Cheese

(Local cheeses in the Cooperation shop of Molyvos)

The Dutch have the surname ‘Cheese heads’ (Kaaskoppen), not because Holland is the biggest cheese producer, that’s France, nor is it because they are the world’s biggest cheese eaters —the Greeks are, but, there’s a nice explanation: in earlier times, the wooden casks in which cheese was made were used during wartime as helmets. So when you had a cheese cask on your head, you became a Cheese head!

The biggest cheese eaters do not have a surname to indicate their cheese consumption. And I don’t think that they used to defend their lands with cheese casks on their heads. But they have defended the cheese that makes up two thirds of Greek cheese consumption: feta. There used to be ‘Turkish feta’, ‘Danish feta’ and lots of other countries produced feta. However since 2002 the European Union ruled that feta was a specific Greek cheese that could not be produced as such in any other country. The Danes argued against this saying their feta was made from cows’ milk, while the Greek feta is officially a mix of milk from sheep with 30% from goats.

The Swedes also were not too particular with their dairy products. For years they marketed a ‘Turkish’ yoghurt on the market, with packaging showing a smiling Greek farmer. This Greek became pretty angry when he heard that he was being represented as a Turk and recently he received a large indemnity.

Choosing feta in a Dutch supermarket has become a lot easier thanks to this European regulation, but here in Greece and on a feta-island like Lesvos, it’s still difficult. Lots of villages produce their own feta and so the taste can vary a lot, from creamy and soft to quite spicy. The biggest producers are around Mandamados, Skalochori and Vatoussa, but as a lot of feta is also made at home, for local consumption (or for the restaurant) and it’s always a nice surprise when you are served a super tasty homemade feta.

A real treat is the soft cheese that I used to call ‘fresh feta’ because I did not know it was altogether a different kind of cheese: mizithra. Fresh mizithra is eaten from just a few hours to a few days after it is produced and is made from sheep, goat or cow milk. Dried mizithra is saltier and good for grating.

Another popular cheese is graviera, which takes at least five months to ripen. It is a hard cheese and I find it often too dry, so I just use for grating. The Greeks use a semi-hard cheese called kasseri, made mainly from sheep milk mixed with a little goat.

Greek cheeses are mostly eaten young and although you will find some spicy fetas, there’s no old cheese like they have in Holland. But I did discover an export cheese made in Lesvos: ladotiri, also called kefalaki. It is made of – what else – sheep and goat milk and has to ripen about three months but the difference is ladotiri is preserved in olive oil. It comes in a conical shape and although it’s not a Lesvorian tradition, but I learned a trick from somebody from the island: leave ladotiri for a year in oil somewhere dark, and you get a super ‘old’ cheese, as tasty as the ones they make in Holland.

I must admit that one of the things I miss in the Greek kitchen is a wide variety of cheeses. Just hearing the word France makes my mouth watering because then I have to think at Camembert, Chaume or Roquefort. Greece however does have quite some different cheeses, but they are hard to find together. All the local cheese made in the different regions and islands in Greece like the metsovone from Epidaurus, or the soft chalumi from Cyprus, are not exported to the Greek islands, only to the markets in big cities like Athens and Thessaloniki.

That is why most tourists think there’s nothing but simple feta here on Lesvos. Which is wrong. The feta saganaki and garides saganaki are made with feta, just like the cheese on top of a choriatiki (Greek salad) is feta. But tiri saganaki, is a baked slice of hard cheese, like kefalotiri or ladotiri, coated with breadcrumbs, sometimes even served flambé. The cheese grated over different dishes or to make moussaka is mostly kasseri or an old mizithra.

There is no Greek meal without cheese. Which is both healthy and tasty. Maybe there should be more information about them so tourists can find out about the different cheeses made here on Lesvos. I have a nice idea for that: create a Sheep Light Show, where during the performance pieces of cheese can be tasted. Then the tourists will have a lovely evening (just like the farmers). How? Take a look at the linked video (Extreme Sheep LED Art) and I am sure that instead of a Mona Lisa, the sheep could create a nice collection of ladotiris.

(With thanks to Tony Barrell)

@ Smitaki 2010

Creative with bricks

Wherever you live on this island, it is impossible not to be intrigued by the stones, because they are everywhere. When you are at the beach, you find the most beautiful colored pebbles. Try to plant an elegant rose in the soil and you will meet stubborn stones which are very hard to be moved. Stones are part of your life: walls enclose gardens and orchards with olive trees are supported by stones; lots of traditional houses are built with natural stone; landscapes are scattered with big rocks, mountains show colorful rock formations.

Lesvos used to be a volcanic island and the volcanoes probably not only spewed fire but also threw out big stones all over the island. The plateau near Skalochori looks like a moon landscape with huge rocks scattered around, as if the Cyclops had been playing games with them. The famous Panagia Glykofiloussa Church in Petra is build on a huge rock (Petra in Greek means rock), mysterious small heaps of stones decorate the tableland of Michou, the Golden Beaches with black stones are very popular at Eftalou, but the beach with white pebbles in Skala Kidonia is less known. (The beach at Melinda is brilliant white with quartz and just a few meters into the water there’s a vast single stone like a small island TB).

The mountains above Plomari are known as the “crystal” mountains because they secrete crystal and other semi-precious stones. The southern beaches are the places to find the most colored stones. In the west there are petrified trees which have strewn the shore with multi colored stones — the slivers of million year old trees. The bare landscape is often crossed with long walls of stone that creep over the mountain slopes like arteries you find on stones. (Some of the island’s ancient walls are made of such large ‘polygonal’ stones you wonder how anybody could have lifted them TB).

So, it is normal that people that built houses here were inspired by the plethora of stones. The traditional houses of Molyvos, and of most other villages on Lesvos, are built from natural stones, and they are not painted chalk white and mostly they have red tiled roofs. A few have upper storey closed verandas made of wood but nowadays modern houses are built with concrete blocks and are plastered and painted. Although some house owners might add a natural stone wall for decoration, fewer and fewer people choose the traditional stone style for the structure of a new house.

Some traditional walls were made with bricks. In the Ypsilon Monastery close to Sigri walls and chapels are decorated with lines of bricks. (The handsome old olive press buildings (and chimneys) were usually built of brick TB) and in the mountain village Ampeliko, below the Olympos mountain, towards Plomari, the priest of the Saint Nicolas Church has been going crazy with bricks. The porch of the church displays the creative wedding of natural stone and brick, and so do the arches of the public building/museum and the fountain and other small decorations nearby.

In earlier times the country houses were built with little towers, in order to watch out for the pirates. These are the famous Tower Houses of Lesvos. You can find them around Mytilini. When you approach the village of Sigri, on your right you see the arches of bricks of a Tower House nearly hidden behind trees and a hill. Each time we visited Sigri we notice an arch or another tower has been added. Last year thanks to the internet I found out that this is the Tower House, a hotel that has 4 apartments. The owners, Evangelia and Dimitrios Komninos started building some eleven years ago: it’s like a castle with towers, patios, and covered balconies hidden under arches, all built with wood, natural stone and a lot of bricks that have been used to decorate the walls and terraces. Evangelia and Dimitrios are not afraid anymore of pirates, they just love the old architecture of their island.

Dimitrios, a renovator of old houses, has not finished yet. Next to the main house he is adding the finishing touches to a large, luxurious apartment. It seems that the more he builds the more artistic he becomes, because this new building is a showpiece in how to be creative with brick, inside as well as out. The wood and stone of the interior play a tremendous game together. Dimitrios has even made two inside wall decorations with stones of petrified wood. All Tower House apartments are fancifully furnished: heavy wooden pieces, some antique, some from India, with white lace curtains and classic tapestry. Their most beautiful item of furniture is in the new apartment: an antique wooden bed, which was once used as a seat by a rich Indian raja (even though now it’s a bed) on the back of an elephant.

The garden has a magic view over Sigri, its harbor and the island Nissiopi opposite of the harbor. You will find romantic seats, strange formed stones that are worth a place in a modern museum, a swimming pool with a bar, an outside oven, a barbeque, (all of course, fully decorated with bricks), a lookout post and a small place for children to play, fruit trees, flowers, waterfalls, all designed to give a pleasurable time in the garden. Together with the new apartment (another one is planned above), Dimitrios is also building a little church that is, no need to say, fully decorated with bricks.

