The Night Elli Danced Again

 Elli danced one night last week. 

It was then that I knew our world was righting itself. 

We are returning to normal, real normal, not new normal.

Elli danced last week

Elli, is Elisavet Nikoloudi, who runs Elli's Restaurant in our fishing village in Greece's Peloponnese.  Everyone for miles around knows her -- and most everyone has eaten many times at her place in Agios Nikolaos. Every houseguest we've ever had has been introduced to her culinary skills early on in their visit. Most have asked to return again before their visit ended.

A Time to Dance Again

In the pre-pandemic world Elli would feature local musicians once a week and her restaurant would fill with the sound of all that makes traditional Greek dining such a magical experience: music, clapping, singing and dancing. At some point in the evening a particular song would prompt her to put down her serving tray, raise her arms, snap her fingers and start twirling around the room - to the delight of all.

Elli hasn't danced like that for a long time as result of Covid and its lockdowns and restrictions on businesses and behaviors. In fact it hasn't been very many weeks ago, that while restaurants and tavernas were again operating, they weren't even allowed to play recorded music, let alone to offer live music.  

A Time to Celebrate

But Greece, like the rest of the world, is slowly lifting restrictions. The Greek government has allowed us to quit wearing masks outdoors and when we walk inside restaurants. We've been able to sit inside for some time now, but music had been banned and masks required. 

That Time in Between Normals

Eating from Elli's during lockdown

Elli's was one of a handful of businesses that remained open for 'paketo' as take out food is called here. The government allowed businesses to provide food and drink but nothing to be consumed on premises. The photo above was taken in March 2020 - shortly after businesses were shutting down normal operations, as lockdown was introduced, and before masks were mandatory. Instead of reading her extensive menu, we would call in advance and see what Elli had cooked that day, place an order and pick it up -  it was just a bit different eating it on a seawall along the parking lot.

Our last U.S. visitors dined at the side of the sea in a parking lot

Little did we know that as lockdown got stricter, even this wouldn't be allowed. Paketos were taken home and eaten there. Gatherings of friends in private homes was also forbidden. 

We've had several sets of new expats arrive during this on-again, off-again lockdown period. Sometimes for a month or so we'd have a few freedoms and then they'd tighten up again.  On the occasions we were allowed to get together, we found ourselves sounding like old-timers as we reminisced about how it 'used to be' before Covid. 

'There was life and music and happiness in this rural corner of the Messinias region. . .', we begin, as we'd tell stories of:

Aris and Dora masked up Easter Saturday night

Aris and Dora Christeas hosting a full moon party at their Vesuvius Restaurant each month on the night the moon was its fullest. Tables were full of diners waiting for the globe to rise over the Taygetos Mountain range. There were fireworks, food and dancing into the night.

Vesuvius Restaurant in Agios Nikolaos

For a time they resumed the parties last year. We are certain they will be featured again when the eatery opens for this season. 

Julia and Bill hosting events again at Hades

Julia and Bill, down the street at Hades Bar, hosted special events that filled the tavernas interior and outside patio. Special dinners, art festivals and fund-raisers.  And then with Covid restrictions, it became one of the few places serving food and drink 'paketos'. 

Easter dinner came from Hades during our Covid year

An annual fundraiser for The Marti Fund, a spay and neuter program for homeless animals, took place at Hades each spring - with the exception of  'that Covid year'. The event is back this year on April 16th promising to be even bigger and better. 

Gregg (right) gives a Greek coffee lesson to our U.S. friend Greg

Freda, Gregg and Kathy at Gregg's Plateia held special buffet dinners each week as well as being the meeting place for the once-a-week gathering of talented ladies called the 'Stitch n Bitch' handiwork group. And they filled their place on other days with Scrabble competitions.  

Gregg's during Covid lockdown

They were shuttered during the long Covid restrictions but have reopened with gusto and special meal nights have already returned to their schedule.

The Real Normal

Pantazi Beach soon will welcome tourists again

We in the expat community are back to planning for visitors and houseguests. Pre-departure testing is no longer required for vaccinated travelers.  The Passenger Locator Form is soon to be history. The first non-stop Delta Airlines flight from the United States for the season arrived this last week in Athens. Two flights from Germany arrived in Kalamata. 

