Two Day Road Trip

so, aristidis and evangelia took us for a wonderful road trip around north central greece. ostensibly the trip was to take myself, eleftheria and artemis to the village where aristidis and evangelia spent their summers, and also where their parents grew up. it turned into a grand tour and a wonderful couple of days.

this is kind of how it felt for the whole trip. the man in the middle of the picture is eleftheria's second cousin on her father's side. we did not know that he would be at the cafe that we stopped at for a coffee, but, we walked in and there he was. he is a traditional dance teacher, with a school in . . . germany. he works with a tour company that brings tourists to greece with dancing as the theme. they travel practice and perform.

on day one, we spent a lot of time in the car, but also made a number of stops along the way. the region that we drove through gets a good deal of rain and was very lush, a stark contrast to how dry halkidiki has become.

this park was really beautiful. we went on a pleasant walk to the springs that feed the rivers in the area.

the duck pond in the park was a big draw and artemis thoroughly enjoyed the view from the observation deck.

i got to play around too. i have not seen one of these in the states for ages; too dangerous for little kids, but really fun.   

This was a wonderful picnic area that we drove up to. we sat and ate cheese, grapes, bread and tomatoes. it was such a relaxing seat.

valleys and pastures surrounded by hills mountains and forests. it was beautiful driving. we spent much of it on old dirt service roads and farm access roads. the highway takes about 2 hours, but we spent the day driving with a bunch of stops. we ended up making a 9 hour day of it.

a beautiful spot for coffee and some super friendly locals. plus the added bonus of a swing. perhaps the most exotic swing spot yet. she was psyched.

had to stop for the goats. aristidis knew a bunch of the herding families in the area.

this is mt. sniatchko. eleftheria summitted in the winter time when she was in the mountaineering school. the mountain overlooks the village of blasti.

this is the village as it sits in a bowl surrounded on all sides by mountains and hills (i neglected the opportunity to take a really nice picture, oh well, next time)

my belief is that this is a black swallowtail catipillar. super cool. my camera has a viewfinder, not very accruate, and my new hipster thing is to not use the lcd screen. i like this picture a lot actually, but still wish i wasn't silly and that the little guy/girl was a bit more in frame.

this is the house where evangalias spent her summers, her grandfather built it, and the whole family stayed when they were there with the goats. aristidis' family house has been torn down.

here is artemis crushing some bread.

we drove aristidis' truck, which was great for the off-roading as well as hauling all of artemis' stuff. the amount of stuff she adds to the voyage is astounding.

back in silata, this is the volunteer watermelon in evangelia's front garden.

artemis just kind of crawled all of a sudden, and is doing a good job of bear crawling as well. it has been one of the most amazing developmental leaps. she has to be under 24 hour surveillance now as she is prone to be into everything.

i always think that i take more pictures than i actually do, but i feel like maybe i missed a lot this time. the trip was full of little stops, mini adventures and so many new places. perhaps the best part was the people. it seemed like every-other person that we saw was related to, or a childhood friend of, aristidis and/or evangelia. we were offered coffee after coffee and we could have stayed in any of 4 separate houses we were offered had we not had a hotel room. Both mom and dad really enjoyed, the visit and it was so much fun to see them so comfortable in their element.

A Weekend To Plaka, Litochoro, and Mt. Olympos

so, as a cap to our summer vacation run around, eleftheria and i joined friends staying in plaka to enjoy some company, food, sea and the mountain. the parents of grigoris have a summer house in plaka, basically the sea side village of litochoro for those of you who have been to litochoro and olympos. anyways, we met up with grigoris, his wife kristina, their 3 month old daughter maria, and our mutual friend nikoletta. We cooked in-house for most of the weekend (actually 4 days) sharing dishes and recipe ideas. We played some cards and did some reading between eating and beach time. all in all it was a wonderful and relaxing few days.

artemis is standing pretty much full time now, on top of that she crawled for the first time over the weekend; though only a couple of moves, we are pretty psyched.

trying to avoid the tourist in litochoro can seem like a daunting challenge, and yet this beautiful little cafe sits tucked away enough to keep the crowds  away. the service was a bit rough, but the atmosphere made it easy to sit patiently.

kristina and maria sitting with a pretty green background. the cafe sat down next to the river that runs through the town and is two tiered, all outside. really wonderful.

artemis and i found a tree to climb out in the yard. grigoris' father is retired and keeps a pretty substantial garden full of goods. we picked peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, parsley and figs fresh most days.

for how often we were at the beach, i have surprising few pics. we went most evenings down the the various beaches 5 to 10 minutes from the house; the combination of the sea in front and mountains in back is one that i absolutely charish. an added bonus was the moon that rose each night; we sat late down by the sea on a couple of occasions.

the girls had a great time together (i don't actually know, they didn't fight, so . . .) it is amazing to try to think of artemis as a three month old. time is moving so fast.

on the 12th we woke up late, packed the car, said our goodbyes, and headed up the prionia, the final outpost before heading up the mountain. artemis was asleep when we arrived, and so we sat for a coffee and some reading before heading off. this little boy was pretty interested in the little lady.

this was the first time i had the backpack on a hiking path; we were eager to see how it, artemis and i would fair.

someone was pretty sure that it would be awesome. this crazy smile didn't leave her face until she was asleep.

we did a small 2 1/2 hour loop around the lower section of the mountain to an old monastery, agios dionysios, saw the cave where he apparently lived out his life as an ascetic, and then made our way back up to where the car was parked.

on the way we saw the pack horses that they use to move goods up to the camps just below the summit of olympos. both trail-heads were packed, so i am sure that these guys and girls were getting a good workout.

artemis was very interested.

 this is the outside wall of the monastery of dionysios it was destroyed and further destroyed by the ottomans and the germans in the 40's, but it is currently in the process of being restored.

a happy family.

my ladies. pretty lucky.

artemis has a myriad of teeth and is awaiting a couple more. she is eating a multitude of different foods, here a nectarine, and has tried watermelon, bread, and tomato among others.

more ruins on the mountainside.

if sleeping is the sign of a happy baby, then the hike and backpack were a great success.

the moon over the sea from the side of the mountain.