Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Just like that, our hibernating village awakened to spring! Eateries are reopening, fishing boats are being painted and readied for the season. And celebrations are underway.  

Our village, Agios Nikolaos, awakens to spring.

I write today during a three-day holiday weekend in Greece. We end three weeks of Carnival celebrations on Saturday and Sunday, then on Monday kicked off Lent with meat-free feasting and flying kites and outdoor gatherings of families and friends.

Clean Monday's kite-flying tradition. Photo credit

Saturday and Sunday were filled with activities to end Carnival, here called Apokries.  Dressing up in costumes and masks - and often referred to as Halloween -- the events were fun and festive community-wide parties.  

Carnival comes to the village.

Carnival really got underway two weeks ago on Smoked or Charred Thursday, Tsiknopempti,  when barbeques appeared outside businesses and homes throughout cities and villages. Souvlaki (usually chunks of pork on a skewer) and other meat was served in generous portions and eaten with gusto.  

A Tsiknopempti celebration makes ready in Kalamata

But like all good things, celebrations must come to an end, and this weekend moved us from Carnival's frivolity to a more somber celebration of Lent, which is heralded in on Clean Monday. In Greek the day is called Kathara Deftera, the day that officially starts, the seven-week period of fasting, and self-moderation before Easter. 

Clean Monday is similar to Ash Wednesday in western religion.

Kathara Deftera is celebrated with non-meat feasting and flying kites. (For those wondering about the kites: It signifies the ascension and purification of the soul; symbolic of the human spirit flying closer to God.  And for kids, it is just plain fun, no matter what the reason.)

Clean Monday's kite-flying tradition. Photo credit

Mother Nature has been a bit fickle this celebration weekend with rain and hailstorms dampening parades and concert plans in the region on Sunday but allowing for outside activities on Saturday and Monday.  

Kite flying at Pantazi Beach on Kathara Deftera

Monday's sunshine and light wind was just enough to bring early morning hopefuls to Pantazi Beach just below our home.

And it worked!

The holiday weekend brought a surge of visitors to our village. The rural villages often draw large numbers of city dwellers on holidays weekends; many are returning to their roots, their family homes, and others are simply seeking a change from the city.  Some 60,000 cars were recorded leaving Athens on Friday on the nation's highway - thankfully not all were headed our direction.  

Section of Agios Nikolaos waterfront road opened!

The weekend was such a big celebration that our village has even managed to completed repairs to a section of our main beach road and open it to traffic.  After a near nine-month closure, let me tell you, that is BIG news! And even more reason to celebrate!!

Close up of roadwork at To Limeni in Agios Nikolaos

And restaurants in the still-under-construction part of the roadwork, didn't let that stop them from opening their doors to the new season.

Seafood pasta a popular Lenten dish

I realize that some of you are all set to celebrate Easter on March 31st, as that is Easter's date in western religions.  Here, the Orthodox church is celebrating Easter on May 5th.  

Another feast: tzatziki, horta, falafel balls and calamari

As long-time readers know, the weeks leading up to Easter are my favorite time to be in Greece. I honestly think that the three Easters we spent in Greece prior to becoming expats here helped to tip the scales in favor of moving here.  There is no other season that highlights the coming together of families, culture, history, religion and traditions as well as do the weeks leading up to Easter.

Stuffed squid one of my favorite non-meat dishes.

Next weekend is another three-day weekend, the first of Greece's two Independence Day celebrations this year. One is in the spring and the other in October.  Both are times of celebration and pride in country and marked with strong displays of patriotism.  

Spring is here!

So, we are welcoming spring and the celebrations that it brings each year.  We hope that wherever this finds you, you are enjoying your surroundings as much as we are ours! 

Sign up to get posts as emails

As always, thanks for the time you've spent with us. We hope to see you back again.  If you'd like to receive these posts as emails, simply go to the blog's homepage and sign up!

Greek Traditions - A Piece of Cake!

 Actually, Greek traditions aren't a piece of cake. 

Olive harvest at our house - a treasured tradition

But it was a piece of traditional cake that made me think more deeply about those customs and rituals that have played out in our adopted country for ages; yet they make up our new experiences as expats - sometimes in such rapid succession that we can't keep up with them. The deep-rooted rituals and layers of symbolism at times simply boggle the mind.