Whenever you want to spoil yourself by staying some days in this fairy tale-like Tower House I have another tip: the best place to watch the sunset over the sea at Sigri is from the café-par (no spelling mistake) Etzi, which is in the fields behind the sandy beach of Faneromani, a few kilometers out of Sigri. With a little bit of luck you’ll get your retsina served in glasses owned by the grandmother of Nondas, the owner. And when you get to know him, you may even have a chance to have a ride in his home made automobile. I had no time to test his motorized pedal boot. Just as at the Tower House, and in the fascinating environment around Sigri, where the mountains still hide hundreds of petrified trees, you could stay forever in the bar Etzi…

@ Smitaki 2009

(with thanks to Tony Barrell)

Save Greece

Whenever you drive through the Greek landscape, you risk getting confused by road signs that point to the ‘Prophet Ilias’ (Pροφητησ Ηλιασ). Everywhere in Greece in the mountains you will see these signs. They simply mean: to the top of the mountain.

Literally they point the way to the ‘Prophet of Sun’. Sun is ilios in Greek. Scientists suppose that when the Greeks gods lost their influence, the God of Sun Helios was replaced by the prophet Ilias. Ilias however was not a man of who worshipped sunshine. In fact, he fought against the kings who let their people believe in pagan gods, and some religions say that he punished them with thunder and fire and that he himself rode to heaven in a chariot of fire. Very biblical. In very early times, when the sun was still believed to be a god, temples were built on the tops of mountains, so as to be as close as possible to honor Helios, the sun, and that is why so many mountains still carry the name of Prophet Ilias.

The two highest mountains on Lesvos are the Lepetimnos (969 m) in the north and the Olympos (968 m) near Agiosos. It is said that in order to build an observation post the military removed the original peak of Olympos, and so Lepetimnos became the highest mountain of the island. Instead of ancient temples, all you will find on Olympos is a crumbling military outpost, tall TRV masts and a little church build for ‘Prophet Ilias’.

When you climb the last steep road up to the top of Olympos (you can ride by FWD or SUV), you will also find a wood of masts, which are played by the wind as a harp. There is never total silence on Olympos, because there’s always a breeze or wind, so as well as the beautiful sight of the entire island, you can have music from an Aeolian harp, named for the god of the wind Aeolis. It may be coincidence but the ancient folk music of Greece is also known as Aeolian.

You can also get up to the top of Lepetimnos by 4WD, but it has more than one peak, although the Prophet Ilias occupies the the highest, while TRV masts, another military observation building and a little church are shared around the others. From this mountain you have an astounding, really overwhelming view over the north of the island, and in the other direction northwards deep into Turkey. When the weather is clear you can even see the neighbouring Aegean islands of Limnos and Agios Efstratios.

However, the most beautiful Prophet Ilias-top on Lesvos is between Parakila and Pterounda. In this magical fir-wood, where the wind always whispers mysterious songs, there are many roads winding around the mountains, so many that it is hard to keep your sense of direction. Between the road signs pointing to Agra, Anemotia and Pterounda there also names of different churches, and at each crossroad you have to puzzle over which way to go. Amongst these many signs there is also one pointing to the Prophet Ilias.

Follow the road going up the mountain through the fir-trees in the direction of Prophet Ilias, and suddenly the trees make way for lush green mountain meadows full of orchids and other wild flowers. On this Prophet Ilias there is another dilapidated military observation post and a little church. Again, the view is breathtaking, the green meadows scattered between large stones and the sea of flowers, are like paradise. Scarlet peonies shine under bushes and the green giggling hanging flowers of the fritillaria hide themselves between the other wild flowers.

The top of this mountain looks to be the source of the yellow ‘rivers’ that run down along narrow waterways straight through the fir forest, across the slopes all the way to Pterounda and just above Parakila. These are the island’s famous yellow rhododendrons, and at this time of year the woods are perfumed with their sweet fragrance as the flowers brighten up the dark beneath and between the trees. Not only are they rare (in Europe you can only find them in this part of Lesvos), the way they grow is spectacular: like illuminated guirlandes, the bushes snake down from the Prophet Ilias, a sight you cannot stop looking at.

These days, above the island, clouds are continuously fighting for space in the sky with the sun, and the weather forecast is always predicting rain. The flowers are delighted with all this water and even the relative cold, but our tourists are less happy. And they are in for even worse.

Not from heaven this time, but from the Greek government: the minister of Tourism, Kostas Markopoulos, has decided that Greece should concentrate more on tourism. His colleague and minister of Public Building and of Environment agrees and has taken immediately action so that last week the government agreed to a law that will permit real estate companies to build down to the water on the coasts of Greece. As Markopoulos put it: we have to do more for mass tourism and especially the promotion of all inclusive hotel and travel package deals.

The Greeks do not have a lot of imagination and their government doesn’t listen to people who know more than it does. Anyone pointing out the experience of Spain, where the entire Mediterranean coastline has been destroyed by big real estate (so that tourists are staying away in droves) is ignored. Our politicians love ‘big money’ and this time it’s the big money that comes from shameless real estate developers. All protests by the opposition, environmental groups and even the Greek Building Service, are ruled out of order: so the pristine Greek coastlines must be filled up with hotels and holiday houses. For tourists who may never come!

The yellow rhododendrons may not be bothered, but the views over our magical coastlines from the different peaks honouring Prophet Ilias will change dramatically in the future. Can you imagine high-rise hotels on our boulevard? Read HERE more about it and sign the petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/greece/petition.html

(With thanks to Tony Barrell)

Baptism

If you walk past a Greek church and hear wailing and screaming, don’t worry, it’s probably only a baptism. Or it might be a priest crying over spilt investments. All will be explained.

About 97 - 98% of Greeks are Orthodox and everywhere you will find monasteries, churches and little chapels. Besides well known monasteries (amongst others Limonos in Kaloni, Taxiarchis in Mandamados, Agios Raphael in Thermi, Ypsolo in Eresos) and churches in town and villages (Panagia in Agiasos and Panagia Glikofiloessa in Petra) the Lesvorian landscape is scattered with hundreds of small churches, each dedicated to a single saint, and they aren’t all old, because new ones are always being built, often by private citizens wishing to express their devotion.

There are two reasons for building a church: because you want to make real a vow to a particular saint, or you just have to show off how rich you are. Having a Mercedes in front of your house goes only so far, so why not build a church in the back yard? Of course, some people are more modest and build their churches on the tops of a remote rocky mountain or a lonely beach difficult to reach.

Even monasteries are still being built. Take the monastery of Limonos close to Kaloni. There they are not satisfied with just one church. With donated money they intend to build a church for every saint, and believe me there are many. Already the monastery is surrounded by clusters of jolly little churches and chapels, some of them waiting to be completed.

I will not call the Greek pious, but the church and its representatives make a big part of Greek life. It starts with the birth. Within a year of being born a child is baptized and named (before its baptism it is called just ‘baby’). Only if it’s baptized can a child be registered by the municipality as an official citizen of Greece. A baby who has not been christened will have to travel on a passport only with the names of his parents.

So, nearly all Greeks are baptized and you could say it’s a real life ‘baptism of fire’. It’s a major festivity for family friends and neighbours, which means hell for the mother and an unpleasant hour or so for the infant.

The baptism process begins with the choice of a godparent. He or she has to watch over the godchild and spoil it on its birthdays. At Easter he/she has to give their godchild a candle and according to old tradition a pair of shoes.

Rules are strict. Godchildren of the same godparent aren’t allowed to marry each other and the actual children of a godparent can’t marry their parent’s godchildren either. So, a godchild is real family.

After the choice of a godparent the next challenge is choosing the church where the baptism ceremony takes place. Here on Lesvos there are hundreds of churches which offer the ceremony, but the local population generally prefers a baptism to take place in a big, high profile church. All members of the entire extended family are invited and sometimes the entire village. One of the key ideas is to show off how much money you can spend. As with weddings, the Taxiarchis Monastery in Mandamados is most people’s favourite choice.

The ceremony itself is full of rituals. The child is handed out to the godparent, who announces its name. Then in a series of prayers and blessings, one of the priests banishes the devil. Next, everyone proceeds to the font where one of the child’s grandmothers removes all its clothes. Oil provided by the godparent, is mixed with water and with it the priest anoints the baby. If the baby is not already terrified and yelling, it very soon will be, because the priest then seizes the naked cherub, lifts it high in the air for all to see, and then dunks it quickly, but three times, into the cool water of the font. Mostly it’s a drama, especially as mother isn’t allowed to do anything through the entire ceremony.

There’s more to come, and more reasons to be upset, as baby is then anointed for a second time, after which it has to suffer having three stands of its hair cut off, a chain with a little silver or golden cross placed around its neck, and being paraded around the font. Then grandmother dresses the child in its beautiful baptismal robes and, is at last returned to the anxious arms of waiting mother – but only after she has asked the priest to allow it, by kissing his hand.

There’s even more: for three days after the event the baby can’t be bathed and the first soiled diaper must be burned, and for the first three Sundays after the baptism, the child is expected to be taken to church, together with its baptism candle.

So whenever you pass a church where people linger in their Sunday best clothes and you hear a lot of screaming, do not warn the police because you think there is a killing: it’s a traditional baptismal ceremony, upsetting only mother and child.

