Greek recipes

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Greek papoutsakia are the yummiest ‘little shoes’. Tastes like moussaka!

 

The most delicious ‘little shoes’ are made with eggplant (melitzana)!

Today, I am sharing yet another authentic, traditional Greek recipe.

“Papoutsakia” means “little shoes” in Greek, and it is eggplant stuffed with beef mince and topped with bechamel sauce and cheese.

Awesome sauce, right? Tastes just like moussaka sans the potatoes. Enjoy this step-by-step recipe that’s easy to follow and an absolute pleasure to devour 🥰

And, if you think it’s too calorie-dense for you, fret not! At the end of the recipe post, you will find my suggestions for low-calory variations.

No matter how you make papoutsakia, you’re bound to love it, so I hope you’ll choose to try it.

GET THE RECIPE

 

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Greek beach wildlife, gemista, and eggs in tomato sauce

I was spooked in the water by a sea turtle ! (but, in my defense, it was huge!)

If you’ve been following me for a while you must know that I live in the small seaside town of Nea Peramos (near Athens).

Our local beaches. and especially the popular one that I swim in, are graced by sea turtles.  I have repeatedly seen two together, but other locals say they have seen a whole family floating together.

In the recent years, we have been spotting a seal too. One day, it floated right past my husband and me in the deep waters. By the time we’d recovered from the shock it had swum away.

The seal has long disappeared from our area, but the sea turtles are still here. I see them on most days, far in the deep waters, mostly.

Their heads are so big they are easily spotted from afar.

The other day, one of them, a huge one, was splashing by a buoy in the deep water. That kept on for whole minutes. It was quite a show, and I seemed to be the only one who had noticed it.

I guess it’s because I always look out for them. That day, I could see its giant head and its whole fin as it splashed about, looking like it was having fun or hunting for something by the buoy.

And then, another morning, I had the shock of my life. I did a deep dive in fairly shallow waters, and as soon as I came out, about four-five meters away from me, I saw a huge sea turtle staring at me, its head fully out of the water. I froze. It had big black round eyes like buttons, and a green head covered with scales. Of course, I panicked 😨 and swum swiftly to the shallows.

As I neared four elderly women, I told them I just saw the turtle. Soon, a bunch of people gathered there, all of them looking out to sea to try and spot it.

By the time I got out to sit on the sand, I was laughing. They were all looking at a cormoran in the deep water (we have loads in the marshes of our area and they come over all the time to hunt in the sea).

The cormoran, as you probably know, has a long and thin neck, much like a swan’s, while the sea turtle has a huge, almost ball-like neck as seen from afar.

And yet, the locals were looking at the cormoran and going: “Oh! Look! It’s the sea turtle! Oh, how cute!”

Bless them, they couldn’t tell the difference. The funniest thing, though, was that the sea turtle was just to the left of them at the time, a fairly short distance away, but they never saw it. They totally missed it. They were focusing on the cormoran in the far distance instead.

This is what real-life comedy is made of, surely. I know I tittered as I watched the sea turtle swim near them totally unnoticed and couldn’t stop 😅

I was pleased to find these photographs online, taken by a local lady, who spotted the turtle while kayaking in the deep waters. These are the only photos I have of the turtle, but hopefully, more will follow. Just look at the size of that head. No wonder I panicked! 😛

 
 

Who enjoys cooking when it’s scorching hot?

I certainly don’t! This special, fried eggs recipe I am sharing today is my late Grandmother Antigoni’s. You will find many variations of it online with the names ‘kagianas’ and ‘strapatsada.’

Back in the 1980s, when I used to spend three months every summer on Corfu, Granny used to serve this often for lunch. She used ripe beef tomatoes and lashings of olive oil.

The sauce was divine and ample, begging for pieces of bread to be dunked in it. I remember feeling amazed every time. How could something made from just a couple of basic ingredients taste so heavenly?

I kept asking my granny to fess up, convinced she kept a special ingredient as a secret, but every time, she assured me she did not.

These days, I use much less oil than Granny did, seeing that when she treated me to that meal I was a youngster, but I am getting long in the tooth now, LOL. Still, despite the fact I serve it rather dry on the  plate now, it still has the same heavenly taste.

Following Granny’s advice, I only make it with summer tomatoes. Try it! Just make sure to serve it with fresh, crusty bread. It makes all the difference. Yum!

GET THE RECIPE

 
 

My new, enhanced Gemista

Speaking of summer recipes, I had to squeeze in this one since I recently updated it on my blog.

I made a couple of changes that enhanced the meal, including the temperature it cooks on.

Also, I now add half a teaspoon of turmeric in the bowl that contains the raw rice, tomato, and herbs mix. This enriches the taste further, not to mention giving the potatoes this mouthwatering, yellow tint.

So, what do you think? You’re welcome to get the recipe and dine like a Greek!🍴

This meal is perfect for a summer lunch or dinner. It’s equally delicious served cold, so makes for great picnic food on the beach 🏖️

GET THE RECIPE

And don’t forget the tzatziki! 😘

 

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The Castle of Ioannina and delish air fryer frittatas

The Castle of Ioannina

In a recent post, I shared about the island on the lake of Ioannina and the history and the legends that connect it to Ali Pasha.

This evil Ottoman ruler had given the order to drown Lady Frosini and seventeen other women in the lake, and it was an injustice so huge and so cruel that the Greeks never managed to forget it across the centuries. You can read my post here if you missed it.

Today, I am sharing about the Castle of Ioannina, i.e. the fortified old quarter of the city that offers stunning views of the mountains and the lake. Visitors can visit there a series of historical buildings.

 
 

The Castle of Ioannina has maintained the same form since the Ottoman period. Ali Pasha rebuilt it in 1815 almost from scratch. Previously, the grounds were used as a fortress in both the Byzantine and Hellenistic eras. The Normands also occupied the Castle and made alterations to it.

Perhaps, one of the most beautiful historical buildings in the Castle is the Fethiye Mosque (see photo above). The Church of Archangel Michael used to stand in its place during the Byzantine period.

The tomb of Ali Pasha is situated before the mosque today. Beside it stands the impressive Byzantine Museum of Ioannina that has a line of old cannons outside, on the back end of the building. It was built on the ruins of Ali Pasha’s “Serai” (Turkish for “Palace”).

The visitor will find these edifices in one of the two inner fortresses of the Castle that is called “Its Kale” (Turkish for “Inner Castle”). It was made by the Normands and it is on the southestern corner.

 
 

The northeastern corner was once the main fortress area of the Byzantines. The main point of interest here today is the Mosque of “Aslan” Pasha (Turkish for “Lion”).

Other points of interest on the Castle include: The Silversmithing Museum (see photo above), the Treasury, the Hamam, the Byzantine Baths, the Synagogue et al.

 
 
 

More breathtaking views awaited me as I walked along the Lake Pamvotida. The pedestrian path is wide and seems to go on forever. But alas, it was Christmas Day and particularly chilly, so I only had a quick stroll and then dived into a semi-closed space at one of the lakeside cafes that was nicely heated.