Roasting chestnuts at Kastania's Chestnut Festival - a local tradition

Take this week, for example: It began with two full days of the ages-old tradition of olive harvest. They were followed by the Feast Day of Agios Dimitrios (Saint Dimitrios) and the Name Day celebration of all those named for him. By week's end we were among those celebrating Chestnut Festival in the village a few miles away, named Kastania, after the nut.  

Traditions: Celebrating Our Saint

The Stone House on the Hill above Agios Dimitrios

At the base of the hill on which our Stone House on the Hill is built sits the village of Agios Dimitrios. Its church carries the same name. Agios Dimitrios is the Patron Saint of the city of Thessaloniki, and he is celebrated on Oct. 26th because that is the day that city was liberated from Ottoman rule after five centuries of occupation.

Agios Dimitrios

Now Thessaloniki is a large city to our east - an hour's flight from the Kalamata Airport so you may be wondering why we were celebrating it in a small fishing village tucked away among olive groves on the other side of the Peloponnese. Well, it turns out he is also the patron of agriculture, peasants and shephards in the Greek countryside. . .

So, it stands to reason that we would celebrate his day in the church in the village that both carry his name even if located miles from Thessaloniki. Similar celebrations were taking place throughout the country. Those who are named for saints, in this case, the Dimitris, and Dimitras of the world also celebrate as it is their Name Day, a day as special as their birth date.

Pappas Paniotis our village priest

We nodded to friends and neighbors as we stood together outside the already crowded small church and listened to the sermon delivered by our village priest, Pappas Paniotis.  It didn't matter that it was in Greek. Anyone who has ever said The Lord's Prayer regularly knows when it is being offered, no matter the language.  And that part of the service we did understand!

Enormous loaves of bread were served

While listening to the service, we watched several ladies from the village setting up tables in the church yard with plates of sweets and packets of bread (that would be taken home by attendees).  When it seemed there couldn't possibly be more to eat, they brought out the cakes. Not just any cakes, mind you, but the Koliva. Little did we know the significance of this beautiful cake.

Traditions: A Piece of Cake

Koliva, the traditional cake, placed to honor Agios Dimitrios

At the time it was presented, blessed and served I thought this cake was one of the most beautifully, decorated I had ever seen. Such simple ingredients made beautiful decorations. They included pomegranate seeds, almonds, pistachios, and decorations made of sugar.  Several explained as it was being served that it is traditionally made for celebrations honoring the dead but that it is also used to celebrate life occasions like harvest and marriage.

A piece of traditional cake

When I was handed the small cup of sugared nuts and fruits, I was surprised to learn that was what had been beneath that beautifully decorated icing.  It was quite a tasty mix of cooked wheat berries, nuts, raisins, pomegranate seeds with some chopped parsley and coated with a sweet mixture of sugar and spiced breadcrumbs.

The alter in Agios Dimitrios church

It wasn't after the celebration ended that I learned each item in it symbolized some aspect of the life cycle: life, death and rebirth.  The wheat kernels a symbol of hope and resurrection, nuts for fertility, spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and cumin, for a life well lived, the parsley a peaceful rest, pomegranate for an afterlife of brilliance and wealth, the breadcrumbs representing the soil. 

Celebrating Agios Dimitrios in the village that carries his name

The cake is not an easy one to make, requiring two days to cook and dry the wheat berries and prepare the other ingredients.  It was so tasty and now that I know its story, I appreciate its significance and symbolism even more than its taste. We wanted our expat experience to be one of learning about other cultures and traditions, so far, Greece hasn't let us down!

The village from the church - both Agios Dimitrios

That's it for this time, as we are heading out to learn about a few more traditions before the month of October gets away from us.  As always thanks for your time and a big welcome to our new subscribers.  

And a note to all subscribers: my Blogger program and Mailchimp that sends your emails haven't communicated lately.  I'm hoping this one arrives in your inbox.  If it does and you can spare a minute to email me and let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it!  And there should be a link at the bottom of your email to take you to last week's post about our adopted city of Kalamata should you like to read it as well!

Safe travels to you and yours~

Greek Easter ~ Back to Normal

 Easter, or Pascha, as it is called here in Greece, has finally returned with all its splendor!

I am writing on Easter Monday, the final day of nearly a week-long celebration and religious observance in our adopted country.  The week is called Megali Evdomada (Holy Week, or literally, the Big Week). 

Epitaphios, Agios Nikolaos

And what a week it has been! Why, it was . . .back to normal!  And I hate to admit it, but we had almost forgotten what a normal Easter week is like here.

