After departing the Star Flyer in Piraeus we hire a cab to take us back to the Park Hotel to meet up with Stamatis and head to his family home in the village of Kymi which is a 2 & ½ hour drive and ferry ride to the island of Evia off the south east coast of Greece.
Once on the island the topography changes as we drive along the gulf of Evia, across mountains reaching the Aegean sea on the east coast of the island. With our stomachs empty Stamatis asks if we would like to stop and have some “real” Greek food. But of course! He pulls in at what looked like an abandoned old warehouse right on the waters edge where there’s a scruffy looking guy hosing down wooden chairs. Stamatis said, “Oh no, I think they’re closed”. I thought, have they ever been open? After a brief conversation in Greek with the chair washer (who turns out is the owner), a table and some dry chairs are placed on the open air, paint peeling portico, where we are amazed at the presentation of the plate after plate of “real” Greek food. All of the vegetables come from their garden and the fish right from the sea at your feet. My favorite dish was the beans which resemble lima beans but bigger, brown, and perfectly seasoned with some herb I’ve never heard of or tasted before. We have traditional Greek salad, beets with roots, bread, fried zucchini (or a close cousin) and finally fried fish. The fish is WHOLE, head and all. Very mild and quite tasty if you don’t mind the fish looking back at you while you eat it. The owner brings out a plate of candied figs and plums to finish us off. You must understand that Greeks are very generous and hospitable and would be offended if you didn’t eat what they offered so in spite of feeling like we would bust, we forged on and finished them off.
Then it was back in the car for a short trip along the coast to the seashore or “paralia” in the “lower” section of Kymi where we check into a lovely hotel with magnificent views right on the water. Stamatis arranged our reservations and our stay was his gift. The only drawback being that we were on the 3rd floor and had 4 flights to walk up with our heavy luggage, no elevators here. (Peter didn’t mind too much and carried them all without dropping anything.)
After settling in Stamatis left us to go to his house in “upper” Kymi where his mother lives which is a short drive up the mountain, while we laid down for a siesta. The Greeks take this siesta thing fairly seriously. For about 2 hours in the afternoon from about 3 – 5 most everything shuts down, including the pool below our balcony which was noisy with children playing and running around, but from 3:30 to 5:30 silence falls as they pool is closed and doors shut for siesta. We sleep for almost two hours and awake, refreshed, relaxed, and in very loving moods. Maybe these Greeks are really on to something!
We go for a walk along the shore and back passing lots of tavernas and café’s at the harbors edge. We pass one taverna that has hanging out front (as an invitation for good seafood according to Stamatis) several fairly good sized octopus or is that octipie? Anyway, it’s quite quaint and a lovely little fishing harbor.
Stamatis returns to pick us up for a short drive up to Kymi to pick up his mother for dinner. The roads going up wind around and around with rather elaborate shrines for those who died on the drive up dotting the road. (Very reassuring!) Every year they hold road rallies here and the sharpest curves are lined with tires much like the grand prix. Stamatis' mother is 90 years old, a spry little woman who gets around like she’s 20 years younger. (Which comes in handy since most everything here involves going up or down, including getting to a “toilette” all of which for one reason or another are down a flight of stairs.) No handicap stalls here! Merika is her name and she has the most lovely expressive eyes through which she express her curiosity and love. Few words are needed here which is good, since she does not speak English and we don’t understand much Greek! We have a lovely dinner at another seaside taverna before being delivered back to our hotel around midnight. Dinner in Greece doesn’t start until after 9:00pm and we usually don’t get finished until 11:00pm. At that time of night you still find families with children eating and playing in the adjacent playgrounds (or the taverna’s much to Stamatis chagrin). Stamatis tells us the children aren’t put to bed until midnight (the one drawback we see to siestas). With the veranda doors open and a cool breeze off the sea we have no trouble falling fast asleep anticipating our tour of Kymi and the surrounding villages in the morning.
I try to see sunrise which Stamatis has told us is spectacular from our veranda but although I awake early enough, 5:30am, I can’t stay awake and reopen my eyes at 8:00.
Pete and I head out for a walk and start by going up the road beside our hotel. It is VERY steep and after a short while we turn back to walk along the seaside. Now I must tell you we almost weren’t allowed to leave the hotel by the clerk who was insisting that we have some breakfast. He finally relented when we promised to eat when we returned form our walk. There’s one thing the Greek’s love to do – feed you – and are offended if you don’t eat everything!
Stamatis picks us up for touring and sightseeing of Kymi and the surrounding areas. I’m happily ensconced in the back seat where the views of the hairpin turns and shear drops off the cliff are not quite as breath taking. I must admit once we reach the top of the mountain the view to the Aegean sea below was worth gripping the seat with my butt cheeks all the way up.
