Our balcony had a wonderful view over the deep valley where the only sound was the ravens calling, and the tinkling of sheep bells.
We decided to stay another night as we like this place. Marina had gone out for the day so she said that she would look into our room when she returned and know if we were still there or not. She certainly would have done as in your usual way we had managed to make it look pretty lived in!
I watched a sheep penned in just below us, desperately trying to get out of his enclosure to join a large flock on the move over on the hills, the other side of the valley. 10 minutes later, on looking again, the pen was empty and in the far distance there was a lone sheep galloping in a determined fashion. I was disappointed that I hadn't actually seen the break out as the old farmer was looking despondently in the neighbouring fields. My command of Greek was definitely not up to telling him where I thought it was.
There was no breakfast to be found in the little cafés in this part of the world, they prefer a cheese and ham bap - not our favourite! So instead we set off to try some of the traditional custard pies which just happened to be made in and supplied by Marina's cousin's shop. Which to be fair did supply the best custard pies and very good Greek coffee.
Possibly not the most healthy start to the day, but very delicious. Personally I thought 9 euro for two slices of custard in Filo pastry and two cups of Greek coffee was extortionate, but there you go! We sat in the sun in a pretty square next to the church. Amazingly this was open, so we had a quick peek. An old lady who was cleaning the brasses took no notice of us at all. Which is something we've learned about Greek Orthodox - they don't exactly say 'wow, who are you - welcome to out community'
We then drove up to the Nidas Plateau which is about 25 ks, further onwards and upwards. We zigzagged our way up. The views were stunning, many boulders, seemingly very little vegetation although the countryside is all given over to sheep. From daylight we had heard the 4x4s roaring up the hill and hoped that they would not be returning at the same time as we were were going up. However, when we got there, there was no sign of anyone except for the occasional shepherd and his dog standing on a rock in the distance.
The Ideon Andron cave lies just above the plateau, which is where according to legend Zeus spent his childhood. (It is also where 'according to legend' he deflowered Europa!!) We had planned to walk up for a look but as we were about to begin the weather closed in. We were a little apprehensive of being stuck in low cloud/fog on that road back to Anogia as it was a hard enough drive when you could see where you were going, so we decided to miss out and leave it for another time. There was no sign of life on the plateau except for a jeep in the far distance rounding up the sheep and a taverna which looked as though it had not been open for months - even years.
So we drove back down the mountain and ate our picnic on a rock surrounded by new born lambs, ewes and some very randy rams. It was like being in the Highlands in the rutting season. (Or at a stag party in Romania)
We dropped in on the Delina mountain resort which lies just above Anogia, and is owned by Vassili Skoulas the well known Greek musician and renowned for his playing of the Lyra. He has a small coffee shop within the leisure complex and as usual it was just us, except for Vassili and a very kind Afghan man. There was a little bit of a language barrier, which was a shame as Vassili may have been asking if 'we like to hear' or if 'we like it here' and I think that I answered incorrectly. Apparently he is much given to musical moments, and didn't play for us but presented us with a CD which is really good foot tapping Greek stuff. The cafe walls were covered in gold and platinum discs that he had been awarded over the years. Marina told us later that he is her uncle. We think her family seem to own the whole village!
Tonight we went to a different Taverna for supper where the elderly couple running it were much friendlier and cooked yet more delicious lamb on the spit for us. Despite being at pains to let them know we are British, yet again they only spoke German to us. I think it must be my grey hair, military bearing and square face that does it!!
No comments:
Post a Comment