 
 

The cafe I picked called to me from afar as its sign read “Kyra Frosini” i.e. Lady Frosini of the old legend, which is basically my name – Effrosyni.

I am glad I chose it as it served delicious coffee and the freshest mille feuille that I have ever tasted 🥰

Earlier that day, I had picked a busy family taverna for lunch, which is called Rebetiko. I had roast lamb and it was absolutely yummy. I highly recommend both these places if you’re ever in town!

Again, if you’ve missed my post about Ali Pasha and the museum that bears his name on the little island, you can find it here. I highly recommend a visit there too, if only for the quick ride on the cute little boats across the serene lake waters.

GO HERE TO SEE MY PHOTOS from the lake and the Castle of Ioannina!

 

My new toy in the kitchen is an air fryer!

Finally, my husband Andy and I caved a couple weeks ago to everyone’s insistence, who kept praising their air fryers, hailing them as the best thing since man invented the wheel (well, not really, but you know what I mean🙃 )

I guess we had to see it for ourselves to believe it.

And it is true. The air fryer has tranformed the way we cook and we now use it on most days. It’s amazing how crunchy it makes fries with just a sprinkle of oil and what a big saving it is on electricity to cook meat as opposed to the oven.

And I still can’t believe how fluffy and tender it makes everything it cooks, especially eggs and meat.

This small frittata with egg, spinach and feta cheese in the above picture is out of this world good. My air fryer is large so I can fit four silicone moulds in it at the same time.

Using 4 eggs, I can make 4 frittatas in no time at all. I just beat the 4 eggs with salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, optionally adding some basil too. Then, I mix in 100 ml milk, 50 gr of chopped spinach, 50 gr of crumbled feta cheese and 50 gr of chopped tomatillos.

Using a ladle, I fill the 4 silicone moulds and carefully place them in the air fryer basket.

No need to preheat! I set them to cook at 160 degrees C for 15 minutes and they come out fluffy and golden, a piece of heaven!

Since I am still a new user I am still discovering new recipes. If you have one that you love cooking in your air fryer do comment below or send me an email and share it with me. I’ll be really grateful!😃

 

Before I go, to share a FREE sample from my upcoming novel, “My Greek Island Christmas”, set in Santorini. Enjoy!

New! Clean Christmas romance. Two broken hearts. One magical holiday. A Santorini farm where anything can happen. 

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DID YOU ENJOY THIS POST? CHECK OUT THIS ONE ABOUT MY VISIT TO THE AMAZING MUSEUM OF ALI PASHA THAT’S ON A TINY ISLAND IN THE LAKE OF IOANNINA. READ ALL ABOUT THE LEGEND OF KYRA FROSINI AND THE SCARY LITTLE DUCK I MET THERE THAT MADE ME LAUGH NO END 🙂

 

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The island of Ali Pasha, a scary little duck, and fish in tomato sauce

 

The island of Ali Pasha in the lake of Ioannina offered sadness but also laughter

During my recent trip to Epirus where my husband and I stayed in the historic city of Arta, we visited another historic city – Ioannina – for a day. Ioannina is a stunning city built on the lake Pamvotida, and there is a small inhabited island in it that people can visit on small tourist boats. All day, they go back and forth on the lake, full of tourists.

The first thing we did when we arrived at Ioannina was to queue up for the next boat to the island to see the museum of Ali Pasha and have a walk around.

Seeing that this island was never given a name, it is colloquially called “The Island of Ioannina”, “The Island of Ali Pasha”, or “The Island of Kyra Frosini.”

Ali Pasha was an Albanian from Tepeleni who became a ruler of Epirus in the days of the Ottoman Empire. Although during his longstanding rule over the Greeks he built many Christian churches, roads, and generally benefited the Greek people greatly, he was also infamous for his cruelty.

In my post about the famous bridge of Arta I mention an ancient plane tree by the bridge where Ali Pasha would have people hanged. He loved to sit under it and watch the people hanging on the branches.

That was him all over. And the comeuppance he got in the end was just as cruel, I believe. As they say, what goes around comes around… I’ll tell you about that a little later in this newsletter…

Perhaps one of the most cruel deeds of Ali Pasha was the heartless decision to have a local woman, “Kyra Frosini” (Lady Effrosyni), drowned at the lake along with seventeen other young women on the night of 11 January 1800.

Kyra Frosini was no Jane Doe, and her execution caused much upheaval in the community. She was an aristocrat and socialite, a mother of two children, who was greatly admired for her beauty and her intelligence. Her family was local but very rich, seeing that her father was a merchant in Venice.

Frosini had an affair with Ali Pasha’s son, and Ali Pasha’s wife couldn’t stand it. It was because of her insistence that Ali Pasha gave the order to have Kyra Frosini arrested and drowned at the lake for adultery, while punishing at the same time seventeen other innocent girls in the same way.

However, there are rumors that Ali Pasha himself was in love with Frosini and thus had her killed out of spite as she’d chosen his son instead of him, and that he had the other girls executed to hide his real motive.

Whatever was the real reason for the executions, the legend still holds strong today. The name Kyra Frosini is famous all over Greece. Her name is especially prominent on the lips of everyone who visits Ioannina, seeing that through the centuries the attrocity transpired in the lake is still deemed so difficult to digest that everyone keeps speaking of it, unwilling to let it be forgotten.

The museum of Ali Pasha is housed in a traditionally stone-decked old building that is in the grounds of the old Monastery of St Panteleimon. Before entering the museum, I visited another small building at the court. It had a single space inside, the display dedicated to the drowning of Kyra Frosini.

Inside a small barge, the visitor will see dummies of Kyra Frosini and the Turks who carried out the merciless deed of her execution. A lament echoes through the speakers while a large TV screen silently plays on a loop the scene of the drowning from the 1959 movie, The Lake of Sighs starring Irene Papas in the role of Frosini.

It was heartbreaking to stand inside that room and witness all that, to say the least, and I lingered a few moments silently in there to contemplate upon the cruelty and attrocities of evil rulers, and the longstanding oppression of the barbaric Ottoman Empire over my homeland, in particular.

 

In Greece, we have a saying that goes, “He/she put on Arta and Yannina” (Yannina is a colloquial way to say “Ioannina”.) The saying is used when someone is overdressed, especially when they’re wearing too much jewellery.

This is a remnant from the days of the Ottoman Empire, where places like Arta, Ioannina, and Zagori were inhabited by rich Greek merchants. They lived in luxury, displaying their wealth with gold-threaded clothing and heavy jewellery, in huge contrast to the masses of their countrymen who lived under miserably poor conditions.

Inside the museum of Ali Pasha, the many artefacts of clothing and jewellery from that era attest to that fact, showing how this saying came about.

The museum has two levels full of displays, some easier to digest than others. I refer here to the dungeon and torture instruments part of the displays where one can see torture tools that I am having trouble to forget.

