Weekend for Two

Slept in on Saturday and woke up wondering how to pass this day. Work some more or take the opportunity to get around the island some more. Since the last weekend was an excursion to Agia Irini, we wanted a new little outing for two. Jen has heard stories about the cliffs that my little summer crowd discovered a while back and she wanted to see it for herself. So we headed towards Noussa and made a left towards Mona Stiri, a crowded club beach in the summer, but was completely vacant now. We hiked a ways towards the lighthouse, crossing through rather rough terrain comprised of porous volcanic rock and lots of thyme, oregano and coriander bushes. We got to the cliff that I have jumped off numerous times and many others seeking a bit of a thrill. Jen said she'll think about it, after I told her of the battle scars that others have come away with (ie bruises on their feet or under arms and the rare nose bleed, which was me because I looked down mid jump and hit the water face first).

Then we passed to the private cove a little further on that is a treasure trove among the summer crowd. Large flat rocks to lay out on and a little rocky island that is fun to dive off and swim through a channel of crystal clear water. I'm sure we will return with bathing suits and guests in tow. Along the way back, we came across an old ship ruin in the hills and made it back to the car just before a freak rainstorm.

Then we stopped in Noussa for lunch and walked by an empty restaurant aside from one other table. What came was one of the most surprisingly fantastic meals I have ever had on the island. The local restaurant of Yemeni, uses all foods grown on their own farm and builds its menu from its own seasonal ingredients. We ordered aubergine slices wrapped around melted cheese and tomato, stuffed mushrooms and a plate of artichokes and potatoes. To say the food was mind blowing was a bit of an understatement. The two of us are a bit spoiled with the selections and quality we find in New York City, but our entire meal consisted of us just speaking to each other in mouthfuls with "mmmmm" "mmmmmMMMMhhhMMM" "oh yea, mmmMMMMmmm". The price was very affordable and the food was worth 10x what we paid for it. We left very, very satisfied, and to all you readers who are coming soon, we will definitely be revisiting.

There is only sauce left because we ran out of bread.

We played backgammon til late and saw some friends in town to play darts. The next day, we woke early to start working hard. We cleaned all the cushions with fabric cleaner, replaced all the broken light bulbs and cleaned out the guestrooms from top to bottom. Jen took on some painting duties and I cleaned the seaside of all the dead branches. We rewarded ourselves with a relaxing dinner of grilled peppers, zucchini, onions and sausages. Jen made an Italian specialty of baked artichokes stuffed with gorgonzola cheese. I made some more of our new favorite cocktail, the Clover Club (gin, grenadine, simple syrup, fresh lemon juice and egg white.)

Now that we have the time that we never had to focus on eating, working and relaxing, we are making sure that we learn some new things as well. While Jen experiments with new dishes, I've been practicing my cocktail craftsmanship with the wonderful bartenders kit that I got from my sister, Michelle, that rarely got any use in NYC.

This is becoming more the norm as we think about what we want to make together and discuss what projects to take on next. Soon, we will have caught up on the majority of the house work and can start to seek out other activities. Tomorrow, Jen will be visiting the islands Yoga studio and I am going to visit the newly created Paros Tennis Club over at Agia Irini. We can already tell that the island has worked its magic on us, as we are healthier, happier and soaking in every moment of it. We can't wait to share more of this magic with everyone who is coming to stay with us soon. We greatly look forward to all the company.

Til next time, yiassis!

Picnic at the beach

On Sunday, we were both worn out from a very busy week and wanted to do a little something for ourselves. Our car, which is now named Celia Hodes, (bravo if you get the reference) gave us the means to get out and about, but we had not really used it for such a purpose aside from errands yet.

So we went to Agia Irini, one of my favorite beaches during the summer, because of its clear water and general calm. We were pleasantly surprised when the beach was completely empty and we were able to enjoy the serenity of it all. We packed a tasty lunch of Greek Salad, chicken salad sandwiches and some chocolates. The sun came and went as clouds passed over, but it was a perfect day and we just rested and read our books. While it is still a little too cold to go swimming, we were able to lay out and feel the sun's warmth all over. Fittingly, I got sun burned in April during mostly cloudy sunshine. That takes talent, my friend.

This one's for you Julie

New Additions by Jason

Jason, Eleonore's 7 year old son and my little godson, will be providing today's new additions to the Greek home...

Fire!

Wooosh!

 Zoom!

Beeeoooo!

 Vrooooom!

 Woohoo!

So long people! - Jason                         

PS: So we bought a great used car off our new friend George Crane, a local writer and teacher for an arts school on the island. We figured we would have spent three times as much on that between our friends and family for rentals over the next year, so a car was an easy choice, and we could probably sell it at the end of our trip. So we got this slick Citroen ZX that was covered in about an inch of dirt and sand when we got it, filthy even by Greek Island standards. I went to task cleaning and soaking up about 8 full buckets of the dirt and then polishing with a new car cleaner and this little guy was looking like a brand new car all of a sudden

PPS: Now I just have to learn how to drive stick... Luckily, Jen is a good teacher.

