Leros (Greece): Cats and Windmills All in a Row

Leros
1 – 6 September 2017 

When we arrived on Leros island we were greeted by our AirBNB host Mario who led us on his motorbike to the apartment.

It was so spacious, with a nice lounge to relax in and views over Vromolithos Bay.

The balcony was perfect, with lots of greenery around and morning sun. Mario had provided quite a bit of food, including a packet of wheat rusks, which are kind of like a dried out piece of toast/crouton. I had never come across these before and became obsessed. I have come to learn since then that rusks are a common food for babies.

Went walking to Panteli a couple of times, which was the town below the hill we were staying on.

It was a nice little harbour village with lots of beach umbrellas, and bars and restaurants with chairs out on the sand. Some people were eating lunch and going to have a dip in the sea halfway through. This gave Yannick ideas. We went for breakfast there once and the waitress spilled my hot tea all over Yannick and scalded him a bit, but they were nice and didn’t charge us for breakfast.

A 20-minute walk north took us past views of the Kastro and windmills to the village of Agia Marina.

There we wandered around, acquired some pastries, and saw a taverna with a windmill at the end in the sea.

From the waterfront we climbed up some narrow alleyways and were surprised by a line of sleepy cats. All of them just watched us except one guy who was more curious with a red collar like a Lindt bunny.

We drove up to see the old castle and windmills, and it was great to see them close up. One of the windmills had been converted into a bar. The views from the hill were incredible, and there were steep stairs down to the town.

On one of our many excursions we happened across a secret beach! It promptly became our favourite, as there weren’t many other people who visited, and you could choose to sit in the shade of a pine tree or in the sun. There weren’t any goats pottering around though, which was a shame. One day I didn’t feel like staying long at the beach so I walked home. Along the way I met a wandering man who went about collecting things. As he passed he said “kalispera” (good afternoon) and the tree crafted from driftwood and handmade wind chimes tintinnabulated over his shoulder.

I enjoyed the walk, but did get barked at by several dogs (they were all behind fences). The baby donkey I spotted made up for it. He was so fuzzy!

We ate out at a couple of tavernas: Aloni restaurant by the harbour to the south of the island, and another where Yannick tried tsipouro (a strong un-aged brandy) and hated it, but the food was great. He went for a swim to boost his spirits. There was a cat hanging around with vision impairment who we fed a little because we felt sorry for him.

Possibly the most picturesque church on the island was that of Agios Isidoros, which is off a little spit from the village of Kokkali. The location is quite dramatic. Behind the altar you can still see part of the ruins from an ancient temple.

In startling comparison to the gloriously lazy and warm week we had spent on the island, we had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to catch the ferry to the island of Kos. The ferry’s air conditioning was set to high and I drank two cups of tea just to keep from freezing my teeth off. Two islands down, one to go! (And many more on future trips!)

Today’s post was almost called: No Use Crying Over Spilled Tea, Baby Donkeys to See!

Symi (Greece): Follow That Agios! Taxi to the Forbidden Beaches

Symi
23 – 31 August 2017

After a night in Ohrid I was feeling right as rain again. We booked it to Greece, where at the border it was dead quiet and the two customs agents asked us where we were going. We had a friendly conversation about how we were from very far away and the island of Symi was very far to go. They seemed chill and were clearly having a slow day, so this was a little bit of excitement for their morning. It was the best border encounter I’ve had! We then quickly made our way to Athens and boarded a ferry to Symi. The wavy journey took over 17 hours.

We spent a week on Symi so I won’t bother to sort this post chronologically, but rather show you the highlights. The first is Ano Symi, the main town on the island and where most of the ferries dock. It was beautiful, and as soon as we stepped off the pier we gazed around at its amazingness.

The place we were staying at was a cute little apartment with a balcony overlooking the hill and town.

To get there you had to walk through a warren of little alleyways too narrow for cars. There was air conditioning, but only in the master bedroom (our room) so we had to keep the door open to allow airflow to the rest of the place.

There was a supermarket very close by that sold the most delectable grapes and moreish hummus. The shopkeeper was super welcoming and kept giving us free zucchini and cucumbers. Down in the town, there was a more expensive supermarket that had the best nectarines. I ate them every morning!