Our sightseeing and touring include views of the village where his mother grew up and a beautiful chapel where his father and sister are buried in a peaceful tree lined courtyard out back.
Another stop includes a visit to a spring that is purported to have healing properties one of which is ridding oneself of kidney stones. Herbie, as he was known then, remembers this spot as being quite beautiful, which I’m sure it was, but unfortunately the times have been rough here and there is graffiti along with a horrible smell from a stream running alongside. Stamatis assures me that the spring and the well are not connected so we fill and drink our glasses with the mineral rich spring waters and quickly retreat.
Another highlight of our visit in Kymi was to a monastery perched high up overlooking the Aegean sea below. It was absolutely beautiful, well maintained and restored. We arrived in time for evening vespers and sat in the courtyard
listening to the nuns singing the hymns acapella with birds joining in. We enjoyed the peace of this place and lingered here quietly for a short time even enjoying small treats which the nuns had placed on a table in the courtyard with pastries and sweets for visitors. See, even the nuns must feed you!
Later we stopped at Stamatis house to pick up his mother. The house they live in is over 120 years old. The architecture is beautiful and there is a lovely courtyard out back where we have café before heading out to dinner where we are to be met by one of Stamatis sisters, Ariathani or “Na Na” for short, who remembers “Herbie” quite fondly.
You must also drink lots of coffee and/or juice at all hours of the day as each meal is preceded by a visit to a café where you spend an hour or so talking and greeting neighbors as they pass by. Ariathani joins us and appears genuinely happy to see Herbie. She doesn’t speak or understand English but Stamatis is a good translator and we spend the evening reminiscing the Woodhead’s and Hondroyiannis time together in the beautiful village of Kymi.
On our last day in Kymi we will be having lunch at the house in upper Kymi which Nana will prepare for everyone. We are hoping to see Dimytrys who is the same age as Herbie and played together when they were boys. We stop at the square and have some Frappe’s while Stamatis takes care of some business in the bank. The square is full of people and conversations, laughter and playing children. This is one of the things that is strikingly different from America. People gather outdoors and are very social, unlike Americans who tend to only go from place to place and not create any sense of community.
When we arrive at the house the aromas from Nana’s cooking are heavenly! We dine on very tender veal with a delicious red sauce over rice, barbeque meatballs, salad, feta, vegetables and bread. Every time our plates start to empty, more is added. Herbie and Dimytrys spend some time reminiscing and sharing pictures with everyone over delicious Greek coffee which is lovingly prepared by Marika. It is finally time to start the drive back to Athens and we bid a fond farewell, waving goodbye to our “new” family in Kymi.
We promise to work on our Greek and come back next year. Marika turns to Stamatis and asks him, “should I stay around for another year?” He kisses her and laughs, saying, Of course Mama!” She reminds us of Woody with her wit and charm.
Arriving back at the Park Hotel we catch a few winks before heading out for our last dinner in Greece. We head back to the square where we had our first café and meal when we arrived. The rain is gently falling much as it was when we arrived. One other thing we haven’t mentioned is the dogs. They’re almost as numerous as the street vendors, hawkers and beggars. Most of them just lay quietly waiting for a morsel of food to fall close enough to eat without having to get up. We joke that we don’t believe they actually have legs because we never see them walking – just sleeping on the sidewalks. However there are two dogs at the café who are actually up and working the crowd very effectively with cocks of their head, perking up one ear and eliciting the biggest tug in your heart to throw them some food and/or take them home with you.
Our last night is polished off after midnight with macadamia nut brittle ice cream at Haagen Daas. The rain is falling as we crawl into bed around 1:00am holding our new very large bellies for our last night’s sleep in Greece.
Stamatis picks us up in the morning for the short drive to the airport where we enjoy breakfast and café while watching all the comings and goings squeezing our last bit of time together before parting at security. We will carry home in our hearts all the memories and the time we have spent together with Stamatis very dearly. He has been so wonderful it’s hard to express in words what it meant to us, dropping everything to escort us, feed us, act as tour guide, interpreter and friend as he put his life on hold to be with us. I wasn’t sure how comfortable it would be spending so much time with this man whom I’d never met and who Peter hadn’t seen or talked with in over 40 years, but he was so sweet and with a wry sense of humor that we both enjoy. We will miss him! Hopefully his book will do so well in Europe that it will be translated to English and we can then be his hosts when he comes to the US on promotional tours.
We say goodbye at security, once again sailing through check-ins and check points, boarding and taking off right on time. The Delta crew hands us our five course menus and we settle in for the 11 hour 17 minute flight back to Atlanta and then home to Lake Christopher.
Adio!
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