GREECE DISTINCTIVES
Beach south of Patra, Greece – waves breaking metres away from us
(no, we didn’t get to Killini again today either – there are just too many nice beaches!!)
Even before breakfast, which we ate beside the boats moored in a bay, we had seen signs of stereotypical Greek life. An ancient lady, head covered with black shawl, dressed in black shirt and black skirt, was herding her goats under the gnarly old olive trees. This prompted us to spend the rest of the day looking for things that were decidedly Greek, things different to other countries. Occasionally, we snapped photos, mostly we just tried to remember.
Irregular rock walls. Two types. One is presumably made from the rocks gathered in the fields – mainly terracing the olive groves, and just like the Italian ones used for the same purpose. The other type is uniquely Greek; uneven-shaped yellow-toned rocks are placed with a flat side facing to create quite a smooth surface. Personally, they’re not our faves – not as walls or courtyards or houses!
Domed orthodox churches, solid imposing structures lacking the ornamentation seen elsewhere, but striking in their own way.
Boats and bays, beaches and crystal-clear water.
Goats and sheep. They lend a biblical air to the place!
Mountains. Of course, we’ve seen mountains elsewhere, but Greek ones are different. We went through one gorge that could have swallowed Cheddar Gorge and still had room for more. Steep orange-brown rock towered 600metres above us. We took photos, but they turned out neither big nor impressive.
Produce. Trees drip with unbelievable amounts of gargantuan-proportioned edibles. Figs lay squished on the pavement. Many of the fruits we do not recognise – we have no idea what they are! Then at roadside stalls there are the biggest pumpkins and watermelons and a huge assortment of colourful gourds – we have been buying seven or eight kilo watermelons – the ones by the roadside are easily twice the size – no kidding.
We eat more grapes. Black ones, little green ones. They are all so good.
Shrines filled with lighted candles, bottles of oil and water, food, photographs, special icons, perhaps a child’s favourite toy, a cigarette lighter.
Sweet-shop coloured houses: buttery yellow, mandarin orange, apricot, coral, lavender and a shot of peppermint green or fresh blue. In contrast are the earth-toned mansions, trying to blend their magnificent opulent swimming pools into the hewn rock faces.
Islands. Even little ones have a house or two. Some are joined to the larger landmass by curving footbridges.
Mobile shops. In Cambodia people wander round with a basket of goods to sell on their heads. We watched Chinamen ride their bicycles while the fire burned under a wok on a specially-constructed rear frame. In England people tow their mobile caravans to a layby to sell hotdogs and chips. On the Sorrento coast people standing in oversized lemons dispense fresh juice to passersby. Greece has its equivalent. The first we saw…or rather, heard….was the chicken man. A van came down the hill, preceded by orthodox-sounding chantings over a loudspeaker, making us think we were about to witness a religious procession. It was just an old beat-up van with a load of live chooks. We figured you could probably buy one. By the time we had seen another half dozen of these vehicles, we were certain there were products for sale. The vegetable van, with open sides and produce easily visible is the only one we could tell the contents of. Others, perhaps with a set of scales hanging off the back or sacks of *something* stacked on the tray remain a mystery. But if we could understand Greek, the loudspeaker declarations would undoubtedly fill in the details.
Tags: 2008/09, dress, postcard: Greece, recreation, tradition
rayres
That water is SO clear! Amazing. And the sound of all that fruit … mmmmm! So, has Mama Bear been swimming again??