Apologies
I’ll admit that since my last post I’ve become lazy in posting updates. There’s numerous reasons for this but primarily it’s down to how hard it is to summarise longer stays into a few pages. Every time I’ve tried to sit and write about our recent experiences, the scale and the length of them has been hard to put into words. Among many lessons we’ve already learned one is that even spending 6 weeks in a place leaves you with the feeling of not having even scratched the surface, whilst at the same time filling you with so many memories and experiences writing about them seems like a mammoth task! Any-who, here goes… I’ll undoubtedly leave something monumental out, so there may even be a few re-edits!
Heading Due South… and a little west.
You’ll remember from my last update that I had reservations about driving based on the merry chaos I’d seen in Athens. However, the plan to get a car out of the city and head from there was a wise one… Wise decisions and me don’t always go hand in hand, so I’m totally claiming this one. The drive down to the Southern Peloponnese was easy and beautiful, and the scenery (gawping at it) was probably the main danger. Our destination was a small peninsula town called Koroni, about an hour south of Kalamata famed worldwide for it’s olive production.
The glorious Olive (one of few universally loved foodstuffs in our house) represented our main reason for heading this way. One of our initial criteria for leaving the UK wasn’t just to tick off a load of bucket list destinations and landmarks, but instead to seek experiences and immersion, regardless of the location. So when Nikki connected with a German family (more on them later) who owned their own small Olive grove in Koroni that were looking for help with the harvest, we knew it was exactly the kind of experience we’d been looking for…
Olive Olive Olive… Oil Oil Oil!
The family we were due to meet up with and help had helped us find accommodation, and what accommodation it turned out to be. We had our own small villa nestled within it’s own Olive grove, of maybe an acre or two. It lay on top of the hill just outside the town of Koroni, the views down to the harbour, across the bay and to the mountains on the other side were the kind of vista that I’m not sure I’d ever tire of.
Although we enjoyed our time in Athens, as a family, cities aren’t where our hearts lay… 5 days in the hustle and bustle was enough and I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief the nearer we got to Koroni. A primary reason for this is the familiarity it has with the home in West Cornwall we’d left behind. ‘Cornwall is nothing like Greece, have you gone mad?’ I hear some of you cry.. but hear me out. Yes, the landscape, flora, fauna, climate and language are all different, but the ‘feel’ of the place was very similar. I’d love to articulate a better word than ‘feel’ but I’m neither that eloquent or emotive. So I’ll stick to things more tangible. Koroni is a peninsula town, an hour or so away from the nearest City and it’s very rural and relaxed with agriculture visible everywhere (albeit almost exclusively geared toward Olive production). The pace of life feels slower and the sea, coastline and beaches exude a strong influence. I don’t think I’m explaining this very well… I guess you’ll have to go there.
So, after settling into our home for the next 6 weeks, we of course hit the beach! I can’t deny how strange it felt to step foot onto hot sand in mid 20’s Celsius heat… In November. The beaches in this area are stunning, and there are alot of them. The best bit was we, by and large, had them to ourselves. Cats continued to be a theme, and the city cats of Athens quickly became the beach and taverna cats of southern Greece… With the added benefit of time in a place, many of these cats became family favourites with names and back stories. The highlight of these being the aptly named ‘Angry-face-friendly-cat’.
I digress, and I should probably talk about the real reason we were here before beach and cat-chat (the eagle eyed Francophiles among you will see what I did there). I couldn’t begin this section without mentioning the lovely Stephan & Janine as well as their two lovely daughters, we owe them an enormous depth of gratitude for being the first real connection we made on our world schooling journey. They are incredibly generous and wonderful people. Prior to us arriving they didn’t know us at all and from the seed of a few Facebook conversations they helped us so much. All they asked was for help with their Olive harvest. We were so keen we also agreed to help with one of their friends harvest as well. There’s quite a strong German expat presence in Koroni and it gave us a real feeling of community to be happily welcomed into the fold, even if most of the time we didn’t know what anyone was saying!
So we headed to the given location and were soon right in the swing of things. What struck me most about the Olive harvest was how it essentially hasn’t changed since ancient times. Yes, some people now use chainsaws to cut the branches off before stripping them, but this isn’t something people who are more ecologically minded tend to do. It was explained to us how keeping the branches on and intact was far healthier for the tree, and avoids a lot of contamination from oil and petrol. Large nets are placed under each tree, then the branches are agitated to make the Olives fall. From there the leaves and sticks are separated as much as possible and the olives are bagged up in sacks ready for taking to the mill. The only major difference in how we did it, as opposed to ancient Olive harvesters, was that we had solar powered ‘Jiggers’. Large telescopic brooms on which the tines moved from side to side to shake the olives down into the nets.