Historically, Symi’s economy was based on sea sponges and shipbuilding, but now it ticks along mainly from tourism. Sponge tourism! …among other things.

One of our favourite beaches was Marathounta, which had lovely clear water and small white pebbles. We came here repeatedly, sometimes for days on end, and we ate at the beachside taverna for lunch one day too.

Probably the most interesting thing about this beach were the goats. They were always on the lookout for food, and would snoop in swimmers’ unattended bags. Sometimes people would throw pebbles near them to scare them off. Overall they were pretty amusing and would nap in grounded dinghies or have scuffles amongst themselves.

On a hill above the town was the Kastro: originally an acropolis that the Knights of the Order of St John built a castle on in 1407 to defend against pirate attacks. It was extremely ruined, but was a cool site to wander around and see the great views over the port below.

Nearby you could see old villas where sea captains used to live. One day as we were descending the hill, we came across an elderly woman sitting on some steps. She called out cheerfully to us “Kaliméra!” (Good morning.) She had a washtub full of leaves that she was picking the stems out of, and pressed some freshly dried oregano into my hand. We hadn’t cooked with oregano for ages, so we bought a small bag of it from her.

One day we drove as far north as we could go, to Nimborio beach. We could have followed the path along, but before we did that we spotted a little pier that was better as the beach was almost fully in shade. At one point a ferry came along to dock and we scrambled out of the way. The water was deep and crystalline, and there was a handy ladder for getting in and out easily.

We visited some great restaurants, including the Secret Garden, where we went for a live music night and three English expats played Bluesy tunes. The singer had a powerful voice and I especially enjoyed her renditions of Any Winehouse and Jimi Hendrix. It was such a small island that we had actually seen the guitarist twice before, once at the supermarket and once zipping about on his moped. The lady on bass had been away on holiday for a month and hadn’t played during that time, so after returning her fingers were very sore and she had to soak them in ouzo. The restaurant used lemons grown in their own (secret I suppose) garden for the sorbet.

Another winner was Zoe’s Taverna, where we met Zoe herself! The skordalia (a dip made from garlic and soaked bread or potato) was awesome, and we also tucked into gigantes, chickpea balls, dolmades, and filo pastries with various fillings. They gave us cake afterwards, and we happened across our AirBNB host (another English expat) so had a chat about living with locals.

The restaurant Tholos was right next to the harbour and served the best gigantes I have ever had. Slightly different than usual, these ones had carrot and celery in the sauce!  They gave us tasty green melon for dessert.

Up on the ridge of the hill are a string of old windmills. Many are ruined, with roofs missing and walls crumbling, but some have been restored. A couple have been made into accommodation, and one had become a café with cute decorations.

I loved the pastels and nautical touches in the area.

One morning we caught the water taxi which ferried us past a few beaches, many of which could only be reached by boat.

The first was very built up, but still pleasant. The next was lovely with a line of olive trees and umbrellas.

But the one we picked was definitely the best: Agios Georgios. It was a big beach with plenty of space and few people. There was nothing there except for a small church that backed onto a crescendo of cliffs. As we relaxed there we saw two goats descend from the cliffs and onto the beach – how nimble! The sun retreated behind the cliffs, disappearing quite fast, but the rocks were still hot to lie on so we didn’t get chilly. It was the most stunning spot to swim!

In the village of Panormitis in the south of Symi, there is a huge Venetian-styled monastery dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who is the patron saint of the island.

Many day-trippers visit from Rhodes, so it’s often one of the busiest spots on the island!

Though we were sad to leave Symi, we were excited for our next destination – the island of Leros. When the ferry arrived we freaked out because it was tiny and didn’t seem to fit any cars. Yannick asked one of the crew members on the docks, and he directed us into a minuscule garage. We had the only vehicle on the ferry!

North Macedonia: Better Than Disneyland? All Aboard the Skopje Express

Skopje | Ohrid
21 August 2017

As we were driving out of Niš, we saw a mega rusty steam train and had to pull over to take a look. There were three disused carriages lined up and they looked badass so we snapped a bunch of pictures. Then towards the Macedonian border there were many cars on the side of the road where people were selling strings of dried chilli and garlic. It was fairly cold at only 17 degrees, and raining (we hadn’t needed to use the windshield wipers since leaving France).

