When I met one of my lovely new friends, Fotini, in Arfara this summer, we had a bit of a "lost in translation" conversation. She was telling me about their family cabin up in the mountains above Arfara and told me that they "go up there to eat meat.". I should have immediately understood that they barbecue at their vacation home, but instead I asked her why they can't eat meat in the village?! ;). In my defense, many of my friends here in the village fast on Wednesdays and Fridays by abstaining from eating meat. Maybe there was some type of mountain exception? ;). Ah well, at least we had a good laugh and as you would have it, we were asked to join them on Assumption Day (also the name day for 5 members of their family - Panagiotis and Thespina) to join them for "meat in the mountains".

Cabin in the mountains...


Thespina's Name Day...


Thespina's Name Day...


View from the cabin...


Panagiotis's 2000 year old well that he restored...


Loukas manning the grill...they made incredible souvlaki that they marinate overnight layered between freshly cut tomatoes...


Beautiful stone patio wall...


Anna & Kolya...





Eating meat in the mountains...


Dinner with friends...








Homemade Diples for dessert ... A laundry basket full!

After our visit at the Monastery of Voulkano, we continued to follow Aleko, Voula, Yaya Stavroula and Mariana further up into the mountains to the ancient city of Ithome. This incredible city dates back to 800 BC and was the strongest fortress in Messenia. It covers a lot of ground and is still being restored. But, it is all very accessible and allows you the feeling of stepping way back into time an wandering the city streets from the monumental stadium to the theaters. Statues and small decorative objects have been moved to their small museum, but many artistic details remain including ornate columns, lion headed basins and detailed tile work.

The large theatre...





Fallen columns...


Carved Corinthian style Columns..,


View of the Stadium from above...


Small theatre...


Further in the mountains above Ancient Ithome... we stopped at at Taverna for lunch... Kolya gets a drink from a fresh water fountain...



View of Ancient Ithome from the Taverna...

Yesterday, We headed up to the Monastery of Voulkano in the mountains with my cousin Voula, Aleko, Yaya Stavroula and Mariana. Many people were headed to this Monastery to visit the icon of the Virgin Mary to celebrate today ... The Assumption of Mary. We wound our way up the narrow mountain roads behind Aleko's car... slowly ascending as Arfara gradually disappeared and our view grew more and more spectacular.

View from the mountains above Arfara ...


Lighting candles at the monastery ...


Ironwork on the church door...


Icon of the Virgin Mary...


Church bell tower and monastery walls...


Kolya ...

No Greek blog is complete without a Greek cat. There are tons of strays in the village. Two years ago we claimed a soon to be Mom (who we named Katina) and later her litter of kittens. Katina lived with her kittens in one of our outbuildings. This year we have a mother (Given the name Sweetie Pie by Kolya) and her kitten Deenya (also named by Kolya). Deenya is just about independent now and Sweetie Pie seems to check on her from time to time. Deenya has moved into the cellar of our house and sleeps curled up on an old bed used in the past for summertime naps. She makes her way in and out through a secret cat-sized passageway.

The 11th of August was the Moon Festival in the neighboring village of Pidima. We went with my Cousins Voula and Aleko and our friends (and adoptive Greek family :) Maria, her son Vagelli, brother John and father Vasilli. We were also excited to see other friends there to catch up and have fun with.

Voula and Aleko purchased a feast of roast pig, salad and feta and souvlaki. It was incredible and our first roast pig! One can find roast pig at a lot of local establishments and butchers and you can see customers picking out their meat in the butcher's window as he chops it up with a cleaver and wraps it in butcher paper to take home. The same is done at many festivals and we unwrapped the paper at the table and dug in family style... no plates needed!

A band and singers performed traditional Greek music and Maria made sure that we got up to dance. The slower dances are easy to pick up and join in on, but there was a bit of faking going on on my part on the faster ones.

The night for us ended with the fireworks display... though I imagine the music and dancing went well into the morning. We wove our way through the narrow roads turned parking lots and tucked ourselves into bed just past midnight.


Entrance to the Moon Festival in Pidima...



Vagelli & Maria...



John & Vasilli...


Greek Dancing ... Maria, me and Nitza from left to right starting third person in...


Fireworks...

Our wall was built in a day, much to our amazement. Block by block, they spread mortar... laid blocks and leveled. Each time we were ready to deliver another snack, the wall would have grown substantially in height.

So, at the end of the day, our workers set up wooden barricades to pour a concrete floor to our courtyard. This enormous barrel of a truck rumbled through the village to deliver our concrete. Cars honked... hoping to squeeze by and the truck inched its way closer and closer to our new wall as we held our collective breath. But, all is well and very quickly the floor was spread as our workers mucked through it in their rubber boots and spread it out with shovels and rakes. Finally, they used a handmade wooden tool to smooth out the concrete by tapping it in even rows. It turned instantly from a very granular mixture to a smooth finish.

The next day was spent building the wooden molds for concrete caps along the walls and above and inside the doorway. This tedious process took most of a day as they had to be sure that it was secure before the concrete was poured. At the end of the day, the moulds were filled with concrete by the bucketful and we are now waiting for the moulds to be removed!

Cement Delivery...



Spreading the cement ...


Smoothing out the finish...


Filling the moulds...


Moulds braced and ready to dry...

Our wall supplies were delivered yesterday while we were away at the sea for the day. Unfortunately, our construction had been delayed for a day due to a broken crane. With the narrow lanes and tall walls in a village, a crane is a necessity for delivering heavy supplies. Large bags of sand and concrete blocks were delivered to build our wall and concrete mortar is being mixed on-site today.

One of the new things I have learned this year is the Greek custom... or responsibility to provide food for your workers while they are at your house. Our schedule today went like this... workers arrived around 8am... then we took a quick trip to the bakery to serve them cheese pies and sesame rings (for those fasting for Lent). This was served around 8:30. Greek coffee is served around 11:30 after another quick trip to a sweets shop for cookies and pastries also made without butter or eggs for Lent. Later, at 1pm fresh fruit is served and of course a constant source of cold drinking water throughout the day. I may become a laborer soon in Greece just for the snacks! :)

We have been so impressed by how quickly and skillfully the wall is being built... especially in this heat!

Wall supplies Delivered...


Wall partially built...


Coffee and sweets for the workers...