Meet our new cousin George.

 

 Town of Pyrgos, Artefacts from Olympia, Ouzo factory, Ancient Monastery, Olympia Land winery, Meet Georges family, pizza oven, wife and mother-in-law, George taxi tours - his new Mercedes taxi

 

Katakolon is a small fishing village which has increased in popularity as a cruise ship port for the ancient site of Olympus. We have seen the site before, so we took a taxi tour with George, who soon became like another family member.

We wanted to get away from the touristy places and see the real lifestyle of the locals – and George, our guide, really delivered – our first stop was in the town of Pyrgos – an older city which was affected a few years ago by an earthquake and there are still signs of damage around the town. We took a walk through the downtown area and stopped for coffee at a lookout point – although the most common landscape was of the graffiti again – such a shame.

After coffee, we walked down to the newly opened museum of artefacts from Olympia – we were lucky that the man who had personally spent 29 years excavating the area and had found all the pieces in the museum was there, and was really keen to show us around – although he didn’t speak English, his enthusiasm for his work was contagious – typically of Greeks, he spoke very loudly and quickly to our guide – so fast that our guide and even Joanne, our resident Greek goddess, couldn’t translate fast enough – but we got enough to appreciate the beauty and function of the objects. He kept apologising that the signage wasn’t yet in English – the English signs are ordered but don’t arrive for ten days!

After the museum, we headed down the street and around the corner into a small shop which was the local Ouzo factory – it looked exactly how I imagine an illegal home drug lab would look – bits of pipe and containers everywhere – obviously there aren’t any health and safety testing in this region – but we closed our eyes to that and tasted the Ouzo – which comes in every colour of the rainbow – but all tastes the same!!! I tried the rose flavour – a light pink colour but still tasted the same as the normal variety – first time I have ever had Ouzo for morning tea.

Back into the car and out to the local monastery high in the hills with amazing vistas across the farms –olive trees and grape vines in every direction. We headed down to a local organic winery, the Olympia Land – the Liarommatis family estate – which has been farmed for four generations on the same land. Our guide was Amanta, the daughter of the family who is a qualified micro-biologist – however, as is a common story that we hear – she can’t find employment in Greece so she is working in the family winery. She showed us around the winery – it is peak picking season – the grapes are tested every day – and when the sugar content reaches the required concentration, the grapes are harvested immediately. The white grapes were picked last Friday and the red grapes are expected to be harvested this week.

Once back into the cellar, Amanta served platters of salami, cheese, bread, olive oil, tomatoes, and olives which we enjoyed the very generous glassfuls of each wine – the red wine had just won the gold medal at the Berlin Wine Show, and it was our consensus that it was well deserved – almost as good as Aussie wines!! The tomatoes were a rich red colour and delicious flavour – so different to our tomatoes, and freshly picked by her grandfather just before we arrived. The olives and olive oil were also produced by the family, as well as the biscuits which we were served after the wine. We bought a selection of wines, herb flavoured olive oils, black and green olives and biscotti. Amanta was a great hostess and we had lots of laughs with her, as she explained that their rural lifestyle.

George asked if we like figs, and when we replied that we did – he said that he was taking us to his home to get some. He took us into his village where everyone is related to him – his wife comes from a family of ten – and as we drove along the street he pointed to each house and told us who lived in each one – my sister, my brother-in-law, my mother-in-law, my cousin etc. etc. etc. We stopped at his home and he proudly took us around the back to see his pizza oven and outdoor cooking grill – under a large tree where the family eats most nights. His wife was busy with a hoe in the adjoining olive grove – she came down to meet us and chatted to Joanne in Greek – her mother called out and waved from the house down the hill and then we headed down the hill to pick the figs which we later took up to deck 11, and enjoyed at sail-away. A lovely interlude and a great way to get to understand the lives of the locals – something you will never get on a large group tour.

We headed off to a local restaurant for lunch and then we spent a wonderful hour at the Aldamer Olympia Resort beach – a sandy beach resort which is popular with Greek and Russian tourists – a typical European beach with little white umbrellas and blue loungers – apparently they are 5 euros to hire, but no-one came along to collect the money. It was another hot day, so we enjoyed the chance to cool off here.

We had a short drive through the village of Katakolon and back along the beach to the ship for our departure. The days that I like the best are when we are off the beaten track and meeting the locals – thanks George for taking us into your family and sharing your home with us.

Captain, pull in those lines and let us head to Corfu, birthplace of Prince Philip….