Byzantine Walk

After our Easter Extravaganza, we were invited by some of our new friends to take a walk. Sounds a bit funny until it was explained to me what the walk exactly was.

The walk was not just a stroll around town, it was the byzantine walk. The byzantine walk is a cobbled path that has been in place since the byzantine times, obviously. The road was used to get to the towns up in the hills. The hills served as protection from invaders for the inhabitants of the island, and it was better for crops, which wither too close to the sea. There  in the hills lived the real greeks, and the pirates - or shipping people, who lived in the towns by the water. They were very separate lives  connected by this road.


Well the greeks had the right idea. It was absolutely amazing up in the mountains. All the spring foliage was out and at it's peak bloom. There were amazing yellow flowers covering the hills in all directions. The terraced landscape look ancient and majestic. Dotting the hills were small white washed chapels which gave you a bit of scenic contrast to all the nature.

Our friend Alexandra told us a quant little story while walking this beautiful path. She said her friends great-grandmother came from a different island to marry her husband. As she arrived in Paros, she was taken by donkey up the byzantine path to the village of Lefkes to marry her husband in the chapel. As you can see this path has been used for many different passages throughout time.

Jen's Garden Part Deux

I would just like to add that I have never seen such small leaves bring a single woman such immeasurable happiness. Upon approaching the garden store, you could see the anticipation on her face and then as we were leaving, there was a mile wide smile that lasted all day. Hopefully, her collection will grow quite nicely with the green thumb touch that she surely has. I was mainly responsible for some shoveling and transporting of the manure, the rest was all Jen. She is quite the gardener and we look forward to some tasty home grown produce!

Soaking the soil before adding dirt.

A few tomato plants

Laboring Away!

Sweaty but triumphan!

Getting Settled

Paros beautiful Paros. Wait, what? There is work to be done in paradise?

So as you all can see, we have not blogged in a while. And the reason is we have been so damn busy since we have gotten here. Easter was a blur because there were so many of Stu's friends in town and we had dinner party after dinner party lined up. Our dance cards were full.

And after everyone started leaving the island to continue their lives after Easter we realized that we had a ton of work to do around the house.

Starting with the garden, which was in pretty good shape, but needed a bit of help. Stu bought a power saw from the store and in typical cave man fashion was cutting anything he could find. Branches that needed to come down, dead palm leaves, and just plain old trimming. I started pulling weeds, watering, and sweeping. But left the place looking quite nice. I will be taking pictures this week for Helene who will be proud to see her garden looking great and in full bloom.

Then there was the inside of the house, which was very clean, but needed a few touches. As everyone knows by now, I am allergic to cats. The house is a place for cats to curl up when they can sneak in during the summer, leaving behind a trail of dander on everything. And in turn left me sneezing for days. Everyday we tackled something new. We were washing any linens we could find to get the dander out, beating out pillows, dusting and sweeping again and again. As of now, I am not longer walking around with tissue in hand. We have de-catified the house thoroughly.

Then there was the shopping. And more shopping. We bought linens for the beds, a few basic kitchen goods, fuses, coffee cups, and have been back to the hardware store more than a few times. I am surprised they don't know us by name. Now we have all the essentials. A big thanks to Janet, the lovely house keeper, who took us around in her car while we purchased enough stuff to keep us busy fixing up the house for the next month. Can't leave out grocery shopping where we spend 200 euro, came home and unloaded our goods, and the fridge and pantry still looked bare.

And the most important part of this post, my garden. Well it's really a little unclaimed section of Helene's, but I like to think of the tiny portion of land as mine for now. Today we went to the garden shop and bought beautiful manure. Wonderful sweet manure to make all my plants grow big and strong. After a ton of shoveling, and tilling, and mixing dirt and shit, I planted tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, a ton of herbs. There was actually a bit of space left for more, so maybe i will hit up the garden store again this week!

And very slowly learning Greek as well. Can't forget that part.

Yassou (goodbye and hello in greek)

Jen's First Testicle

Quite the gripping headline, I know. Sex does sell, but really this is about Jesus. And meat, lots of meat.

Easter Sunday is quite the affair in Greece. There is an enormous amount of religious presence involved on this holy day. Everyone supposedly has been fasting since Friday and are eagerly awaiting Saturday midnight when they can finally have a feast.

We did not arrive in time to attend the Church ceremonies, but we did get to attend the Metaxa's annual Easter party. Alexandra, whom Jen has met before, is my long time friend and one of my favorite people in general. She is a Parian by birth and a world citizen through a rich and diverse heritage and studies abroad.

The Metaxa's had prepared a feast, a particularly Greek one at that and an extraordinary way to introduce Jen to a number of locals. The feast involved grilling two slaughtered lambs on a spit over open charcoals, along with a number of other tasty dishes of salads, potatoes, "Greek" guacamole and an abundance of Parian wine.

The ladies gossiping over a lamb spit. Delightful.

There was a number of people there, ranging from some old friends, to a lot of the island long time residents. There was a great mix of international citizens, artists, musicians, retirees, teachers, students, babies and more.

A man played a Greek bouzouki and sang after the meal.

