In Which We Go to Join the Village People

We arrived to Athens Wednesday Sept 22 and spent our first day very jetlagged lying around the apartment. Before getting settled into Athens for the winter the first order of business was to take Matt to Corfu (Kerkyra) to meet the family.


Of course, as a welcoming gift, Athens transportation scheduled an all day strike delaying our departure to Kerkyra to the evening after another 6 hour delay in the airport.


Corfu is on the Ionian Sea (West side of Greece) close to Albania and Italy. Of course, my village Sgourades is too small to be on the map, so the red star points to the exact location of the tiny village!

In case there were any doubts.

To reach Sgourades one must drive up the treacherous roads of Mount Pantokrator, the "tallest" mountain on the island at a wopping 2,000 ft. 38 Hair-pin (180 degree) turns through olive groves will get you the little village.

The road to the village was used for filming the chase seen in "For Your Eyes Only" because of the crazy terrain.







Our stay in Sgourades was wonderfully relaxing and consisted of taking too many naps and eating massive quantities of my yiayia's food and going on long walks around the village and surrounding countryside.

The little archway leading to our house

Heading to the main drag

Outside Yiayia's house

My Yiayia inside my Aunt's kitchen

Yiayia and me!

Matt outside the house!

Since its early fall the grapevines are heavy with fruit and all the villagers are collecting their grapes to make their wine.

Our grapevines

My Aunt making her own wine

Old-fashioned Winepress

The olive trees, another staple for all Greeks, isn't ready for harvesting until mid-winter.

Surprisingly, the "Kota" wasn't too upset about being picked
up.

Like many villagers, my Aunt has her own chickens who would be like her own little pets, "her girls" as she calls them, except that she eats them too.

CHICKENS!!

We spent a day down in the main "city" of Kerkyra, also called Kerkyra. We wandered the Venetian built streets of the Old Town district delighting in the sights, smells and tastes all around us.

A Unique Corfiot liquer 
made from Kumquats!

Street of Cafes in Corfu Town

With my cousin Andreas,
relaxing with some coffee and food

Venetian Fortress and Port in Corfu Town

Corfu has no lack of bright colors!

My cousin Andreas drove us up the narrow steep gravel path to Mount Pantokrator, where, at the tip top of the mountain a little monastery sits  looking out to incredible views of the island and surrounding ocean. From there you can see Albania across a fairly narrow stretch of water!

Entrance to the Monastery
(complete with modern radio tower)

View from the Peak (Albania behind the clouds in distance)