Meanwhile in Athens, the national government is trying to cover up a scandal involving a famous religious institution the Mount Athos Vatopedi monastery’s swap of land, whereby it obtained prime real estate in exchange for plots of lower value, with, it’s alleged, ministerial connivance. The opposition PASOK party wants a full investigation, but the Speaker of the house of parliament says he has no power to demand it. So, it looks very much like the powers that be are trying to make sure no more politicians fall from grace, and the church just continues with business as usual which means real estate deals as well as baptisms, weddings and funerals, all of which seem equally lucrative – weddings and funerals costs several hundred euros, paid directly to the priest. So, believe me, if I were the Greek state I would never divorce the church. Such a rich and powerful business partner you will never find again.

(with thanks to Tony Barrell)

Sheep terror

Yesterday it was orthodox Easter. Everywhere you went in Greece you saw lambs turning on a spit, one of the Greek traditional Easter dishes (souvla). Another Greek traditional dish is stuffed lamb from the oven and even though you could not see them cooking, the smell of sweet baked lamb was everywhere in the air.

I love lamb meat so I always look forward to eating Easter dishes. This year however, I was less enthusiastic about eating sheep meat.

I do not know why, maybe the farmers got an additional subsidy or thanks to the crisis, less sheep are being eaten in general, but the fact is for months now we have been terrorized by sheep. Everywhere around the house they appear. Even in my dreams I keep on hearing their bleating and the tinkling of their bells.

You probably ask yourself how it is possible that you can be “terrorized” by sheep? They are quiet animals that hurt nobody! But they are also stupid animals that are very easily frightened. Maybe you remember that last year I took in two stray dogs: the big black Labrador Black Jack and the nearly starved hunting dog Bambi. I tried to find homes for them but without success. Black Jack is a dream of a good dog, but however much I tried, I could not get Bambi to take any notice of me. The only time she listened to what I said was when I told her ‘Dinner is ready’. Food, it seems, being her only daily concern.

Trouble started when the sheep appeared out of nowhere. Black Jack used to visit a girlfriend a little further along the boulevard and like when the sheep were around he liked to “play” with them too. As I said, sheep are easily scared, even if a dog doesn’t attack them. So, the farmer got Black Jack banned from the area and now he has to be chained, otherwise he will keep going out to see his girlfriend and “play” with the sheep.

As Bambi got stronger and healthier, her hunting instincts came back. She raced through the local landscape — like a hurricane chasing the sheep, leaving a lethal path of destruction behind her. She kept getting away from the chain and after a few more dead sheep we had no choice but to send her to the hunting fields in heaven.

But when the farmers started to accuse our winter dog Albino of chasing sheep, I got angry. First of all Albino cannot be chained up because he gets hysterical and I think he just runs after sheep when he just happens to come across them, by accident. He’s not out there looking for them and I’m sure he would never hurt one on purpose. So we had to come to a deal: when Albino gets caught terrorizing the sheep, there will be a price on his head, but for the moment he still is a free dog.

However, as a result of this is that we cannot take walks close to our home any more because there are sheep everywhere and we are really afraid of when Albino runs into one ...

In other parts of Molyvos there are other dog owners whose trusty hounds are accused by farmers of killing their sheep and it is plain that there is a sharp clash of cultures between dog owners who allow their dogs to run free and farmers who are not always around to watch over their sheep. So now I think I understand why there are so many dogs on chains here on the island...

I find it hard to say who is right. On one side some sheep farmers do not protect their sheep enough (especially from the numerous foxes here, who can’t be chained). On the other side dog owners should bear the responsibility for their dog’s behaviour. So I’ve learned something: I’ll never take in another stray dog! The truth is I am not used to them and don’t really know how to train them. So it’s been a very hard lesson.

But I have a solution, although I’m afraid that the Greeks may not accept it too quickly, because as long as there have been Greeks, sheep and goats have been part of their landscape. However, sheep are not only no good when it comes to getting along with dogs, they are also one of the world’s worst agents of environmental pollution.

Australian scientists say that their burps and farts contain methane gas and so they are responsible for a fair part of the accumulation of greenhouse gas in our atmosphere. There are 88 million sheep in Australia and they produce about 11% of the total emissions of methane gas there. Not to mention the 28 million cows. If you want to check it out have a look at this link: climate change methane gas cows & sheep

Just like the Greeks, Australians eat huge amounts of beef and sheep — which they always call lamb — but scientists are now suggesting they should eat kangaroo meat instead, because it will be better for the environment. This seems to me to be a perfect solution for Greece too. Because kangaroos don’t produce methane, and they eat and drink much less than sheep and cattle, they have much less impact on the environment.

Here in Greece sheep (and goats) have, over the centuries eaten and destroyed huge swathes of the landscape and since Greece (like Australia) has regular severe droughts, and as a result of intensive agriculture the ground water level is getting lower and lower and sheep are only making things worse. What’s more, it seems to me that kangaroos are not afraid of dogs — they can certainly use their prowess in leaping to escape any dog that dares chase them. So to me changing sheep for kangaroo seems to be an ideal plan that could suit everybody.

The question is how could kangaroo meat replace the traditional lamb souvla? In Australia consumers are now being advised to switch to kangaroo because it has less dangerous fat content but here in Greece it probably won’t catch on. Greeks love their traditional lamb dishes too much to change. But if every farmer got a special subsidy for every kangaroo that replaced a sheep I am sure that in a few years we would see and smell the delicious scent of baking kangaroo emerging from the ovens here at Easter time.

(with thanks to Tony Barrell)

Ducks and orchids

30 March – Ducks and orchids

Even if the winter takes long (although temperatures went up a little and we even have some rainless days), for sure the flowers keep on bursting out of the ground and the fields form a spectacular colorful scene.

Amongst the group of the first spring flowers are the orchids that start blossoming as well. When I heard that there were so many orchids here on the island, as a person totally estranged from nature I immediately thought about the orchids that you buy at the flower shops. So I was greatly disappointed when someone pointed me out a wild orchid here on the island: it was so many times smaller than the ones in the shop.

If you want to see the beauty of a wild orchid, you have about to lie on the ground. But I have to admit, when you really do take a good look at them, you risk getting addicted to their absolute beauty.

In a way orchids are a strange bunch of flowers. Their ‘under lips’ can look like naked little men (Orchis italica), like merry apes (Orchis simia) or like tender butterfly wings (Orchis papilionaceae) and some flowers are like thick fat bumblebees (Ophrys bombiliflora). They sometimes have great drawings on their ‘lips’ that resemble the pointillism or crafty abstract paintings. Some flowers consist of a complicated construction and their colors can be a soft white, pink, blue or green but as well dark brown or bright purple.

You better do not mention the Latin name of an orchid when Greeks are around. ‘Orchis’ means ‘testicle’ in Greek (in Greek an orchid is an ‘orchidéa’). I mean when you tell a nice story about orchids, a Greek hears you telling a story about testicles.

Orchis was the name of the son of a satyr and a nymph. Once on a party of Dionyssos he became so hot that he assaulted a high priestess of the temple. As punishment he was torn in pieces by wild animals and then he was transformed into a plant: an orchid.

Theophrastus (371 – 287 BC) was a nature scientist from Lesvos, as well as the first botanist in the world, and he named the orchid. He probably referred to the story of Orchis. The tube roots of the orchids look like the testicles of a man and earlier in Greece they thought that these tube roots could help to determinate in having a daughter or a son. If the men ate big tube roots they got a son, if the mother ate small tube roots, they ware having a daughter.

There are about 68 species of orchids here on Lesvos, many more off course in Greece and most orchids you will find on Crete. It is a Hercules job to find them all, because they grow in so many different areas and you have to be there in the right time. And then orchids are that small that you do not see them immediately. When you look for them, you really have to look out because before you know you passed them without seeing them.

Yesterday we went on an orchid hunt to Palios (Sarakina), a wild area between Mandamados and Mytilini, where the lime forms ideal earth for orchids. Between the just blooming lavender, pricking bushes, old graves and colorful life-jackets of refugees there were plenty of orchids: the Harlequin orchid (Orchis morio), the Butterfly orchid (Orchis papilionaceae), the Provence orchid (Orchis provincialis) and at least three kinds of Tongue-serapias.

In the Netherlands all orchids are protected. In Greece I sometimes think that nothing at all is protected, and I really had to keep myself from picking one of the many orchids. It is good that nowadays the Greek do go to the supermarket in order to buy food, instead of getting it out of the nature. From the roots of a Man Orchid (Orchid mascula) you can make a nice and medical drink that is popular in the Middle East and in Turkey. But as well in Greece it is said that they make a drink with this orchid, to drink when you have gastric complaints.