In case you think I have my week's mixed up, we celebrate Orthodox Easter in Greece so the date fell a week later than Easter celebrated by other religions this year.

Our village, Agios Nikolaos, Peloponnnes

 After a two-year absence due to 2020's Covid lockdowns and last year's subsequent precautions, the magnitude of the celebrations was evident in every part of the country. Ferries, trains, planes and highways have been jam-packed since Thursday as urban dwellers headed to ancestral homes. Being a celebration even larger than Christmas, Easter is a 'together time' here and finally family and friends could be together.  

Traditions Return

Shopping needs to be done early in Easter Week

We've been expats in the Peloponnese long enough to know that any business transactions or work that needs to be done, should be completed by Wednesday of Easter week as that is the day businesses begin closing for the weekend. The observances of  the holiday are taken very seriously here; a country in which 10 million are of the Orthodox religion.

By Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday the food preparations have begun and the religious ceremonies are underway.  

Epitaphios - Kardamyli on the highway 

Good Friday - a day filled with the somber ringing of church bells - is marked by  church services and processionals through cities and towns in the evening. The flower-covered, canopied Epitaphios, similar to a funeral bier, is carried through the streets following a service in the church. It is a somber, moving processional. A Greek friend nailed it when she said, 'Even if you don't believe in anything, you will be touched.' 

Good Friday - a somber celebration

The Easter service celebrating the Resurrection takes place Saturday evening, near midnight.  Candles are lit and the call, 'Cristos Anesti' (Christ is Risen) rings out.  It is a greeting that continues throughout the holiday weekend as that is how you greet friends and acquaintances. They reply, 'Alithos Anesti!' (Truly, He is Risen). 

Candles are lit - fireworks erupts over the harbor

The Holy Flame from which these candles are symbolically lit comes from the Holy Fire, a miracle that occurs at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem every year on Holy Saturday. A portion of that Fire is quite literally transported by plane from there to Athens where it is further divided and sent on planes to destinations within the country to be used in the Saturday night ceremonies. I couldn't help but chuckle when I read news reports that the flame arrived two hours late this year - due to Covid protocols prior to takeoff. That pesky Covid continues to make itself known!

Breaking the Fast

Our Easter feast is roasting

Sunday is feast day throughout the land as it officially ends the 40-day Lenten fasting. It is on this day families and friends fill restaurants to overflowing or gather for traditional lamb roasting and feasting in private homes. We've celebrated the day at restaurants in the past BC (Before Covid) but this year were treated to experiencing the event at the home of friends. The gathering included Greeks, English, Americans and Swiss.

By mid-morning the lamb had gone onto the spit. For those wondering why Greeks always roast a lamb it is because it represents Christ, the Holy Lamb of God.

Red-dyed eggs an Easter tradition in Greece

We had Greek music and Greek dancing (lessons for many of us, myself included), we broke the traditional red-dyed eggs, which symbolize the blood of Christ and the cracking of shells, His Resurrection. 

An Easter feast to remember

We ate home-cooked cheese pies, stuffed, roasted peppers, oven-roasted potatoes, tzatziki, beet salad, cheeses, breads and desserts too many to list.

The Weather Gods shown down on the celebration with temperatures in the high 70's, and blue skies overhead.

Reports from all sectors are that Greece is learning to live with Covid (it helps that our case numbers are dropping dramatically). If this is learning to live with it, I am all for it!

A gathering of family and friends on Easter

I often hashtag posts about life in Greece on Instagram and Facebook as #blessed.  Some days bring that feeling to life more strongly than others.  Easter this year, I believe, has made us all feel blessed and most thankful that Greece is righting itself after the Covid upset, and that we are able to gather with friends and family once again! 

That is it for this week.  We send wishes for safe travels to you and yours. And a big welcome to our new subscribers! Thanks for your time with us today.  Hope to see you next week - bring a friend or two with you!

Linking soon with:

Through My Lens

Travel Tuesday

Our World Tuesday

My Corner of the World Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Friendship Friday Blog Hop

Greek Easter - A Giddy Sort of Week

 After so very long, we finally had cause to celebrate in Greece.  And even better, we were allowed to celebrate!

Pascha - Easter in Greece is not to be missed even with COVID

Megali Evdomada - the week between Palm Sunday and Pascha (Easter) is a time to celebrate rebirth. This year we were celebrating not only the rebirth of Christ but what feels like the rebirth - most certainly, the reopening -- of Greece itself. 

