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

Just to the left of the Moon

After more than a year of having not been back to the United States, I'd like to say that our return last week sent us over the moon. 

Over the North Pole to the left of the moon

But that wasn't quite the case. . . we did go near it though, or so it seemed, from our window as we flew over the North Pole.

Our plane over Iran

Fysika'!, (Of course!), as we say in Greece. . .our first trip after being grounded for more than year by a pandemic would involve passing 'by' the moon and over the North Pole! And just to keep me -- the family's 'white knuckler' -- on my toes, we were flying Boeing 777's - you know, the model plane (thankfully with different engines) that has been in the news in recent weeks for the engine problem. . .

Travel planning - a new dimension

Athens Airport - rather empty

This trip has literally been seven months in the planning. We'd even twice purchased tickets, only to cancel and go back to the drawing board. We waffled 'betwixt' and 'between' in deciding whether our reasons for returning balanced the risk of traveling in a time of Covid. 

Long overdue 'annual' medical appointments and the quest to get Covid vaccinations finally tipped the scales in favor of heading to the US. (Greece is currently vaccinating its citizens. It is working on a way to get expats registered.)

Dubai's airport, like the city, is sprawling 

Covid has sent travel planning into a whole new dimension. In the 'old world' we simply went with best price, comfort level and shortest route. Now planning involves knowing the entry requirements of the countries we are traveling to and returning to, as well as those we transit (there are no direct flights between Athens and Seattle). We also monitored the constantly fluctuating Covid 'counts', lockdowns and quarantine rules for all of those countries as well.  

Then there was the matter of finding an airline still flying from our part of the world to Seattle, then reviewing its Covid safety protocols and cleanliness.

After taking all that into consideration, we ended up with a rather circuitous route back.

Sands of Iran from the plane

The first leg of our journey was a four-hour flight from Athens to Dubai, last Friday evening. We overnighted at an airport hotel and then a Saturday morning flight of 13.5 hours brought us to Seattle from Dubai. The plane sliced right up the middle of sand-covered Iran, the immense Russian landscape, over frozen tundra, and the North Pole and the snow-covered Canadian Rocky Mountain range. 

Snow capped Canadian Rockies

That flight, the second longest we have ever been on, seemed so much longer than those 13.5 hours that ticked so slowly past. We are obviously out of practice when it comes to travel! Because it wasn't for lack of pampering as we had cashed in air miles to fly Business Class on Emirates Airline. We did so knowing the flights would be long and to hopefully gain more 'distancing' on board. As it turned out, spacing was not a problem as the load factor was so light. It was a nice way to travel, though!

Mask, gloves, protective goggles and clothing - a new world

I know many of you are pondering similar trips and have asked about how safe we felt, related to Covid.  I can sing the praises of Emirates as they seemed to have gone the extra mile for safety. They announced that the plane's air filtration was at hospital level 98.97% and that it circulated every two minutes.  Flight attendants wore masks, face shields, gloves and a protective covering over their uniforms. They went so far as to have a staff member on board specifically assigned to clean toilets every 45 minutes.  

Passengers were required to wear masks at all times when not eating or drinking.  New masks were distributed regularly and a kit with gloves, masks and sanitizer was distributed at the start of the journey.

Our welcome gift on board

Dishes served in Business came with plastic covers that we could remove, glassware was wrapped. Wine was poured so that we could see it coming directly out of the bottle and into the glasses. 

Business Class Emirates

As mentioned above we flew a 777- 200, which can accommodate hundreds of passengers. There are 38 Business class seats on this aircraft.  We had 8 passengers in Business from Athens and 11 from Dubai.  There were maybe 100 people on the entire flight to Seattle, fewer on the flight to Dubai.

Compartments were large and private

The Business Class configuration is such that the two of us sitting side-by-side couldn't see each other or talk with each other without making an effort to do so.  No problem with distancing.

Before Boarding the Plane. . .

Covid test in our Greek village

The Covid Test: Within three calendar days of boarding a flight to the United States, passengers must be tested and found negative for Covid. Luckily, we have a state-of-the-art modern blood lab in our villages so the test was done in the parking lot - the staff came to the car window -- at noon last Wednesday. By 7 p.m. we had our 'negative' results in email form. 

The authorities require the report to be printed on paper - those documents were ready the following morning. That piece of paper became as valuable as our passport - we had to show it in Athens and four times in Dubai. No one checked it upon our arrival in Seattle.

US government required attestation form

The Attestation Form: U.S. government also requires that a passenger Covid attestation form be completed by the passenger, swearing that they either tested negative or if they had previously had Covid that a doctor had determined they were clear to travel.  Those forms are collected by the airline - no attestation, no boarding. 

Greece - has tight controls for movement these days

The Greek Passenger Locator Form (PLF): another new Covid step is completing a form required for all travelers both arriving and departing Greece. These must be completed within 24 hours of the departing flight. This is done on-line and a QR code is sent back to the applicant by midnight prior to the flight. Our code came back immediately - however no one at the Athens Airport asked to see it.

What Greek officials did want to see was our biometric residency permit card. . .right after they checked our U.S. passport and saw that we entered the country more than a year ago. Greece, is a Schengen country which allows a 90-day stay unless you have proof of residency.  Finally, those cards we worked so hard to get, came in handy!

Was it worth it?

First jab - Monday

Yes! A resounding YES because a major reason for this trip was the hope/plan to get our Covid vaccine at some point during our stay and we have already accomplished that. For weeks, while going through the trip planning, we were also monitoring vaccination sites and schedules and putting our names on waitlists. Then an unexpected fluke in scheduling got us appointments at a mass vaccination center in a city near our home here.  We stopped and got our first (Pfizer) shot before we got home!  The next day we were notified we had cleared another waitlist and could have gotten an appointment in the Seattle area.

We also threaded the needle in leaving Greece when we did. Yesterday the country recorded its highest number of Covid cases, several hospitals in Athens are at 90% ICU bed capacity with Covid patients and the country went into its most severe lockdown since last spring. The lockdown limits movement to within the village, and limited movement in the village. This lockdown is set to end March 16th. We are set to return the end of the month. . .we may have a whole new travel adventure back.

Again, we thank you for the time you spent with us today and hope to see you back for the next installment of this journey to Washington. . .

Linking with:

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