In Turkey they dig up the roots after the blooming, they dry them and ground them into a thick flour that they stir through a glass of milk until it gets thicker. This sahlep, like this soft drink is called, made that many orchids disappeared in Turkey. A nearly identical beverage, saloop, was a popular drink during the Victorian times in England.

On the way to Palios you not only find plants that are protected in the Netherlands, but as well birds that are considered as holy in Tibet and Mongolia: the red shellduck (Tadorna Ferruginea). This colorful duck, as big as a goose, lives since years at the sign on the road to Palios, an information board that gives all the information about this duck. I am amazed about his staying at the same place. Each time when I drive there and I see the sign, the shellduck is around. Like he gets paid by the government to stay there. But off course when you open the car to get out, he flies away.

Orchids do not fly away but have the nasty habit to hide. When you are hunting orchids, it is just like with looking for mushrooms: at one moment you know how and where to look and then an amazing world of beauty opens before your eyes…

Flamingo Flambé

I think that the name Natura 2000 still sounds like a brand name for sport items. However Natura 2000 is the name of the European ecological network that helps members of Europe to name and manage protected ecological areas as well as protecting endangered animals.

The over populated Netherlands where it is hard to find green areas has as many as 162 areas on the Natura 2000 list. Greece, a country that is much bigger and greener has 239 areas on the list, with 151 areas pointed out as Special Protected Areas (Spa).

Lesvos has three areas on the Natura 2000 list: The Gulf of Kaloni and surroundings, including the salt pans of Kaloni and those of Skala Polychnitos, The Gulf of Yera and the area around the Olympos Mountain and the Petrified Forest and Sigri. It is strange that only the Gulf of Kaloni is a Special Protected Area and not the incredible heritage of the region of Sigri with its petrified trees.

Greeks and the environment still do not pair well. That is why nearly every day you can read how Greece again sinned against the European rules for protecting the environment. It is cynical that the European commissioner of environment is a Greek named Stavros Dimas. Time after time he has to warn his compatriots and give them big fines because of neglecting the rules for a clean environment or for not protecting enough endangered animals.

Last week 15 flamingos were shot in the Gulf of Amvrakikos (close to Arta in the western part of Greece), a wetland that should be protected. Who wants to shoot 15 flamingos? Just for the fun or because they needed those fancy pink feathers for a carnival outfit, that by now is long over…

Or did they want to make an old fancy Roman dinner? According to articles on the internet the Roman emperors sometimes did get served flamingos. This story comes from the eldest cooking book that got preserved. It is some 1600 years old: ‘Apicius’ or ‘De re coquinara (around cooking). This cooking book not only describes how to cook flamingos or ostriches, it as well gives you advice of how to cheer up old smelling meat by cooking it with so many spices and other ingredients that your guests will never taste that you served them bad meat. For example he used pepper, lovage, thyme, mint, hazelnuts, dates, honey, vinegar, fish sauce, wine and mustard.

‘De re coquinaria’ was compiled in the 4th century with old Roman recipes and some scientists believe that it contains as well recipes from Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmand who lived in the first century AC, during the reign of the emperor Tiberius.

Apicius loved to give big dinners with extravagant food. According to Pliny (Natural History) Apicius fed figs to some pigs in order to serve their liver as a delicacy accompanied by a glass of wine sweetened with honey. I think this recipe is known here on the island of Lesvos because I know some pigs that in autumn were parked under a huge fig tree and they stuffed themselves the whole day only with the figs that fell from the tree. According to this same Pliny it was as well Apicius that said that flamingo tongues were a delicacy. Strange boys, those Romans!

Yesterday when I passed the flamingos in the salt pans of Skala Polychnitos, they stood dreaming away in the sun. I could not imagine a flamingo steak on my plate. Nor would I eat a parrot pie (in the book it is said that if you cannot get any flamingos you can use the recipe as well as for parrots). And I could not imagine at all that somebody wanted to shoot those beautiful birds.

A little later we passed the freemen of Polychnitos: a pair of storks that for years now live high above the village on a chimney. Later on we saw a black stork flying over Vatera. Leviticus says in the bible (11:19) that you cannot eat storks. And everybody agrees, only not those old Romans that were so crazy for fancy food. Apicius as well was a little crazy. One day he counted what he had earned with his culinary services. He spent millions on luxurious food and now he had nothing left. So he chose to poison himself because he did not want to live without having his fancy but expensive delicacies…

Odd jobs

All foreigners that buy or renovate a house in Greece have plenty of entertaining stories about it. Some people publish these adventures in a book (Eleni Gage – North of Ithaka, Austen Kark – Attic in Greece, Tom Stone – The Summer of my Greek Taverna), others can fill long evenings with stories about their experience with wayward Greek laborers and the strange world of the Greek bureaucracy.

Thanks to these stories and the problems I heard from several people, we never bought a house to renovate or were planning to build a new house. We are happy in our rented house, although this is a Greek summerhouse and has therefore many deficits.

Since the rains are pouring down these days, our linen-cupboard is upside down, because we need all the towels we have to stop the flood entering through our windows. Each day our clothes line is full of bath and beach towels, like we have nothing better to do as to swim and shower the whole day long. I am afraid all we can do is paddle through the living room.

The windows were renewed only four years ago because the former windows not only were not waterproof but they as well took care that nice gales were blowing inside of the house. So we made kind of progress, but still the windows do not function as a window should do. The problem is that with this experience you do not trust it to place again new windows. Just like we had to replace our boiler each six months, the odds are that new windows are as lousy waterproof as the ones we have now. While each winter there is rain coming down, the Greeks here on Lesvos seem to know to build only summerhouses.

It is good fortune that the Greeks now discovered as well windows made out of synthetics, windows that are a lot more waterproof than those made of wood. But still you keep on hearing people who just build a new house with synthetic windows, who have to mop the entire house after a downpour.

I have to admit that building materials just like the wages are pretty low here in Greece. But the building materials are more than often as well of a very poor quality. When you buy a screwdriver, it will break after turning four screws, when you buy garden shears after cutting the second rose bush you can return to the store. And then they have no building supermarkets, so for the wood you go to a wood store who delivers it uncut (to cut the wood you have to go to a carpenter), for tiles you go to this store, for taps to the other store and for the pipes you go to again another store. Renovating in Greece is not easy, it is more like an obstacle race where you intend not to stop keep on smiling.

In December we thought to replace the shower for a bath tub. However the water pipes were that rotten that our first job was to replace all the pipes. You would think that’s easy. But I am not gonna tell you how often we had to replace pipes, taps and connections. All pipes were of different sizes, there were holes in brand new pipes and connections, we were fooled by buying plastic that looked like metal that exploded when pressured by the water pressure, off course just over a new plastered wall. You ask yourself if the shop does it on purpose. Fact is that we were daily there. So this job took one whole week and then the entire bathroom looked like a battlefield, so we said, why not renovate the entire bathroom.

The bath was delivered on time, but the floor tiles, that were promised to arrive on the island within four days, did still not arrive. Off course there were celebrations, storms, snow and striking days in between, but the four days are now fourteen days, the building had to stop and we still have no bathroom.

So we made something good out of the bad. Because we had no tiles, we pasted stones into a wall, what resulted in quite a beautiful sight. In the shop we saw stones glued to tiles, which cost 200 euro the square meter. Why should you spend so much money when the island here is full of these stones?

The bathroom still is not ready, but as well we have to decide if we replace the windows at the front of the house. We did get an offer of synthetic windows from Germany, an offer that sounds very good. But we still have this fear for placing new windows thanks to the replacement of our front door. One day the laborers came without any warning, they did not give us time to cover anything, they just broke the front door out and placed a new one in no time and left us not only with big holes in the walls but as well with a dust cover of several inches all over the house. So before you can stop them they rip off the front wall, place the new windows and leave you with walls cut in pieces, with openings between the windows and the wall and so you can forget your certificate of waterproof windows.

I am glad we only renovated the bathroom. Although, how will the house look like when they place the new windows? Should we decide then to renovate the whole house because of the tears in the walls, the too old electricity lines that show through the holes and more of this misery? I will keep you informed.

Copyright © Smitaki 2009

White After-Christmas

It wasn't that cold in Molyvos that we had a white Christmas. But the flood of rains that poured down on the island after Christmas coloured the villages like Filia, Skalochoro, Anamotia, Argenos, Sykaminia and Agiasos fairy-tale white.

Just like in Turkey the top of the mountains are still white and when you drive up the landscape gets whiter the higher you come until you imagine yourself in the Swiss Alps. A few Greek people predicted a very cold winter, because of the many wasps this summer and the many chestnuts that made the trees so heavy they were bending down. Probally signs for a heavy winter.

Like I mentioned before, according to the Greeks winter here just starts in January and already now in December we have snow and an ice-cold nordeastern blowing. So what can we expect from the real approaching winter...

