First Swim

June 2024

Our first swim in the sea. 

A dismal sight on an island that lives from tourism.

A dusty beach.  No shade and not a drop to drink

Our local beach, Vayonia, which I write about every year.

We miss the old days when we swam and then sat at the beach bar enjoying an iced coffee.  K talked with the lads there and I read my book.

People still come, cars line the beach but it's not an enjoyable experience.  Many come, take a look, turn around and leave.  Groups of young tourists on quad bikes drive in yelling, noisy and belligerent and do wheelies along that stretch of dusty foreshore kicking up clouds of dirt, reving their engines and being damn annoying.

In the days of the beach bar the boys cleaned flotsam and jetsam from the sea and kept the beach clean, watered down the dust and dirt.

Where the locals gather

Under the only shade. Trees hanging down over a small piece of beach.

2016

Days gone by

The beach as it once was

A much younger Poppi

Fun in the sun

Jumping off the rocks

Under parental supervision

Beach bar

About 10 years ago

Papou with the grandchildren

I remember this. The kids had a sleepover and we went down at 8 am, waking up the sleepers on the yachts in the bay. Then we had a picnic breakfast. When the bar opened we all went for coffee and drinks. Great memories.

The canteen was closed down by the archeological department and by complaints from the one house on the beach. They turned it into a Airbnb and didn't want a noisy bar in front of them.  The visitors who stay there might have thought differently. It was rarely open at night and would have given the people who stayed there a place to drink and buy easy Greek  meals. Greek salad and souvlaki

 

Last Supper

 Time to say 'adieu' but not goodbye to the last of our visitors. 

Till next time.

We gathered for their final meal at a harbourside Souvlatzidiko. 

 What would you choose?

Greek salad?   Kalamari?   Mousaka?

They chose souvlaki!

Gyro, shaved off the big roll of pork or chicken bits.

Loaded with potatoes, onions, tomatoes and tzatziki and wrapped up in grilled pita bread.

Souvlaki and beer. Classic Greece

Can't have a blog post without Poppi and without K. Niece Julie, and a line up of empty Greek Alpha beer bottles. 

Next morning after early morning coffee and beer we loaded them and 40 kilos of NZ Herbivore butter onto the Hydrofoil for Athens and then onto London.

There'll be another Post very soon about this marvellous butter.  Craig and Julie were attending exhibitions in Thailand and London, with this cooler full of butter, showing and selling their product.  What's inbetween Bangkok and London?  Why Poros of course.  Another couple of frequent visitors.

Bye Jules, you might need to find your jacket before you land in  London. 

Oiiii Danae, where do you think you're going?

Give back that suitcase and get away from the gangplank.

Move it, move it!

See you All again soon

Thanks for coming

Tony and Rainy

Julie and Greg

Princess Anne and Nils Holgerson

Gary Cooper and our Enchantress Seirena

K, and most greeks, have trouble getting their tongues around English names so he renamed some of them 

🤔😅😁

Our next visitors are from Australia. We are already on their case. 

Blocko

 Our mountain road is sealed off for the long weekend to stop any accidental, or not, lighting of fires. Good work municipality and volunteers.

Visitors are allowed as far as our rustic Paradise Taverna. They can't visit the beach below us or the ancient ruins. They're not missing much.

Residents are allowed through naturally. The people on the *blocko are known to us and we are known to them. We stop for a chat before proceeding 

 - *A road block, blocko or mploko in Greek.

- no 'b' in Greek so 'mp' makes the same sound. Apparently.

- Don't be bamboozled by the greek letter Beta written as 'B'  but sounded 'V' in Greek.  The Greek alphabet starts Alpha, Veta....not alpha, beta

Greek lesson coming up sometime soon I think. 

A strong hot, dry wind has been blowing for days. There are wild fires endangering villages all over Greece. We don't want wild fires around here. 

I'm on smoke alert. At any whiff of fire I'm out in the road surveying my realm. 

The land next door is full of dry grass and brush. It's a class one fire hazard, abandoned by the owner, who lived in Athens and died recently. His heirs aren't overly interesting. It's for sale and the agent brought up an Albanian to clear it. The Albanian told him to get a bulldozer. 

All around us are pine forest and acres of olive trees. They make excellent firewood.

