Christmas Walkabout Nea Silata

This is sort of a long post - and includes lots of stuff that you may not

care about at all - like trees and stuff, so consider yourself fore-

warned.  The picture of Artemis is the 2nd one :-)

 

 

 

On Christmas Eve, we packed up and headed to the village where

Eleftheria's parents live - Nea Silata.  We took some small gifts

to share with family there.  Some games for the children

and bayberry candles for the adults.

 

 

 

 

Here is Artemis ready to go to YaYa's house in her owl hat that Brigitte made. 

Did I post this picture before?

 It is so cute that I probably did.

 

 

 

 

This is the house in Nea Silata.  I tried to take

some picture inside, but they didn't really turn out.

It is beautiful - very bright with a modern décor.

 

 

 

 

One of the things we enjoy doing when we are visiting in the Village is

to accompany Aristides on his daily walk.  For me, one of the nice

parts of this +/-5 mile walk is that the uphill part is at the start

making the hike back all downhill.  This is the view not too far along.

Off on the horizon is the Aegean Sea.

 

 



 

 There are many fields of Olive Trees - this is primarily agricultural area.

This field was planted about a week ago.

 

 

 This is a field of 3 year old trees.  If the trees are well tended, you

can get your first harvest in about 5 years.  Greece sells most

of its olives to Italy where they are pressed and sold as

Italian Olive Oil.  It was not a great harvest this year

so the prices were high and the farmers did OK but not great.

 

If I remember correctly, this venerable old tree is about 70 years old.



 

This cool looking plant, besides looking like something to use

for Christmas decorating is used to flavor mextoca (a favorite alcoholic beverage which I am sure I did not spell correctly)

 - not the berries, the sap from the stems.

 It grows all along the roadside.

 

 This was a great example of how Mother Nature uses a successful

theme over and over.  I haven't looked it up, but this plant

looks and feels a lot like a large holly plant.  And that

brown thing that looks like an acorn ... well, it

looks for all the world like an acorn.

 

 

 

 

 

The village at the top of the hill is named Rothoqupus or Rose Garden.

It was a very small farming village but in recent years, people

from Thessaloniki began to build summer homes here.  Most of

the homes are closed up for the season and only a handful of people

live here year round.

 

I took lots of pictures of the new homes, but am only sharing a couple; this

one for Adam and LeAnna - it looks like it could be in Blue Diamond.

All the houses are fenced and gated, but I'm not sure why ... no donkeys -

goats?

 

 

This is one of the old cottages.  Pat thought he might like to fix this one up.

 

 

I really like this one, but a little old man lives there year round and I don't

suppose he would be interested in giving it to me ... probably not even

selling it.

 

 

This is a little park that the afore mentioned man has built over the

years.  It is directly across the street from his house.  Makes my

garden look a little simplistic in comparison.

 

 

This awesome little bird was perched for his picture in the afore mentioned garden.

 

 

 

And, here are Ian, Aristides, Bella

(white) and Patuna (brown) headed around

the far end of Rothoqupus and down

the hill towards home.