Pezoules Garden Terracing

Pezoules  located below stone house

Pezoules are a form of  garden terracing often found in mounainous regions.This type of farming on hillsides prevents soil from eroding, losing its valuable nutrients. Of course our pezoules were buried underneath bushes, brambles, bamboo. We have spent  our winter  months, cleaning pezoules, preparing  them for spring planting, it has not been a easy feat, brambles had Teddy looking like he had tangled with a wild Bobcat.

Bamboo & Brambles
Pezoule 1 Chicken coop
Pezoule  2 Vegatable  garden
Pezoule 3 Olive & fruit trees

 Stone house: 1st draft is complete, we are over the moon with  Kosta's design. 

First floor: Main house consists of kitchen, dining room, 1.5 bathrooms, Master bedroom,pantry, large outdoor terrace.

Second floor: Studio apartment for family &friends , kitchen, b/r, sleeping loft, terrace, Master bedroom with its own Balcony, amazing Sea &Mountain views.

 Villa Notias

 Hospitality of our neighbors has been nothing short of  amazing , supplying us with use of their water, electricity, preparing trays of  freshly baked bread, creamy goat cheese, traditional Greek coffee. 

Coffee  break

                                                                   

Preparing  connect water lines

    Permitting  process has been excruciating. We are still awaiting forestry approval for new addition we applied for September 2020. Also needed is a permit for existing roof. We learned there wasn't a permit pulled some 10 years ago when it was put on, which was typical for this time period. House Plans still have to go too Island of Samos for its stamp of  approval.

   Deed is ready but cannot  be executed till we get a permit for the illegal roof.  It's not allowed  to connect electrical meter till all windows & doors are installed. We didn't want to place our order for  windows & doors till we have our deed in hand. Anyway you get the picture, everytime we climb over a hurdle another one appears behind  it. We  had been warned early on about dealing with Greek systems, let me tell you they weren't joking! I've read alot on line about this, our take away & our new mantra.

     BE PATIENT, keep your eye on prize, it will all be worth it in end.

Waiting

We have been asked a lot about weather during winter months. Its not what one would expect when you hear about a Greek  Island We were taken by surprise in  January when it snowed left a couple of inches  on ground. Mostly though  it's been windy, rainy, raw. Temperatures occasionally in low 30's, average in 50's, wind makes  it feel much colder. Silver lining to all  this, after every wild storm we are rewarded with a spectacular rainbow. 

After every storm is a  beautiful rainbow 

 

Rainbows 🌈 Waterfalls

Waterfalls 

 

                               

Rainbow  over  Ikarian  Sea 

   

   June to September we saw rain one time.  December more than makes up for it. Torrential rains occurs, mostly at night time, cloudy & windy during days creating beautiful rainbows, waterfalls on almost every turn in road .

Waterfalls road too Karkinagri

At night, skies become inky,  ominous thunder clouds move in with spectacular displays of  lightning  that zig zag across the sky, illuminating the sea, accompanied by ear deafening claps of thunder that echo louder louder between mountains.

  There has been slow progress with our stone house. Greece is in full lockdown since November due to uptick in covid cases. Athens, Thessaloniki, especially in north of Greece are flooded with cases. All muncipal offices are closed, its as if they have pressed pause button on life.

  Ikaria has been blessed with only one case of Covid, a foreigner from England was on holiday, upon receiving  his diagnosis he was immediately  flown by helicopter to Athens to a covid hospital.

 Ikaria is being studied  for its lack of cases. I know everyone has their own theories, but I personally think that it is  any one thing. I believe it's partly due its remoteness, its small  population of approximately 8000 residents. 

 Ikarians have vegtable gardens & animals for their own consumption,  immune systems that seems to be in tact. 

 

Their drinking water is  filtered through  rocky terrain resulting  in a high mineral content. 

Filtered water

Soil has not been  depleted of its natural nutrients, I can attest to this fact first hand. I have spent lots of money along with back breaking hours gardening in US, only for my  plants & flowers to die. I  always thought I just didn't  have a green thumb. 

Olive tree

On the Island of Ikaria anything I plant seems  too grow, amazingly without assistance of  products like miracle grow. Plant sharing is very much part of culture here. I have been given cuttings , thinking to myself they will never survive , yet they do, not only do they grow they thrive. 

Cutting given to us from neighbor 

Surprisingly we witnessed an influx of tourist during summer months,  mostly from European Union, as ferrys ⛴ loaded unloaded tourists, we held our breath waiting to see if covid would invade our island. 

Ferry departing

Of course there is Ikarians red wines that are loaded with polyphenols (micro nutrients)  packed with anti- oxidants.

 Herbs gathered from mountainsides, then dried stored in glass jars. Later to be drank as tea's throughout cold winter months.

Wild fllowers

 

Honey, collected  from many hives that dot rough terrain along mountainside is added to their tea. Ikarotes believe honey has many  medicinal qualities.

Ikarian Tea & Honey

Ikarians naturally get their daily exercise,  spending time out doors tending to their gardens, goats, vineyards, collecting wild greens & herbs. 

Every month there seems to be a reason to be outside. December is month to collect wild mushrooms & greens from forest, wood for fireplaces.

 

We are lucky enough to have our friend Georgia, who is Biologist, willing to spend time with us in forest finding, identifying, collecting wild mushrooms. Our  first excursion, we collected over 10 lbs & 5 different varieties  of 🍄 mushrooms. Sadly I didn't  find one mushroom, my hubby was on fire, made up for it by collecting most mushrooms. 

