Summer Has Arrived

6fartsinacart
May 13, 2017
6 min read

8 May 2017, Monday: Our spot is so tranquil we all agree that it will be a fantastic idea to stay for the day (and of course another night). We move Merzy out from under the trees into the sun and to Emile’s delight he gets to put out the awning again. Around 11am Emile, Genève and Dad start making a hole in the sand and start a fire. We’re having ‘Sand Chicken’ tonight! While waiting for coals, Dad and Genève prepare 2 whole chickens with spices, stuffed with onion and wrap them each in tinfoil. When the coals are ready Dad spreads it out, throws on a bit of sand and puts the chicken on top. More sand gets dumped over the chickens and another fire is made on top. Now all we have to do is wait, so we relax and enjoy the day. Dad and the rest of the siblings go snorkel a bit, while I just potter around in the water. Later even Mum goes for a dip. In the afternoon we add a few potatoes wrapped in tinfoil to our coals. Around 5pm Dad guesses that the chicken must be ready and they start to slowly excavate our buried treasure. We have to be careful, because if we puncture the tinfoil we’ll be having a sandy meal, grinding our teeth through dinner. To our delight Dad gets it out of the sand and opened up without a hitch and we have delicious chicken and potatoes for supper. Mmmmm….. Afterwards we make a hasty retreat into the camper before the mosquitoes have our blood for supper. 9 May 2017, Tuesday: With 2 eggs left and a bowl of mushrooms we need to use up, Genève and Emile prepare Mum another tasty breakfast…. but not in bed this time. It’s served outside with a lovely view to make it even more special. Around 10.15am we are on our way again. Lunchtime we stop at a viewpoint overlooking Kardamyli. We travel on mountain roads and Emile and Mum can’t resist to stop at some of the old abandoned little churches along the road. We stop at Areopóli beach which is on the west side of the middle finger of the Peloponnese, but as the wind is quite strong we decide to cut through the finger to the east side and stop at Kamares beach to make dinner. Still a bit too windy to our liking we move on to a small fishing-port near the village of Skoutári. There we find a nice secluded area away from the wind, with a few people trying to catch some fish before the sun finally disappears on the horizon. It is peaceful as we fall asleep. The reflection of the almost-full moon on the calm sea adds to the serenity of the evening.

10 May 2017, Wednesday: Emile and Dad go for a quick snorkel. Just before we leave a local hawker with his local produce arrives with his van and persuades Mum to buy some of his potatoes, bananas and green beans. It’s slightly more pricey than what we would usually pay (as we are on a shoe-string budget) but we decide to support local. Because we missed the tip of the middle finger yesterday, we travel along the coast back to the west. There are many twisty roads through this mountainous area, and it is nice to experience a different type of landscape in Greece. Due to all the stone in the area, there are loads of stone walls which make interesting patterns on the mountains. The people here in Greece are very friendly. We are looking for a specific person who sells honey products (recommended by our Cornwall friends). Not being able to find her, we stop alongside the road to ask a Greek gentleman. After showing him the picture of the product on the phone he offers to call the number given on the label (all in Greek of course) and finds out that the lady stays in Gýtheio. We continue our journey and stop near Pyrgos Diroú in a bay along the beach at around 1pm. Mum, Dad and Emile go for a walk after lunch and I decide that it’s a good time to try and fit in some schoolwork. 20 Minutes into a test Emile returns and fetches the rest of us. They have a surprise for us, a visit to another cave called Vlihada Cave. €58 later we are sitting in a small boat and are taken through an underground canal and through many small caves, boasting spectacular stalagmites and stalactites. Some chambers have many small stalactites hanging from the roof. Quite a few times we hastily have to duck our heads to avoid hitting the ceiling (not because of speed but because we're gazing in all different directions). The guide even points out a few impressive forms that look like a horse, a dragon head and even Santa Claus. The water is really clear, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to go swimming. It’s a bit cold! After about 1200 metres we climb out and walk another 300 metres before exiting. We’re not going further today, so Emile, Dad and Genève go for a swim to cool down. Later on one of the local Greeks, Dimitrios, comes to introduce himself. He is so smitten by Mum’s charm that he lavishes her with herbs like rosemary, thyme, origanum, fennel and some other unknown herbs, lemons, some olive oil and other eccentric gifts. As we are not such flambouyant cooks, we won’t use the herbs in cooking, but we notice that it serves a good purpose as an air-freshener in the bathroom. After Dimitrios’ departure, we tuck ourselves in.

11 May 2017, Thursday: We’ve made arrangements with Dimitrios last night for him to show us where to collect a product from the volcano eruption which ladies (or gentlemen?) use to smooth (scour) their heels. This product (pumice) gets washed up on the beach during extra high tide. So off Mum, Dad, Genève and Emile go in search of this volcanic product. Dimitrios arrives a bit later, this time with some more gifts for ‘the boy’ (Emile). After a coffee we depart company and head towards Gýtheio in search of the bee ointment. We park Merzy on the waterfront right next to the water. Before having lunch Mum, Dad and the youngest 2 farts set off to investigate. Our main aim in Gýtheio is to find this bee product and after committing it in prayer to the Lord, we find a very kind lady who generously phones the producer of the product who then comes to meet us there (at the roadside) and sells us the product on the spot. Our prayers are answered and we depart to our park4night stop, 4 km further. The claim of fame of this stop is a massive shipwreck, which we go and explore. Dad and Emile take their cozzies and goggles along and snorkel around the ship. Later us kids also go for a swim. It’s such a pleasant evening that we decide to brave the mozzies this time and have our dinner outside.

First the fire