Lovely low key day today. Caught up on my trash TV & after a long slow yoga session I read my book in the sunshine. The sheep were tinkling away next door & yoga was done to the accompaniment of next door’s pressure washer 😵💫 Everyone here is very busy getting their places in order & the first wave of Turkish tourists is expected in about a week.
After doing my house-work, sweeping up yesterday’s seed pods from under the bed & couch I ventured out to see what was happening in ‘Paradise’. More painting for Maria, pool maintenance & gardening for Aris & a little light weeding for me. I find it very hard to do nothing but relax so with my earbuds in & a podcast on, weeding in the sunshine was a lovely way to pass an hour.
Aris mowed the lawns & we all trooped off down the road to give the clippings to the pigs who reside close by. They are a mix of wild & domestic pig & were very happy to see us with our bags of greens. Much snuffling & jostling ensued as they all wanted to get in on the action. The piglets were only a few weeks old by the looks of it & didn’t get too close.
Aris was in the mood for a quick drive & so we went up the hill to the village above Petra. Passing a flock of sheep being herded across the road we were greeting with a view of the village & port of Πέτρα. It was a gorgeous clear day & you could easily see the Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Glykophilousa, a 5-6 century Byzantine-era complex on the ridge above the township. This is one of three churches here & definitely worth a visit, another thing to do whilst here!
There was a man with a Ute full of olive clippings which apparently people feed to their sheep & goats here. It’s so good seeing people recycling, living in the way of days gone by when nothing got wasted & life was more considered. There’s a lot to be said for a slower pace of life, one in which you take the time to stop & appreciate your surroundings, making connections with the land & the people around you.
After a spot of Greek homework, will it ever get any easier to understand the genders & adjectives? Maria tried valiantly to explain it again this afternoon but it just doesn’t seem to compute, she’s shared a website with me to explain further & supplied me with tourist pamphlets in both Greek & English, bless! Anyway, after homework I decided to walk down for a drink & something to eat whilst watching the sunset over the ocean.
I went back to the local taverna & this time I had fresh grilled John Dory. OMG is was bloody beautiful. Grilled with salt & herbs the flavour was so delicate, there was absolutely no way I was sharing it with any of the annoying, noisy cats who came to investigate!
They are lovely but I’m greedy & never feed my dog from the table so there is no way I’m encouraging a cat, particularly since there are tons more to follow! Greek salad & a Mythos beer were the perfect accompaniment & I felt very relaxed sitting alone reading my book as the sun sank behind the tiny, uninhabited, but for birds, islands of St George, Glaronissi & Ant.
There were a few tourists at the taverna & a table of locals drinking beer & talking a mix of Greek & perfect English. When I arrived they asked me if I was German?! Apparently the carpenter was asked to put a balcony door on a room for a German woman. Despite his best efforts she hasn’t answered his knocks & phone calls & he’s sick of the door talking up room in his workshop, so he’s asking everyone he sees if they are the German woman! He looked crestfallen when I told him I was Australian!
I left at 2000 which in Greece is about the time one starts to consider going out & the streets were starting to get busier, but I am tired & have a good book on the go! Sunset was pretty but nothing to rave about. Guess I’ll just have to go back again to drink beer & wait for the perfect sunset…it’s a hard life!
