We have left Asia behind and are now in Europe, Greece to be precise. We finished two weeks of Turkey and are now crossing through the home of the Olympic games on our way to catch a ferry to Italy.
Since Turkey we have picked up CouchSurfing again, and Greece is no exception. We made a last-minute request to a few people in the second largest town of Greece, Thessaloniki, and the family of Maria, Kosta, their son Michelangelo and a whole farm of animals, ranging from dogs, cats, fish, one horse, chickens, you name it, have agreed to host us. To our relieve, they don’t live in the downtown area, they live in modest house in a small coastal village some 30 minutes south of Thessaloniki.
Our hosts in Greece, with their home-grown pumpkin
We were welcomed with some delicious foods after a 13 hour driving day, and were pleasantly surprised to learn that among others the cheese was of their own making. Now on our second day here and we are learning more and more about the self-reliance they have built for themselves. They have their own garden in which they grow a lot of produce, lots of which they use themselves, including cucumbers, tomatoes (some of which they sun-dry), lemons, limes, courgettes (zucchini), herbs, prunes (tasted their home-made prune marmalade), pumpkins (pumpkin pie).
Home-made prune marmalade and pancakes
The horse and Michelangelo
Tonight we enjoyed a wonderful simple, but oh so delicious meal together with the family. Barbequed sardines and oyster mushrooms, and also home-made tzatziki, a delicious salad (you guessed it, most, if not all, ingredients were from their own garden), home baked bread. Simply gorgeous! I think we can learn a lot about self sustenance, I mean, Shu and I do make the odd product ourselves, but we never grew anything other than the odd herb plant, but we don’t come in the least bit close to what our hosts are doing here. And best of all, it is simply delicious and healthy!
Home-grown tomato
The family loves doing all this, and with the economy being hit hard in Greece, it reaps it rewards in many ways. And it is a great for them to keep local traditions alive as well.
True back to your roots.
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2 comments:
Lieve Shu En Q,
Even een berichtje uit NL (en dus ook in het NL!). Wat een prachtige reis maken jullie tot nu toe! Super stoer van jullie om dit besluit te nemen. Zekerheden als een huis, werk etc loslaten en letterlijk de wijde wereld in trekken... WOW!
Het is leuk en inspirerend om jullie verhalen te lezen. (Zo reizen wij ook 'n beetje mee ;-) )
Wij wensen jullie nog prachtige wegen en landschappen, mooie ontmoetingen en ervaringen!
Liefs,
Mike, Jiska en David.
Greeeeeeeeece!
Such a lovely family and interesting lifestyle. Dos Chinos are lucky to connect with such lovely people.
Donation of encouragement.
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