My Greek neighbour

This morning we walked down to the harbour to see if we could buy some fish from one of the boats that had just come in. When we arrived I caught eye of our Greek neighbour Vasilis. He waved and yelled something in Greek and then “Fish?” – I nodded and while he kept talking we followed him to where he kept his fish. He gave me a blue plastic bag and inside were a lot of little fish that I´m assuming were Sardines. I looked at him at asked “euro?” and he answered “pente” – which is one of the few Greek words I do know – so I smiled and nodded and gave him 5 euro.

I ran back to the house to leave the fish in the fridge and when I returned to the harbour we walked over to Café Eva for morning tea and coffee. From there you can see the entire bay and all the fishing boats lined up next to each other – what a great way to start a day.

When we got back we realized that we´d set out to buy one or two fish but ended up with almost three pounds of lovely little fresh sardines … and a lot more work. We cut them open and cleaned them inside before rinsing them in water. Each sardine was salted and filled with parsley pesto that I made yesterday and grilled on the terrace.

While that was going on we made potato chips in the oven and half an hour later we sat at the table and had an absolutely fantastic lunch.

This lot is actually only half of what we bought – I suspect we´ll be having a few more sardine meals:-)

If you sit in one of these chairs you have a fantastic view of the Aegean Sea and Nimos Island … goes very well with fresh grilled fish.

Here we go – ready for the grill and oven.

Bon appétit …

Am now very full and very happy. Thank you Vasilis – what a great neighbour!!

Surrounded by colours

I´ve moved to Symi Island in Greece for the winter. As you can see it´s a very colourful place. Walking down the narrow lanes looking at houses painted with happy colours or lifting my eyes to the view of the ocean overwhelms me … deeply.

I live in a beautiful house. It´s white with lavender shutters. It has an outdoor kitchen and bathroom. And I love it. Getting up early in the morning, putting on a warm sweater and standing outside stirring the pot with steaming oatmeal. The constant view of the ocean and the ships that come and go. Washing the dishes with a ray of sun coming through the vine and a breeze caressing my cheek. And of course getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, crossing the terrace and looking up to the dark nightsky and stop momentarily to gaze at the stars. Somehow this makes me feel at home – alive. Living such a big part of the day outside in all kinds of weather. It makes my soul rejoice. Yes it will probably get cold at some point and yes it will rain, but I´m feeling optimistic and today we put up a big white sail over the kitchen so that we can walk from the house to the bathroom without getting wet.

I don´t know what it will lead to or what will happen next. But I´m here now and it feels very promising:-)