Georgia & Teddy

Foraging for Mushrooms 

Even though there are no cases on Ikaria, all of Greece  is in lockdown and their borders are closed.  

To  leave your residence we have to send  a SMS message, saying where you are going,  (only 6 approved reasons that you can use)   in your sms message you must include ,your name, where you live, time you left. Once you enter all your information, you will get a text approving your movement.

  If stopped by police  you must show your phone with approval, your passport, or Greek ID. If you don't have a phone, you must  carry a hand written paper with you.  If you can't produce an SMS, large fines are given, from 500-1500 euro's.

Green is Request& black permission proceed 

 To add insult to injury, Ikaria and her sister Island, Samos experienced devastating  6.7 magnitude earthquake, on October  30th 2020, with damage to buildings, churches, loss of life on Island of  Samos. Locals on Ikaria cannot recall ever experiencing  an earthquake.

Greek Orthodox  Church Samos(courtesy Pappas post)
Gaping hole 

Samos happens to be  where all  of our land papers are awaiting approval, so you can only imagine,having  an antiquated system, chaos of covid lockdown, an earthquake!

Priorities  have shifted  to disaster management, everything is understandably sitting in a pile somewhere waiting for world 🌎  to get back to normal. No one knows when that will be.

   

   To date this is where we stand regarding our  property. Our land has been surveyed, we're awaiting a plan from Architect so we can get quotes  from contractors. Our lawyer Anthi has filed a petition in court to determine if Periklis  is sole owner, that there are no liens against  it.

Kosta our Architect 

 On Ikaria land  is passed on by word of mouth, wills are a rarity,  so a lawyer must determine if this is true, by contacting all parties involved, by petioning court, talking to neighbors, siblings, children, or a spouse.

Our notary, Yiannis (similar to a lawyer ) will receive 1% of purchase price.  We hired him to handle our case back in  September, we were surprised when we stopped by his office, he told us maybe next year he would be able to execute the contract. When we began this  process we were told it would take  only 2-3 months. We left his office feeling a bit discouraged . 

We  then had to remind ourselves we are truly blessed in these difficult  times, this  is what truely matters. 

Teddy & I want to wish our family friends across the seas  

Merry Christmas 🎅  Healthiest  of New Year

May all your wishes dreams you put on hold come true

Happy Hanukkah 

 

 

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.

: 

                                                            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?....

 

Hidden Treasures

          

Grapes placed in  this Vat
In front of our house
Waiting To be stomped

   While we wait for permits, we spend some time at property, pruning, cleaning, disposing debris, removing  junk that has accumulated over many years. A seat from an old pick up truck, rotted doors, broken windows , black rubber hoses, beer cans, smashed wooden table,brush, lots of un-salvagable stuff to be disposed  of.

  Among debris, under bushes & overgrown shrubs we have unearthed 

some interesting treasures, some obvious, some hidden away waiting  to be discovered. 

Stone Kitchen sink

Marianna, Paschale's wife  & our good friend, is very  knowledgeable  about the  Island, even though she was born in  Athens, her grandmother lived on Ikaria, she spent every summer here while growing up, eventually met married a Ikarian man.  

She  knows myths, legends, secret beaches , local customs,

 IKAROTE DANCES, how to cook delicious  Ikarian foods. She explains that this time of year (September) grapes are collected  from vineyards,  locals place them inside vats like this one in front of the house, Ikarotes stomp on them with bare feet to get all juices from harvested grape.

Marianna says, look down there, I look down, I see nothing but green thorny thick  shrubs. LOOK CLOSER  she says, underneath all those thorny brambles, we see  a stone vat that has been hidden for years  with overgrowth, she then goes on to explain thats where the juices of the stomped grapes drain from up above.

She says look over onto the other side, in an almost mirror image to  first , all we can  see is more brambles it looks like you have two, maybe three Kioupi's. 

 We have what?  Marianna laughs, she  says those  

are antique terracotta vessels  called Kioupis, locals  take juices from grapes that has drained into the stone vat  pour them into Kioupis to age,sometimes locals bury the Kioupi's into the earth, as this is  a perfect temperature  for  wine making.

I am so excited , I grab my garden snips, put on my gloves, run down to where the Kioupis are.

 I`m ready to cut away brambles to uncover these beautiful artifacts. Marianna starts waving her arms  as Greeks do when they are excited,  STOP she says, startled I stop my work to look up to where she is standing, waiting for explanation.  These are very valuable, if  you uncover them for the gypsy to see, they will take them to sell . Greeks love to have these  100 year old pots in their gardens, or on their terraces. Kioupis can bring as much as 500-600 euros. 

You must wait till you move into house, then have Micos your ( stone guy) who knows how to  recover  these delicate vessels, without breaking them.

 I think to myself, I have so much to learn here on Ikaria.

Under years of  overgrowth we can see another stone structure of some kind, 

off to side of  house. 

We begin clipping away at the brush covering  a stone form.

It's a  Fourno declares Marianna,  Fourno is Greek  for outside stone oven, this  is an ancient way to make  village bread, its cooked inside a stone oven over a wood fire.

Anyone who knows my husband (Teddy)he  is primary cook in family,  he gets excited says I can make amazing pizza in this oven. 

Of course we  all can't wait for that day to come!

Addendum: We have learned from  our Notary, our paperwork has made it to Samos for approval,

 but Clerk of court will be out on sick leave for a few weeks

She is only one who does this job, so Samos has  closed court till she returns, but we are still smiling