Thanks to the cold there are not so many people on the streets. And tonight, when the old year will end, many Greeks will be sitting close to the fire at a green clothed table, playing cards. Playing cards is very popular on Lesvos (and in many other parts of Greece) during the winter. Biriba is the most popular game here on Lesvos, a kind of canasta. Trying to pass all those long, cold and dark nights, on some tables big amounts of money will change hands. Playing cards is as well a New Years Eve tradition: playing away the old year and while gambling entering the New Year. This night they will not play for large sums of money, in order that the losers won't have a too bad start of the year.

On New years Eve it is Agios Vasilis that visits many Greek homes to bring presents. This is the Greek variation for Saint Nicolas and Santa Claus, who do not appear in Greece on the 5th and 25th of December. Agios Vasilis comes during New Years Eve and the children wait patiently for him to receive their presents.

In France there is a cake known as a Epiphany cake (galette des rois); a kind of cake where they hide a little sculpture of a king and the one who finds it will be crowned and be a king for one day (6th of January). In Greece this cake is the vasilopita that gets served on the 1st of January. There should be hidden a golden coin and many a Greek will have broken a tooth or two on this gold. I never found a golden coin in my vasilopita, but instead an entire almond or walnut, what brought me luck for the coming year. According to the tradition the father should cut the cake. The first piece goes to Christ (did some monasteries get so rich thanks to the golden coins out of the vasilopita's?), the second part is for the house and then the cake is divided between all the family members.

For another Greek tradition that brings luck for the New Year you need a pomegranate: after midnight, when you exchanged all your New year wishes you go outside with a glass of water that you pour out into three wind directions saying: "Kalimera, Agios Vasilikos." Then you take a stone that you use to smash a pomegranate inside the house, just next to the front door. You leave the smashed pomegranate for some days and the you throw the remains out over a field.

Well, those are enough Greek traditions to bring you luck for the new year. I wish you all a very happy 2009!

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Christmas thought

In Athens and Thessaloniki the student riots continue. They occupied a TV studio and the cinema in Thessaloniki where the International Film Festival was held in November and where in March 2009 the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival will be held, they hang garbage bags in the large Christmas tree in Athens (the VIT [Very Important Tree] that was just replaced after the previous one was destroyed in the riots), or they hang huge banners with international protest slogans fluttering from the Acropolis in Athens.

Here on Lesvos everything remains calm and we're not much affected by the various strikes. What counts is that the gasoline and oil prices are significantly lower, a relief for a large number of people, because many people have very little money in the winter, also thanks to the officials who in charge of the various benefits (a.o. IKA), who make no efforts to get the money to the people in time.

What also continues is the arrival of refugees. Good or bad weather, they still come. Last week it almost went very wrong. In the night, when a strong south wind was blowing, a rubber boat was detected just outside the harbour at Molyvos, with 26 people on board.

Due to the high waves it took the Coast Guard a few hours in to get the boat bearing the frightened refugees, including women and children, into the harbour. They arrived ashore at half past twelve and then there was no chance to take the group to Mytilini, where the refugee centre is. So they were brought to the Saint Nicolas church (Saint Nicolas is the patron saint of seafarers), where residents of Molyvos, led by Melinda and Theo Kosmetos (also known as the owners of the Captain's Table, a summer restaurant in the harbour) ensured that the nearly-drowned got dry clothes and food to spend the night in Molyvos.

The mayor of Molyvos expressed his outrage that the refugee policy is so poorly regulated here on the island (which he has already done for months, but in Athens the politicians seem to have to deal with more important things). There are still not enough people to man the Coast Guard in order to give the refugees adequate help, and transportation to the capital is insufficient.

Some citizens offered to take the people themselves to Mytilini, but that is strictly forbidden: "you could catch a disease and the risk of an accident is too great" (as if not all Molyvosians travel to the capital at least once a week)! Instead of the government, now residents of Molyvos combined to organize a decent reception for the refugees. Last week there was a group of 40 Somalis who arrived in the late hours in the village and they had to spend the night in the rain on the street.

That night the weather was still fairly mild, but the weather forecasts for the holiday season speak for themselves: the temperature will drop towards freezing, the northeastern wind will arrive and at various places in Greece there might be a chance of a white Christmas. That will be no weather for the refugees to cross the sea.

While we are comfortable sitting close to our heater discussing the menu for the Christmas dinner, this discussion will be a short one for the Greeks, because most of them will have Christmas dinner with pork with celery (selinato) and also a bit of lamb, in case someone doesn't want pork. Served with well-known Greek dishes such as the pea puree Fava, tsatsiki and salad. During the whole day there are biscuits served such as the melomakarona that drip from honey. Christmas dinner in Greece is mostly served on the 25th in the afternoon and there is no official second Christmas Day, but the 26th is used by many to recover from the heavy eating on the day before.

While we sit happy around the fireplace dreaming of a white Christmas, across the sea in Turkey hundreds of people in a camp in harsh conditions are waiting for their chance to go to Europe. They are dependent on the weather and the smugglers that they have to pay a substantial sum to risk their lives in order to make the crossing in a rickety boat.

The refugees will only have one thought: reach shiny Europe, which continues to sink in an economic crisis. Not such a nice thought for Christmas, but still let us give some thought to all those people that left their homes to flee from war and other difficult circumstances.

I WISH YOU A HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Name-days

As in many countries, on December 6 Greece celebrated St. Nicholas. However this 6th December was marked by a historically low point in modern Greek history, because a 15-year-old teenager was killed by a bullet from the police (which has now been proved, was not aimed at him) where after massive demonstrations against the police and against the government took place, riots broke out and they still continue. The damage caused by the hooligans is enormous.

So last week there was little to celebrate in the big cities of Greece. And Saint Nicholas is here not a celebration for children (see also: Santa Claus), but it is the name-day of all people called Nicos, and there are many of them in Greece. Saint Nicholas is also the patron saint of all seamen and many churches along the coast are built in his honour. These small churches, some of which are built on impossible places and far from villages, most of the year look very desolate, but on the day of Saint Nicholas they get plenty of visitors.

If you look through the calendar of saints and Greek name-days, you will find the most beautiful names. But only a small number of them are regularly used. Greece has a rather particular way of giving names. The eldest daughter and son are called after their grandmother or grandfather, so that the same names always continue to circulate in the family and many nieces and cousins have the same name. Few parents dare to break with this tradition.

In the eyes of foreigners, it is funny that most Greeks are called all the same names. Like here on Lesvos names like Dimitris, Yorgos, Nikos, Jannis, Stratos, Panayiottis, Mary, Ismini, Elpiniki, Eleni and Dimitra you will hear quite often. Just call 'Yannis!' in a full taverna and I guarantee that at least ten men will stand up. For me it's still a mystery how the Greeks can separate all these people with the same name. Many are known by their family name or have a nickname. It's also little use to identify a person by his partner; we know at least three couples named Yorgos and Maria.

Some names are derivatives: Tula comes from Efstratoela, Babis is derived from Charalambos, Akis from Argirios, Zina from Zinovios. Tasos comes from Anastasios, which is derived from Anastasi (the resurrected), and this name-day is always at Easter.

Some names are bound to a region. Like here on Lesvos there are not so many people called Pavlos as elsewhere in Greece, but you find many of them in the southwest of Crete, where St. Paul was almost shipwrecked about 2000 years ago. There are also people named after a Greek such as Dionysos, the god of wine and partying. But then he is named after a saint that is named after a Greek god.

Newborn babies come off even worse. These shouldn't be named before they are baptized, and baptism happens one year after the birth, so officialy all Greek children live their first year of life under the name of baby!

There are a few names that are not derived from the name of a saint. Those people can celebrate their name-day on All Saints Day, which is 8 weeks after Easter, a variable date because (Greek Orthodox) Easter is always on a different date.

Birthdays are not much celebrated in Greece. Therefore name-days even more. If you keep an eye on the calendar, you will know exactly where all the parties will be. The day that many Greeks celebrate their name-day will probably be the 15th of August, the Assumption day of Maria, when all Marias and Panyottis celebrate as well.