The most gory of all was an instrument that ‘separates flesh from bone’. Just looking at it behind the glass and imagining how the very thing had been used, surely even on innocent people, caused my blood to chill. Sometimes, being an author with an active imagination can be counterproductive LOL!

After considering the oppression and the cruelty of the Turkish rulers, and the suffering they have caused to my countrymen while I shuffled from display to display, I finally reached one that told the story of Ali Pasha’s day of demise.

In the end, it was his own people who turned against him, branding him a traitor. So, on January 24, 1822, knowing that Ali Pasha had found refuge at the Monastery of St Panteleimon on the island of Ioannina, Turkish military men attacked him there. Ali Pasha shot at the men and a short battle ensued.

Having been mortally wounded, the 81-year-old was rendered helpless. The men dragged him to the court outside and beheaded him there, at the same space that is now the entrance to the museum. They then took his head to the Sultan Mahmud II, who had ordered the execution, to show proof that it had been carried out.

Leaving the main museum building, I entered another small one across from it. It had two tiny halls that house letters from prominent Greeks, like Alexandros Ipsilantis, and many household items too, like porcelain figurines and pottery.

After that, making a right turn past the Ali Pasha Museum I arrived at the small caves that were used by the locals in WWII. They fled there to shelter themselves from the bombings carried out by the Italians in November 1940.

In the cave openings, now stand dummies of men, women and children, while old items of the era are scattered everywhere, like a radio, lanterns, flasks, stretchers and petrol containers. Sounds of bombings echo from the speakers. It is a bleak, yet, I expect, accurate representation of another harrowing era in this city’s vast past.

The same caves also served as dwellings to holy men in the 15th century – like Saint Savvas and monks Theophanes and Nektarios Apsarades who founded the Varlaam Monastery in Meteora.

An insistent (and rather scary) little duck

After seeing all the displays, it was time for some fun outdoors. I had kept some ‘koulouri’ (sweetened bread with sesame) to feed the ducks and once they saw me holding it they swam straight at me. One of them quickly proved to be the quickest to get to the bits of sustenance, but it also turned out to be insatiable!

Once I’d thrown all the bits, it came out of the water and started to follow me around. I kept shooing it and laughing, and it kept looking at me inquisitively, as if saying, “Come on! Where’s the rest of it?”

Somehow, it let me go in the end, and once it began to waddle away from me an Asian lady approached it and tried to pet it. The moment her hand hovered over its head, before she even got to touch it, this duck emitted the most shrill loud scream one could ever imagine would come out of such a small creature.

The poor Asian lady literally jumped back in horror, then walked away in a hurry from the mad fowl. It’s been four months and I still laugh when I think about it haha

More fun awaited at the sweet shop, “A Thousand Quintals of Sugar.”

Before visiting the island someone had tipped me off to look out for the ‘funny guy’ who is famous on Tik Tok. They said he sells traditional syrupy desserts of Ioannina in his shop that are unmissable. The family make them in their own preparation facility a little further down the road from the shop.

I clocked the guy easily! And you can’t miss the shop. It’s on the path from the dock to the museum of Ali Pasha, and it’s right in front of you when you get to it.

The shop is called A Thousand Quintals of Sugar (In Greek, Χιλια Κανταρια Ζαχαρη) and the logo is a drawing of Kyra Frosini (I told you she’s everywhere!)

The man stands at the shop entrance giving people little treats to entice them to buy while making funny faces, calling the strangers funny names and saying the most hilarious things. I had a little taste of the guy’s humor and I soon was in stitches just like everybody else.

He called me ‘bourbourini mou’ and I have no idea what that means LOL! And he called all the men ‘Pashako mou’ which means ‘My little Pasha).

There are some absolutely hilarious clips of him on Tik Tok (hashtag #γαργαλιαρης), if you’re interested in seeing him firing on all cylinders with a big crowd. You can watch the short video I took of him to get an idea. You’ll hear me giggling away 🙂

He didn’t stop speaking both times I passed by and while I shopped inside the store, and people kept laughing. He is like the Duracell bunny champion of salesmen, what a guy!

Well worth visiting the island just to meet him! Chances are, he’ll see you and call you over before you even spot him LOL!

I don’t know if he’d be interested in a career as a comedian, but he definitely has the talent!

After purchasing a selection of his delicious desserts we also got some souvenirs from the many Greek art stores. If you’re ever in Ioannina do check out their silverware on display. The silver craftsmen of Ioannina are famous, and you’ll find something to take away with you at a low price to cherish forever, that’s for sure.

I have uploaded my photos from the island on Facebook. Go here to check them out! You will see more artefacts at the museum, the caves with the WWII display, and also the glass tanks full of live eels and frogs at the tavernas on the dock.

Oh yes! Eels and frog legs are on the menu over there, but, of course, I shied away, LOL!

You can also visit the museum website to see more photographs.

 

Before I end this post, I’d like to share a quick recipe with you.

This quick and easy meal with fish and prawns is best served on a bed of rice or fries. I’ve also had it with boiled potatoes. That works too!

The tomato sauce is very light as the recipe uses only fresh tomato in small quantity. It’s a light but hearty meal to have for dinner.

Although it’s aestherically pleasing as it is, being so colorful, I sometimes add a final touch using the super-nutritious black sesame seed as you can see in the picture. It adds a dash of color to the boiled rice, too.

Hubby loves it!

GO HERE TO GET THE RECIPE

 

DID YOU ENJOY THIS POST? CHECK OUT THIS ONE ABOUT THE STUNNING FORTIFIED QUARTER OF IOANNINA THAT STANDS ON A HILLTOP AND OFFERS AMAZING VISTAS

 

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The stone bridge of Plaka in Epirus and Greek baked fish with onions and tomatoes

The most intrepid thing I’ve done in ages…

During my Christmas break in Epirus where my husband and I stayed in the historic city of Arta, we visited the mountain area of Tzoumerka for a day. Our first stop was the famous stone bridge of Plaka dating from 1866.

An earlier attempt to build it was made in 1863, but the bridge had collapsed on the day of its inauguration!

During WWII, it was bombed by the Germans near its centre but the damage was easily repaired.

This bridge is the biggest of its kind in the Balkans and the third biggest in Europe. The arch is 40 metres (130 ft) wide and 17.61 m (57 ft 9 in) high.

This marvelous single-arch stone bridge was demolished in February 1, 2015 during a flood caused by a heavy rainfall. Only a small bit on either side remained, only what touched the ground. The rest of the bridge, all parts that hovered in the air, collapsed.

It was on the news in Greece at the time, and everyone got upset about it, seeing that the stone bridges of Tzoumerka, just like those in Zagori, are legendary, unique in their mastery, and it’s not easy to replicate these nowadays.

Still, the architects and engineers at the Athens Polytechnic University stepped in, worked diligently, and were able to reconstruct this magnificent bridge, while trying their best to make it look as similar as possible to the original one.

