Greeks bearing gifts

Sunday 22nd May.

We've been on the campsite here at Plaka for a few days now and had some mixed weather, everything from brilliant warm sunshine to thunderstorms and high winds. On Friday night we had heavy rain which dumped even more (North African?) sand on the van giving it a kind of desert camouflage effect. No question it now needed a clean so I borrowed some ladders and Phil and I set to. We now have a solar panel on the roof rather than an orange slab and we can see out of the windscreen and windows. Whilst up on the ladders I noticed that a sealing strip which runs along the length of the van had come loose, it's a rubber or pvc strip which had gone brittle over the years. I managed to relocate it where it should be but I think a more permanent solution will have to be found when we get home. When we had nearly finished restoring the van to its former glory Kristos from the site walked by and told us it was going to rain again that night - grrrr. It did rain but not enough to camouflage the van again fortunately and the forecast is mainly dry and sunny for the next week.

The day after we arrived here Paniotos, one of the two cousins who own the site, came up and carefully placed eight, still warm, eggs on our table "A little gift, enjoy". Shortly after we walked into the village and noticed a new mini market (there was only one last year) and we popped in to buy some milk. "Welcome, all our fruit and veg is biological, My name is Margaret, what is yours?" We told Margaret our names. "Wait here please I have a little gift to welcome you, it's nothing much but enjoy." Whereupon Margaret gave us a bag containing a dozen oranges, two lemons and a cucumber (or courgette?). "All biological". We bought a super little low-tech orange/lemon squeezer from the mini market next door (Margaret didn't have one) for a couple of euros and our morning orange juice can't get any fresher. The eggs, hard boiled and scrambled were delicious too.

Easy peasey, orange squeezey!:

It's too easy just to stop here and do nothing but I'm still aware that I need to try and get the handbrake repaired so on Tuesday we'll set off for Nafplion where I might find a garage and a day or so after that we'll be in Corinth and maybe I'll have some luck there.

We're still undecided as to whether we'll visit the ancient site of Mycenae or not. The general consensus is that it really needs two days to see everything and it's pretty much up and down hills. Whilst Phil's ribs are healing and they're much improved we're still not sure if it might not be a bit too much, we'll see. Mycenae isn't going anywhere and I'm sure we'll be back in Greece again.

Meanwhile it's nearly lunch time and we're going to treat ourselves in one of the harbour side tavernas. We had a meal there last year and it was one of the best we've had in Greece so we're looking forward to it.

The beach here looking a bit "moody":

 

A little later................... Mmmmm, delicious lunch, everything fresh and tasty - Fried zucchini & cheese balls, boiled spinach, mousaka, veal in tomato sauce with aubergine; a cheeky ouzo, a coffee, a jug of wine, complementary preserved quince - £25!

The Taverna:

The harbour:

Pretty house:

Pat

 

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