Castles, Retreats and Shining on the Righteous

There cannot be many luckier people than Lynda and I when you consider that after the trials of the weeks running up to Xmas, we were about as strung out as you can get and yet there we were last week arranging what turned out to be an amazing 3 day trip to the Peloponnese with really great friends , and being privileged to see some quite amazing places, that are within most peoples reach.

 

These are the Peloponnese and we went first to Nafpleon and then down to Monemvasia, via Kosmas in the mountains.

Below is the Castle on the mountain above Nafplion and also the fort in the bay.It is remarkable when you see Castles on the top of so many mountains and the mind still boggles that they could build these places in such remote locations with little or no access to get up there to build--and there are many of them-- Nafplion, Monevasia, Argos and many others around Sparta and Tripoli.

 

We stayed in Nafpleon on Friday night and had a great dinner in a restaurant called "Vasilis" that had a small group doing a bit of singing for your supper--they were very good and if anyone know how haunting a women singing traditional greek songs can be well that was what we were hearing--she was very good. It still staggers me at how Greece has managed to maintain their history and culture especially when it comes to preserving their cultural music, and even more so that most Greeks appear to know most of these songs.

 

 

We drove south from Nafpleon and went on the way through a town at around 5000 feet above sea level called Kosmas ---it just happens to be the name of very good friends on Aegina and America--- so you can imagine our interest.

Mountainous views

Still a little Christmas cheer to welcome us

 Tables and chairs laid out all across the square for the daily get together and chat with your pals.

 

We can of course always find somewhere to shop as the girls did below---Having said that , they did sell the most amazing home grown produce from honey to wine

A stunning place and one that was very peaceful , fresh and clean. It also had the wonderful smell of fires burning logs--I love that smell---remember it well from my childhood.

 

From Kosmas we headed south , down the mountain, for Monemvasia with views like these and bumping in to a few 4 legged friends--could be dinner next week or at least the Feta on my salad.

 

 

Below is the island of Monemvisia, with the castle at two levels in the picture---you see the lower enclosure going to the sea edge where the soldiers and poorer folk lived and had to fight and defend it  and also there was a an upper castle encampment, where the rich people and leaders lived slightly protected against the marauding hoardes.

And below are some typical street views from the city of Monemvasia

 

Captured in the arch are two of the nicest people we know and they were great company as well as having a brilliant driver in Michael.

 

 

Out of allthe Companies in the world this lady below is the best Company for me--yeah I know its corny but it is also very true.

This is the entrance arches and I don't think you could get many soldiers in this space without suffering severe losses---and you could block it very easily.

A bit of shopping as we meander through the streets---I tasted the best Rose'i think I have every tasted and they don't export --real shame. Also got a box of Baclava for tonight which are beautiful.

 

Below are the ramparts of the upper castle where the Posh folk were living.

Amazing how much Lions feature in Ancient Greek marbles and statues.

 

Mind your head Mike

Monemvasia goes back to Byzantine times but some say even further back.

 

A bit of maintenance continues as everywhere, and the scaffold was not that bad either.

 

Three of the 4 amegos having a break---well there are a shed load of steps in this place.

Nice bit of lunch from a Café with amazing views--and it was so warm and sunny.

 

The picture below is a little hazy but they say that guy Byron was also here for a while--jesus, that bloke must have had more Avios points than my CEO

 

We stayed in a really nice little hotel in the main town over the causeway from the Monemvasia island called Hotel Pramataris, wit wonderful owner making us feel so welcome and great value.

We headed back to Nafpleon having decided that we would stay there again on sunday night and found a number of reasons to stop and take photos like those below.

 

On the way back we stopped at the Monestary Eloni, just to the east of Kosmas on the way down the mountain.

 

 

How the hell did they build this have no idea but a beautiful place that I felt privileged to be able to walk around

 It is a shame that I was unable to take photos inside the church as it has some of the most amazing carvings and the incense containers were by the thousands.

 

We went to Nafpleon and saw the following amazing views and places.

  We found Harry Potters house where he retired to-- real quality building.

Stunning views of the bay

A bit of map reading by those intrepid explorers Andrews and James--

  And still cant get this stupid  hotel picture round the right way.

 

So we had our last night there and hit the road to Athens yesterday morning---had a conference call to get back to the computer so had to catch an early afternoon ferryboat back to Aegina.

 

I think if nothing else it proved to us that our thoughts about what is out there in Greece for us to go see is real and we have only scratched the surface with what there is to see---this place is amazing --I think the Greeks say-- ELLADA.hellas---and I agree.