The undertaking was huge. The university team comprised of 30 professors and 40 researchers. Committed to reconstructing the bridge just as it was originally, they used no modern technology, no hidden supports, and not a single kilo of metal.

As I admired it during my visit, I was particularly impressed by the coloring of the stone. It doesn’t look at all brand new, as one would expect. In fact, if one looks at pictures before and after the collapse, the sight is identical!

The bridge was given back to the public in 2020, a little over five years since its destruction.

I was thrilled on the day of my visit to find out that I was actually traveling on the coach with one of the people who had made the reconstruction of the bridge possible! That person was a reporter who works in one of the major Athens newspapers. She read a published article of hers to everyone on the coach, which she’d written about the bridge of Plaka, as we made our way there on the mountains.

It was a treat for everyone to listen to her article as we traveled up and down on windy mountain roads, amidst a lush landscape that was crowned with heavily snowcapped mountains and thick cloud formations.

At the end of her beautiful and highly descriptive article, the lady reporter informed us that she had last visited the bridge a few days before it collapsed. She had taken several photographs that day, and, would you believe, those wound up playing an integral part in the reconstruction of the bridge!

This is because when the professors at the Athens Polytechnic University heard about her article they contacted her, hoping to acquire photographs of the bridge, so they could reconstruct it as closely as possible to its original design.

It turned out she had a wealth of photographs from all possible angles from surface level to give them, and these photographs made up the model they managed to recreate.

Sadly, I do not know the name of the reporter to give her credit here, but I am sure those who used her photos have already honored her by name for her contribution to this amazing reconstruction. I cannot help but think it was fate she had visited just a few days before the catastrophe to take all these photos.

 
 

As we took the beautiful paved path alongside the river Arachthos from the large parking area to the bridge, we couldn’t help but marvel at both its size and its beauty.

The lush mountains crowned by the fog that quiet Christmas eve morning when we visited served as the ideal backdrop that encouraged everyone to keep taking photographs and made the atmosphere even more enchanting.

Walking on this bridge remains to this day an unforgettable experience for me. I have walked on several stone bridges in Zagori, but the incline on this one towards the center was that something else. The top of the arch is on a much higher level than one would expect, because of the steep incline leading up to it near the center from both sides.

I found walking on the bridge very difficult near the top, especially coming down from it.

Plus, seeing that the ledge was low, there was nothing to hold on to up there. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend walking on this bridge near the top unless you are confident on your feet, or, at least, without having someone strong to hold on to.

 
 

Just look at me on this photo. It may not show, but I was getting ready to faint😵‍💫hehe

No, seriously now, it was a wonderful experience. The view from up there was fantastic.

Go here for a super-short video that shows a 360-degree view from the top of the bridge.

But getting up there wasn’t the only reason why I used the word ‘intrepid’ on the heading earlier!

The more important reason is related to a sign that stands at the entrance of the bridge. According to it, the architects who rebuilt it in the recent years did not apply any modern reinforcement techniques whatsoever. This was so they could maintain the exact look that the stone bridge had always had.

Thus, they simply couldn’t vouch that it was safe! As a result, the sign warns visitors that by walking on the bridge they do so at their own risk!

I tell you, I haven’t taken that many risks in one day since I was a reckless teen 😂

GO HERE for all my photographs from the bridge as well as for beautiful vistas along the mountain roads.

My travel report from Epirus isn’t finished yet, by the way. See you in the next newsletters for the final two parts!

 
 

The secret of “Psari Plaki” is in the layers…

In Greek cuisine, “Plaki” is a type of cooking that involves either fish (psari plaki) or lentils, like broad beans (fasolia plaki).

Today, I am pleased to share my family recipe for ‘psari plaki’, meaning ‘fish plaki’. The word ‘plaki’ is probably derived from ancient Greek, as ‘plakion’ was the name of a marble or iron slab used for baking, a tradition that still survives today in some parts of Greece where housewives still use iron pans to bake breads or savory pancakes that they call ‘plakopitta.’

In the Greek language today, the word ‘plaka’ means a marble slab or a tile, and thus, in my understanding, ‘plaki’ means baking that requires some kind of laying, as in setting the food in layers.

Such is the case in my recipe, where the fish is cooked whole, covered with thick slices of tomato and onion, in this particular order. Under this covering, the fish absorbs the aromas and the juices of these vegetables and, thus, is kept soft during baking. The result is a succulent fish that tastes phenomenal, especially as this recipe also involves the rich aromas of dried oregano and garlic.

Please note that there isn’t one standard recipe of plaki, and that there are infinite varieties from all around Greece. Some recipes involve a rich tomato sauce and no vegetable covering for the fish, and others include potato and carrot chunks in the pan. My recipe is basic, and, thus, quicker to rustle up.

This is the classic ‘psari plaki’ recipe. My mother and her own mother never made it any other way.

The fish should be baked whole and thus only small to medium-sized fish must be used. I use mackerel in this recipe, but you can also try scorpaena, plaice, haddock, swordfish, sea bream etc. Basically, any fish with white flesh that comes from the sea will do.

So, what do you say? Will you try it?

GO HERE to get the recipe and enjoy!

 

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The alluring sea lake of Messolonghi and a family recipe for squid stew

I visited Messolonghi by coach during my Christmas break in Epirus where I stayed in the historical city of Arta.

On our way back to Athens, the driver took us for a ride around the sea lake of Messolonghi, a historical town that is famous for an amazing feat of bravery during the Greek war of Independence.

The town was under siege by Turkish forces for many months, and the people had suffered for a long time with hunger and thirst. Seeing that their demise was certain, instead of surrendering to the Turks, they decided upon a heroic exodus from within the city walls, attacking the enemy with what little strength they had left. It was the night between the 10th and the 11th of April, 1826, and their heroism is still remembered today, as one of the most humbling acts of bravery the Greeks have ever known.

Today, Messolonghi is a stunning bustling town, graced by its beautiful sea lake (lagoon) that offers a treasure of gifts to both locals and tourists.

In the quaint residential areas of Kleisova and Tourlida, where I took the photos you can see above, the landscape is dotted with colorful and charming stilt houses on the sea lake that the locals call “pelades.”

The salt produce of Messolonghi, which comes in various types, is famous and highly sought after all over Greece as it contains high nutritional value (92 different metals and other nutrients).

On the quiet beach where we made a short stop a little further away from Tourlida there is a small museum dedicated to salt. There, at the little shop, people can buy various types of salt.

Messolonghi is also famous for its fish produce, including sea bass, eel, and tarama (i.e. bottarga – a mediterranean kind of caviar). At the many exquisite tavernas in town cooks prepare fish dishes with flair, confident about the freshness and high quality of the fish on offer that the sea lake provides in abundance.

One of the resident birds at the sea lake is the colorful Akyoni bird with its mournful song that resembles a kingfisher.

According to the ancient Greek legend, Alkyoni used to be a princess… She and her husband Ceyx were boastful and blesphemous towards Zeus and Hera. To punish them, Zeus killed Ceyx with a thunderbolt. When Alkyoni found out she threw herself into the sea. Then, the gods took pity on them both and turned them into Alkyoni birds.

