Week 16 - Greece
After a quiet weekend it seemed Monday would be a good day to visit the temple of Artemis. It was not. First of all, it was really hard to get the kids moving. The temple closes at 3:00, according to Google, and just getting them out the door by 12:00 was a huge struggle. I was pretty drained by the time we set off for the bus stop. To catch the bus we have to walk a block or so up to the main street through Artemida. It's a kind of busy street with no sidewalks and the cars go fast. It's not terribly dangerous, but I make the kids each walk with an adult. They were giving me a hard time about that, arguing all the way. We finally made it safely to the bus stop, just in time to see a cat get run over. S was screaming hysterically, the cat was twitching in the road and we were all pretty shaken up. J, my hero, dealt with the cat and got it out of sight at least. On the positive side, the kids got a lot more serious about being safe on the road, but it was definitely traumatic. Logically, I know that situations like that are bound to come up wherever you are, and in fact big C had a similar experience as a kid riding his bike near our house, but for me right now, whenever something traumatic happens to the kids I have a hard time not feeling guilty about choosing an unconventional lifestyle for a year. We took the bus to the last stop, which was actually a little farther from the temple than we thought it would be. I didn't feel like walking along the busy road, so we headed along a path to the beach so we could walk to the temple that way and were stopped at the gate to a hotel where the gatekeeper informed us that the temple was closed and had been all summer. Neither Google or the temple website reflect this, and later we decided it was probably misinformation whether accidental or deliberate. Hotels are not actually allowed to restrict access to beaches, so maybe that was just her way of keeping out a ragtag group like us, but whatever the reason, we just gave up. The kids were still upset over the cat and wanted to go home, so that's what we did. After regrouping a little bit we went to lunch at a nice place on the beach near the house. There were plenty of kitties there to play with and everyone seems to have forgotten about the other cat, though I still have moments of guilt.
So, Monday wasn't great, but Tuesday was wonderful. We've discovered Airbnb experiences and booked a tour of Athens central market followed by a cooking lesson. We had a great time, learned a lot, and finished with a delicious meal we had prepared ourselves.
Wednesday was spent packing and finalizing our plans for our trip to Nea Styra.
Thursday, we took a taxi to the port and took the ferry to Nea Styra. Because our money goes much farther in Greece we were able to keep the house on Artemida and leave most of our stuff there, taking just what we need for a long weekend. This made the trip a lot easier than travel days generally are. And of course, the ferry is much more fun than the airport. We got there early and had time for a picnic lunch, and more kitties to play with. It was about an hour ride to the island, and pretty fun.
The house in Artemida is fine, but this house is great. Well, I guess it's just that we're country people. We chose Artemida because of the availability of public transportation to Athens, thinking it would be a quiet place outside the city but easy access to sites. That's true, for the most part, and I'm definitely glad we're not staying in Athens, but we probably could have stayed here and used the ferry for day trips. I think what we're learning is that we don't love going into cities and seeing the sights. We do it, because it's part of having a well rounded experience and because history is important, but we really love places where we have a country house and days in which we spend time relaxing in nature. I have a little guilt about that too, I mean we have this wonderful opportunity to travel and we spend so many days just being in the places, not doing anything. On the other hand, how many kids from Ohio get to climb orange trees?
So that's what we've been doing here. It's quiet and beautiful, big orchard, lots of fruit trees, a resident cat, and a fireplace for the chilly evenings.
All the things we miss about the farm. I even enjoy feeding the cat each morning. She has dishes and a half used bag of food, so feeding her is obviously part of staying here. I guess the caretaker does it when the place isn't rented out. I think we're definitely the homestead types, a permanent nomadic lifestyle is probably not for us. I'm still not sure if the US is where we belong, but we're definitely happiest with a big plot of land and animals to take care of.
We love it. Our hosts have generously offered the use of their car, which J successfully got going. The driver's side door doesn't open from the inside and sometimes it keeps running after you turn it off and take the key out, but it runs fine. I don't drive a clutch so J is the driver once again. He and I had the adventure of going into town shopping. We quickly remembered why we prefer public transportation. Navigation is difficult and not good for our marriage! However, town is only a short walk on the beach away, so now that we've stocked up on the heavier things it's easier for me to just pick up what we need for the day on my morning walk.
Tomorrow we're going to take the car to visit the dragon houses.
Tuesday we go back to Artemida, Friday, on to Turkey.