We got up at a reasonable time in our Air BNB, and right away my mom, cousin, and I headed down to the beach for a morning swim. We had the beach completely to ourselves, and the water felt wonderful. Walking into the water for the first time sent a shiver up my spine in the cool morning, but running in and letting the water close around me felt immediately invigorating. After swimming out a little ways, I floated on my bag with closed eyes. The ocean was extremely calm with almost no waves, but still I felt myself move with the water.
When we retreated back to the shore we dried off in the sun for a couple minutes before heading back to the flat. We did a quick change, packed up our things, and made our way into Methoni––a nearby town––for breakfast. It took us a little while to find a bakery, but we eventually did and I devoured an apple pastry (imagine a croissant with cinnamon spice apple pie filling).
Next we headed to a castle in Methoni, which we had seen––and said we wanted to come back to––the previous day. The castle is absolutely beautiful; although the structures themselves are not very large for the most part, there is a massive wall encompassing fields of purple and yellow wild flowers. Surrounding all of this is the ocean, with stunningly clear blue water. It was a relaxing morning of ambling around, and the cool sea breeze from the water allowed us an escape from the morning heat.
We drove onto our next destination, Kalamata, but upon arrival to the city, and I was the only one really interested in exploring the hot streets, so instead we opted to grab picnic lunch supplies and drive a little bit further to a beach. We had a great spread of bread, cheese, tomatoes, cherries, grapes, and of course some kalamata olives. After finishing lunch, despite my mother's warnings about swimming right after eating, I headed into the beckoning ocean. The water at this beach was significantly warmer than it had been at our morning swim, and the waves were stronger as well. After having my fill of the salty ocean water, I sat on the beach and read, soaking up the afternoon sun.
It was quite a long drive to our Air BNB for that night, but we didn't have any more set destinations for the day so it was a relaxing car ride. When we eventually arrived at the Air BNB, my mom was quite disappointed with the place (no need to go into it, but the air BNB was quite expensive given some deceptive marketing...). Despite the minor upset, there was a wonderful view of the mountains from where we stayed, and the woman taking care of the property (while the owner was away) was extremely friendly, and even brought us some cut up watermelon. After a little while, we drove into Sparti in search of some dinner. We had looked up a couple places on TripAdvisor, and ended up at a place called En Hatipi, which was a little out of the main downtown area. Again, we were dining too early for Greek standards, so we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.
The food was very much home-style Greek, and after talking a little bit with the waiter (and owner), we learned that all of the recipes came from his mother and grandmother. We spent quite a while chatting with the friendly man, and it ended up being one of the most pleasant encounters we had had in Greece! At the end of the meal, he brought us huge portions of a delicious complementary dessert, and we met his wife, as well as said hello to the whole family (and by this a mean the full three generations: grandparents, siblings, and some grandchildren!).
Full from dinner, we walked about twenty minutes to get into the center of town, and were met by a bustling night life. One bar in particular was nearly at it's maximum capacity, with people of all ages drinking the classic Greek iced coffee (called a freddo) and music sounded into the evening air. At the main square, there was a concentration of children, many of whom were playing soccer, while others just ran around together. It was also always entertaining to see sidewalk cafe seating areas packed with older Greek men, all turned to watch the news on an outdoor TV (though I very unfortunately did not get a photo of this). It was a perfect walk through town to get an authentic feel for the Greek lifestyle.
By the time we made it back to the car, it was a quiet drive to the apartment, and soon after I got ready for bed, and feel quickly into a deep sleep.
xx
Erin
No comments:
Post a Comment