On top of that, and as the Alkyoni birds made their nests on the rocks by the sea, the gods decreed that in the middle of winter there should be about 14 days of calm weather so that the alkyoni eggs can hatch safely.

Hence, the term the “Days of Alkyoni” (“Halkyone Days” aka “Alkyonides” in Greek) that traditionally come around the middle to the end of January in Greece every year, when it’s sunny and generally mild.

On our way out of the town of Messolonghi we stopped at the “Garden of the Heroes,” a grassy park of about 14 acres with tall palm trees, eucalyptus trees and pines that is dotted with 69 beautiful monuments, and even some tombs of local heroes, from various wars.

Some of the monuments were donated by armies of other countries that were allies or enemies to Greece in its many wars, such as Russia, Italy, Germany and France.

The buried remains here include those of the hero of the Greek war of Independence Markos Botsaris. In 1858, King Otto and Queen Amalia of Greece financed the planting of trees and donated a marble lion for the park.

I loved strolling around this beautiful park on a sunny day with the sound of birdsong delightful in my ears. However, my experience was considerably enriched, albeit with a great measure of sadness, to see the decrepit building of the town’s old hospital barely standing erect right beside the park.

Old image credit: Fourtounis.gr

Messolonghi’s old hospital was built in 1906 and was in operation until 1999. It is such a pity that it was abandoned and turned derelict to this tremendous extent in just over a couple of decades, having been totally left to its fate to battle the elements.

The marble plaque above the entrance reads: “Chatzikosta Brothers Hospital, founded 1906, during the years of the Mayor Sokratis…” (the surname is illegible).

Indeed, a bit of research confirmed the hospital was built and financed by brothers Georgios and Anastasios Chatzikostas. This is one of the oldest hospitals of Greece.

As I looked at it from behind the fence, unable to get closer, I tried to imagine its heyday, when it was busy with staff, visitors and patients coming and going in haste, the latter arriving by foot on stretchers, and others in army vehicles, during the many dark years of wars that my country has known since 1906. That’s two world wars, and the bloodiest one of all for my country, i.e. the civil war that followed WWII.

I look at the old photograph above which provides such a depressing contrast to the forlorn look of the hospital today and can only shake my head ruefully.

Still, I always aspire to a future in my country where gems of the past such as this one will be cherished and protected, instead of being left to go to ruin by neglect.

On a cheerful note, GO HERE to see all my photos from Messolonghi.

It was a swift visit, so I feel I need to go back there and stay awhile. For one, to absorb the beauty of the place and to walk along the seafront road that stretches for miles, the lake stunning, a splendid silver mirror under the blue sky.

I can see why Lord Byron loved Messolonghi so much… The great romantic poet was forever inspired by the brave Greeks, who fought for their freedom. He died in his cherished Messolonghi on April 19, 1824, at the age of 36, having been defeated by a high fever.

His body was embalmed to be sent for burial back to England, but the people of Messolonghi, who loved him just as much as he loved them, asked that part of him stays there. According to some sources, Byron’s heart remained in Messolonghi…

I don’t know about you, but all this talk about the sea lake of Messolonghi and its produce made me think ‘seafood’ LOL! So, I thought it would be apt to share one of my seafood recipes here with you.

It is my father’s recipe for cuttlefish (‘soupia’, in Greek)  in tomato sauce, but squid (‘calamari’), which is smaller, can also be used. This meal can be equally enjoyed with rice, potato or pasta.

GO HERE TO GET THE RECIPE

Enjoy!

 

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My family recipe for fasolada. Bean soup with pasta tubes

Hello All! Today, I am sharing a traditional Greek recipe for bean soup, i.e. “fasolada”, and it happens to be one of my father’s best.

Truly, my late father, Fotis, made the best ‘fasolada’. More often than not, he cooked it with tubular pasta. It was like no other meal he made, a real masterpiece.

I am thrilled to share the recipe with you today, as well as a little about my father himself, and his cooking abilities.

You can enjoy fasolada, this traditional Greek soup, with or without the short tubular pasta (‘koftaki’ in Greek or ‘ditalini’, in Italian). But if you do use it, it needs to boil thoroughly. If the pasta tubes don’t melt in the mouth, they’re not done! You’ll know why when you eat them, once they have absorbed fully the starchy yumminess of the beans.

This recipe uses white (navy) beans, and this is the typical ones Greeks put in soups. I do not recommend that you use another type for this traditional recipe.

My family and I spent many Easters in the 1980s with my grandparents in Moraitika, Corfu. During that time, my father took over as a cook for the big day from my mother, Ioanna, and grandmother, Antigoni.

Here is something odd about my father, Fotis, and his cooking… When I was a child and a young woman, the only time I ever saw him in an apron was at Easter when he’d prepare and cook the lamb and the ‘kokoretsi’ on the spit.

My mother did all the cooking all year round, so, naturally, I thought my father couldn’t cook. When my mother got ill with cancer back in 2016, my father began to do the cooking in their house. At first, he’d ask my mother to stay closeby and provide guidance, but soon enough, he was able to cook confidently (and surprisingly well) on his own.

When I asked him one day how come he’d learned so quickly and could cook all those delicious meals, he told me he used to cook as a young man, and had even worked in a bakery…

GO HERE to read the rest of the post about my father’s cooking, and to get his fasolada recipe, of course!

 

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A Corinth Canal cruise and Corfiot Pastitsada

 

A cruise along the Corinth Canal

Today, I am thrilled to share about my day at Isthmia, cruising along the Corinth Canal! 

First, we had coffee at the Isthmia Bridge Cafe, on the side of the Peloponnese, where we got to see the small bridge submerge in the sea and resurface a few times, allowing people and cars to pass from the Peloponnese to the mainland and back. We even got to see our booked pleasure boat, Anna II, pass by, before boarding it. We got so excited! 

Here is a short video my husband took at the cafe, just as our boat appeared to cruise past us. 

Just as we were about to board, a large number of jet skis floated and revved past en masse to get into the canal. I’d never seen so many together before – It was such a treat! 

The cruise was amazing. The canal is so beautiful. See this short video for a small taste!

 

During the cruise, I recalled a story one of my Corfiot aunts told me the last time I saw her. It was a miraculous incident that took place in the canal. Here’s what happened:

Many decades ago, when my elderly aunt was a young married woman, she found a lump in her breast one day. As soon as they could make it, she and my uncle boarded a boat from Corfu town to visit a hospital in Athens. 

As they were traveling through the Corinth Canal, she and my uncle were lying on their backs on the deck in the sunshine. Auntie had her eyes closed, listening to a man relay an anecdote from the days when the canal was being constructed.

The man was saying that the cook on site caught a snake one day. He prepared half of it fried and half of it boiled. The workers who ate the fried snake all died, but those who ate it boiled were not harmed. Just as the man was finishing the story, my aunt heard a man ask her, ‘Where are you going?’ She opened her eyes and saw a monk towering over her. She told him she was going to Athens to see a doctor.

