Three Weeks in Stoupa
We weren't even sure when we started out that we would come to Greece for sure, although it was on the list. It got on the list because Anika was interested in visiting Greek temples of the gods after reading the Lightning Thief series. Her interest waned but Greece stayed on the list. I have a cousin I hadn't seen in years, since I was Anika'a age, who lives in Athens. That was another reason to come. And we knew people in Santa Cruz who had a house they rent in a Greek beach town. Now after three weeks in Stoupa I think we would all agree this is one of the most magical places we have been and one we want to come back to. And we haven't even seen much of the rest of Greece yet.
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| View of Stoupa from the Acropolis (hill near by) |
When we arrived my cousin Mechthild and her boyfriend Thomas picked us up at the airport. This in itself felt luxurious. We didn't have to figure out a new country and language all on our own. They rented a car and drove us to Stoupa, about five hours away from Athens in the Peloponnese, on the Mani peninsula. We had rented a house in Stoupa that belongs to one of my co workers in CA. Stoupa is a beach side town that has become a mecca for British and Northern European tourists. But it is still very small and charming. When we got here there were hardly any other visitors the first week. Each week more came, but it still doesn't feel crowded. They say in July and August it really fills up but right now that's hard to imagine.
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| Mechthild and Thomas |
We arrived in the dark, pretty late. Right away I noticed the smells. Stoupa is the best smelling place we have been. Honeysuckle, jasmine, sage, lavender, oregano, rosemary and many others I don't know the names for all perfume the air. We settled in the house and went to the first of many excellent Greek meals at Pefko, one of the closest restaurants to the house. We can walk there in five minutes. Although it was after 10pm the owner really went all out. It didn't hurt that my cousin, who is German but has lived in Greece for close to 20 years, speaks perfect Greek and knows how to order. We had a delicious feast. Welcome to Greece!
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| Olive Grove |
The next morning was sunny, blue sky and warm, just glorious. We took our first walk along the ocean and above the cliffs on a bike path that goes between Stoups and the next town Agios Nicolous, kind of like Westcliff. We passed olive tree groves and wild flowers blooming and of course all the good smelling plants I listed before. On the other side was the Mediterranean and the rocky cliffs tumbling into it. We stopped in Agios Nicolus and had a drink by the little harbor there. It was all picture perfect. When we got back Mechthild and Thomas had to head back to Athens. It was a magical start to our time in Stoupa.
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| Wild flowers along the coast walk |
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| Harbor at Agios Nicolous |
The first week and a half the weather was hot and sunny. We went in the water every day. It is not warm like say Hawaii, but it is warmer than CA. Part of what keeps it cool is a series of cold springs that are just off shore along the coast here. What made it enticing for me (and I don't like cold water) was that it is crystal clear, you can see every rock on the bottom. We had snorkel gear so we could see the fish and rocks. It's not a coral reef of technicolor fantasy like Indonesia, but it was still pretty. The water had a silky texture and there were no waves or undertows to worry about. The next week and a half it cooled down and rained from time to time so we did not go in the water. But we lucked out and it warmed up our last few days and we got a great beach day for the end of our time. There is a small rocky beach where we went most of the time five minutes from the house. But there is also a larger, perfectly curved main beach and another very sandy beach all within short walking distance. The sandy beach has several restaurants right on the beach. There seems to be a little more activity with volley ball, paddle ball and more families on this beach. The day we spent there a big Greek group, looked like they were celebrating something, came and did Greek folk dancing in one of the restaurants.
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| The amazing clear and colorful water of the Mediterranean Sea |
We had a car for a few days and used it to explore some of the hill towns that are hard to get to any other way. There seems to be very little public transportation in this part of Greece. There was a train but it got cut back to almost no service due to the current economic crisis. There were more buses but same thing. The Mani area didn't have a road until the 70's and electricity only came a little before that. Before that time people took boats from village to village or donkey and walked. There are very old stone paths through out the mountains that were a main form of transportation back in the donkey walking days. Some are very broken down and grown over, others you can hike on.