Restaurants are opening early

Restaurants are opening up earlier than their usual Easter Weekend kickoff this year. The number of caravans and over-landers (RV's to those of us from the States) continue to arrive, stay and depart with regularity.

The Greek tourist authorities just announced that Royal Caribbean cruise line will be running winter cruises from Athens beginning in 2023 - the anticipated itinerary being ports of call in Cyprus, Israel and Egypt.

The Elephant in the Room

The elephant's name is Ukraine. Since my last post, A War in the Neighborhood, I have been asked by readers about whether we feel safe being in Greece.  

I can assure you that life is going on as normal here - in fact, better than it has been for the last two years.  Costs are high, but they were higher than normal before the conflict began and can't be blamed entirely on the unrest. Gas in the village hit $9.75US a gallon this week, food prices have been higher than normal since long before the conflict in Ukraine.  

Back to Bologna . . .soon?

We are not cowering in our homes fearing fallout (both literally and figuratively) from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.  Speaking for the two of us, we are not at all thinking of packing up and leaving. . .well, except for another trip to Italy that we plan to take in the near future.

But each traveler must determine their own level of comfort. Afar Magazine ran an excellent article this last week on the topic of the safety of travel in Europe - it wasn't a Pollyanna sugar-coated enticement to travel  nor was it Chicken Little screaming that the sky was falling.  I encourage you to follow the link and read the article if you have concerns about travel to Europe.  

Again we thank you for the time you've spent with us today. Safe travels to you and yours whereever they take you~ Hope you will join us soon for another travel tale. . .bring some friends 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

Greece: On the Road Less traveled ~

I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

                                      - Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

The Kalderimi less traveled

We set off one morning this week to explore a road less traveled. . .less traveled these days, anyway. Once upon a time this kalderimi. was the main thoroughfare linking two ancient villages in Greece’s Mani. Now, one of the area’s many hiking routes, it is carpeted with spring's wild flowers; the blooms soon to be replaced with summer’s sun-burned sepia soil and gray stones that make up its underlying surface.

‘In the former Ottoman countries, a kaldırım (Turkish) or kalderimi (Greek καλντερίμι or καλντιρίμι; plural kalderimia) is a cobblestone-paved road built for hoofed traffic. Kalderimia are sometimes described as cobbled or paved mule tracks or trails.’
                                                  -- Wikipedia

Lagkada's narrow road becomes the kalderimi

While many we know think we took the road less traveled just by moving to Greece, we‘ve but touched the surface of the Mani’s magic and mystery. It is outings such as this that will keep us entertained here for many years.

Lagkada village - Mani - Greek Peloponnese

This kalderimia was the original path between the villages of Thalames and Lagkada. The two are about a 20 minute drive south of our home. We began our walking ‘road trip’ at the village furthest from us, Lagkada, which is built amphitheatrically on the slopes of a hill.

Its history, according to some, dates back to the reign of Marcus Aurelius; a time when the Romans conquered the neighboring Thalames, which was on the major route between Sparta and the Messinian coast. The two villages are about two kilometers apart.

Lagkada, like many of the villages here, is populated with stone homes and Byzantine churches and punctuated with a few towers, for which the Mani is known.  The Kalamata – Areopolis ‘Highway’, a narrow two-lane paved road that replaced the kalderimi, bisects the sleepy village. The only signs of life on the day we visited were a few locals sipping coffee at the taverna across the highway from the Church of the Metamorfosi of the Soter; a church with murals said to date back one thousand years..

Scaffolding has recently gone up - restoration is underway at the ancient church

The kalderimi is now one of the many walking paths that draw hikers and out-door vacationers to the area in the summer months.  (Shhh. . .don’t tell them of its springtime beauty.)   We didn’t encounter anyone making for a much more pleasant experience than our memories of walking the paths between villages in Italy’s over-run Cinque Terre.

Cobblestones and wildflowers of the kalderimi

The stone surface is uneven and we could have used some hiking poles for a bit of balance, but did the walk in a half an hour with plenty of stops to 'ooh and ahh' at the flower bedecked olive groves we passed. We did wear shoes with sturdy treads although we could have used those with the no-slip soles.

Olive groves carpeted in wildflowers

There are organized hikes offered by companies in Kardamyli and our village of Agios Nikolaos but walks that follow the old kalderimia are quite simple and easy to accomplish on your own.