To her surprise, the monk then lunged forward and grabbed her by the chest, real tight. She began to shout, protesting, as anyone might expect. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and realized the monk had simply vanished. Turning to her husband, she asked about the monk. He hadn’t seen him. And now, it all seemed like a terrible dream. Or was it? It had felt so real!

When they got to the hospital and the doctor examined her, she was astounded to hear the lump was no longer there!

Later, she realized the monk she’d seen on the boat had to have been Saint Spyridon, as he is portrayed as a monk in all the icons, and he has been seen in the same form in many recorded miracles where he appeared before people in visions. Being the patron saint of Corfu, she had always prayed to him and kept him close in her life.

And she’s not the only member of my Corfiot family who have told me stories of St Spyridon’s miracles they witnessed firsthand either! My granny was another. Actually, I have put her own personal story in this post, a story from WWII, no less, along with a load of info on St Spyridon and his famous miracles.

Coming out on the other side of the canal, we were enthralled to see the beautiful views of the spa town of Loutraki and the Corinthian Gulf. After a short cruise around the gulf, while waiting for the go ahead to go back into the canal, we returned to our initial point of departure, on the Saronic Gulf side. 

On our return journey along the canal, we noticed this part where new works were made in the recent years, when part of the canal wall began to crumble, causing it to close a couple times because it wasn’t safe. If I recall, it happened after a couple of earthquakes that affected this area. As the workers seem to have dug so low to the water surface, building this really wide road from the top to carry away the debris, the chance of rocks falling on the canal again at this part is no longer a possibility.

A little further down, we were astounded to see a massive ‘ZAXARIAS’ (i.e. Zachariah) carved on the rock. It was HUGE! We all wondered about it! Soon, we found out it was one of the workers of the canal who had done this, back in the days of its construction. He wanted to carve his own name for posterity, but he wasn’t anywhere near as humble as all the others who had done the same. We saw many names carved in the canal rockface as we went through it, including some sounding very Italian.

But this Zachariah dude certainly overdid it, and as we heard, he got a huge fine for his huge audacity haha! If you do this cruise and want to check it out, it’s on the Peloponnese side, i.e. the right side when you return to Isthmia.

Another thing to look out for as you travel through the canal is this:

On the outward journey, if you sit at the right side, near the beginning of the cruise, you may notice high up on the rockface a figure protected behind a wooden frame. It is a Nero relief that is part of an ancient temple dedicated to him. Where this is situated, you will see two square cemented bases on both banks that used to support an old bridge that is no longer there. The Nero relief is high above the base on the right side.

And now, some trivia for you:

The Corinth Canal is 8 meters deep, 21 meters wide, 80 meters high, and 6.4 kms long. It took about 1.5 hour to cruise through it and back on the boat.

Work on the canal began in 1882 and it opened in 1893. It unites the Corinthian to the Saronic Gulf, and it separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece – essentially making the former an island!

The ancient Greeks were the first to conceive the idea of a canal there and were keen on constructing it, but Pythia forbid it when they asked the gods for advice on it. 

Zeus told them through Pythia that he wasn’t in agreement – he said plain and simple that if he’d meant for the Peloponnese to be an island he would have made it one himself!

Well, I wonder what he’s thinking right now if he’s still around, LOL!

Guess how much it costs for a big ship to go through the canal? We were told the entrance fee is 5,000 euro! And guess what? The canal company employs its own captains, who are pefectly trained to navigate ships through the canal. Every shipping company has a choice to make! If they want to be covered by insurance as they go through the strait, they have to allow one of the canal’s captains to take the wheel. 

If the shipping company opts out of this, whatever damage occurs will not be compensated. I hope they all say yes! I’d hate for any damage to a ship or this beautiful canal!

In case you’re wondering, the company that does the cruise is Corinth Canal Cruises. They also go to the islands of Aegina and Agkistri!

The boats board at Isthmia. The ticket for a cruise through the canal and back is 28 euro per person. For further details and to confirm the price, please visit the website of Corinth Canal Cruises. 

I loved Isthmia so much I am bound to return next summer. It’s not just the idyllic setting at Isthmia Bridge Cafe, but the beach that is situated a short distance away looked just as amazing as I viewed it from the boat. I may even be tempted to do the cruise again. I highly recommend Isthmia for a visit!

In a later post, I will share about the other places my husband and I visited that day. We made our first stop at the Isthmia museum and archeological site. I fell in love with the marvelous fresco at the Roman Baths that is full of intricate designs of marine creatures, and I can’t wait to show it to you!

We also visited Loutraki for lunch and coffee. It was a 4-hour stay where we walked a lot, sat in the shade, and enjoyed generous sea views. All the while, we really kicked ourselves for not having brought our swimsuits. It was a marvellous sunny day, scorching hot, and people were swimming, even though it was mid-October!

Visit Facebook to check out my pictures from the Corinth Canal cruise and Isthmia Bridge Cafe.

Corfiot pastitsada – my easy, and just as yummy version!

Today, I am pleased to share my recipe for Corfu’s iconic dish of Pastitsada, i.e. beef and pasta in a rich tomato sauce. 

My Corfiot granny, Antigoni, always made this meal with tomato paste from a tin, but passata (tomato puree) is a personal preference of mine. Both options work and the food tastes the same.

Sometimes, Granny also used number 2 pasta (thick, with a hole), but I find it very messy on the table. Let’s just say it’s a surefire way to get sauce on your clothes 😛 Spaghetti is way easier to eat lathered in tomato sauce!

GO HERE TO GET THE RECIPE

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Did you enjoy this post? Here’s another from the area of the Isthmus: 

A stunning fresco at the Isthmia Roman Baths, Nero, and a mollusc with a royal secret

 

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FREE books, Greek stuffed veg, and Nicholas Cage in town!

Good morning, All! Today, I’ve got awesome news! Sunny photos from my summer vacation, my family recipe for Gemista and…. wait for it… a picture of Nicholas Cage in my neck of the woods! Yes, folks, it’s true! The Hollywood actor was staying near my town of Nea Peramos all summer, filming his new movie up in the local mountains! Scroll near the bottom to find out more!

Summer’s almost over. Well, almost.

My husband took this photo of me on the beautiful beach of Lychna on the island of Limnos. This was where we spent our annual break this August.

I posted a bunch of my photographs from that vacation on Facebook earlier this week. Go check them out HERE, and fill your day with sunshine!

This summer refuses to go, folks, and I am glad, because the sea is still warm enough to swim in. It’s almost mid-October, and it’s just incredible. We just had a couple days with wind and thunderstorms, but the temps are heating up again. Whoahey.

This year, I spotted a massive sea turtle as I swam at my local beach. To ensure my eyes hadn’t fooled me I asked other people about it. Many said they’d seen it too on other occasions, and one old man claimed it has been here for many years. There is just one, he said, confirming it is indeed massive in size.

