A Travelling Week

The Big Waterfall

A week travelling is much longer than a week in politics, today is Saturday 23^rd July, last Saturday we arrived in a small town called Paranesti and to a project called Peliti we got off the train at 19.25 to be picked up by Panagiotis Sainatoudis we were tired and hungry after travelling all day from Edessa.

Edessa was a good stop for a few days, explored the town and the close area on foot, some spectacular waterfalls and nice countryside, found a Scout campsite just by an open air theatre.  Also just enjoyed sitting in a pavement café drinking a frappe, iced coffee, with milk and sugar and drunk through a straw, taking our time watching the world go by.  This seems to be a favourite pastime of the Greeks and endless conversation, they seem to be sat in cafés all day talking, perhaps if they worked more they wouldn’t be in such a mess 'controversial comment, I must stop doing that, you don’t know who might be reading this, sorry Michali.

Hemp Factory Museum

Waiting for Dinner

'I Promise to do....'

Well back to our arrival at Peliti, tired hungry, shown to our separate quarters, ok, back to their house to be given melon to eat, very nice melon, but just melon, we were still hungry and tired.  Then told our hours; 5 per day, 5 days a week, you can have tomorrow off it is Sunday, we offered to do something if they wanted, but no.  Then a bag of supplies, tomatoes, cucumbers some water melon and some juice (homemade very nice) and enough porridge for about 2 portions!  Also we could choose anything from the gardens we need.  In the house there were some dried ingredients, beans, and green lentils plus a few herbs and spices, so no tea, coffee, bread, butter, cheese, milk, yoghurt or cereal.  When we looked in the gardens after work on the Monday, there was very little apart from tomatoes and onions and we had just spent 5 hours in hot sunshine lifting a field of onions.   

The 'Varosi' District

Waterfall View

So we took stock of our situation plus the fact they did not seem interested  in joining in conversation with us, not really in the spirit of Helpx, maybe they were just used to Woofers.  Anyway  we both decided separately we weren’t happy and needed a move.  So we came back to Bulgaria - we always wanted to get to Jeni & Jordi’s wedding so here we are 10 days early but they need lots of help with the preparations and Jeni also asked me to do the photographs, and yet another bridesmaid dress to be made!!!

Edessa Station

Paranesti Street Art

 

Moving on 3

Church in the hills

Once again we are moving on, which seems a silly thing to say as the whole point of travelling is that you move on!

Where were we?  In or near Sparta or as the locals call it Sparti, with Phil and Shema, we had a great time with those guys.  Meg did a variety of jobs from sewing again (!), varnishing a floor, sorting toys, helping with the cooking etc.  I helped with the removal of their stored furniture from a cellar in Sparti to various locations in the village of Varassi, up in the hills to the north of the city. I also laid a new floor in one of their two houses (not the one Megan varnished) but another. After 2pm it was just too hot to work 35 - 38°C, so we had to have a cold beer and eat the main meal of the day, then a snooze, and then more beer!  We talked and laughed our way through the whole 10 days.

Mystras

Megan in the citadel

Inside a Mystras church

We visited Mystras, up in the mountains the other side of the city, on our ‘day off’ it was good, walked all the way to the citadel at the top and back down via different route, we had cats as guides – one for each level hoping for payment – we had nothing to give except euros and they didn’t want them, I wonder why?

Working hard

View of Varassi

Megan, Lola and Meli

Waiting for a train

Ancient Edessa

 

So back through Athens – picked up our India visas, stayed with Lena again, we went with her to a name day celebration, more important than a birthday, up a hill opposite the Acropolis at night all lit up and joined in the celebrations which included some of the guests playing and singing along to a guitar. Magic.

So now we are in Edessa for a few days on the way to the Helpx placement (the seed bank) at Parasnesti.

This our third blog in a few days, sorry, but time just concertinaed up on us.

Couch Surfing

Dad

Couch surfing is what it says on the tin, we couch surf!

All around the world people, who enjoy the company and conversation with others of different nationality and or culture, belong to a website and offer a couch to sleep on for free, in return for the above conversation.

Sometimes it might not be sleep, it could be a coffee or drink and the chance for the local to show the surfer around the area.  Lena did for us in Athens, a comfortable couch to sleep on for three nights on two separate occasions and the walk up a hill opposite the Acropolis at night (all lit up) for a party; we had a great time.

Maria

Handfull of kittens

3 weeks old!

Whilst we were there we saw 5 cats, a mum and dad and 3, 3 week old kittens.  Also we met Maria, also surfing at Lena's.  She was from Columbia, presently living in France with her husband who is studying music, she was volunteering at the special Olympics in Athens, as was Lena.  I hope you followed all that!

Mum feeding kittens

Lena and us at the celebration

10 days older

Island Life

Our island life is over for a while; we are back on mainland Greece getting back to work.  The wind blew all the time we were on Mykonos, putting paid to one of the things we wanted to, which was going to the isle Delos to see the ancient site.

We went to the beach when we could, walked through Mykonos Old Town and looked at the shops.  One thing we both liked was a house still with all the furniture in as it would have been in the C19th it was very interesting, when the family travelled through Europe they came back with furniture as there wasn’t any wood on the island.

Petros the pelican

Old Town

One calm bay

Evening Drinks

Passed through Athens and couch surfed (Google it) and arranged visas for India, and then managed to get an extra Helpx place in the Peloponnese near Sparta (the 300 are long gone) and it seems everyone has long gone, the tourists are not arriving and the locals cannot afford to holiday so the downward spiral seems to be on the move!!

Admiring the future!

Too rough to swim

Our new hosts are great, Phil & Shema, He is from Essex and Shema is form Brisbane her parents were both Croation , they are renovating a couple of houses and need a lift, literally, as I helped move all their furniture out of storage, whilst Megan sanded and varnished a floor amongst other jobs.

Next for us is back through Athens to pick up the Indian visas and then head north to the Helpx seed bank.