Church bells tell the Easter story

Traditionally this Holy Week is marked by church bells chiming with regularity, their peals heralding the days of Easter with dirges mourning Christ's death or upbeat peals of joy for His resurrection.  A year ago, the Easter bells were silenced by the country's first Covid lockdown. At the time none of us suspected it was only the first multi-month lockdown and that the second would drag on until it was a few days short of lasting six months.

Church bells rang out during Easter Week

On Maundy Thursday, the church bells began chiming. They rang again on Good Friday. While not a joyful peal because of the days in which they were commemorating it was a joy to hear them wafting across the water again as they had in year's before Covid. 

Greek Orthodox Easter Week was the last week of April this year with Easter falling on May2nd.

Easter Saturday night in the village

Although we are still in lockdown, the government allowed modified church services and Easter traditions to take place - a significant step in reopening the country. The next giant leap came Easter Monday when restaurants, bars, cafes and tavernas were allowed to reopen for outdoor seating, (distancing, masks and group size limitations are in place at all those establishments). We still text for permission to leave our homes and curfew is in place.

Nothing Short of 'Giddy"

Getting ready to open after six months closure

The excitement of the upcoming reopening of eateries and watering holes, combined with the celebration of Christ's Rebirth brought the village to life last weekend. Painting of storefronts, setting up of outdoor tables and chairs under enormous umbrellas, planters being filled with colorful blooms, . . .well, to be honest, there was just a plain old 'giddy' attitude among us all.  

Easter Saturday fireworks

Easter Saturday is one of the biggest nights in Greece -- the night when church services throughout the country concluded with the glad ringing of the church bells and candles are lit and the proclamation, 'Christos Anesti!' "Christ's Resurrection!" rings out from those gathered.  

Usually held at midnight, this year took place at 9 pm as we still have a late night curfew in effect. Although not officially open until Monday, tavernas along the harbor allowed those coming for the service, the fireworks and festivities to sit -- socially distanced, of course -- but it felt so almost 'like normal'.

Hot Air Balloons an Easter tradition

We watched small groups of teenagers sharing whatever it is they share on mobile phones these days, their heads bent over the small illuminated screens. We watched younger kids racing through the parking lots.

Adults were lighting and launching hot air balloons, a tradition at Easter.  We watched others walk towards the church where the evening service was getting underway.  In previous years so many people attended the service that it has been held outside the village pharmacy so that crowds filled the streets. Not this year, as all services were confined to the church yard. 

Friends pause for a photo after candle-lighting

The candles were lit at the conclusion of the service, calls of  "Christos Anesti!" rang out, fireworks exploded over the harbor. 

There have been bigger crowds and celebrations and there will likely be bigger ones again in the future.  But after a somewhat bleak and very long lockdown, for the couple hundred people that had come to the village, this was definitely a night of celebration. 

What's Next for Greece?

Restaurants are reopen - a big step towards normal

Major international media outlets have been announcing that Greece reopens to tourists from around the world this coming weekend, May 14/15. (Proof of vaccinations and/or negative tests are still being bantered about as requirements to avoid a quarantine. And arrivals will be subject to random testing as well). But at least the country is putting back the welcome mat they rolled up more than a year ago.

However, Greek media has been speculating that we who live here may still have some restricted movements, need to seek permission for movement (those SMS/text messages to the government) and other constraints. The Covid counts remain high in some areas.  

Cafes along the harbor in Agios Nikolaos are open again!

Others speculate that once the gates open, they will be open for all.  We are hedging our bets and making plans to travel as soon as it is allowed. You might just say we are continuing that giddy attitude, just thinking about the possibilities.  At this point your guess about what will happen is as good as ours. . .we'll answer this cliffhanger in our next post!

Our thanks for the time you spent with us and our wishes for a 'giddy sort of week' for you and yours! Hope you will be back with us next week!

Linking soon with:

Through My Lens
Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
My Corner of the World Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday

Expat Life: My Big Fat Greek Birthday!

The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.

--Frank Lloyd Wright

Sunset - The Stone House on the Hill

Some birthdays are bigger than others. And some birthdays are better than others.

My 65th birthday, celebrated in Greece on Monday, was one that will be remembered as being both bigger and better. Let me tell you why. . .

Why Bigger?

Age is a bad traveling companion.

-- Proverb

Hundred year old olive trees

There’s no denying it, 65 sounds old.  By most measures in today’s world, it IS old. Well, maybe not compared to olive trees here in the Peloponnese or Greece itself, but still. . .