I saw it from a good distance one day, its big head emerging through the water, then it began to look around, reminding me of the periscope of a submarine haha. Its head seemed huge, even from this long distance. I was glad it was far away, I tell you.

I was shocked. But not as shocked as I was another morning when I looked down under me in the deep and I saw it looking up back at me. YIKES. It was sooo big. I am not ashamed to say I panicked and swam away as fast as my flippers could carry me LOL.

An old lady told me that the sea turtle broke the surface of the water as she swam with her son one day. She saw it from up close, and it was staring back at her with ‘big round eyes’. Said it had ‘greenish scales’ and it took all she had not to freak out as she asked her son calmly to move toward her slowly, since he had his back to it and hadn’t seen it. But, as soon as she spoke, the sea turtle panicked too, apparently, because it then retreated and swam away. I guess it’s not as dangerous as I thought, LOL!

 
 

My name day, Effrosyni Day, was on September 25, and my husband Andy and I celebrated it with a lovely meal on the seafront of our town. We ordered a seafood platter, as you can see here, which was delicious, as well as baked vegetables drizzled with balsamic. It was all amazing.

But nowhere near as amazing as what I discovered that same week! See if you can recognise this guy on the right… Believe it or not, he was photographed in my neck of the woods this summer!

WHAAAAAT?

As you can see here, folks, this is no ordinary tourist, but Hollywood superstar, Nicholas Cage!

I found this photo on the website of my nearby seaside town of Agioi Theodoroi! Apparently, Nicholas Cage has been renting a villa there all summer, and often visited the eateries in town with his wife during his long stay. A local beach bar, as you can see here, was where he was captured on camera. (note: credit for the photo goes wherever it is due).

But that is not all, folks!

A little digging online yielded for me another shock! It turns out that Nicholas Cage has been driving to my town in the wee hours of the morning daily, going to a remote area on the mountains, to shoot a movie!

 

Kryftes, an ancient hideout on my local mountain range, becomes a Hollywood film set!

This image is from the Greek channel ‘Skai’ which ran a story on Nicholas Cage’s upcoming movie. It is set on the majestic Geraneia Mountains that crown both my town and Megara and reach over all the way to Loutraki.

The area of ‘Kryftes’ on these mountains, a word that means ‘hidden’, used to be the perfect hideout for the people of Megara for centuries. Whenever they expected a raid, they would go there as it was invisible from all the routes, all around.

This is the place that the location scouts chose for the movie, ‘The Carpenter’s Son’, which is based on the apocryphal gospel of Thomas. It tells the story of Jesus as a child. Nicholas Cage plays Jesus’s father, Joseph.

Last spring, the location scouts contacted the council of Megara and asked for assistance to provide better access by road so that they could commence building the sets, and then start filming at Kryftes. The council was happy to oblige and agreed to keep the whole operation strictly confidential.

Indeed, everyone kept mom about it, and no one discovered this among the common people like me until after the cast and crew were all gone! I was soooo miffed when I found out, but of course it is all understandable. I mean, had we known, we’d all have been up the mountains each day, pestering the crew, hoping to capture Nicholas Cage on our phones. Probably led by yours truly too, LOL!!!

Apparently, it was the superstar himself who insisted on the filming taking place in Greece. He said this country is still in his heart since filming here Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (and what a gem that was, folks, huh?)

Anyway, I found out he had a black trailer all to himself up there to spend time in comfortably when he wasn’t filming in this rugged, remote landscape.

Sadly, though, the filming ended abruptly. Early September, they all left the area in a hurry! Why, I hear you say? Because while filming in one of the natural caves over there, a swarm of wild bees attacked both actors and crew alike!

They all fled unscathed, or so we heard, off to film what was left to film in the caves on another location down their list (in another country).

As for the sets they left behind, mainly ‘Jesus’s House’ and ‘Calvary’, these had to be destroyed. The council did ask if the producers could leave them behind, thinking perhaps they might repurpose them as a tourist attraction, but the Forest Authority did not permit it. They had to go.

Still, they are going to be immortalised on celluloid, and I, for one, cannot wait to watch the movie, even though I am a little dubious since it is said to have horror elements in it! Not my cup of tea, folks, but it’s Nicholas Cage, right? Worth risking it, me thinks!

The director/writer is Lotfy Nathan and young actor Noah Jupe plays Jesus.

Curious to take a peek at the sets?

Go here to watch a short Tik Tok video of’ ‘Jesus’s House’.

Go here to watch a short Tik Tok video of ‘Calvary’.

Neither of these are my copyright, of course. Full credit is due to journalist @Nikolizas who created and posted these clips. If you enjoy them, do consider following his account.

 

If your tomatoes are ripe, it is time for GEMISTA!

Gemista is a summer dish, but if you can find tomatoes grown in fields as opposed to greenhouses, chances are they will be fleshy and sweet for a good period before and after. That’s why I thought there’s still time to share my family recipe for this delicious Greek meal.

A mixture of raw rice, tomato and herbs are used to fill tomatoes and peppers and they go in the roasting tin with potatoes and lashings of olive oil.

Greek housewives often use courgettes and aubergines as well but I never do. I find they are not juicy enough. Also, I have never added mince meat to the mix, as some housewives do. It just tastes wrong to me that way. Oh, so wrong.

My version is strictly vegetarian and I wouldn’t have it any other way. GO HERE to get the recipe and see what you think!

 

 

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A day out in the ‘Seychelles of Greece’, plus… a delicious weed!

SEE THE PHOTOS

The “Seychelles of Greece” delivered the promise

We recently had a day trip to Lichadonissia, a small cluster of volcanic islands between the shores of Kamena Vourla and the northwest tip of the island of Evia.

To get there, we travelled by coach with a local tour operator to the spa town of Kamena Vourla, then hopped onto a taxi boat that took us to Lichadonissia in just a few minutes.

According to Greek mythology, Lichadonissia took their name from Lichas, a man connected to the myth of Hercules.

Hercules’s wife was the jealous type. Thinking he had cheated on her, she sent Lichas to give Hercules a poisonous tunic (chiton) to wear in order to take revenge on him. When Hercules put it on, he suffered terrible pains. Full of rage, he grabbed Lichas and hurled him into the sea, and as his body parts scattered when he hit the water they formed the Lichadonissia. Stroggyli, the distinctive island of the complex that has a round shape, is Lichas’s head according to the legend.

In scientific terms, the story is different, of course. Some 500,000 years ago, a volcanic eruption formed the Lichadonissia, and it is believed that Stroggyli was where the crater used to be. Stroggyli, as its name suggests, has a rounded shape. It is fully covered by vegetation and a lighthouse stands on it, placed there a few decades ago by a French company.

You can see Stroggyli and the other Lichadonissia islands in my photographs. I have included a couple that I found online which show them from high above – truly stunning images that make you want to dive straight in for a swim.

