Greek Journal Part
VIII
Greek Journal: 5/13/2005-6/8/2005
Summary: DenveràLondonàAthensàLeptokaryaàLitochoroàMt.
OlympusàLitochoro
àKalambaka
(Meteora)àIguominitsaàCorfu TownàCorfu TrailàIguominitsaàZorganian Villages, Vikos Gorge and
5/272005: On the Corfu Trail,
We sell VE GETables from our gar/\en
There was an ivy
covered walk way next to the sign so we entered. Inside we were met by a very enthusiastic
woman. I think the enthusiasm stemmed
from the likelihood that she probably didn’t have very many customers. The veggies and fruit obviously came from her
yard and very small vineyard (about 10 plants).
We selected four tomatoes, two oranges and two apples, but when we tried
to pay she insisted we buy some of her home made wine. She poured us a glass of her finest kokino
krasi (red wine). She then pulled out about a 1 liter 
bottle plastic bottle of red wine, but after
we made it clear that we were traveling by foot and that was more than we
needed or could carry, she agreed to sell us a smaller size.
At the grocery store in Paromonas. Mo and the owner standing in front of entry way.
We then witnessed the
bottling process as performed by a true master.
The downsizing was accomplished by washing out an old 12 oz coke bottle
and pouring some of the wine from the larger bottle in to the smaller one. I believe the large bottle represented the
aging vessel for the wine and accounted for the deep, yet subtle, woody taste of the wine. While the wine was not 5 star, the 3 euros it
cost for the veggies, fruit, wine and the experience was well worth it.
Even though we joked
about the quality of the wine it took us about 20 minutes to polish it off.
Mo buying veggies and fine wine on our way out of
Paromonas
From the VE GETABLE
shop we climbed about 1,500 ft of old trails and tracks until we crested the
coast range and headed down in to the central valley between the east and west
coast. A short time later the
Checking out some realestate in Ano Pavliana
We descended in to
the village and once again lost sight of any trail markers. Using my very limited Greek we were able to
get very rough directions to Stavros, our end destination for the day. The rough direction were that the town was
many kilometers to the east. The initial
challenge was to find the
After walking some
distance our spirits were hopes were lifted when we actually entered a small
village. The first people we encountered
were an elderly couple, who in response to the question “Where is Stavros”,
entered in to a heated argument. The old
woman prevailed by brow beating the old man in to submission. Since we didn’t have anyone else around to
offer an opinion we followed the woman’s directions and headed back down the
hill we had just climbed. A half mile
later we met some lost tourists who had a map and determined that not only was
the old woman wrong, but the town we had come to was Vouniatades and we were on
the right trail before we met her. The
best part was that this whole experience was so acceptable at this point that
it was more entertainment than frustration.
Back up the hill we went to Vouniatades
looking for the Corfu Trail yellow diamond.
We walked all the way through town and out the other side, but no yellow
diamonds. I was so sure that the trail
branched off somewhere in the town that we went back up the hill from the other
side of town and sure enough, right in the middle of town, nailed to a
telephone pole, was a .
We headed down the
trail in to the
By luck and the
powers of deduction we kept making the right choices and by late afternoon we
entered Strongoli, the last town before Stavros. Strongoli is a speck on the map with one
street and a trail passing through it and one café sitting at the junction of
the road and trail. We had been going
for 6+ hours and were out of water so the café was a welcome oasis. We sat at one of the outdoor tables and
ordered our usual water, Mythos beer, Fanta, two Greek salads and bread. 
The café was surprising busy and we enjoyed
the company of four people from
After this
refreshing and magical break we started the final climb up the eastern costal
range to Stavros. An hour later we
reached Stavros and what we assumed would be our final destination for the day. The problem was that there were no
rooms. Not that there were no vacant
rooms, there were just no rooms in town.
We walked through this charming and ancient hill top town to the north
end. The buildings we passed were aged
and covered with vines and flowering plants.
We saw no sign of life until we came to a
small taverna at the very end of town.
The town of Stavros
The taverna owner,
Costas, was charming and told us he was planning on building a motel on top of
the bar sometime in the future. He also
told us to sit down at the bar, have a couple of drinks and when we were
relaxed and recovered he would drive us the 10 km down the mountain to Benitses
where he had a friend who owned a hotel on the beach and we could stay there
for the night. Done deal!!
After we drank and ate, Costas loaded us in his Audi and drove about 60 mph down this tight winding mountain road to Benitses as telling us on the way about his past life as race car driver. He pulled up in front of the hotel and in spite of our efforts to pay him for his troubles would not take any money. His friend was a nice middle aged lady who used to live in Stavros. She took us up to our beach view room where we promptly pulled our chairs on to the deck and spent the remainder of the late afternoon looking out on the calm Ionian sea as the sun set on another long and memorable day.