Greek Tourism: the Good, the Bad and ..... Amanita Guesthouse.

For students it always seems the summer has to ‘earned’ by being examined beforehand. My picture here testifies to the other side of the assessment desk not being much fun either! Anyway, for assessment purposes we went, not too long ago, to Volos, a town about half-way between Thessaloniki and Athens.       

            

                                                     

So there we were, enjoying a sea-side ouzo-meze ... till the bill came. Yes, that scrappy piece of paper was presented to me as my 'receipt'! The authentic document was grudgingly brought on request. Now the establishment had made had no declaration, as legally required to do, that they did not accept bank cards for payment. Guess what? Their POS system had broken down ....that very day.....hmm!                                            

                                  

This is the unacceptable face of Greek tourism. Tax evasion continues to be rife, so our salaries and pensions continue to be cut to make up for revenue deficit. 





If this should happen to you, let's try to do something about it: name and shame, my dears, name and shame - I have already done so on Facebook!

From Volos, we moved off for few days of relaxation in the nearby area of Pelion. Visiting parts of Pelion is for the more intrepid tourist, perhaps having to drive, as we did, through mist and cloud, round vertiginous corners, while marvelling at the beautiful buildings clinging to the rock-face.

                       

 But we knew it was worth it as we arrived in Tsangkarada at the award-winning Amanita Guesthouse, run by Filaretos and Marianna Psimmenos.

 

 

 Our room was lovely and the fresh flowers being placed inside during our absence was a lovely touch. Set in lush surroundings, the buildings look onto herb and vegetable patches along with a variety of fruit trees.      

     

                     

Top of Form

 Bottom of Form

But the best part of our stay had to be the breakfasts. I could go into a huge list of what we wolfed down with great pleasure but that would be a spoiler for those of you who go – the element of surprise is part of the experience. Suffice it to say that the breads (black poppy-seed, white with Chios gum and aniseed, soda bread with oats), pies and jams (orange curd, white peach with ginger, and bramble)  were exquisite - all homegrown, home-made and if not, as in the case of the cheese, then provenance was provided! I have to mention, however, the Greek ‘muesli‘, an inspired, tasty twist on the traditional  ‘kollyva’ dish, and what was described as a fruit pie turned out to be a rich cherry  sauce atop  the most magnificent pasta flora base. Marianna, may I have your recipe please?!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Gourmet is a term often associated with pretentiousness and paltry portions. This was cooking that was informed, inspired and imaginative, and which Filaretos generously served up with unbridled relish. He had us – Germans, Greeks, French, Scots – all trying to guess what the jam he served with the cheese and ham was - delicious but ….not telling !                                              

 When Greek ‘meraki’, or passion, is brought into the hospitality recipe, the outcome is superb.

 Thank you, both, for making our stay such an unforgettable one! 

                                     

Summer Scenes, June Jobs, Cold Front, FYROM

Sights and sounds of the countryside in summer: the combine-harvesters crashing and threshing, their strong lights beaming into the late night as operations continue while weather allows. That means I have a wonderful excuse for further delay on ‘spring’ cleaning – that dust has to settle first. :)

After wet, warm weather, the fragrant night-flower plants have really taken over the rose-bed – as has the wild garlic, whose purple pom-pom blooms I’m loath to uproot.  Incidentally, I call them night-flowers – from the Greek nychtoloulouda  - but they are known as Mirabilis Jalapa, The Marvel of Peru, or  ‘The Four o’Clock Flower’- which sounds awfully English and tea-time-ish, don’t you think?

             

                                          

Then there is this green sludge that has accumulated in the swimming pool - no one would consider doing the butterfly in that! But Z has decided that the nearby trees, whose needles keep dropping into the pool, have to lose some branches.

                        

 

Though we pool our resources, :) , he is definitely the hero of the day, having perilously scaled, lopped and chopped. The marathon clean commences: brushing down, hosing out, power pressure washing, chlorine brushing, followed by a final hosing rinse – it all takes time. Then the glorious moment arrives: the plug is put in place, swilling pumps switched off, and the big hose now starts pumping to fill the pool – yay! Summer’s here!

              

 

But, as they say in Edinburgh, we were a bit too previous! What follows is a meteorological mess.   The National Geographic Society tells us: 

A front is a weather system that is the boundary separating two different types of air. One type of air is usually denser than the other, with different temperatures and different levels of humidity. This clashing of air types causes weather: rain, snow, cold days, hot days, and windy days.
Two major types of fronts are cold fronts and warm fronts.
Cold fronts often come with thunderstorms or other types of extreme weather.

Strong, powerful cold fronts often take over warm air that might be nearly motionless in the atmosphere. Cold, dense air squeezes its way through the warmer, less-dense air, and lifts the warm air. Because air is lifted instead of being pressed down, the movement of a cold front through a warm front is usually called a low-pressure system. Low-pressure systems often cause severe rainfall or thunderstorms.

Well, that’s what we got for two whole weeks: a cold front, low-pressure system - a really depressing front. And our pool remains non-baptised!

     

 

 Here you can perhaps even see the heavy hail falling.  Fortunately, the farmers managed to cut, bail and cover their crops before they got soaked.  And we managed to pick our first cucumbers before they got bruised and pitted by the hailstones.

      

 

Our magnolia’s grande flora blooms never last long but in such damp conditions their fragile flowers fade rapidly.

                         

We currently have a cold, high pressure, front in the political system: the name forwarded for FYROM is ‘The Republic of North Macedonia’.

 A friend has suggested it undergo a minor systemic change to ‘The Republic north of Macedonia’.  

That’s why there should be an Applied Linguist at every negotiating table!