Peleponese Trip - The Adventure Begins

The following few posts are being written in stages but publishing them will have to wait until I have Internet access once more.

We left Glyfada at around 10:30 Saturday morning and headed first for Moschato to convince my MIL to come with us. BIL Stavro also needed to make peace with his sister and convince her to come with us as well. By one o’clock everyone was finally ready and we headed out of town. Our trip took us through Corinth, Tripoli, Kalamata and finally the small village of Iklena, population 200 give or take.




From Tripoli the highway ended and the roads through the mountains began. To say that the were hair raising is probably an understatement. The hairpin curves up the side of the mountains were scary enough but driving down was even worse and after three mountains I was a nervous wreck. By the time we reached our destination I was ready for a triple scotch. Didn’t pack any though so I was out of luck.




My sister-in-law Pigi was unable to make the trip but her parents welcomed us with open arms. Lots and lots of food magically appeared starting with an appetizer that was strange to me but delicious the yellow flower that eventually becomes a squash, stuffed with rice and cooked in the oven with tomato sauce. There was a subtle hint of peppermint that made these little gems irresistible. The main course was rabbit stew again with a tomato sauce and pasta. I ate more than I ever thought I could it was so wonderful. There was also lots of homemade wine, which I consider gut rot, but what the heck…with a lack of scotch what’s a girl to do…

Maria and husband Ilias lead a very simple life in this village; very self sufficient they have their own rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and also have a huge garden. The grapes they grow make the wine but in my opinion eating them was definitely better.

Most North Americans with their large homes can’t possible imagine living like this, but this couple in their late fifties live in one room. Their house is divided into various segments with upstairs being for their son and family, another section for a brother and family, a third section for a 93 year old mother and finally the one room with kitchen for themselves. Their washroom and shower is outside. I will try to get a picture but I don’t want to be rude or denigrate their lifestyle. They are incredibly content, happy and outgoing people.

After this huge meal we went to a house Stavros owns in the neighborhood that sits empty most of the year. The house sits on a hill surrounded by olive groves with an amazing view of the Mediterranean. Simply wonderful!

I have been given an award from one of my favourite bloggers Traveler One over at Stepping Stones; pay her a visit. I will post this and pick my fellow recipients when I return to Canada next week and have a little more internet time. As always more photos are appearing on my Flickr page...ciao