Speeding towards Hydra island a few weeks ago

It is an age that comes with constant reminders of how fast one is speeding towards ‘the ultimate finish line’. About six months ago the first 'red flags'; the paperwork and forms began arriving to apply for retirement. In other words, I took the first steps towards becoming. . .ahem. . .a ‘pensioner’.  How can that be?!?! (The good news is that next month my first 'pension' payment will be deposited into my bank account.)

Our last forwarded mail packet included a letter from the U.S. government. Inside was my Medicare card. . .the U.S. government’s mandatory health-care program for senior citizens. The directions said to put it in my wallet and never leave home without it. Thus,I am now a card-carrying old person as the card I carry identifies me as a Medicare recipient! (BTW, it doesn’t cover U.S. citizens outside the country.)

A contemplative moment on Kefalonia island

With all those red flags of advancing age, a vagabond like me starts thinking differently about travel. I found myself one day last week calculating how few years I/we likely have left for travel and how many trips could reasonably be fit into those years. ( I didn’t like those numbers, so quickly quit thinking about it.)

Bottom line: No longer is the world at my/our feet, just waiting to be explored on future travels, someday.  Now, I am thinking of travel planning as a race against time:

 'Let’s go (or do) while we are still able.'
'We can’t keep putting off (certain activity or outing); we need to do it while we still have hips and knees that work.'
'Let’s save that for when we are really old gummers.'

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.

-- Seneca, 4 BC Cordoba, Spain – 65 AD Rome, Italy

In recent years we’ve forgone those wrapped birthday gifts choosing instead a ‘birthday trip’ (what would you expect from travelers like us, right?)  A mid-July birthday falls in the height of travel season and the height of high temperatures, so we’ve learned to delay my trips to a more tolerable time of year. On the other hand, why put off travel even for a month or so? Perhaps we should go somewhere soon. . .

Gerolimeneas harbor - Peloponesse

Why Better?

'Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.'

-- David Bowie

The Stone House on the Hill - July 16th, 2018

So here I am, now living as an expat in Greece, thousands of miles from the world in which I’ve always celebrated my birthdays.  What to do?

Well, I decided to celebrate as I had planned to do a few years back.

[Back story for those of you new to the blog: We came to Greece to purchase our home in July 2014. Closing was set for the day before my birthday. I’d planned to celebrate the new home and the birthday at some Greek taverna, flinging my napkin and shouting, 'Opa!'. The deal fell through. We spend the birthday bouncing between the bank and hotel room, wiring our funds back to the U.S. Not the celebration I'd envisioned. Fast forward. . .]

So . . .I finally had that party at a Greek taverna. . .at the edge of the sea. . .within walking distance of our home.

Voulimeneas taverna overlooks this beach

And how glad I am that fate had forced me to wait because. . .

Let the party begin

. . .by now we know the tavernas in our area and I could pick one that holds a special spot in our hearts.  The family that runs the place have taken us (and every other expat they know here) under their wings and made us welcome, have helped us in times of need and who simply make us feel like part of their family.

The setting was perfect. . .Elena made sure everything else was as well

“Tell me how many people. Tell me what food you want. Do not worry.”  Elena said to me. It was that simple.

Bouquets came from my own Greek garden

. . .and now I have a garden so I could make my own table decorations using olive branches, sage, mint, geranium and rosemary cuttings mixed with bougainvillea and lantana blooms.

The Scout picked the lemons from our tree and I made the cake

. . .we could harvest lemons from our tree and I could make myself a lemon birthday cake.

Friends and neighbors helped ease me into 65

. . .and I could surround myself with friends and neighbors who make up my new world. Some who are new to our ex pat world and others who've helped us over the hurdles we've encountered along the way - some who've known us since before the house purchase. All who've enriched our expat experience.

Sunset from Voulimeneas taverna

And I concluded as the day came to an end:

Age is irrelevant. Ask me how many sunsets I’ve seen, hearts I’ve loved, trips I’ve taken,

or concerts I’ve been t. That’s how old I am.”

-- Joelle

That’s it for this week. Wish I could have invited you all to join us – what a party that would have been!  But we do hope that where ever your travels – in real life or armchair – take you this week that you will find a reason to celebrate something.  Fling a napkin into the air and shout, ‘Opa!’ – you’ll feel 10 years younger, I guarantee it!

Linking with:

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Best of Weekend