OUR NEW HOME VILLAGE OF FRANTATO

                                                        

Turkey in distance 

While  waiting for permits to renovate our stone house, now is a good time to explore our village, best way to do this is on foot. Frantato  is a mountainous  village, approximately  244 meters  altitude with unobstructed  views of  mountains, Ikarian sea, is located on North side of  Island, from our house you can see Turkey in distance approximately  25 nautical miles away.

Last known census I could find was for 1991 there was 124 people living in village of Frantato. We start our walk here, we pass by  neglected Stone houses, one of historians in village(Kosta) tells us that many Ikarians left during hard times to make money elsewhere, went to  America, Australia, Athens, in hopes of returning one day. Some structures  have remained like this for over 100 years. Sadly some beyond repair, others waiting to be discovered, restored.

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                                                            Village Frantato

 

                                                          Stone house ruins

 Stairs garden

  

Vegatable  garden

       Ikaria is known to  be a self sustaining  Island!

        Every Ikarian has their own Vegatable  garden.

Olive is harvested

Placed in bottle of seawater 

Three months

Our first production 

                                                  

                                             

Vineyards in hibernation 

Every family here takes great pride producing  their own wine.  Most have a unlimited  supply of plastic coke bottles filled with their harvest stored in cold storage area.  At local  gatherings or when you drop in for a visit, its brought out to be  tasted, discussed, debated compared & celebrated. There is a feeling of satisfaction and pride for every family who had produced, harvested their wine.                                                 

                        

                                            

                                                    Family's production &

                                            Organized  Vineyard of Tsantiris 

My husband prefers locals production in plastic bottles as do most Ikarians.

For me locals  wines can be hit or miss, but I have to admit  I have drank some amazing homemade wines at weddings, celebrations, Baptisms & gatherings. Either way we will argue that we have both drank some of  most uncelebrated wine in the world. 

Not far up road is George & Eleni Organic  farm & vineyards they offer traditional cooking classes, along with wine pairing.We have enjoyed their farm to table dinners, we can tell you first hand Eleni is incredible hostess, has a passion for her cooking, it is evident in every dish she puts on her table. George  her husband, enjoys sharing  his knowledge about his farm and wines. Truly  authentic  Ikarian experience 

Dried grapes my husband had me
Sample raisin right off vine
Amazing taste

* Interesting  practice on Ikaria  is to add water to their wine when drinking.  I am  told their wine has high alcohol content 14-18%, if you want  to stay up all night at Panegeri( outdoor festival)  with  traditional Greek music, dancing, feasting on wild goat I am told  you must adopt  this practice. Ikarians also say you must add water to your wine on the months that don't include letter R *

While walking we ran into Lew

One of more colorful 

Ikarians

 

Lew

Cute Little creatures?..

                                     

We come across these strange spikey brownish looking things covering  road  in front of us. They look like a  brown Sea anemone to me.  I looked at my husband  bewildered, what are those? Are they alive? He looked at me started laughing , you really don't know? I shook my head no, look up he said you are standing under a giant Chestnut  Tree.  We had just  experienced  our first rain here since we arrived in July, the  rain had knocked Chestnuts onto road. We collect Chestnuts, bring  them home to shell their spiney exterior, boil them in salted water,  roast them over a fire. Nostimo!

                                                                CHESTNUTS 

It's peaceful & relaxing strolling through our new village. Beautiful  stone walls that mark beginning & end of a owners property, stone stairs that lead to a vineyard, gardens located on terraced land, paths that lead off into woods, but I am not brave enough to wander off the road yet so we continue on main road.

                                               Small Greek Orthodox  Church

We have passed by several of these beautiful  little churches, all of which are open, to light a candle,  sit in silence for awhile, pray.

Donkey Power

Wheat Mill

We wondered about  this structure that we had seen on our walk . We are told that they used a giant stone wheel pulled by a donkey to crush & grind wheat 

Saw a local with bag full these Acorns
She got away before I could ask 
What she would do with them?

We head to Square  of  Frantato meet up with Kiki & Dimitri ,

 for a dinner at a local Taverna. Their home is a  renovated  stone  house that  use to be a stable.

Kiki &Dimitris  house

 

We meet up at a small taverna in Frantato, which opens at 8pm. That's late for us to be eating our dinner, I am embarrassed  to say we are usually in for the night at this time, in Ikaria their evening  has just begun

Mural depicts  how village Frantato  got its 
name
Goat 🐐 herder named  Frantas was first
To pass by this land

 

Frantato Sites

Water well

Main church square 

We have gone  to square during daytime  

Church, Taverna, Kafenio are all closed ,square has a semblance  of a ghost town, not a soul to be found , only  wood fired bakery is open early to service villagers. 

Wood fired bread oven Frantato 

Night-time is a completely different experience. 

Frantato looks warm welcoming, soft lights come from old wavy glass windows, smoke billows from stone chimneys, a few locals wander about. We open a door to a Kafeneo, all eyes turn our way in curiosity.  A Kafeneo is a gathering  place, it use to be just  for men, to talk politics, drink a Greek coffee, or have a glass of wine, smoking like chimneys while they play  cards. 

Kalispera  Teddy says, Pou is Taverna? They continue to study us, as one man  points to  next door. I had feeling after door was closed we were a  subject for much discussion , its highly unusual  for a non local especially during fall/winter months to show up at their doorstep. 

Kiki & Dimitris  are waiting for us at one of two small tables.  A small pot belly wood stove is lit making  it  warm & cozy inside. Taverna is nothing fancy, but has its own charm. We open a  bottle of Karimalis wine that we brought with us. Taverna owners  are Nounoa & Pantelis, we order Souvlaki, French fries,traditional tzaziki sauce, barbecued chicken for the table ,of course my favorite a Greek salad. The owners dissappear out front door, come back 20 minutes  later, I don't know where they went to cook our food, but it was delicious. 

 Kiki laughs , everyone in Kafeneo  & probably  in village know who we are by now and what we are  doing in their village. 

 After awhile Two  men came in sat next to us on only other table. Introductions  were made, immediately  they sent over a carafe of local wine to celebrate welcome their new neighbors.  

Glasses are lifted & a traditional  toast of 

YAMUS

Ends our night!

I am curious  how many of you knew those  were Chestnuts?....