Long Weekend

There's a long weekend loomimg.  Poros, according to reports is 90% full.  That's rooms and hotels.  Many others will be staying with friends and relatives.  It's a good opportunity to get away from city grime and dust in this ongoing heatwave.  The wind is blowing hard and hot and sucking all the moisture out of us, and the garden.  

Maybe it's good weather for swimming.  It depends on which beach you go to and where the wind is blowing from.  Down below us the wind will be bringing the rubbish dumped in the Saronic Gulf into the bay, making the water murky and the beach full of plastic treasures.  I don't like foreign objects in my bathing water.  

A neighbour who was brought up by the beach came in for coffee not long ago and regaled us with tales of finding dead cows floating in the sea and now and again a body washed overboard from a cargo ship.

Monday is the Feast of the Holy Spirit.  7 weeks after Easter. Greek Orthodox Easter that it.  And it's a public holiday.

Maybe that's Whit Monday in other parts of the world.

This fiesta coincides with a few others this year.  Thursday, yesterday was the Summer Solstice.  Longest day and shortest night.  I'm enjoying these long days.  I get up earlier, get work done quickly before the heat of the day zonks me out.

Washing dries in half an hour, is hung out in the shade and brought in immediatey it dries before it turns to  bone, as they say here.  I guess that's where we get 'bone dry' from.

Tonight on the island of Hydra, just down the coast, they will be burning boats in a reenactment of the burning of the Ottoman (Turkish ) fleet during the Greek War of Independence in 1821.

I've never been but I know that many small boats from Poros fill up with friends and beer, and go down there to anchor in the bay and watch the spectacle.

On Sunday May wreaths are burnt on a bonfire in town and children, or older, jump the fire to bring them good luck.  In days of yore we used to have a neighbourhood BBQ and burn our wreaths.  Sadly it had to be abandoned as fire risks grew.  Now the 'Poriotisses', the Ladies of Poros have taken it over and there is greek dancing in one of the Squares at the end of town.  A glass of wine and a small sweet will be offered.  We went a few times when our granddaughters were dancing. I've jumped the fire a few times too and been saved from falling in a few times.  Been there, seen that.

That's all to do with the Fiesta of St John the Baptist or St John of the fleas.  K used to say that when he was  a child the kids were encouraged to jump over the fire to keep them flea-free for the rest of the summer.  Old superstitions which are no longer believed. 

On Monday we have been invited to attend a service at a tiny church down the coast.  It's a small private church dedicated to the Triada, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  After the service there will be roast pig, the owners wine, music and dancing.  K has been before.  I have not been and do not want to go .  However if my dear husband insists then I shall have to attend to to keep him out of mischef and drive him home.  

All his friends will be there and there will be much jollity, telling of tall tales, drinking and good old boys getting worse for wear.  

I'm keeping my mouth shut and hoping he forgets. 

Our greek telephone provider has offered us unlimited free GBs over the holiday weekend.  They often do that on big holidays and I make good use of it.   Our internet comes and goes so Im happy to have free data.

I have been watching the UEFA Football cup in the evenings. There's nothing else on tv. K  loves the matches. He yells at the players and reprimands the ref when he misses a foul or won't give a yellow card. I've learnt the players names and try not to ask stupid questions. I still haven't worked out when someone is offside but he let's me know.

Greece isn't playing   I presume they were knocked out ages ago.  That's one of those stupid questions. 

We have a television set out on the terrace and the wild life makes their presence known. At 8pm a June bug  comes whirling around my head and then the mosquitoes start, whining in my ear. There's usually a wasp or 2 annoying me by darting around and refusing to leave even after my aggressive swatting. 

June bug. Called a golden fly here. Chrisomyga.

The full moon is brilliant, rising above  the olive groves just after dark. We have a grandstand view. 

And so summer rolls on

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Kostas

He can finally be considered officially an OAP.  65.  6 years younger than me in case you're doing the maths.

The family travellers brought this huge banner with them.

In their suitcases.  K was suitably impressed and we have only just taken it down although his birthday was a few weeks ago.  It has been stored away till his next birthday.

And, yes, that's me on it too. A photo of us together at Xmas time.

Balls with lights for the garden.

Those clever kiwis had really thought about  the birthday celebrations 

And a string of light for around the terrace.

