culture and puts you in mind of a palace when you enter. Opening in 2005 it cost 3 billion U.S. dollars to build.

Gingerbread house construction at the Emirates Palace Hotel

The Dubai Mall, one of more than 70 shopping centers in this sprawling city, was playing holiday music and had displays up for The Festive Season as well.

The most beautiful displays we happened upon were in The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India. I could have spent a day photographing its many scenes and settings in its common areas.

Lobby Taj Mahal Hotel Mumbai

And it was so nice to see it gaily decorated! On a cruise stop three years ago we visited the hotel and there was a lovely – but somber -- memorial to those who’d been killed during the terrorist attack there in 2008. The lobby definitely felt festive this week.

Lobby of the Taj Mahal Hotel

Sailing into the Holidays

As our cruise comes to an end this week many of our fellow passengers are making plans to go home, hit the deck running and get the festivities and decorations underway.  It has been fun though enjoying those throughout the ship – no muss, no fuss for any of us!

Celebrity Constellation lobby

Festive colors, festive scene and Christmas music playing in the common areas of the ship.

Decorations on the Celebrity Constellation

We’ll be home in The Stone House on the Hill for Christmas and thankful that we had a chance to experience The Festive Season during the month of December.  Good wishes to you and yours ~ whatever your season and whatever your holiday, we hope it is magical.

May it be magical

Thanks for being with us ~ as always we appreciate your time spent here.  Next week we’ll have more tales from Arabia for you!

Linking:

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Communal Global
king this week with:

Afternoon on the Arabian Sea

It is mid-afternoon on a December Wednesday.  The navigation map on our television tells us that we are beyond the mid-point in crossing the Arabian Sea; our ship, Celebrity Constellation is closer now to India than Oman.

Our deck and view of the Arabian Sea

If you are a regular here you know that we set out last week to stretch our comfort zones by taking a cruise that began in Abu Dhabi and will end 10 days from now in the same Emirate.  I often get so ‘taken’ with the places we visit that I drop you right into the location and then many of you ask how we even got here from our rural village in the Greek Peloponnese.  So, today, as the song lyrics say, “Let’s start at the very beginning. . .”

Getting There. . .

Our flight from Athens to Abu Dhabi

We’ve not – aside from a few cruise ports of call in the region a few years ago – traveled much in this area of the world. The Scout  had to figure out the airline we’d use as well as where we would stay until boarding the ship (we usually arrive a day early ‘just in case. . .’ and that also gives us time to explore the area a bit.)

Arriving in Abu Dhabi we took a bus to the gate 

We flew from Athens to Abu Dhabi, a 4 hour 20 minute flight, on Abu Dhabi’s flagship airline, Etihad. There’s a daily flight between the two airports. With a two hour time difference between the two cities, our early afternoon flight got us there in the evening.

The aircraft, an Airbus 320 had comfortable seating in the economy section.  The meal (no extra cost) was one of the best we’ve had on an airline in a long time. I chose the chicken – very tender and moist.

My meal - Etihad Airlines

Yes, that is white wine in my glass above – also free if charge.  And I sipped it while flying over Saudi Arabia (the idea of which still feels real exotic to me) and I chuckled at the fact that I was getting caught up on one of my favorite U.S. television shows, Criminal Minds, while doing so!

Movies and television shows were available on individual screens

Maybe this exotic adventure wasn’t going to be so exotic after all!

Arriving Abu Dhabi

Entering the Emirate was simple, there were no lines at immigration. They took a photo of us as part of the entry process – slick, smooth and easy. And yes, everyone speaks English!

We had received -- several weeks prior to our departure -- a letter from the cruise line and one from the travel agency where we had booked the cruise warning us about bringing drugs –  the prescription kind – into the UAE. They are strict and e prescription drugs have a protocol set out for review and approval. We were nervous that our over-the-counter vitamins and cholesterol drugs might raise eyebrows so I had them in original containers in the carryon bag and brought only the number of pills we will consume while traveling . . .and no one even mentioned drugs!!

Marriott downtown Abu Dhabi

We were each allowed to bring a bottle of alcohol into the country (in our checked bags) and that is the same amount allowed to be brought on board by the cruise line.  We had no problem bringing two bottles of wine. However, it was readily available at the many bars that were found inside our hotel, the downtown Marriott.

Our Junior Suite - bigger than The Stone House on the Hill

Those customer loyalty programs do pay off!  We’ve stayed loyal to the Marriott brand and have finally reached a level where the benefits can be startling, like being upgraded to a junior suite in Abu Dhabi (we could have entertained far more guests here than our home in Greece.)

A room with a view - Marriott Abu Dhabi

The morning after our arrival we opened our curtains to this view of the city - ceiling to floor windows that gave us a window on Abu Dhabi. But we were ready to explore further and had one day in which to do it! Next time I’ll show you some of the city’s magic. . .and believe me there is plenty of magic in this part of the world!

Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

Thanks for being with us today ~ as always we are thankful for the time your spending reading our blog! We’ll be back soon with more Middle East tales and hope you’ll join us.
We are linking up this week with:

hrough My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Communal Global
Best of Weekend