It is April 1st, otherwise known in the US as April Fools Day. As we board the plane, we have to pinch ourselves to make sure this is not a joke, lol. It took unbelievable patience and persistence to get to this point. Honestly, both David and I feel we have aged 10 years in the last two trying to get to where we are now. Lack of exercise, healthy food choices, dealing with Greek bureaucracy and overall stress of living out of suitcases/without our house items has created this situation. However, looking on the bright side, we are finally back on track to creating a new lifestyle of our choosing.
Delta Airlines: Austin – JFK – Athens
Evia (Central Region)
First stop – the island of Evia. So over these last two years, David and I have become experts in house searches. We watch YouTube videos (of course most of them are out of our price range, but still…..), but mostly I do searches on the website spitogatos.gr. It’s a pretty good website, and I’ve gotten pretty good at weeding out the “low hanging fruit” of houses, and zeroing into items that meet our criteria. We’re looking for a house that’s at least 200m2 , open floor plan, bedrooms w/ensuite (for our guests), outdoor kitchen, 1/2 acre +, separate space for David’s art studio, and most importantly, a sea view. Very tall order, especially at our price range.
I can’t tell you how many houses we saw that met our criteria, only to see them be sold before we could make it across the pond to look at them. I would get emotionally attached to a house, literally place our belongings in the photos and move-in in my mind. And then they sell and I start the process over again with another house. I swore I would never get emotionally attached again……and the the house in Evia appeared. I LOVED that house. It had our name written all over it. Ironically, I fell in love with it 6 months before I even knew there was a YouTube video. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcl69JsMHuQ&t=3s
It literally checked every box on our list. The upstairs was unfinished, but would have been David’s area. Well, you guessed it – sold. I was crushed! So we looked at another house on our list. Not the same. Yes, there will be other houses, but I really thought that was the one!
Here’s a photo of sunset at our hotel, which was right on the beach.
We did get a chance to see some sights before heading to our next destination.
To get to our next stop (Nafplio) – we boarded a ferry at Eretria, across the South Euboean Gulf to Skala Oropou, which is just north of Athens. This ferry runs every hour – about 20 min each way, easy on easy off. Only 13 euro!
Nafplion (Pelopannese)
For logistic purposes, the drive from the port of Oropou to the city of Nafplion takes a little over two hours. On the way, we stopped for lunch just outside Corinth at a cute little restaurant right on the beach. Another tasty & fresh meal. Of course the weather was perfect for outside dining!
So we booked a small one bedroom Airbnb in the heart of Nafplio thinking we will have easy access to places and our car. it is a cute little place at the top of the hill with a great view. One thing to note – at the top of a hill……. We have to park on the street at the bottom of the hill as our car will not fit, nor has the power to make it up the hill. That means we either walk up the hill from another street, or go up the steps….a lot of steps. That means groceries, etc. This picture doesn’t do it justice – this was halfway up the stairs, one of many “resting” points. We are getting better though – free stair stepper!
At the bottom of those evil stairs is the first of many ruins/historic sites in the city of Nafplio – the Lion of the Bavarians. We can practically see the lion from our Airbnb. Nestled in the middle of a neighborhood.
Known as the Lion of Bavaria, this sculpture dates from 1840-1841. Below the sculpture is an inscription in German explaining the monument was commissioned by Ludwig of Bavaria, father of Otto, the first King of Greece. The monument was made in memory of the Bavarian soldiers who died during the typhoid epidemic of 1833-34, while escorting the King through Nafplion.
The bird sound you hear in the video is from one of the neighbors in the apartments across the way. We hear him every morning. Actually kind of nice.
Our reason for coming to Nafplio was to look for houses. I had been watching this particular one online for several months, and now the price has been reduced considerably. David and I call it the “Grande Dame”. It has been abandoned for many years since the owner passed away. In the houses hey day, it had all the latest features: marble floors, state of the art appliances, open layout, etc. It would be truly magnificent with renovations, and the price is about right to make it happen. Here’s the YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdboXt1T8p8&list=PPSV We are considering it, but we still have other houses to see (namely Crete and Rhodes), but we will keep it on our list.
And now – onto the best foods of Greece. They might not all be good food choices, but they tasted great going down.
