Eating cheese pie under the orange trees

by Barbara

We spent a lovely afternoon with George’s aunt Mercine and his dad’s cousin Kiki and her husband Spiro. 

Mercine making the glyko with mastic.

Mercine is visiting from Wellington and although Kiki and Spiro live in the main town of Mytilene, they holiday in the house that used to belong to George’s grandmother and great uncle. You can see the house in an earlier post here.

Mercine, Kiki, Jay, Ella, Sophia, Barb
having afternoon tea under the orange trees.

George and I stayed in this house for three weeks when we visited the island in 1993. It’s set amongst orange trees and is very traditional. We remember having to light the boiler in the basement for our hot water!

Thea Mercine, and George’s dad John, came to the island as children and lived in the house for a year with their parents and brother and sister. We loved listening to Mercine’s stories about spending time with her grandparents and what it was like going to school in the village.

Here we are having afternoon tea with Mercine and Kiki under the orange trees. We had a traditional glyko (sweet) made with mastic gum from the island of Chios and Kiki had made a beautiful tiropita (cheese pie).

We left very full, and Kiki gave us fig jam, pears, grapes and a bottle of homemade wine to take with us!

The Awesome View of Plomari

By Jay



Plomari is the village of my Great Grandfather. 






A couple of days ago we went to the outside bit of the harbour which is like a big upside down L shaped wharf. Twenty years ago Dad took four photos of the view of the village from the wharf. When he  got back to New Zealand he got it made into a big long picture which we have hanging in our house. 

We saw some really awesome boats there and we took lots of photos. We told Dad he should take some himself and compare them with his old ones but sadly he didn't. Maybe he lied that he took the first ones of Plomari, he might have actually taken it of a different village, but remember thats just maybe. I thought it looks better from there than from driving through the village. These are some awesome photos that we took of  the view.

Mouria (The Mulberry Tree)

By Jay

                              

Mum and Dad at Mouria

Most nights we have been going to dinner at a place called Mouria (the mulberry tree. 

Greek salad

Hortokeftedes

Sophia with potatokeftedes

Mouria has really nice food and is close. We found it quite cheap. The waiters are really nice too. 

Some of my favourite things to eat there were the Hortokeftedes (Vegetable meatballs), Garlic dip, Papoutsia (little shoes or stuffed eggplant). 

They were just a few of my favourites but I had lots more. 

Tonight we are going there for the last time. I wish it wasn’t the last time! These are some of the photos we have been taking there.

                 

Megalochori

by Sophia

Having a drink in Megalochori

Yesterday we went to Megalochori which means big village. 






It was the first Plomari because the town had to be in the hills so they wouldn't get attacked by pirates. When the pirates were gone, they built another village by the sea which became Plomari.

Outside St John's church which is 300 years old

When we were there we went to the church. It was really cool!

The huge key for the church

Jay in front of St John

Ella in front of the candles we lit

Inside the church

St Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope and Charity

Biking

By George

Barb and I have been getting out in the relative cool of the morning doing some biking around the coast and up into the hills. The first day I rode into the square of a classic little hill village called Paleochori. It seemed like half the village was sitting around the square drinking and chatting, when I rode in wearing my high vis-vest and helmet they stared at me seemingly thinking "crickey what have we got here"!! I'm yet to see any of the locals wear helmets on their scooters and motorbikes so I must've been an unusual sight! It's been a great way to get into the nooks and crannies of the surrounds of our village. Here are some of the sights so far.

A Half Day In Akrasi

By Jay

This morning we went to AKRASI for half a day. On the way we heard a clatter in the car and a man stopped and said something. Mum thought he was saying we couldn't drive because it was too sandy, but he said that the hubcap came off the wheel. Papou had to walk back to find it and it wasn't far away. When we got into the little village it was awesome. There were lots of houses but there weren't many people walking around because in the village they don't have wide roads or any foot paths. When we found somewhere to have lunch we got out and every one was staring at us because we weren't locals and we turned up in a little mini bus. We walked in and sat down. Dad and I went to get the tavli (backgammon) and Luca and I played. We had a close game but I just bet him by 1.

Peter outside Michael and Georgie Aspros's house

There were lots of people there and Papou knew a man called Peter who looks after Michael and Georgie Aspros's house.

After about 15 minutes Mum, Dad and I went for a little walk. There were lots of cats around. 

When we got back we saw the man cooking our souvlaki and kebabs on the outside bqq for lunch. They looked really nice. 

Church in Akrasi

On the way back to Plomari we went the wrong way down a one way street. We met a car so we had to back up but there were these little children behind us so we had to wait. Another car came behind us so they backed up into a little place. There was some more room so we backed up too. Everyone was crowding trying to help us, but then they started shouting and the car that wasn't letting us pass went through and shouted at us too!

Happy Family Photos

By Jay

In Greece we have been having an awesome time. We have been taking lots of photos of our family having a great time, these are some of them.