Church Tales

 More 'fascinating' church tales.. 

A tiny white church up the road, dedicated to Greek Saint Nektarios, had its fiesta recently . We went to the early morning service. 

 We sat outside on plastic chairs.  The best place  to see comings and goings and chat with neighbours. I stand up and sit down according to K's nudges.  It's still all Greek to me. 

Cat in charge of the icon

It was an interesting service 

The cat  wandered in and out. 

The priest was from a small village half an hour away, brought in at the last minute.  Quite a character. 

He wandered in and out of the church as well

The first time he came out, leaving the chanter to chant his bit, it started to rain. Then it suddenly stopped and the sun came out 

He turned around to all of us standing outside and said

"This is the weather when foxes get married"

We looked at each other amused.    Very down to earth.  

Next time he came out was with some holy bread, looking for one of the women to cut it and bring it back . Squares of special Holy Bread are given to those who take communion.  He looked at me, and looked away. A foreigner wouldn't know about these things.  

He had a chat with a couple of children and strolled back to work. 

Next time he appeared outside he looked at everyone one by one, we were only a dozen, and told them they had to go in and kiss the bible. Once again he skipped over me. I stick out a mile as a local alien. 

Towards the end of the service two, Greek, women cut big loaves of sweet bread into chunks. It's cut on a table outside after candles have been lit and the loaves have been blessed. The sweet bread represents the 5 loaves which fed the 5,000.  The bread is placed in wicker baskets and we all grab as much as we can. It's delicious!

Some are homemade but nowadays you can order 5 loaves from the Baker if you want to make an offering. 

In days of yore I've made the Holy Bread and the 5 loaves. No more.

This driftwood decor is at a taverna next to the graveyard. We all went here for our demi-tasse cup of Greek coffee traditionally served after a funeral. 

After a funeral, at a nearby cafe or taverna, everyone is offered a small gritty Greek coffee, a dry biscuit and  a glass of brandy or liqueur.  In days of old the coffee was always without sugar, bitter, to fit the circumstances. Nowadays we have a choice, sugarless, medium or sweet. 

We sit around with friends, hear the latest gossip, have a few tots of brandy, even at 10am, line up to offer a few words of sympathy to the family and are on our way. 

Winter Olympics 2026

 November 26

The Olympic flame for the 2026 Winter Olympics was lit at Ancient Olympia, home of the original games. The first games took place here in 776 BC

The ceremony came and went without us noticing.  Our news channels have been too busy with national strikes, farmers stoning police, political scandals, family vendettas and shoot outs. 

The ceremony at Ancient Olympia is to light the Olympic Torch. It's supposed to be lit by the sun but this year they used a back-up flame.  The ceremony was moved inside the Archeological Museum at Olympia because of heavy rain.

 For 9 days the flame was carried through Greece and finally to the marble stadium in Central Athens. There it was handed over to Italy, the 2026 host country. 

 

The flame was formally handed to the Italian Olympic Committee and is now on a 65 day journey through Italy.

The winter Olympics begin on February 6 at Milano-Cortina

These are the 4th Winter Olympics to be hosted by Italy.

All these skiing, snowy events are not high on our viewing programme but they'll help get us through some long winter nights.

We'll be on the lookout for NZ, Australian, Greek and even English athletes. 

Sunshine

 As I predicted. We woke up to sunshine. A bit cold but it's still early.

I've put a load of washing on. Later we will go out and get  a few supplies. 

Bread and wine

It's Saint Nikolas fiesta day. 

Happy name day to my niece Niki. 

Saint Nik is patron saint of the Navy and all those who sail the seven seas. 

Are there only 7?

There's a big church service at the Navy Base here. K should have attended but we were just a little late this morning. 

Farmers further north are still revving their tractors.

On the island it is a beautiful day .  Blue skies , warm sunshine.  Calm seas. No yachts tied up.  No cafeterias bursting with noisy gatherings. Empty shops and roads.  There is peace in the air. 

The valley near us called Fousa. Full of grapevines, olive trees and sheep.

Today nearly all the water has disappeared.  The land just soaked it all up

The fisherman's harbour

A bougainvillea still in glorious colour

Ks little blue and white boat

Byron.. Not the Poet

 Dismal

Bleak

All good words to describe today's conditions.....

Darkness.....    Byron 

The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars

Did wander darling in the eternal space

Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth...

Byron is revered in Greece 

He's a hero who gave his life for Greek Independence 

And now he's a bluster and a blitzkreig

The storm has brought flooding all over the country. My grandson Jamie sent us a video of the street where he lives in Athens. It turned into a fast flowing river taking everything with it.  Thankfully he lives on the 2nd floor.  No school for him for a couple of days. 

I bet by the time you read this the sun will be shining again. 

We have over 300 days of sunshine a year. So they say. 

What to do

Decorate

 We have 5 boats which light up.   

6 o'clock sharp our house  turns into a Greek Xmas  wonderland

Lots of lights on the tree too

NZ Keruru 

Native Pigeon

Our NZ Christmas cloth

Thanks Jules

Meanwhile, back in the hinterland Thousands of tractors have cut off main roads and all the northern border crossings

Farmers are waiting for EU reparation for damages from flooding, fires and livestock culling because of sheep and goat pox

In our house 

No flooding 

No culling

Just a little bit of imbibing

Kronia Polla

Kala Christoyenna

3 December

 A day to remember. My birthday and then 23 years ago our first grandson was born on the 3rd.  As my daughter said 'a present that keeps on giving'.

Here we are 23 years later 

I've already had my celebration and George is working in Athens. He's waiting to party away his Saturday night. 

The Birth Day began early with the first greetings arriving here as the day dawned down in NZ , 11 hours ahead of us.