Upon arrival we quickly dropped our stuff off at our apartment for the night. On our walk into town, we saw the large Orthodox church dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helena. Unbeknownst to us, this was our first run-in with the controversial project Skopje 2014, but more on that later. Fabienne and Christophe visited the Mother Teresa Memorial House (Skopje was her home town), while Yannick read for a while and I went on an excursion to find vegan snacks.

We reconvened in the bustling main square, which is under the overbearing gaze of the Giant Warrior on a Horse statue, which many assume is a portrayal of Alexander the Great. This is yet another hatchling of Skopje 2014, so let’s dive right in – briefly. In 1963, the city experienced a terrible earthquake that destroyed or damaged most of the city including many historical sites and structures. This was obviously a shocking blow, and in 2010 the government decided to invest a large amount of money into creating a range of new civic buildings and statues to try to regain some classical appeal. The way they went about this, however, has been described as historicist kitsch and this came in the face of North Macedonia’s high poverty rates. There’s more – so much more – to the story so please do your own research if you’re interested. I will say that not everyone is against the project, with one piquant response to criticism reading: “they are jealous cause city center is now BETTER than Disneyland!!!”[sic].

Having crossed over the Stone Bridge, we explored the Old Bazaar.

During Ottoman rule this district grew into the centre for trade, which it has remained for many centuries.

There are quite a number of religious buildings along with a couple of museums that form the core of the bazaar, as well as a cornucopia of Turkish style teahouses, sweet shops, and handicraft merchants selling a range of goods such as kilim (mats), jewellery and slippers.

The whole place had a cool higgledy-piggledy feeling, with uneven cobbled streets and cafés with old men perpetually in animated conversation.

We then walked back to the city centre over Art Bridge, which was another installation from Skopje 2014. There were so many statues (29 to be exact), mostly of celebrated Macedonian creatives. There was a horrible high-pitched ringing sound at the start of the bridge, possibly intended to deter teenagers from loitering.

After passing by roasted corn vendors (and a vegetable shredder merchant with a giant pile of cabbage that he was clearly proud of), we chose Pelister restaurant on the main square for dinner, which actually turned out to be attached to a hotel of the same name. It was on the touristy side, but the food was nice and very affordable. At one stage they brought us a more expensive rosé that was not the one we ordered, but as it was their mistake they let us keep it for the same lesser price! It was a great evening spent chatting and watching the giant Alexander fountain light up in different colours.

22 August

I spent a fitful morning lying on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. I don’t know if it was from the hummus with capers I had eaten at Pelister or from one of the snacks I had picked up, but my digestion was well wrong. We drove to Ohrid, and for a time I felt a little better but after nibbling on fruit salad I knew I had to rest. I spent the day in bed at our comfortable AirBNB while the others explored the town. FOMO to the max.

First they walked to the church of St John the Theologian overlooking Lake Ohrid. The architectural style is very unique, and apparently many Armenian churches have a similar look, particularly in reference to the roof. Inside, frescoes have been uncovered dating back to that last thirteenth century.

Back in the city centre, Yannick was treated to his favourite thing ever: a stroll along castle walls. This was Samuil’s Fortress, constructed on the orders of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria in the tenth century. A poet at the time likened Samuil to Halley’s comet, which blazed through the sky in 989.

Along the waterfront many people tried to get my able-bodied companions to take a ride on their boats. One guy in orange shorts was very persistent and pointed enthusiastically to a photo he was carrying of some sights and called after them “Not at all expensive! Look at the picture! Hello! Who is the boss?!” They also found a cute orange kitten and scratched his head for a while as he settled down on the ground and purred like crazy.

They checked out the ancient amphitheatre, built in 200CE and originally used for gladiator fights. The site turned even more bloody when the Romans started using the theatre for public executions of Christians, and after the fall of the Roman Empire residents of the town covered up the whole site in soil to bury the horror. This means that it is incredibly well-preserved. And now for a more fun fact: Ohrid once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year.

Today’s post was almost called: A Cabbage Mound to Make Grandpa Proud