Old Town Nafplion was simply charming. The tiled streets were wide and clean. Again, perfect time of the year to visit as there weren’t too many tourists.
The Fortress of Palimidi
Our first outing in Nafplion was just a hop, skip and jump away from our apartment. We could see the fortress from our terrace actually. We arrived around 8:30-ish in the morning and other than 2-3 other people, had the entire place to ourselves. It was a perfect, cloudless day – not too hot or cold – just right. Glory to God! The fortress was built by the Venetians during their second occupation of the area (1686–1715). In 1715 it was captured by the Ottomans and remained under their control until 1822, when it was captured by the Greeks.
Epidaurus (Επίδαυρος)
Epidaurus was a small city in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula, just north of Nafplion. It’s claim to fame is it’s 4th-century bc temple of Asclepius, the god of healing. We spent the day exploring the ruins and visiting the museum. Another beautiful day, not too hot with not too many people.
Kalamata (Peloponnese)
Kalamata is surprisingly busy. What a vibrant town, full of activity! It’s like a mini-Athens, with a population around 70k. Everyone speaks English as well as Greek. If you are thinking of moving to Greece, but want to be near all the amenities and infrastructure, as well as live in a beautiful setting, this is your town. The only thing I advise is to not use a car, or get a very SMALL car. I thought Nafplio was a little crazy with double parked tiny streets…..let me tell you, they are triple and quadruple parked here. It was unbelievable. These drivers are fearless! I would show you some pictures, but I was too occupied fearing for my life to take photos.
Unfortunately, our time here has not been as productive. The housing market here is sky high and out of our price range for the items we are looking for, so no house hunting, although the local real estate company is keeping a lookout for us. David’s consulting business has also had an uptick while we’ve been here, causing us to be homebound for some days. Luckily, our Airbnb is quite comfortable.
One of the advantages of living in Greece, is that there is a Greek Orthodox Church within walking distance anywhere you go. Case in point – directly across the street from our Airbnb. I really love hearing those church bells!
One thing that was quite interesting – first time we’ve experienced this – a sandstorm! Dust clouds from the Sahara Desert blew across the Mediterranean and turned the sky some pretty freaky colors. The day started hazy, then turned brown and later a burnt orange. Good thing we had plenty of food as we stayed locked in the house. Kind of like a hurricane, lol!
Vonitsa/Paliampela (Central Region)
We were to meet my sister, her significant other (Pantelis) and his mother (Nikoleta), who were to arrive shortly before Pascha (Easter). Easter is a big deal in Greece – like really a big deal. This year especially, because of the date. May 1st (May Day) is a holiday here in Greece, so is the Monday after Easter. Because Easter fell on May 5th this year, Monday the 6th was an automatic holiday, and Tuesday the 7th was designated the holiday for May day. Therefore, there was the equivalent of a 5 day holiday break. This caused massive exodus in Athens with exiting roads and ferries filled to capacity. David and I had difficulty finding a place to stay in Vonitsa for this very reason. We did manage to find a nice Airbnb so all turned out well. Paliampela is a tiny village nestled up the hill from Vonitsa, which is also a tiny town, situated in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania. Our sole purpose here was to spend time with my sister. A side note – the last time my sister and I were together in Greece was with our parents in 1968 so this was a real treat. Anyway, Pantelis has a home here that he inherited so the two of them are renovating it. A cute little two bedroom house with a large wrap around terrace where you can see the country side for miles. Peaceful and lovely. The village of Paliampela is a typical tiny Greek village and is where Pantilis’ grew up. It is a typical Greek village where everybody knows everybody, and is in everyone’s business. There is one mini-mart, one restaurant, and two churches lol. That’s not counting the 4 or 5 churches in the immediate area. All of them were loved and well cared for. It’s about a 10 minute drive to Vonitsa, which has all the amenities you need. Not a lot of choices, but you can get the basics.
Our first order of business was participating in Holy Week. I didn’t make all the services, but attended Holy Tuesday (Bridegroom), Friday (Lamentation), and of course the midnight service leading into Pascha. Both my sister and I have extensive background in byzantine choral music (her more than me) so we were both looking forward to hearing the rich sounds of authentic Greek chanting. Okay, so I knew it would be different, but wow, I was working hard to find a melody in what the changer was producing. that was Tuesday. Friday was better, with the melodies of the lamentations.