Since the riots have broken out there have been the name-days of Ambrosius, Anna, Spiros, Stratos (Efstratios) and Lukas. Yesterday was quite a busy day: David, Adam, Debora, Danai, Abraham, Aaron, Arrianos, Eva, Esther, Liki, Isaac, Job, Noa, Rachel, Rebecca, Roemini and Sara. Today, December 15, there are only a few celebrators: Lefteris, Anthi, Sylvia and Suzanna. Chronia Pola! Here are the most important name days:

January 1: Vassilis
January 6: Fotis
January 7: Jannis
January 17: Adonis

February 10: Charalambos
February 17: Theodoros

March 25: Vangelis

April 23: Jorgos (as on this day Easter falls 2 days, the name-opposition)

May 5: Irini
May 9: Christos
May 21: Kostas, Eleni

June 29: Petros, Pavlos, Apostolis

July 8: Theofilos
July 20: Elias

August 15: Mary, Panaiotti
August 30: Alexandros

September 14: Stavros

October 26: Dimitris

November 8: Michalis, Angeliki
November 26: Stelios
November 30: Andreas

December 5: Savvas
December 6: Nikos
December 9: Anna
December 12: Spiros
December 25: Manolis
December 27: Stefanos

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Revolution

The major media in Greece call it a catastrophe. I call it a revolution. While in the rest of the world the bubble of 'grab'-capitalism burst in a natural way, for days now the young people here in Greece have tried to convince the government and the Greek people that also in their country something is completely wrong.

After a demonstration against the lazy government on Saturday, December 6 a 15-year-old boy was shot dead by police and then there was the revolution: mass demonstrations in all the major cities that led to riots and chaos with a lot of destruction.

Some said just plain: those are the anarchists. But if you took a closer look at the television images, you'd have to ask yourself where Greece suddenly found so many anarchists. Of course it's not just the anarchists who suddenly became active. For years the anarchists have been engaged in isolated acts of resistance, especially in Athens: they torch banks and like to bait the police. The district Exarchie in Athens is known for it, small riots are no exception there.

The death of the 15-year-old teenager was the trigger that the government should have long foreseen. For a long time activists tried to demonstrate using peaceful methods. For example, in Thessaloniki last year masked youths regularly penetrated supermarkets to grab basic food to distribute on the streets, as a protest against the high prices.

But the government was deaf to these actions, just as to the strikes that regularly paralysed daily life in Greece. So now the young people are angry and turning en masse against the political inaction. Promises of reforms that will never take place, a Government bursting with scandals that they prefer to cover as deep as possible. What future do young people have in a society that is ruled by a government filling their personal pockets and people who time and again vote for these same pocket fillers?

Last night, the third consecutive night of the 'catastrophe', Athens seemed on fire: shops, large Christmas trees, cars, banks, the office of Olympic Airways, a hotel and even an apartment complex were in flames.

The police had been told to hold back. And they did. Protecting themselves from the stones and Molotov cocktails they remained resigned in little groups opposite the hooligans, only making charges when it was really needed.

The government also remained reluctant about this 'catastrophe'. The only thing Prime Minister Karamanlis could say yesterday evening was that the public would be protected. Well, that was shown up on television: no stores were protected! Protect against what? Against money-hungry monasteries that stole 100 million euros from the state or against corrupt politicians and officials who get rich while sleeping? Against the increasingly rising prices? A fourth of the Greek population lives in poverty and Greece has become one of the most expensive countries in Europe.

Last night I watched the images on TV time and time again, from burning shops, dustbins, Christmas trees and cars on fire. The gang of commentators in the various TV studios was screaming in their usual way at each other, but no young people were invited to explain what they wanted. Of course the government and its media try to blame the small group of troublemakers responsible for all the damage. But the images of the masses of young people all over Greece out on the streets without causing any damage, received hardly any attention.

Lesvos usually doesn't join in on strikes and other actions that take place in the capital. But now also young people here in Mytilini and in Kaloni came out on the streets to demonstrate. In Mandamados they even raised a roadblock to express their dissatisfaction. While in Athens a lot of Christmas decorations were destroyed and the centre of the city yesterday evening seemed to be on fire, on Lesvos life went on as usual: picking olives and shaking the nets. In the homes, the televisions showed the most horrible images of the riots and TV personalities were having their screaming discussions that always seem the same.

It'll take long before all the wounds will be healed from this 'catastrophe' as the riots are called. In the government nobody dares to call this a revolution. That would mean that they admit that something is completely wrong in Greece and it is not the intention that the government falls. Or is it?

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Olive Blues

The beautiful warm weather of these last few weeks, with only a few declines of a small cold front and a solid night of rain, mean that many people have started their olive harvest. The olives are ripe early this year, just as the rest of nature is a little confused because of all that heat. A few days ago, we already found the first messenger of spring, in the form of an anemone, although winter has yet to start (in Greece it's said that winter begins in January and ends in February).

The winter of 1850 was also preceded by a warm autumn. In January that year the olive trees were full of fermenting spring juices, just like all other trees and plants were ready for spring. On January 12, however, dark clouds gathered over the island and in the afternoon the temperature quickly fell to below -10°C.

In the book 'Froso's little violet' the priest Prodromos Anagnostou describes this disastrous day. How the animals returned at noon from the fields to the villages and stables, crying for a hiding place, which frightened the residents of the island out of their minds. The sea began to fume, the earth shook and everywhere a frightening noise could be heard.

Because of the sudden drop of temperature, the sap in the trees froze which made the bark split open, which was the awful noise. Most of the olive trees on Lesvos died that day.

Famine followed, plus a wave of emigration. Those who remained behind, however, set themselves to work. The dead trees were converted into charcoal and sold as far away as Russia. It was decided that the whole island would be planted with new olive trees and they used less frost-sensitive species such as the kolovi and the adramytiana. Walls for new terraces were built, earth was brought up the mountains and the trees grew as never before.

Curiously, the year 1850 was the start of the last great economic boom period for the island. Despite the taxes that had to be paid to the Ottoman Empire (the island since 1462 was occupied by the Ottomans), the new trees brought prosperity to the island. The olive presses were driven by steam engines, olive pits were found to be an excellent fuel and the soap industry took off. Modern English machines were imported through Smyrna (modern day Izmir) and investments were made in countries such as Egypt, Russia and Romania. Olive oil and olive soap constituted 70% of the exports of the island, most of which went to France, Russia and England.

Between 1875 and 1895 3800 tons of soap annually was manufactured on Lesvos, which was shipped to the ports of the Ottoman Empire and from there exported to elsewhere in the world.

Like Smyrna and Constantinople (Istanbul), Mytilini was a cosmopolitan city, where international steam boats came and went. Wealthy families built large houses and Western furniture was introduced into the Greek living rooms. Lesvos was prosperous again.

Early in the 20th century business began to slow down, and everything changed dramatically in 1912 when Lesvos freed itself from Turkey and again became part of Greece. The oriental market was still accessed through the Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire, but when in 1922 all Greeks were expelled from the Ottoman Empire, this market dried up for good.

Lesvos received thousands of refugees from the other side causing a shortage of food, housing and capital to invest. Thanks to new land divisions the rich people fled the island. Lesvos again became an island of small farmers.

Today Lesvos has approximately 11 million olive trees. That is 126 olive trees for every resident. For the rest of Greece that number is 9.5, 3.0 in Italy and in Spain 5.4. Lesvorian olive oil is about a quarter of the total Greek production.

The total world production this year has increased by 9.1% to 2,870,000 tonnes (Spain produces 1,110,000, Italy 560,000 and Greece 370,000). Which is not good news for the olive farmers on Lesvos, because with the increase in production prices will fall. And the prices will go down anyway, thanks to the economic crisis, because olive oil consumption is declining.

The co-operatives on the island, where the oil is pressed and stored, can do nothing other than wait and see how prices develop. Currently prices on Lesvos are still fairly stable. Perhaps that's why everyone's hurrying to finish the olive harvest. Who knows what harsh winter we are facing...

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Angry!

Last week there was one day when I was very angry. A few days later, there were people mad at me.

The previous column, in which I talked about wild boars that were released by a bunch of hunters and in which I went on to say that I was disappointed because the butcher here is not permitted to sell boar meat in his shop, made a number of people angry. They thought that with this story I promoted hunting on Lesvos.

A correction is inappropriate, because I write what I want and I will not change my already published words, even if that is a possibility on the Internet. And I'm not suddenly going to deny that I love eating game, because it's true that I used to be very happy going to the Ardennes in order to eat a deer steak or a boar fillet.

It made me very sad that people perceived my column as a plea for the hunt on Lesvos, because that was not what I intended. I am against senseless hunting. So I do not understand anything about the hunting of birds, which is rather popular here on the island. But so saying, I still can enjoy a dinner of game, which I used to eat in a country where they hunt in order to protect that same game from overpopulation. This is called game conservation and I'll agree with anybody who says that Greeks don't have much notion of game or forest conservation (although the chestnut forest near Agiasos is neatly maintained, and here I mean the trees and not the wild boar), let alone that there is more than one Greek who doesn't have any respect at all for animals.

Because here comes the second issue of this column: it really is a sad coincidence, but one night last week a hunting dog arrived at our house, very frightened and hungry. She wanted to join our pack of dogs (only 2) and was looking for a place to eat, drink, sleep and live.

