Well as promised we tried the suckling pig at the local taverna which turned out to be a little disappointing - the dish was a HUGE heap of pieces of roast pork without gravy or any sauce. The meat was tender, but didn't have any "oh wow" flavour. Gillian had a mousaka which was nice but not exceptional. One of the problems of the tavernas is that the portions are too large - even an appetiser can be a full meal for 2 people and as we want to try all the local dishes we always end up with more than we can eat. We particularly like the tzaziki which is fresh and often very garlicy and comes on a side plate piled up with about 500ml of tzaziki topped with a sprinkle of something red (not paprika) and finely sliced capisicum.
Another dish we really appreciate is the fried zucchini which arrives at the table as a heap of crisply golden fried lengthwise slices that have a wonderful flavour. Again the serving is huge.
Anyway the next day, our last at Marko's cottage, we lazed around and spent a bit of time on the beach. We tried another taverna in the middle of the local village with the wooden tables and chairs with checked table clothes set out on a terrace under low spreading trees looking out over the coastal plains towards the mountains. The food was good and it was pleasant to wath the light on the hills change as the sun set.
We packed and set out the next morning to return to our accommodation at Lechaio Beach near Corinth for the last 2 days of our stay on the Greek mainland. Our first stop was the museum at Chora which contains much of the stuff excavated from the Palace of Nestor we had visited a couple of days before, but we found that the museum closed on Mondays so we headed back to the road north. In the village of Chora we found an excellent example of modern traffic struggling to run alongside traditional village layout with one main road up the the square needing first gear and being 2 way with a total width between the houses of about 3m. Stopping at a small village to top up the fuel I spent a good 5 minutes negotiating with the old woman who ran the petrol station as she was convinced that the car should take diesel and she had to get a man from a nearby shop to confirm that I wanted petrol before she was prepared to dispense it. I presume that she has had a bad experience with furriners before.
After surviving the road through the hills we joined the motorway and once again marvelled at the quality of motorway system given the state of the Greek economy and the standard of Greek roads in general. As the centre of the Peloponnese is high and mountainous the motorway runs through several tunnels and over major bridges maintaining an alignment easily suitable for 130kph travel. If only NZ could do the same!
The moutains either side of us were steep barren rock sparsely covered with occasional low growth with the ares between being flat and cultivated, but still very dry. On the coast near Kalamata we crossed 2 small rivers, both looking like a string of stagnant pools and after that we did not see another watercourse with water. While not as arid as Israel this is a dry unforgiving country to live in. Having said that we have not seen any water restrictions any where we have been, but I don't know whether the water is all from underground sources or like Israel they use large scale desalinisation plants.
Arriving at Lechaio Beach we were greeted like long lost friends and tole that we had been missed for the 6 days we had been away. I know its just "hospitality speak", but its nice to be recognised. In our feedback for the accommodation when we left I had noted the lack of a hot water jug in the unit, even though there was a filter coffee machine. Anyway soon after we settled in a staff member came over with a jug for us - they actually take note of what people say!
We have spent the next 2 days lazing around the beach and pool in very pleasant temperatures around 35C. Tomorrow we fly to Samos to spend 2 weeks with our English friends Sue and Steve Baker.
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