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| Pandolis the chef and our host, Christopher |
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| Christopher and his brother, Petros, with a salad and a calamari dish |
In addition to being a
math teacher, Pandelis is an excellent painter and chef. On his own, he
prepared a feast that included herbed broccoli soup, bean with grated carrot
salad, aubergine salad, green salad, and the dish extrodinaire - calamari with
red peppers.
The meal finished with
baklava sweets and tea. All was accompanied by delicious Santorini white
wine.
Oddly enough, six of the nine were teachers which helped to find common
ground for discussion in addition to talking about everyone's love of travel.
The afternoon passed quickly and soon it was time to take their leave.
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| Making the ascent. |
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| Mountain peak view. |
Christopher forms a
knowing smile.
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Stray dogs and
cats were ubiquitous throughout Eastern Europe and Greece and Santorini was no
exception except to say that the animals there seemed to be healthier and
better fed.
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| Rob with BooBoo and B.B. |
Christopher and
Emma had two dogs of their own, who both had free run of the area. The
smaller one of them, BooBoo, was extremely friendly and followed them
everywhere. One day as Beth and Rob set off on the 1 km walk to Oia,
Christopher advised, "BooBoo will likely follow you to town."
As they walked
through town stopping for a cappuccino and spanikopita accompanied by BooBoo
they were soon joined by a medium brown dog, whom they nicknamed
"BB". This first stood for "Brown bastard" but soon, won
over by his personality, they changed his formal name to "Brown
Baby".
Beth and Rob were
amazed by the way the two dogs ran through town as if they owned it. They
easily walked along cliffside walls, narrow stone walls, sought out the rare
fresh water puddles, and looked for food dishes set out by soft-hearted
citizens.
When Rob and Beth
decided to stop for dinner, they took advantage of a time when Booboo and BB
were distracted to go sneak into a restaurant. However as they opened the
restaurant door a German-Shepherd type dog quickly ran between their legs and
entered. Feeling responsible for this mistake, they tried to herd the dog
back outside although they didn't meet with any success.
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| Oia |
A few moments later
when the owner came of the kitchen and saw what they were doing, he assured
them it was no problem - the dog was welcome to stay. The grateful stray
curled up and fell asleep under their table. Rob, recognizing the "open door" policy for dogs
after confirming with the owner, opened the door and called in BooBoo. Both
dogs slept under tables for the duration of the lunch much to the amusement of
the other two patrons.
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| A sample road Rob and Beth travelled. |
Passenger 2: I am
only in third gear! I have cars on my ass and I am trying to stay with the
traffic speed.
Passenger 1: Just
slow down please. The sign said THIRTY. You're not driving thirty, and I
don't like these cliffs!
Passenger 2:
**Huff** I’m not even close to the cliffs."
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Earlier this year on St.
Patrick’s day it required the prying of alcohol throughout the afternoon to get
Rob and his neighbours in Windsor to swim in the 7°C pool water in the heat of
the record warm temperature of 27°C. But this was Greece, the first of
December, and Rob was not to be denied on what may be the last day of swimming
of the year.
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| Rob swims at the summer nudist beach |
“May I borrow your
snorkelling gear, Christopher?”, asked Rob.
“Would you like my harpoon also?”,
replied Christopher. Rob thought that he might have been teasing him. He
wasn’t. Christopher looked at him with a smile as he knew the beaches were bare
and the tourists that worshiped the sun had long since vanished.
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| Beth tanning with David Bowie |
“Will the beaches be
warm enough?”, asked Beth, who would relegate herself only to sun bathing
in the warm 18°C afternoon heat.
“The black sand will make you feel warm.”, Christopher informed her.
Santorini may be an anaphylactic nightmare, but it sounds amazing.
ReplyDeletebonus fact: i like gyros so i'm practically greek already.
you two have to be tempted by Egypt. i mean, it's one little hope across the Mediterranean from there...