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| Tower house in Mani hill town |
The tiny towns are mostly uninhabited. They all have a church or several of them. Houses are often old and crumbling or only lived in for summer or vacation. Many towns have the remnants of watch towers and other buildings from the past. The towns are fun to explore as you wander on narrow paths, barely streets, between buildings that sometimes dead end or sometimes open up to a square or church yard. Every town has a taverna so you can stop for a drink. There are also the ruins of monasteries tucked away in the mountains. As you are walking you look up and see churches in the most difficult to reach looking places, perched on the edge of cliffs or at the top of a precipice. There are over 1,000 churches here in the Mani some from Byzantine times are 1,200 years old. When you open the door (if its not locked) it can be a surprise. Inside are paintings, frescoes, sometimes well preserved in brilliant colors. Some are white washed inside. Some are so small one person can barely stand inside and others its clear a small group still come regularly to worship. They are really interesting and everyone is a bit different. Many are also made with pieces of previous churches or buildings so they have a collage like look about them.
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| Narrow ally/streets |
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| This was one of my favorite churches. You cannot tell form the photo but it is a collage of pieces from many older churches and temples reused to make this church from the 12th century. |
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| This is Anika inside one of the smallest churches we visited. |
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| Anika outside the same tiny church |
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| Well preserved fresco inside one of the many churches we visited |
One of our car trips was 2 and ½ hours north to Olympia for the Olympic torch lighting ceremony. The ceremony itself was really not that great, hot, crowded, not easy to see or hear what was going on. The ruins of Olympia were also not that impressive. We had a guide book and there were good signs in English. But we have seen some serious ruins at this point and these were not that well preserved. But you did get a feeling for how big the place was and how important it was in both ancient Greece and Rome. We were also disappointed because when we got to the museum around 3:00pm it was closed. The museum houses many of the best statues and remains from the site. It is closed early because of the cut backs due to the failing economy. But we can say we saw the 2012 summer Olympic torch get lit in Olympia ans start its journey to England.
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| Me where the athletes practiced |
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| Anika in one of the tubs the athletes bathed in |
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| Olympia |
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| Anika rescuing a tortoise on the way home |
We did have one really scary experience here. One night while we were sleeping someone broke into the house. We had made it easy for them by leaving a window open. The bottom floor is really one room with the sleeping alcove we are in directly across form the window the thief came in. I don't know what made me wake up and start screaming. Dave says I first said to him someone is in the house, I think someone is in the house. Then I screamed like I have never screamed before. The thief fled through the window he came in. I remember seeing the shadow form of a person and a reddish light like from a flashlight (I almost wrote torch, I think we have been around too many British people!) I don't know the exact order of events after that because it was one of those times that time gets weird. We got up, turned on the light, looked what was missing. Just my camera. The miracle was the computer and mini external hard drive were on the table next to the camera. I had just downloaded the photos from the camera to the computer and then too the hard drive, before I went to bed. I looked at the clock it was 2:22am. We found Anika's day pack outside and a wrench where the thief came in the window. We got Anika out of the back bedroom and her stuff and moved her in with us. We set up a bed on the floor but we all got in our bed together and of course couldn't go back to sleep.I looked at the clock, it was 3:22am.
Until here we have been so careful locking all our important things up every night no matter what. Everyone here, including the owners of the house, talk about how safe it is, they don't lock their houses or cars. But things are getting worse and worse economically here and people are probably getting more desperate. For a few nights I didn't sleep very well. But the days were still so good that I got over it. The same thing could have happened, and does happen, at home. We just don't leave anything unlocked there.
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| Stone floor in an old church |
One of the best things about being here was I got into a great daily routine. I got up most days before Dave and Anika. I would go on the roof top terrace that looks to the sea on one side and the mountains on the other. I would do yoga and meditate. Then make myself tea and write in my journal. Around the time I finished with that they would wake up and we would have breakfast and decide what to do that day. The setting between the beach and the mountains, coupled with perfect weather and the quiet village life combined into a most peaceful setting. It was a perfect pace for life. It was also beautiful everywhere you looked. I took so many photos it was hard to pick what to post here. Visually it is amazing. That's why we stayed so long, it was so easy and pleasing to be here.
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