The skipper gave us a wonderful tour, bits of which I will share a little later in this artcle. I’ll just squeeze in here a cool fact that he told us:

Aidipsos (a nearby town in Evia) and Thermopylae (you may know it as the Hot Gates where Leonidas and the 300 fought the Persians) both owe their natural hot springs to the volcanic eruption at Lichadonissia.

He said that the distances from Lichadonissia to these two places are equal. This is a clear indication that it was indeed this volcanic eruption that blessed both Aidipsos and the Hot Gates with this unique therapeutic gift of nature that keeps on giving, hundreds of thousands of years later.

Here I am, trying to show you just how clear the water is in Lichadonissia and probably failing. But perhaps this video will show it more clearly. You’ll also get to hear the sounds of cicadas and the excited squeals of children that complete this idyllic scene of Greek summer bliss.

This video is super-short. Turn up the volume 🙂

The island where we spent two hours swimming and sunbathing is the biggest of the complex and it’s called Monolia. The setting was clearly volcanic, the beach strewn with large volcanic boulders, but in the middle of the bay there was this perfect small stretch of sand. There is a small beach bar and the umbrellas and deckchairs are free. We were made up!

It was just a perfect interval of two hours that ended much too soon. I would have been happy to stay there all day, just swimming and napping.

If you’re interested to go there, you could combine your visit with a stay in the spa seaside town of Kamena Vourla (about 2 hours drive from Athens). Every day, taxi boats go back and forth from there to Lichadonissia.

When we left Monolia beach, the skipper took us around Lichadonissia to show us other locations of interest. The first one was this small settlement on the island of Monolia. Just a few decades ago, some families tried to settle there. They even built a church, Agios Georgios (it’s the smaller building on the left of this photo, half-hidden under the trees).

They tried to sustain themselves in this inhospitable land without electricity or running water. They tried the best they could, including collecting rainwater, but the hardships they faced proved impossible to handle. In the end, just a few years later, they gave up and left. These hollow decrepid buildings stand like vigils on the island still, telling a silent sad story of trial and defeat.

Still, I wasn’t too sad about the people when I found out they hadn’t gone too far. Together with people from other areas of northern Evia, they formed a brand new village that flourished and still thrives today.

I’ll tell you about that village, which I also visited, in a moment. Keep on reading… I have something amazing to show you, which I discovered during the same tour…

Image credit to ERTNEWS.GR

This is Pioneer I, the fully submerged shipwreck of Lichadonissia – a German boat that was bombed during WWII.

The skipper stopped our boat right above it, and it felt eerie but enthralling too. It looked so white in parts under the crystal clear water, like time had never touched it.

The boat was made of reinforced concrete. This craftmanship for making ships was developed by the Nazis in WWII. Concrete was cheaper than iron and steel, easier to find, and ships could be built a lot faster too.

Pioneer I sunk on july 8, 1944 and lies at a depth of about 10 meters.

It is said that it carried war provisions and guns to supply the islands and also the German troops in North Africa.

Today, the shipwreck has become a magnet to tourists but also other creatures… Would you believe, this place hosts a small population of Monachus Monachus seals (aka monk seals)! The skipper pointed, and we all caught a glimpse of not just one but two seals swimming near the shipwreck. I was so pleased, as I didn’t expect this.

Go here to watch this mesmerising short video I found on Youtube.

You will see the seals, the shipwreck, and the islands from a drone, and also divers going underwater to explore the ship! I loved this video, and I think you’ll love it too. If only for the sunshine and the cute sounds of the seals!

Agios Georgios, a village of avid fishermen!

After our enthralling short cruise around Lichadonissia, we set sail to the northwest tip of Evia. A few minutes later, we entered the harbour of Agios Georgios.

This is the village that was partly founded by the people who had abandoned the small settlement I mentioned earlier. And this time, they picked a spot that guaranteed a more comfortable, prosperous life.

I noted that the village was named after St George, the same saint to whom the people had dedicated the small church at the abandoned settlement.

Agios Georgios is a thriving village today that is sustained mostly by the work of its able fishermen. They are renowned for their catch of local fish, and especially sardines. These able, busy fishermen are well networked, too. Within record times from catching the fish, it arrives to be sold in the central fish markets of Athens!

Agios Georgios is small and idyllic, and seems to be a fantastic place for a quiet beach holiday. It is situated within short distance from other wonderful destinations of Evia, like the spa town of Aidipsos, Istiaia, as well as a bunch of wonderful monasteries too.

There are small hotels on the beach, nothing huge and fancy, which was wonderful to see, and some of the local houses on the seafront are whitewashed and very quaint. I fell in love with a specific corner that looked and even smelled (some herb or flower I guess!) like the lanes at my beloved Messonghi village on Corfu. It made me homesick. I sat on a ledge in the shade to take in the atmosphere for a while and didn’t want to leave ha ha

We ate in the highly recommended taverna Antonis, a couple minutes walk from the port, that offered anything the heart could possibly desire. Meats, fish, seafood, and cooked meals too. Everything we sampled was delicious. But, before we ate, we made sure to have a little dip in the sea first, just outside the taverna.

The water looked inviting and the shingles on the shore made that irresistible sound that reels me right in. It was around 2 o’clock, very hot, and we were famished by then, so we didn’t stay long, but that swim will stay indellible in my mind forever.

It was the perfect beach for me, not just because I love beaches with shingles (the sound of seawater rushing through the shingles is one of my favourite sounds in the whole world!) but also because the water became deep quickly. We don’t often get to swim in beaches like this. It was a true gem, and if I ever get the chance to return there for a day or two I’ll go running. If only, to try some more of that fresh sardine!

Purslane is too good to give to the pigs!

An American friend told me once they call purslane ‘pigweed’ in their neck of the woods. Not sure if this is true in other parts of the States as I’ve seen pictures of other weeds online that are called pigweed too.

In any case, I expect purslane is eaten by pigs. I know chickens love it. But, if you have animals, and love to recycle your weeds by throwing it to them, do think twice! Like in the case of dandelion, that I know rabbits love to eat for example, purslane is packed with nutrients too precious to miss out on!

First off, it has the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids of any land-based plant. The omega-3 fatty acids keep the arteries healthy and thus help prevent strokes, heart attacks, and other forms of heart disease. Purslane also contains nutrients that protect from cancer and also benefit the bones and the liver. It contains many vitamins and important minerals like calcium and magnesium. It even helps the overweight and obese to lose weight! I mean, it is a precious gift of nature that, unlike medicine and supplements, is perfectly safe, without any side effects, costs nothing, and is waiting for you, right now, in your garden!

I love to eat it raw in a salad with tomato and cucumber. For the dressing, I use salt, olive oil and a generous amount of red wine vinegar.

I cook it too, in a recipe with chicken that I partucularly enjoy all summer when the front patch of my garden is full of purslane.

As I stated earlier, I love it raw. Purslane is succulent and fresh with a wonderful texture and taste, but when cooked, it acquires a totally different tang that’s all the money!

GO HERE to see my recipe and learn more. Enjoy!

 

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