On the road less traveled

One of the best sources for Greek hiking opportunities we’ve found is the on-line Walkopedia. (By clicking on that link you’ll be taken to a list of hikes throughout Greece.)

Springtime in the Mani

Today marks a month since our return to The Stone House on the Hill, following our six-week sojourn to the U.S. We’ve spent the last four weeks ticking projects off our house and garden ‘to do’ list. As that list shortens our upcoming travel list is lengthening.When not welding a shovel or pitchfork,  The Scout’s been at work planning some new adventures. . .so hope you’ll be with us as we set out to explore Greece. . .

Mani wildflower

Where ever  the road leads you and yours this week we wish you a safe, happy, healthy journey. As always, thanks for the time you’ve spent with us ~

Linking this week with:

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

Greece: Sun, Sand, Sirocco ~ Must be Spring

‘All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind. . .’

                 -- Kerry Livgren, Kansas (group), 1977

That song was playing in a taverna last night in the village. No other song could have been more fitting this week. 

Sunset during Sirocco wind in the Mani

The famed Sirocco wind carrying the warmth and sand of Africa’s Sahara desert into Mediterranean countries to its north, made its annual appearance this week.  While we are told Greece doesn’t have a word of its own for the wind, we are coming to call it the Winds of March or the Wind of Martios, as the month is called here. It always seems to visit this time of year.

Maybe it should be the Winds of Spring, because it seems to bring the new season along with it as well."

'Springtime is the land awakening.

The March winds are the morning yawn.'

     -- Lewis Grizzard

The Mani became 'dust in the wind'

By whatever the name, it mutes our normally vibrant-colored Peloponnese and turns our world gray for a few days. It makes everything dust in the wind. Then as quickly as it comes, it goes.
The ‘bright side’ to the Sirocco, is that it’s a sure sign that spring is almost here. And not a minute too soon, I might add!

'I enjoy the spring more than the autumn now,

one does, I think as one gets older.'

         -- Virginia Woolf

Wild iris border the roadways

Actually it has felt spring-like since we returned to Greece in mid-February from our six-week sojourn to the United States. This is the first time we’ve been here that early in the year and we were surprised at the many wildflowers already in bloom.The first troubadours of spring, the tiny wild Iris, have lined the roadsides and bordered the groves it seems for most of the winter.

Olive groves are carpeted in gold

Then, as if those iris were the warm up act, a few weeks ago the countryside threw off winter’s coat showing all its springtime colors.

Our olive grove – that drought-stricken, barren area we arrived to last fall – has become an almost magical place – home to hobbits, elves and  fairies - if you let your imagination roam.

A tree in our olive grove

Red, yellow, white and blue are the colors woven together in this year’s spring carpet.

Blooms are everywhere

The Garden in the Grove at The Stone House on the Hill

Going Wild in the Peloponnese

It is the perfect time to explore the Mani countryside. The old limestone trails that once served as the only link between communities have become popular with hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. Ribbons of hiking trails curl and wind deep into gorges and wrap around hillsides.  Any number of walking tours can be booked or follow the trail signs with guidebooks and maps in hand and explore on your own.

A few days ago we hiked out beyond the end of the road, just beyond Trahilia village near us on a day that was ‘just right’ as Goldilocks might say. . .

Looking back at Trahilia

Another day we parked in the village of Platsa, just above us and set out to visit a spring nestled into the hillside some 1.2 kilometers away. As we walked through the village we passed its long-ago school-house-once-turned tavern, now abandoned, and admired the wildflowers growing as high as its once crowded tables.

The old schoolhouse-turned-tavern in Platsa

'There are always flowers for those who want to see them.'

                                 -- Henri Matisse

The path to the springs near Platsa

Whatever season you are welcoming in your part of the world, we hope it is as beautiful as springtime in Greece.  That’s it from The Stone House on the Hill this week.  As always we are grateful for the time you spend ‘with us’ and look forward to your comments. Hope to see you again next week and bring some friends with you. . .

‘Like wildflowers;

you must allow yourself to

grow in all the places people

thought you never would.'

             -E.V.

Linking this week with:

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

Greek Signs of Spring ~ Awakening from Winter

Those signs of spring began slowly, slowly. Siga, Siga, as we say in Greece. Those sly indicators that means ‘the season’ is nearly here. ‘The season’ is the catchall term for ‘tourist season/spring/summer/the good times’ here.