Now I don't want any more misunderstandings: I HAVE NO ANIMAL SHELTER! Even though for the winter I took in ten cats from the neighbouring hotel, so that the cat population around our house counts now more than twenty cats, and even if we decided to take in the new friend of our winter dog Albino, the black Labrador Black Jack (also known by tourists as Vodka, but what a name! You want to promote alcoholism?!), I HAVE NO ANIMAL SHELTER!

An animal shelter is very easy to start here on the island. In October or November you just take a stroll around the village and your shelter will be filled with abandoned dogs and cats. You will find sad mewling fluffy creatures that are seeing their first winter and have no idea how to survive and you will find heaps of sad looking dogs, already hardened by a first winter, who try to survive and will wait impatiently for the tourists to reappear.

In the winter animal lovers can only go around with a heart of stone. Because you cannot rescue every animal you come across. Unless you actually want to start an animal shelter.

So last week I was very angry. With the Greeks who so easily neglect animals, with the tourists who are not here all year round to feed and pamper the animals, so that in the winter I get stuck with a bunch of spoiled cats that all climb on your lap, all want a place inside my house and all prefer the most expensive cat food.

And now I'm stuck with the third dog that found our house this autumn. The first one was taken to Holland by friends who found a home there for her. It was very hard on me, but the second I refused to feed for three days and then he got the message and took off to I know not where. The third was this hunting dog, who was so skinny and scared that I didn't have the heart to chase her. So I gave her some food, and gave her food...

Now I have a real problem, because in addition to the care of 20 or more cats and 2 dogs I also have a husband, and we fully agreed that no more animals were to be taken in. He's right: we didn't come to Greece to start an animal shelter. So I'm looking for an animal lover who wants to take this dog, because when this thin creature has regained some strength, she can no longer stay in the Smitaki home. And maybe you think I am a cruel person, but I value my marriage above this beastly mess, which is the current situation around our house.

Greece, where animals easily die from bullets or poison, is a very cruel country for animal lovers. But while I learn to harden my heart, the Greeks learn more and more to respect animals. And let there be no more misunderstanding, because I now have to try and place a hunting dog!

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Autumn colours

I think most tourists leave Lesvos far too early. Especially for hiking enthusiasts, October and November are wonderful months here on the island. I don't know whether it's because of the drought, but this autumn the trees and bushes are showing unprecedented bright autumn colours, so that the island this year can easily compete with the famous autumn colours familiar in the woods of somewhat wetter countries.

The walk from Anemotia, among the famous yellow rhododendrons (for obscure reasons these azaleas are called rhododendrons on the island) takes you amongst trees that are so bright orange, cherry red or sparkling yellow that it hurts your eyes. In the quiet forest, where you only hear the rustle of leaves and the wind gusts that announce themselves from kilometres away from the mountain peaks before they sweep down through the tree tops, even the rhododendrons that creep like garlands down the mountain slopes in the dark pine forest, aren't lit up with their flowers, but with their yellow leaves.

On the margin, where the pine trees stop and the cultivated fields of olive trees begin, there is another party. There you find dark green strawberry trees that sparkle like Christmas trees with their red, bulbous fruit. Yes, you read it right: a tree with strawberries. Arbutus unedo, the scientific name of the strawberry tree (in Latin unedo means: 'Eat only one'), is to be found in many Mediterranean countries. The fruit, which looks like round strawberries, colour from yellow, orange to bright red. They have a slight strawberry flavor with a slightly bitter aftertaste. You get a bit of a dry mouth from eating them raw, but you can make an excellent jam with them and in many countries they also make liqueur with this fruit.

The beauty that the Mediterranean climate brings is that many trees remain green in winter: the pines which cover the heart of the island, the millions of olive trees, cypress trees, laurel trees, strawberry trees and nameless other trees that keep the island green during winter. But nevertheless, you occasionally can get homesick, missing the falling leaves that crackle so nicely under your feet and the smell of rotting leaves, mushrooms and wet earth. When you really get homesick for falling leaves, then you should go to Agia Anagyri, a scenic spot in a valley next to Asomatos, with a church and a taverna with extensive terraces (only open on summer holidays), all under sky-high plane trees where in the autumn you can be sure to find a centimetres thick blanket of yellow gold leaves where you can run through and have fun with as much as you like.

From the road from Agia Anagyri to Asomatos, on foot or by car you can take a path to the sanatorium above Agiasos. The road goes high through the mountains and the steep slopes on the other side of the valley are like bright green masses coloured with the yellow speckles of the chestnut and other deciduous trees. They make an incredibly nice picture. Even the orange-yellow glow that is found this time of year in the golden chestnut forest (the chestnut forest is on the road from Agiasos to the sanatorium, a little after the sanatorium), pales against these breathtaking views.

The huge chestnut trees had already shaken off tons of chestnuts and the leaves were partly cleaned away. Probably for the Chestnut festival that took place last weekend in Agiasos. An annual event visited by people from all over the island who come to taste the chestnuts and enjoy food and music. A few weeks ago there was still a question if the festival could take place. The municipality could not pay the 3000 euros that the festivities cost. Two weeks ago fortunately they found the money, so as in previous years people strolled through the narrow streets of this mountain town, greeting their many friends and enjoying a good meal in the local tavernas.

In the capital of the island, Mytilini, they celebrated quite another party, but I wonder if that was as exuberant as in Agiasos. The liberation of the capital was celebrated (November 8, 1912) with military parades and schoolchildren marching. This year even the president of Greece, Karolos Papoelias, visited the celebration and he was promptly made an honoured citizen of Mytilini.

He was not the only exalted visitor that weekend. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dora Bakoyannis, was also visiting Lesvos among others for a conference on the flow of refugees that still reach the island in abundance (like elsewhere in the country). While the Minister and notables debated on how they can improve the reception of the refugees, the coastguard again had to sail out in order to save a group of 40 men, women and children from a shaky boat that nearly perished.

Some of the refugees are lucky if they get placed in the sanatorium at Agiasos, which now serves as an asylum centre. There they can rest in the middle of chestnut woods and golden-coloured mountain slopes, a twenty minute walk from the picturesque town of Agiasos. But I wonder whether they equally enjoy this beautiful nature as we do. I saw them strolling on the road, clearly feeling much better than when they shuffled over the Eftalou boulevard when they'd just arrived wet and exhausted. But I do believe that if you are fleeing from gunshots and exploding bombs, the forests around Agiasos, where only the thuds of falling chestnuts can be heard, will be the first relief on a long road to a better life...

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Vote!

We could spend a whole evening talking about climate change: finally we had a reasonably cool summer and September was the coldest ever. There are friends who claim that in years gone by you could sleep outside on the beach in December and in the spring, March and April, you mainly lived outside. Well, I just remember our first winters a few years back, when snow and rain poured down on the island. Is the climate here in Greece getting colder?

Last week proves the contrary: temperatures climbing nearly to 30°C and a sea temperature that still attracted some swimmers. But no rain and many Greeks get sad looking at their olive trees, that this winter don't bear much fruit and the olives that hang on the trees are small and crave for water to get just that magic touch to be able to produce that healthy, yellow gold oil.

World history proves that climates are not stable. Here on Lesvos this is proven by the Petrified Forest where trees and fossil plants from millions of year ago have been found. Some of the plants and trees, like the sequoia tree, can now only be found in the tropical and subtropical climates in South-East Asia and North America. This is a reason for scientists to conclude that Greece, in any case Lesvos, once used to have a tropical climate.

If you want to see volcanoes in Europe, you go to Sicily to climb the rumbling Etna or you descend into a spectacular crater in Madeira to visit the village of Curral das Freias. No volcano lover chooses Lesvos, although Lesvos has all its fertile land and its biggest attraction thanks to volcanoes. The island is full of wonders for geologists, and the park of 15,000 acres with its petrified trees and plants will be a paradise for them. Although you will no longer find active volcanoes here.

When a guide accompanies you when you get to this wonderful, geological park in the west of the island, approaching the villages of Anemotia and Agra, you will hear that you are travelling through the crater of a volcano. But you will need a lot of imagination to think you are moving through the cone of a crater, because the rugged mountain slopes and rough mountain peaks form an intriguing landscape, but do not look at all as a cone shaped mountain with a crater on its summit from which smoke escapes.

Everywhere on the island you will find bright coloured rocks and old crushed lava fields, evidence of the presence of these extinct volcanoes. As is of course the Petrified Forest, where wonderful trees are on display. Thanks to the volcanic eruptions and the following rains huge trees with roots and all were petrified and now you will find large tree chunks that have been changed into semi-precious stone.

When during the summer heat you shuffle one by one through the park, the crowd and heat may not allow you to imagine that once the island was covered with huge trees. But when you go in the low seasons like spring or autumn, when the sun is not burning yet and you can walk around at your own pace, those million years old trees will for sure move you to tears.