A friend who has also harvested Olives described it to me before we left the UK as an almost spiritual experience. Now, I wouldn’t consider myself particularly spiritual but I can completely see the point. It’s really grounding and connecting to undertake a task like that, which has barely changed for thousands of years. What we also loved was inclusive it felt. Everyone, regardless of experience, age or physical ability can help and be involved. Our children really enjoyed sitting down sorting the precious Olives from the sticks and leaves and funnelling them into the sacks. It’s also one of those most precious of processes that lends itself to conversation whilst you work and was a great way to get to know people better. In what felt like no time and either side of a delicious shared lunch, amongst the sights and sounds of lots of children playing freely (once they’d done their ‘shift’ of the work) numerous bags were filled and around a third of a fairly large plot had been harvested for the year.
Over the next few days and weeks we helped out again at Stefan and Janine’s plot, this was slightly smaller so we all managed to complete it in a few days. However, we then got to go with the Olives to the mill, which was an incredible experience in and of itself. The kids loved this bit, watching the olives go through all the various stages of sorting and washing to eventually end up in a multi stage pressing system. The resulting initial Olive oil was like nothing I’d ever seen or tasted. Straight of the press it was luminous green, I mean borderline radioactive looking as it still retains a lot of the chlorophylls which by the time it usually reaches us have faded away. Then there’s the taste… It’s genuinely spicy at first, it almost burns your throat… but not unpleasantly. It’s a taste that I’ll never forget, and after enjoying the oil for the rest of our stay has ruined any other Olive oil for me, it’s just not going to come close to that taste.
With our Olive harvesting badges fully earned we were free to enjoy the peninsula at our leisure…
Castaway Hikes & Mountaineering Tikes!
We are very much a beach family, and in this regard Southern Peloponnese did not disappoint. Our local Beach was Zaga and it was a 3km long expanse of golden sand and gentle waters. Although it’s a well used beach, in the time we were here it was never heavily frequented.. There was barely more than a dozen or so people across it’s expanse at any one time.. It became our go to, but I can imagine in high season it could get really busy.
I’ll highlight a few of the others we visited, its not a complete list but these are some worth mentioning that we particularly enjoyed.
Voidokilia – This is truly a stunning beach, the kids said the shape reminded them of a jellyfish and from an aerial picture you can see why. It has beautiful azure waters but the thing that really made it for us is the area around it which is full of history. It’s been inhabited since neolithic times and on the cliffs overlooking the beach is Nestors Cave and an impressive castle. Also, there is a lagoon nature reserve, of which the highlight was a large flock of Flamingoes!
Little Merathi – This was one which even some of the friends we made here had never visited and it’s clear to see why. The ‘road’ leading to it should really only be attempted using a 4×4 as it’s not so much a road, but a moon-like dirt track. I took our little hire car down it regardless! Going super slowly and cautiously I made it down as far as a 10 minute walk from the beach before it became too much for the car. So, we ditched it and set off on foot. We then had an entire day of the most beautiful beach to ourselves, we played Castaways, built shelters, swam, rock pooled, picnicked and lounged about… It was paradise. If your ever here… seek it out, you’ll be glad you did.
The peninsula has plenty to offer beyond beaches. We set off inland and found a few great kid friendly hikes. As I’m sure some of you may be able to relate to, enthusing small children to go hiking can at times be a losing battle… But I have to say the kids loved walking around Greece, I feel like this is partly due to the weather and also because it’s a less sanitised experience than the UK. There isn’t as much health and safety in evidence and the whole thing feels more wild and free, which definitely appealed to our intrepid mini-humans.
One of our favourites was the historic path of the old watermills near the village of Kato Ampelokipi. This is true rural Greece and what we thought would be a gentle stroll turned into a full on hike with cliff top trails and rope ways to cling onto, the kids loved it and really felt like they were mountaineering! We were rewarded with a halfway picnic view across the valley, complete with circling Eagles overhead.
Another of the walks we’d recommend is to the area of the Polylimnio waterfalls. Again, at this time of the year we had the place virtually to ourselves, though we were still happy enough in T-shirts and shorts weather wise. It’s a gorgeous woodland valley walk in which the waterfalls gradually increase in size. The uppermost being a breathtaking stopping point before heading back down. We did not swim though… Even Nikki, despite being a hardened cold water swimmer year round in the UK, found the waters too cold to be anything close to pleasant!