Australia sent best wishes a few hours later.

The first Greek Happy Birthdays beeped on Instagram and WhatsApp at midnight plus 1...minute.

I love Social media at times like this. We have instant contact from one end of the globe to the other.

Or just between Athens and Poros.  Me and my grandchildren 

Thanks everyone all over the world 

The day continued with a trip down to the town.  We hadn't reckoned on a parade at the Navy Base. 800 sailors were finishing their basic training with a parade and an oath of allegiance to the Fatherland. 

We arrived just as the sailors marched off the parade ground, across the road to their barracks. 

All traffic stopped while first the officers passed then the VIPs followed by squads of sailors, guns shouldered, chanting some battle cry. 

Meanwhile thousands of Mamas and Papas streamed out behind them blocking the road for 20 minutes.  

We waited. Impatiently, until a policeman finally got it all under control. 

Cafeterias were full, and on the way home cars were backed up for a kilometre waiting to get on the car ferry. 

They were the last recruits to do their National training here for service in the Navy. From 1 January all conscripts will go into the army to do their 1 year service.

 

We had work to do downtown and decided to have a meal in our one traditional taverna until the crowds dissipated. 

A litre of rosé 

At the Sokaki

It means 'small passageway' 

Pastitsio and meatballs

Cheap and delicious 

And of course traditional 

Home to light the fire

Today a storm called 'Byron' is raging round us

We just got a red alert on our phones.  Hunker down and don't make unnecessary journeys. 

Schools will be closed tomorrow. 

I will happily hunker down. We  brought a good supply of wood inside.  K cooked cuttlefish and spinach. 

Time perhaps to decorate the Christmas tree. 

The Last of the Mohicans

 I have just watched our last foreign visitor, for this year,  walk up the gangplank and away.

I wondered what our visitor, Cassidy, would do on Poros in November.  He managed to fill his days quite well. Once it stopped raining and the sun came out.

He arrived during a bad storm. No boats sailing for 2 days.  But after a few phone calls he found the bus station in Athens and came around by road. Amazing what you can do when you're young, fearless and armed with an iPhone.

Our little car ferry was still sailing. It's only a 10 minute journey from the mainland village to the island. We picked him up from the harbour in drenching rain.

Next day the sun eventually poked it's head out and we did a drive around the island. Then I left him to explore by himself.  He found the free ebikes which I had forgotten about and cycled around the town.

Each visitor rekindles my love of Greece in a different way. I enjoyed the ancient theatre of Epidavros again with our last visitors. I learnt a lot seeing  the ruins of the healing centre with my English cousins.  Hearing their observations brought the stones to life. 

Both my cousins back in October and now Cassidy  made me realise how much I need to relearn about Poros.

Cassidy is studying Ancient History, loves archeology, speaks Chinese, is learning Greek.  He impressed me with the extent of his knowledge of  Greek and Roman history and language skills. He loves what he studies

On our way back from a day in Nafplio I managed to get K to stop at the impressive 3,000 year old bridge.  Cassidy has visited this area before and seen many of the ancient sites but he hadn't seen this.

He's a philhellene. An admirer of Greek culture, history and language

An obligatory photo up at the Monastery.  

Once the rain stopped we had beautiful days.  This peaceful sun kissed beach was so inviting.  He went swimming several times.

The young and the fearless!

Cassidy said it was warmer than the Tasman sea. Maybe it was but you wouldn't see me sticking more than a big toe in the water in November

He was lucky, some may say, to join in and meet more of the family at our beginning-of-December Sagittarian birthday bash.

Half the family are in Athens studying or working but he met our daughters and my dear English 'sister' Jan.  We had a nice noisy day eating food that was more foreign than Greek and drinking prosecco.  

We have 5 family birthdays in 10 days. One of them is mine and I try and make sure it's one day that we don't eat Greek food. 

It was still very Greek though. 

 Sweet n sour pork.  Stuffed chicken roll. Coleslaw. 

But also........ 

Tiropitakia (cheese pies). Lemon potatoes. And K had fried some offal.

All cooked with olive oil, oregano, and  lemon juice. You can't escape that combo. And there was tzatziki and a Greek salad. 

Everyone was happy. 

We wish Cassidy more marvellous travels.  It was great meeting you. 

Taking It Home

Every holiday comes to an end

Farewell 

With cousin Captain Kyriakos

The last night

At a local café 

Lots of Alpha beer and too much local red wine

It was a noisy party but the table next door were english and used to rowdy 'tourists'.  Lots of fun and laughter

They'll be back

Next Morning .....

 

Liquid Gold

The girls had a few problems firstly because of the weather and then that infuriating

' Greek time '

An early morning appointment became a late afternoon visit and even then we had to wait till the farmers finally started bringing in their days harvest, late afternoon . 

 5 oclock became 6 oclock and half an hour for pressing became another hour.

But all those ducks finally got thrust in a line and next day the girls picked up 4 5-kilo containers of this year's harvest

Extra fresh

Extra Virgin

That's 40 kilos of Poros olive oil

they're taking it by boat and Uber, train and plane......

Hopefully all the way back home to New Zealand

Walking UP the gangplank

Seems like Danelle is doing all the heavy lifting

And what happened next is another long story.

At Athens airport it was specially packed and off they flew to Istanbul.

Hate to say this, but those darn Turks put a spanner in the works.  Turkish Airlines refused to allow the oil, specially packed in wooden boxes,  onto their plane.  Luckily we're talking about 2 enterprising kiwi lasses here.  They managed to get some into their luggage and finally home.  

Julie accomplished what she wanted.

Got to see the oil press in operation

And sample the produce

Good luck with the next stage of your new venture

Meanwhile

 back on the farm

 it was calf  castrating time

Look at the state of that girl!