The Petrified Forest of Lesvos is the largest park in the world with petrified trees. Some smaller parks in the world are the Petrified Forest National Monument in Chubut Province in Argentina, the Geosite Goudberg by Hoegaarden in Belgium, the Geopark or Paleorrota in Brazil and the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, but also in other countries, including Egypt, India, the Czech Republic and Australia, you will find small sites with petrified trees.

Lesvos is of course very proud of this unique park, but in terms of tourism it has a lot of competition in its own country, like the Palace of Knossos on Crete, the ancient medieval city of Rhodes, or the Acropolis in Athens, which was in the race for the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The Acropolis just missed the finish and was not announced as a new wonder of the world by the New7Wonders Foundation, which is committed to saving world heritage. In addition to the New Seven World Wonders, which are buildings made by men, the organization next year wants also to proclaim the Seven World Wonders of Nature. The preliminary rounds, where everyone can vote (also through the Internet), are already in full swing, and ultimately each country may enter the next round with only one site.

And that's not good news for Lesvos, because the Petrified Forest now has to compete with the Meteora rocks, the island of Santorini and the highest mountain in Greece, Olympos. Olympos is now ranked 107, Santorini 137, Meteora 111 and the Petrified Forest only 322!

Curiously enough the Petrified Forest is amongst the nominated forests, while I would consider it amongst the 'Rocks' or 'Parks'. Not that it matters, but I would still like to see the Petrified Forest finishing at least amongst the 100 World Wonders of Nature. The fascinating Petrified Forest on this beautiful Greek island is certainly worth your vote. So don't let your voice get lost and vote for the Petrified Forest of Lesvos:

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

No Day

Today, October 28, the Greeks celebrate when at the beginning of the Second World War in 1940 their leader and dictator Ioannis Metaxas said 'No' to Mussolini, who wanted to invade Greece. Greece was presented with an ultimatum: they could let in the enemy troops so that they could occupy strategic posisions, or they could have war.

Metaxas said a short and concise 'Ochi' to this ultimatum, and Greece was at war. Contrary to everyone's expectations, the Greeks threw out the Italians, who appeared much stronger in manpower and materials, back to Albania from where they attacked the Greek state, even before the time of the ultimatum had expired.

This day is now known as Ochi Day and is celebrated each year by the proud Greeks, who although later they were occupied by the Germans, are still proud of the fact that they were the first to dare to say 'no' to the advancing Germans and their allies.

The day is celebrated with military parades, but also the schoolchildren are drilled to parade around. Usually, the best pupil in the classroom leads and holds the flag. A few years ago, there was a scandal which was covered by all the national media, because at one school the best pupil was an Albanian boy who was, because of his nationality, not allowed to be first and hold the Greek flag.

The emotions of that time have cooled down and today along with the soldiers there will be the schoolchildren parading in the streets for 'Ochi Day'. And I'm sure that no child is allowed to say 'Ochi' to this event.

The Greeks may celebrate their sturdiness from decades ago, today they are not so very tough anymore. In addition to the many strikes, so common in Greece, there are few Greeks who think it really is time that their entire political system got kicked out. While years ago the then ruling Socialist PASOK party was accused of having corrupt politicians, it is now the turn of the ruling party Nea Democratia, which apparently has just as many corrupt politicians at the top as its predecessor. Strangely enough, only a few Greeks dare to say 'Ochi' to the two largest parties in the country.

The church also regularly plays a leading role in deep scandals, such as the current Vatopedi scandal that already caused three ministers to resign. But as far as I know no monk has been expelled from his monastery. And no Greek dares to say 'Ochi' to the power of the church.

If I were a Greek, I would often cry 'Ochi'. Against disinterested state officials who make a mess of medical centres and hospitals, against doctors who don't work unless bribed, against the hopelessly outdated administration system controlled by lazy officials, who send you everywhere except to the right place, against Greeks who treat animals like rubbish, or use their entire environment including public roads as a rubbish dump. And so on.

Instead of having soldiers and children parading through the streets, this day the Greek population should unite against their government, just as they did on 28 October 1942 when during the German occupation they cried a loud 'OCHI'.

Lesvos is far from the capital and its political intrigues. We don't suffer much from the strikes, except when schools are closed or banks and shops, as was the case last week. It's difficult to keep track of who is striking and when. Last week tourists were also hit by a strike. Going home they had to travel through Turkey. But at least they made it home.

However fun the name 'Ochi Day' is, the day itself didn't impress me. Especially when you think about all those things that really matter, against which you should say: 'Ochi'.

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

There at the mill

The Netherlands is known for its windmills. Spain is known for its windmills which Don Quixote thought were giants. Greece is not known for its mills, but thousands are scattered across the country. The pictures of windmills standing next to a port are alluring advertising images for various capitals of Greek islands such as Chios, Mykonos and Rhodes.

Lesvos has lots of watermills, but they are so well hidden or camouflaged as a ruin, that they are difficult to find. In former times, and that's less than a century ago, each region had a watermill for grinding grain or pressing olives. Just go to the Mill Valley in Ligona, above Petra, where a walk takes you among walls and collapsed buildings that were once a bustling place with donkeys, farmers, millers and large bags of grain and flour. Now nature has reclaimed this region, a phenomenon that you will see everywhere on the island.

To my knowledge there is only one mill still active on Lesvos, which is that at Mylelia (on the road from Polychnitos to Mytilini, after the branch to Lambou Mili, before the road reaches the Gulf of Gera). There they still grind the grain in the traditional way, between large millstones and in a museum like shop they sell a wide range of flour products such as hand- made pastas and a variety of other island products, such as olive spreads, fruit jams and tomato sauces.

The mill at Eressos is just as impressive as that at Mylelia. Although almost completely restored, the mill doesn't grind grain, but it's the place where the mill is built, which makes the biggest impression. See: In the footsteps of Sappho.

When you drive from Plomari along the river Sedoendas up in the mountains, you come across a very large watermill, that is so far in decay that the Plomarians should be ashamed that they do not preserve a part of their history, if only to show their children how their grandparents produced flour to bake bread...

Diving deeper into the countryside, you keep on finding surprises. Last week I visited the mill at Klapados. Klapados was a small village in the north of the island, tucked away high in the mountains between Petra and Kalloni. Most residents were Ottoman Muslims and this was perhaps the reason why in December 1912 the last Ottoman soldiers regrouped around Klapados when they were chased by the Greeks who came to liberate the island. The battle began on 8 November 1912 when the Greeks, with the warship Averof, liberated Mytilini, after which the enemy was chased to the north of the island. On 8 December 1912 the Greek army achieved victory over the Ottomans in the Battle of Klapados. Subsequently, all Muslims were chased from the island. Although not everybody agrees, several sources say that the people of Klapados were not put on the boat to the Ottoman Empire, but were massacred.

Although the liberation of the Lesvorians started in Klapados, you will not find a glorious monument there to the general that led the Greeks to victory, but only a sign surrounded by crumbling ruins that mentions the Battle of Klapados. Despite the beautiful water fountain, the massive plane tree, the old bathhouse and a few walls still standing, the remnants of this once lively village give an eerie feeling. It's also said that they just let the corpses lie there, which explains why so few Greeks dare to visit this mountaintop and why there is so little left of the village. When you look up the mountain slope from the road, between the shrubs, grasses and trees, you can see the sad remains of many more houses.

The watermill at Klapados is also now only a ruin with large crumbling walls. But it is easy to imagine how the water once moved the large wooden paddles of the mill. The mill is at the bottom of a broad, steep grey cliff of about 50 to 60 metres, from where the water bounces off.

You have to know the place to find this watermill. A very narrow path takes you down into a valley that starts at the bottom of this impressive cliff where you find a little pond that marks the beginning of a merry rippling stream strewn with rocks. Like anywhere on the island this water attracts a jungle-like vegetation of ancient, big whimsical plane trees, overgrown by moss, lianes and other parasitic plants, and you imagine yourself immediately right in the country of Tarzan.

When I was there no water fell from the cliff, only a waterfall of thick tree roots, which imitate the undulating water and creep like an impressive live sculpture down along the wall. I can imagine that if enough rain has fallen to set the waterfall into motion, this place can be as magical as the waterfall at the Krineloe Mill at Eressos and the one at Achladeri.

I was a bit shocked by the reaction of the friends with whom I visited the waterfall. While I enjoyed the sight of the plane trees and their net of roots that competed with stones and moss for a spot next to the river, while I admired trees from all sides for their thick branches that reached like the curved wings of a mill into the blue sky, my friends wondered about the total absence of any waste. Am I already so integrated that I no longer see the waste scattered everywhere? It is clear that not many people know where the mill of Klapados is and that this is one of the Lesvorian mills that will silently disappear from the pages of history.

Copyright © Smitaki 2008