This Is SPARTA!
You can’t escape the history in Greece, nor would you want to. Ancient monuments are everywhere and visiting them is so much more affordable than the UK. Pretty much everything that requires a ticket is 6 euros per adult and 3 for kids. A far cry from back home where you barely get much change out of £50 for a family ticket to even the cheapest paid for attractions. I’ll list a few of our highlights below.
Nestors Palace – This is an incredibly well preserved Ancient Greece palace and the home of the Legendary King Nestor. You can even still see paint still on the walls in places, you get a really good feeling of how lavish and impressive this place would have been 3000 years ago.
Sparta – We visited here on my birthday and the highlight was a walk around Mystras; which is more of a Byzantine and Ottoman era ruined mountain city. However, the location, scope and depth of what is there is incredible. We barely scratched the surface before the whole mountainside was enveloped in a cloud and put an end to the kids will to go any higher! This is one of those magical places that if you close your eyes as you are walking around it you can almost hear the sounds of cartwheels on cobblestones, children running through the streets and market vendors selling their wares. The ghosts of the past are strong here and it only adds to Mystras mystery.
Thunderbolt & lightning, very, very exciting me!
One thing we Brits love to do is complain about the weather… but we had no such right to during our time in Southern Greece, despite it being November going into December. Mostly it was in the low 20 degrees Celsius with plenty of sunshine. The times when the weather turned, it turned for the spectacular, with some of the best thunderstorms I’ve ever witnessed. There were even a few times I was a little concerned at how close the lightning was striking to our villa. However, our covered decking gave us an incredible viewing platform to enjoy it once it travelled away and out to sea. The stormy days (with no Wi-Fi!) gave us some great opportunities to learn a whole host of new card games, do lots of painting as a family and invent a game we called ‘Buckethead’. This involved strapping 2 yoghurt pots to the players heads and then attempting to throw balls of paper and land them in said head attachment… Genius I’m sure you’ll agree.
The food… Oh my days, the food!
Before I wrap this mammoth post up, I couldn’t discuss leaving Greece without mentioning the food. I’ve always said that if I could pick one type of cuisine to be stuck with forever, it’d be Greek. In this region we were lucky to be an hours drive from the famous Kalamata produce market, which I would recommend anyone to go to. The abundance and quality of the produce is crazy, and the prices compared to what we’re used to at home are really cheap. One highlight is the fresh Oranges which can be bought by the sackful for next to nothing. Squeezing fresh orange juice every morning became a ritual in our temporary Greek home and it was one of the kids favourite jobs.
There are of course lots of Tavernas, some better than others. The one I’ll mention was one we were truly lucky to experience. About a 20 minute drive up into the mountains above Koroni is a village called Kaplani, it has a small Taverna in the centre which provided some of the nicest and cheapest traditional Greek food I’ve ever had. We were shown this by our German friends, and we made a few more visits back there before we left… It was that good. Each time we were the only foreign people there, but we were made to feel as welcome as anybody, plus there was no forced pretence to be over the top in the way that you often find in ‘tourist’ restaurants. It was a real, rural Greek Taverna that was simply brilliant. As an aside, it had the added bonus of being in a Jackal hotspot, we saw several whilst winding our way up or down that road. They’re a lovely sight and have a healthy population in this area of Greece. Sadly, they were too elusive to get any pics.. So, you’ll just have to take our word for it.
Lastly, a mention for Greek Bakeries. They are truly something; we could buy freshly made local bread direct from the baker (and still warm) for less than the price of a sliced, processed, plastic wrapped mush-fest in the UK. It also never ceased to amaze me how vast the selection of pastries, cakes and cookies they had. A particular favourite was Kourabiedes, which is a sort of lightly spiced cookie covered in icing sugar, they were in abundance during our stay as they are particularly enjoyed as a Christmas delicacy.
Yassas (goodbye) Koroni!
We couldn’t have wished for a better first long stay on our world schooling journey. Both me, Nikki and the children all enjoy Greece and it’s islands but we did not expect to find an area on the mainland that we could quite happily call home… and we certainly didn’t expect it from our first stop. Alas, the first stop it is though and so the road calls to continue our travels… We are bound for a Christmas in Cyprus and I PROMISE that will be a shorter entry. To the mad, brave and desperate among you who’ve made it to the very end. Here is some more aural balm for your lug holes, a few lines I wrote some paragraphs back reminded me of the intro…
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