From Where ???

 Local summer fruit is just appearing in our markets.  Meantime our local grocer has an abundance of fruit from all the world

Grapes from Egypt

Expensive at 6.20 a kilo. They're out of season here

Expensive lemons from Egypt

At least they're not from Turkey

Our own lemons this year haven't done well at all

I bought 2 lemons, pieces, not kilos, as a stop gap

Apples from Italy

The variety is kikou

I don't buy these because

Apples from.. 

 Poland are the cheapest and full of flavour

Variety Jona..... Maybe Jonathan in English

Pineapple from Costa Rica 

Not a bad price for a genuine exotic fruit

Pears from Chile

Variety Packham

I didn't get the price but I wouldn't buy them anyway. Next to them was a case of perfectly good Greek pears

The best potatoes are from either Cyprus or Egypt and the price is right

Greek apricots are now in season for 2.50 a kilo

Nectarines are just appearing as are

 melons and watermelons

Grapes and figs are in season late July and August

Summer fruit is greek

Tomato prices have come down from 4 euros to 2.50

Zucchini and aubergines are now a reasonable price.  Our garden is producing these as well.

 

I'm cooking stuffed tomatoes and peppers, Briam (Greek ratatouille), Imam (aubergines with tomatoes and onions), fried zucchini and moussaka 

Gun Shots

 Our crazy neighbour has been shooting up the neighbourhood again, celebrating with his girlfriend. We could hear the loud music and then came the rifle shots.  5 very loud reports then 3 more and another three. A few minutes later another barrage. Very close by. 

There's that tremor of fear. Celebration?  Pot shots at goats?  Or someone on a rampage? 

This on the day when a shooter in Athens  received a life sentence for a similar 'celebratory' volley which took the life of an innocent child.  A stray bullet hit 11 year old Marios while he was enjoying  festivities at a school 2 kilometres away.

Bullets which go up must come down. Shooting in the air used to be a tradition at weddings and baptisms and this isn't the first time it has ended in tragedy. Years ago at a wedding in Crete it was the bride who died.

Here I go inside, close the door and hope it's not  a rampage. 

 

Granddaughters Rule

 So what's Poppi up to these days? 

She's in the middle of end of year exams

Studying hard

At a cafeteria

Good coffee stimulates the little grey cells

She's studying for the written exams. She also has to prove she can shoot a bow and arrow, leap over a high jump bar, play a game of soccer and heaven knows what else the esteemed Athens Gymnastics Academy demands. 

Poppi is also still rowing, competing with the National Women's Rowing team.

She will be back on the island at the end of the month to spend her summer as a Lifeguard at a local pool

Her sister Nels is spending the summer working at a big Resort on the island of Corfu/Kerkyra in Greek

She is near Kalami where English author Lawrence Durrell lived and wrote in the 1930s with his wife Nancy.  He lived in the 'White House'  where you can now book your own holiday. 

Lawrence and his brother Gerald described the place as Paradise

Paradise in the 1930s

Still paradise almost 100 years later

Granddaughter Luli finished her University exams and is finally relaxing and holidaying with a group of friends on the islands of Ios and Paros

She will be back next week to spend the summer working on Poros

Stunning

Sunset on Paros

Kalo kalokairi

Good Summer

That's my girls

Athens By Night

 You don't have to drink expensive cocktails at the rooftop bar of a 5 Star Hotel to enjoy the lights and sights of an Athens night

These are photos taken by grandson Jamie from the cafeteria at the Athens Metro Mall and the streets below

City lights

The Parthenon atop the Acropolis

It never fails to take my breath away

You turn a corner, lift your eyes

And there is the Parthenon

Towering above city apartments and the noisy bustle of Athens streets

Another view of the city and there, standing out as it has done for centuries, the Acropolis and Parthenon

Even a busy avenue leading into Athens centre has a certain beauty

Clean Up

 This ia a tale about rubbish dumping, fly tipping, which happens all over the 'civilised' world.  

Up here in the wop-wops we have 2 lots of big bins in a Central position for general rubbish and recycling. 

