Day 327, Loutraki, Greece
Easter is an important holiday here, and it is happening right here, right now in Greece. In some ways it feels a little like our Christmas. There are red lights in the streets, even if they are of eggs and chicks.
We woke up and headed to the breakfast area of the hotel, where the owner cooked us a great breakfast with ham omelet, coffee, fresh bread, and the best fresh squeezed orange juice I’ve ever had. I know it sounds ultra cliche, but it’s as if you could taste the sunshine, and it was so naturally sweet. During our meal the Good Friday midnight mass from last night was playing loudly on the TV next to us. It’s as if we were eating our omelet in the front pew of the cathedral in Athens. Conversation was not possible the sung liturgy was so loud. There wasn’t a moment during that breakfast when you forgot where you were.
We moved from the hotel into our apartment, which is always fun. We decided to buy a coffee maker for the rest of the trip. It’s our fifth and final coffee machine purchase. We always do the math to see if it will pay off, and it does. We would have quite a collection of them if we’d kept them all, starting with the one in Costa Rica, then Paris, and on. The girls connected with great wifi and settled into their homework. Madi is in finals crunch time and had to finish a paper to turn in.
The best part first, the view.
People are buying three days worth of groceries, before the whole town shuts down from Sunday to Wednesday. Thank goodness someone told us or we would have been scrounging for food for a few days. We headed over to the grocery store by following people walking toward us with full grocery bags. There is a special fresh counter at the front of the store, and another counter for cheeses. There are barrels of soft cheese where they reach in and grab huge chunks of them and wrap them in paper. The feta cheese options are extensive. They also sell pickles by the bag. They didn’t sell much fresh fruit in this grocery store, but there are quite a few stands on the street to choose from. We got a large bag full of fresh oranges that taste like sunshine for 1 Euro. Loving the Greece.
Our apartment is on the boardwalk overlooking the Ionian Sea. We are above the Funky Monkey restaurant and can actually look down to see people eating at the tables. It’s a fantastic spot. Paul takes great care in booking where we stay and I am always impressed with the results of his research. The boardwalk and beach are full of people and dogs enjoying the day and each other’s company.
We had our first meal out on the balcony with the sun setting over the bay. It’s a large circular bay with a small opening in the distance. At midnight, which marks the beginning of Easter Sunday, the fireworks began. From our balcony you could see them going on in over 20 towns all around the bay and neighboring valleys and mountains, miniature firework displays happening everywhere, then doubled by the reflection in the bay. Madi said it looked like twinkling Christmas lights that were strung around the bay. It was fantastic, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
Usually there are many people on the boardwalk, and during the midnight fireworks, not a soul, no one. It was bizarre. No one was watching them from the water or the boardwalk, all the restaurants were closed even though it’s a Saturday night. The whole stretch was deserted. Then at 1 a.m., a rock band started playing somewhere close by and you could hear people out again. They played for hours, thank goodness they were pretty good or I would have minded. Eventually I fell asleep to the most unconventional, early Easter morning music. Another unique day.