 

Roll on Pascaha---Yassou.

 

 

 

 

Was Worth the Effort- So it's Worth the Reward

Well, if anyone out there was reading the last post then I am sure that there would have been plenty of doubters as to the possibility of getting our kitchen re-built in time for Xmas.

I have to say that with what came next I would have been one of those folk.

The guys came and ripped the floor out on the 9th through to the 13th December with our belief that we had the flooring going down on the 16th.

However--yeah ok so you were expecting that-- we received a call saying that only the Vinyl flooring would be going down on the Monday and that the hard laminate flooring would not get laid until first thing on the 19th December. Based on that info which we could not get bettered, we ordered the kitchen to be delivered late morning on the 19th.
I also realised that the flooring in the bathroom would not take the gluing of the Vinyl due to the waterproof treatment coating so I ended up putting a hardboard on top to ensure no slip ups. Also had to trim down the bottoms of all the doors or there would have been some rather tight fitting openings.

Below is the hardboarded floor that I laid ready.

Below is the completed bathroom flooring and the hallway done in Laminate --this was on the evening of the 19th, without anything done to the installation of the new Kitchen.

One of the best things I ever did was to stop off on the way home on the evening of the 18th at B&Q and bought 3 Tarpaulins which on the 19th I strung up in the patio area to ensure that when the kitchen was delivered it at least for a short time would be dry-- by Christ did we need that over the next 3 days, with torrential storms.

So finished kitchen floor below on the evening of the 19th before we started on the kitchen installation on the 20th Dec.

Graham, our carpenter started the kitchen installation at 7am on the 20th and we had hardly started before we found the corner base unit was the wrong type--fortunately we were able to get them to deliver and swap the unit later that day. had to cough up 400 quid for the privilege immediately but got agreement they will refund the most of it next week. It hammered down with rain for then next 2 days so very grateful to the tarps.

So just to make life more interesting we agreed to our daughter being able to collect this little chap--called Ossie after the king of Stamford Bridge--- and he seams to have settled in pretty well. We hav'nt lost him yet. He is cute though.

The tree finally got put up on the 24th Dec when we moved everything finally into the kitchen which while not finished, is pretty nearly there.

So here we are with what all the fuss was all about from the floor being finished on the evening of the 19th Dec until these pictures taken on the 24th Dec.

 Lynda and I enjoyed a wonderful Xmas day with Craig & Juliet at their house with all the family, Jonathon and Lynsey, her Mum and Ian and Charlotte. A big thank you to you all.

Just like his Dad and Grandad--wear your heart on your sleeve Jack.

Lynsey with a prompt behind that says "I don't give a damn my dear"

This hat is mine and I will wear it if I want to.

After a quiet Boxing Day Lynda and I flew to Greece on the 27th to our home on Aegina Island.
We had the bad luck to pick a stormy day and ended up with a 4 hour wait in the rain in Pireaus waiting for a ferryboat that we were never really sure would come, but come it did at around 7pm after sitting on harbour since 3pm. The journey over was ok and we were very grateful to Mr Giannis Papadakis for picking us up in the car as we would have got soaked.

There is something said that all the time that you are under the kind of pressure that Lynda and I were in the run up to Xmas day , that you don't have time to get ill of to relax so I think that is why right now we are sleeping until around 10 or 11 every day and why Lynda has now got a cold.

New years eve started off with a bit of singing in the courtyard and these were the best of those---

Aren't they great and growing too fast-----


So this was on the 29th Dec doing a bit of pruning where it has gone a bit rampant---the bougainvillea I am talking about--had about 7 plastic sacks and a hand and arm covered in scratches, but had to be done.

 

 So having real problems downloading photos today so gonna keep it to words only from here on in.

 

Had a great New years evening and day with the Antonios, the Papadakis, the Kerllis and Mastrelli families with a very important person who was physically missing but no doubt he was there spiritually-- we miss you Vangelis.

 

Saw Mike and Janet back from Corfu on 2nd and was treated to a fab meal last night from Sylvia.

 

Off to see David and Dimitra tonight in Marathona so looking forward to that as well.

 

Starting to feel a little more like human again and don't want to ever go through that again--thought io had done with all that type of pressure.

 

Looking forward to a fabulous 2014 with my darling wife and that includes some serious exploring of this wonderful country , Greece.

 

I have made a commitment to do at least a blog a week so I will be back-----------