The bins have a  'clear' space beside them and despite the big sign advising us not to leave general waste there are always piles of old furniture, toilet bowls, bags of hardened cement, recently a dog house, lumber, rubble and loads of garden rubbish.  When the pile gets too high locals start complaining and there's a big campaign by the council to remove it all. 

The last pile of rubbish

The Council is conducting a major clean-up operation.  Big trucks are brought in to carry away waste from all over the island

This was the result

Clear and clean

The general rubbish is collected daily, the recycling (blue bin) a couple of times a week

Photos were posted all over Facebook, congratulations given from residents, close by and far-flung 

24 hours later

Another load had been dumped

Council members say they know who it is but can't prove it. There are rumours of cameras to be placed on trees nearby

There is a problem

How do you get rid of this rubbish?  We have been guilty of leaving things next to the bins and hoping someone will take a shine to our old chair, cabinet and take it home.  K is always on the lookout for 'treasures' 

Old white appliances are collected by several people who recycle them for money. Other household items will be taken away if they can be closed up neatly in big black bags. What about an old mattress, that broken dog house or toilet bowl.  The council tells us to phone them and they'll arrange removal. That can take months and a series of increasingly angry phone calls. No one wants this stuff hanging around their yards

For years there was a place on the far side of the island, miles away from 'civilisation', where council trucks and local carriers took all this junk. The EU didn't like this solution and the council was forced to close it down

Our rubbish and recycling trucks take their loads to Athens to empty them

Everyone will return to dumping stuff around the bins again. Once there's a nice pile maybe I'll even leave a few things, just in case someone else wants them. There's no other solution. 

Bettany

 For those of you who don't know her, Bettany Hughes is an English  broadcaster and author who specialises in classical history. She has presented more than 50 television series on ancient history and archeology at sites all over the world . She's enthusiastic, knowledgeable, decidedly luscious and a few days ago she was on Poros

The always elegant  Bettany and her film crew are recording a new History and Adventure series. Poros will be part of it. 

And that's about all I know

When I find out more then so will you

There she is posing on the waterfront

And with our friends Meleti and Nektaria who run the popular Monastery Café 

A plug for this cafeteria underneath the Monastery. They serve homemade sweets and cakes under the shade of a huge Plane tree

A Bit Shaky

 Time to start the procedure to get our new ID, one of those newfangled digital cards.    Lucky dear daughter Elli is an accountant. She arranged online payment and filled in online details. Accountants now have a lot of extra work dealing with government red tape.  

I was quite nervous about the whole procedure. You know, Police, Authority.  Ridiculous really.  The young man took my old ID card, we had already paid the 10,50 euros next door at the accountants. He took my fingerprints, digitally, no ink involved, took my photo. There was a slight problem with the English translation of my name. On my old ID I was Linta Chrisi instead of Linda Creasy. He asked me if I wanted to correct it on the new card. We chewed over it for a minute or 2, he told me it would need more paperwork. I decided I hadn't had any problems in the last 45 years so I might as well remain Linta. 

He was very friendly and efficient but I was still a little rattled. He asked me a 'security question'. What was the name of my 2nd child. Got that!  Birth date? I froze. Sorry Danae. 

K was sitting outside and yelled out the answer. Phew. A bit embarrassing but I blamed it on my jitters. 

New IDs will be ready in  a week. I don't like Police Stations. They're like Doctors' offices, stress me out and make my blood pressure rise. I'll have to go and sign for it and then I'll be done with them, buckle my seat belt, give way at pedestrian crossings and be a law abiding citizen. Spit spit spit and turn me all around. 

I felt myself relax as we walked out and negotiated the steep steps, very carefully. I'm OK going up steps, it's the coming down that needs care so I don't come down suddenly in a rush and a heap. 

Elli's office is next door so we went in to see her and laugh at my collywobbles. 

On the wall of her office

This monstrosity 

WHERE IS NEW ZEALAND??? 

The world ends at Australia 

And this curiosity 

They have a huge clay pot in their office, a container for olive oil. It looks as though it would hold 500 litres, maybe more 

The office was once a residence. The olive oil jar is empty

The narrow back street on the way up to the Police Station

Butchers shop on the left

The Police Station

I needed a glass of wine after all that! 

Our favourite café 

Mattie, Me and Jan