Like the proverbial bear, the villages are stretching and yawning; awakening from their winter’s hibernation. The pace of life in The Mani is picking up momentum as it welcomes spring and 'the season'.

Wild poppies are in full bloom

The wildflowers may have been the first signs of winter’s passing – the olive groves and road sides have been carpeted with them since we arrived in our Peloponnese paradise in mid-March. (Pssst -- I whisper this secret --  those tourists who come to Greece during its blistering hot summers and see only barren scorched landscapes have no idea of the lush countryside they are missing by not visiting in the spring.)

Our olive grove mid-March

Maybe we were so focused on those wild wonders that we didn’t pay attention to the budding blooms in our tended gardens that also are signs of the new season. All of a sudden it seems the geraniums have burst forth, the lilacs are a purple profusion, roses are budding rainbow colors. Wisteria, the poster child of Mediterranean gardens, drapes fences and buildings throughout the area.

Wisteria, the Mediterranean poster child

Of course, they all go by Greek names here (which we are trying to learn, siga, siga.)  But as Shakespeare would say, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” and bottom line: they all mean winter has headed into the history books!

Signs of spring aren’t limited to the blooms in this part of Greece, there’s been an accompanying frenzy of activity the last couple of weeks as owners prepare their restaurants, tavernas, retail stores and beaches for what is hoped to be an onslaught of tourists.

Grooming Pantazi Beach

The area’s popular Pantazi Beach, – which we refer to as ‘ours’ because it is just below our hillside home - was getting a grooming this week– removing the accumulation of rocks dumped by winter storms so that beach goers will have even a better time here (pssst, another secret: it isn’t bad even with the rocks as locals will attest!).

Restaurant beach cabana in Kalamata readies for the season

Kalamata, (the big city an hour north of us) was sprucing up its long beachfront as well the last couple weeks. Upscale restaurants and coffee shops which line the beach road were already serving customers when we drove past early in the week. The Scout tap danced with our car’s brake pedal to avoid hitting a few of ‘the season’s’ waitstaff who dash back and forth across the two-lane road to serve the sun-and-sand seeking patrons seated on the beach. 

With the new freeway bypass you can avoid Kalamata's beach road completely - but why?

The real tip off to ‘the season’ is the crescendo of activity that comes with Easter Week.  This year the full moon puts all Christendom's Easter celebrations on the same Sunday; this coming Sunday.  Greek Easter, as long time readers here know, is one of the most magical time to be in this country.  It is celebrated over the course of several days beginning in earnest Friday morning, Good Friday, and ending Monday evening, Easter Monday.

Window display at the Shell Service Station - Kalamata

Even non-believers can’t help but be moved by the sound of church bells tolling out the call to worship and the sights of processionals through towns and villages during this holiest of weeks here.

We’ve seen an increase in the commercial side of the holiday this year with Easter baskets, bunnies and candies available to purchase from every type of store imaginable.

Even with bunnies and baskets, the traditional long decorated candles are still prominently displayed – in fact, there were some for sale at the neighboring village’s post office.

Those candles are lit during Saturday’s late night service as the Pappas, the priest announces to the gathered crowd in the squares near churches,“Cristos Anesti!” or Christ is Risen!

For more photos of that celebration, click here for a look at last year’s Easter in the village.

Seasonal Easter kiosks in the pedestrian square of Kalamata sell candles and jewelry

We had a glitch with the internet service in our area this week so I am a bit tardy in getting this seasonal update posted. But Good Friday seems as good a day as any to do so. It has begun with blue sky, sunshine and the promise of a beautiful weekend ahead.

Good Friday, our village church, 2016

Whether you are celebrating Easter, Passover,  the weekend or the arrival of a new season, we hope you are surrounded by the things that make you happy – we certainly are!  Next week I will give you that long promised update on the 'Road to Greek Residency'. I can tell you that our journey has come to a standstill for the most interesting of reasons – and one over which we have no control. We hope it doesn’t bring our journey to an end before we reach our destination. . .but that’s the story for next week. Hope you'll be back then!

The Stone House on the Hill

We thank you for the time you’ve spent with us and wish you and yours happy and safe travels. We are linking this week (internet permitting) with a number of other most interesting bloggers from around the world. Check them out, by clicking on the links below:

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday –
Photo Friday
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