 Eating with hands is required. Viking/Caveman resemblance optional.

The food was really something else and everything was delicious. Good conversation flowed with along with the wine and many were having a field day. Especially the Greeks. I was rather envious of the songs they were able to share and culture that is distinctly theirs. But why am I blabbering on about all this? You clicked this link for testicles and you shall not be disappointed. Jen was "lucky" enough to be chosen to eat a piece of the lamb's testicle, a delicacy in Greece. While many do think the testicles are a rare and delicious treat, I find that is more common to initiate a chosen few, particularly non-Greeks who are not familiar with such "delicacies" and seeing who will persevere and who will perish in the cage match of culinary arts. Or just for a laugh. You be the judge. 

http://www.vimeo.com/10676919 

Xhronia Polla! = Many Years and a typical expression used during Easter and other holidays.

A day of Chaos

After a late night out watching the dervishes whirl, an action filled adventure, we awoke in a daze at 7 in the morning. Jet lag still seems to be chasing at our heels, as we are both exhausted and confused about what time it is. We grabbed our bags, already neatly packed and threw them into the van waiting downstairs. Off to the airport we headed to catch our flight to Athens.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. We arrived at the airport early, we had our passports, and we had all our things ready for check in. Wait... a bag was missing. Yes, I left my camera bag somewhere between the hostel and the airport.

And then panic set in. My camera! The lenses! All the money I saved to purchase the items! All the plans I had to take pictures throughout our trip started to seem like a faint wish. The bag was gone, and chances of me getting it back where slim to none.

Then, as quick as a stock market crash, Stu and I jumped into action. This was not emotional, it was a task that needed to be completely as quickly as possible. And thanks to our NYC mentality we came up with the following objectives.
1. Locate the bag.
2. Get the bag in our hands before we get on that plane.

List of Actions Taken.
First: Call the hostel. Ask if bag was there. The front desk attendant, who was so kind, said it was not.

Next: Locate the driver of the shuttle that took us to the airport to see if the bag was in the van. We asked the desk attendant at the hostel to call the shuttle office to locate the driver. We would have done it ourselves, but don't speak turkish.

Next Step: Call the desk attendant back to see if the driver of the van was honest enough to admit that a camera bag was in the van, that being the only other place it could have been.

Last: Instruct desk attendant to send the driver to the airport to drop off bag at international terminal. Check in for flight in between waiting time for drivers arrival.

But Not Least: Find driver as he drove up to departures, tip him generously and get on plane in time for departure to Athens.

Task Completed. Bag in hand I boarded the plane.
Team T4T =1
Lost Bag = 0

My First Turkish Bath

A joyous time indeed.

Who doesn't love a bath? Just a few simple rules; hot water to soak in, a comfortable environment and lots of privacy... Let's just call the Turks rule breakers because this was quite the opposite.

A Turkish bath, or Hammam, is a rich Turkish tradition that blends "a period of relaxation in the steam-filled hot room, punctuated by bouts of vigorous soaping and massaging". My experience was entering a small hole in the wall place and greeted by a robust potbellied Turkish man with a handlebar mustache and no clothes, except for a small plaid sheet wrapped around his waist. He asked which program we would prefer, the options sounding eerily like a car wash; choices being hot room, soap and scrub, full body oil, etc. We choose the full program, a mixture of the massage and soap, and were lead to a changing room to adorn our own plaid sheets. Then we were split up and sent to separate chambers for men and women. Upon walking in, there is a large slab of marble in the middle of the room and then small basins with hot & cold faucets along the walls. I was motioned to sit down at the basin edge and wait for the attendant. About a minute later, in walks a very large man slightly resembling old school wrestler King Kong Bundy and enough chest hair to clothe a small child.

"BATH TIME!"

My new bath playmate motioned for me to lie on the large marble slab face down and proceeded to take a large rag that held air in it and liberally doused me from head to toe in foamy soap from a dish. Then began the massage...

This man's hands were quite the skilled set as they broke down every knot in my back in a few short minutes, while my arms and legs went flailing as he made bones I've never heard pop sound like rice krispies. Then all of a sudden, SMACK, I exhaled deeply as his hand left it's print in my back and he motioned with his little finger for me to roll over. A similar routine ensued on the front and before I knew it, I was led to the water where the attendant applies shampoo and does a rather rough neck and head massage before dousing you with water again from the basin. Then it is back to the slab as he takes a rough mitt to scrub you head to toe and in places you didn't know you ever had dirt. While the sensation was amazing and seemed very thorough, once he left me to rinse myself at the basin, you kind of felt a small sense of defeat and relief that your ordeal was now over. You have just been man-handled, scrubbed and shampooed by a man twice your size while wearing nothing but a sheet, but damn did you feel good.

After relaxing in the hot room, you return to the lobby for dry towels and a hot pomegranate tea. There the women and men convene and can have small talk if they wish. In the old days, the hammam was where mothers might size up potential wives for their sons and the men might discuss the day's events.

All in all, it was extraordinarily relaxing and Jen was purring after her massage. The custom and the tradition was amazing and a joy to experience. I think we might go again today...

Same time next week?