The line up for 'Strictly Maori Dancing'

Kiwi niece Julie on the left with kiwi s-in-law and 3 of my girls

 

They brought a dozen poi as well and had practiced a traditional Maori dance.  Poi is a form of rhythmical dance and song performed by maori women from Aotearoa (New Zealand) using balls on the end of a rope.

Greek kiwi girls got it immediately.  Our wahine does the poi.

These are the poi they brought with them. 12 of them!

Lots of fun.  As it should be on a birthday.

Thanks for carrying all these and more through Singapore, Italy and finally onto Greece.

We were blown away by this final surprise

For once it wasn't all about food

But

In case you wondered we had my delicious mousaka and Ks roast lamb, pork, chicken and potatoes. 

Still Missing

Missing -

There are now a string of tourists either dead or missing after starting out on hiking trips.

Police sources say 'the problem of missing hikers is not new.....but this year it seems more people got disorientated during the heatwave.'

We had a bit of a dip in temperatures and it was delightfully cooler yesterday but temps are rising and will continue for another week.

Greeks have been warned to stay indoors and drink lots of fluids.  However foreigners don't seem to get the message or understand these warnings and there are no laws to stop them hiking.  They seem unaware of the risks.

Michael Mosley.  Found after after 4 days.  Dead

An American in Amorgos.  Missing for a week. 

Dutchman on Samos.  Found.  Dead

American missing from the island of Mathraki, near Corfu.  Found yesterday.  Dead

Belgian man. Crete.  Dead.

2 French women. Missing on the island of Sikinos in  the Cyclades.

 All were near to or over 60 years of age. All of them were walking on days with blistering heat. Hiking can go wrong at any time. The 2 french women on Sikinos got in touch with their hotel  by phone but didn't know where they were. They sent a photo of one of them on the ground and that was the last communication 3 days ago. 

Don't veer off the track for any reason. Greek islands are full of ancient sites. You don't have to examine every stone. Barren rocky tracks make it easy to get lost, easy to slip, sprain an ankle, fall into a ravine. 

Sikinos

Greek Island in the Cyclades

Population 230

Ideal for a quiet holiday of a few days, swimming in clear waters away from the crowds.  Not much else to do. Except walking. Not in July or August. 

These little islands are not touristy, ideal for sampling local cuisine and local wine. Barren as they are there are still flourishing vineyards. Try the wine, probably from the barrel, served in a jug by the half kilo. 

Amorgos

Population 1,961

Another unspoilt island in the Cyclades. 

Rich in ancient history. There's a lot to do and see. You may need to hire a car. Described as 'hiking friendly' with lots of trails. Take care and enjoy them. Not in Midsummer. 

Monastery of Hozoviotissa, Amorgos

Built in 1017

Hanging 300m metres above the sea

Dedicated to the Virgin Mary

Cyclades

A group of 220 islands southwest of mainland Greece.

The islands are known for their blue and white architecture.

Tour de Poros

- School's  out .  Till 12 September. 

 Greek schools have the longest school holidays in Europe.  3 months, mid June till mid September.  It's just too hot and children can't concentrate.  A lot of schools don't have aircon but even if they did kids would still be out in the heat in the school yard and to and fro from school.

 Older children finished end of year and  University Exams a week ago.

Poppi is in Athens this week running, swimming and throwing the shot-put. It's the last part of her entrance exam to the prestigious Athens Gymnastics Academy. 

 Primary Schools have just closed.  In their last weeks there were fewer lessons and more outings,  cultural and sporting events . 

- 3rd June was World Bicycle Day

Primary school children and their teachers went on a ride along the harbour and back.

Bikes, and Helmets, were lent by the Bike Hire shops on the island.

Police stopped traffic .

We all (sitting at harbourfront Cafes drinking coffee) clapped as they rode passed.

An ambulance followed them to pick up any casualties.

- Athletics Festival

School children from Poros and towns across on the mainland competed in track events.

The Navy School has a football field and running track which are used for island sports events. It even  has a small grandstand . 

All the grandkids have taken part at some stage and we've sat on the hard stone bleachers cheering them on.

Happy Hols kids

Some of my grandchildren are working this summer.  Poppi will be visiting her sister on the island of Lipsi.