Watching the Olives Grow

by Stavros Allanopolis

  Valerie had nurtured them for months; such tender loving care and attention; watered every day. Now they had been consumed before their prime, and not by us!

  Photo: Prime Suspect.

  When Valerie got up, she, like me, was so upset. In fact we were so upset by the site of it all that we didn’t even attempt to clear it up until the following day.

  They obviously stole in over the wall whilst we were sleeping and, fully sated, left before I got up.

  It really was an awful site; a real mess too as there was more dug to be found; a lot of it; everywhere!

  It was if they thought it was a game; jump the wall, eat the greenery and scarper before being herded out with the stick.

  Based on our previous experiences and ‘confrontation,’ we suspected that the ‘leader of the gang’ was the ‘cheeky’ bull calf who had repeatedly jumped the wall last month, leading the others in to get at the ‘fresh’ greenery.

  At the time, we said that he seemed to think it was a great game. Well, he had better look out, because if I catch him at it again, he’ll be in the abattoir quicker than he realises!

  The following day, as we cleared up the mess and tried to tidy up the broken plants, we decided to install a fence to the rear of the garden.

  The problem is that the rear wall is built against a terrace of Olive trees. From our side, the wall is a metre high, but from the other (upper) side it is only 20cm high, and the cows can and did jump over it quite easily. Throughout the summer, as they roamed around the Olive tree groves, there was nothing for them to eat but very dry grasses and weeds.

  Obviously, the temptation of the lush, fresh greenery was obviously too great for them.

  So, I arranged for the men from the foundry to visit and measure up, and we agreed to install a simple fence. It was to be one metre high, along the complete length of the rear wall, and the whole side of the front wall adjoining Anne Grethe’s new entrance. Her new sloping driveway has raised the level of the ground on her side, so that wall is at risk of ‘invasion’ too.

  We really didn’t want to do it, but we felt we had no choice. We really couldn’t afford the fence either. It was a ‘no win’ situation; we cannot afford to do it, but then again, we cannot afford not to do it.

  Talking about expensive repair measures, the following day, we had the solar panels and the water storage tank serviced. We discovered that needed a new immersion heater as the existing one had corroded! I have told you before that the water from the mains is salty and full of other minerals!

  Well, the evidence was there to see, as over the previous 18 months, the heating element had been corroded by the salt.

  Photo: Corroded Heating Element.

  It was beyond belief; the entire mechanism should be shiny stainless steel! It doesn’t bear thinking about what the water could be doing to our stomachs!

  OCTOBER 2010

  October 1st and Snowball has still not returned home. She has been missing for 84 days now and after 12 weeks we are wondering whether she ever will return home. We hope that she is ok, wherever she is, rather than think the worst with regard to her welfare. We continue to live in hope.

  So many unexpected things have happened to us so far this year that I cannot help but wonder what might befall us this month! But, first things first, there is some ‘Watching’ to do and a photo to be taken. After all, that is my job around here!

  Photo: Olive Tree As ‘Watched’ On 1st October 2010.

  The growth is still hard to detect. There are lots of Olives on the branches, and their green leaves are much darker, plus a ‘bloom’ has appeared on their skins. Traditionally a good crop (last year’s) is followed by a poor crop, but I am hoping that my ‘Watching’ will be proven worthwhile and that we will get another good harvest this year. However, despite last month’s rainfall on the 25th I am sceptical.

  My other job around here is helping Valerie with the garden. Together,

  We started to clear up and repair the damage that the cows had generated. It seemed that the more that we worked, the more damage that we discovered! All in all, it was a very painful reminder of the night that they ‘invaded’ the garden. However, there was one brighter moment, and that was the survival of the Morning Glory growing over the stone arch (they had eaten the Morning Glory on the trellis!).

  Although very fragile at the roots, and known to be a ‘delicacy’ as far as the cows were concerned (the trellis was testimony to that!), it had escaped the cows’ attention. It was growing happily over the arch, and in fact was fighting for space alongside the Passion Fruit Flowers and the climbing Bougainvillea. The Morning Glory’s deep purple flowers look so bright and brilliant in the early morning sun. Our on-going efforts to get them to grow have been rewarded! You may think that I ‘go on’ a lot about our garden and our plants, and maybe I do! But there is good reason to do so.

  Around 90% of our plants, flowers and shrubs have been grown from either seeds or cuttings.

  The process is time consuming, and demands a lot of patience; watering every morning and evening. However, it is very rewarding.

  We love to watch as the ‘subjects’ struggle to come to life, although the ‘mortality rate’ can be high. Never the less, for those that survive and go on to grow into full size specimens, it makes it all worthwhile.

  Photo: Morning Glory Survives.

  Having written at length about my early morning routine, I still include a ‘Watching for Snowball’ session in it. She still has not returned home. It’s been 13 weeks now since she went missing.

  I’m still hoping she will return, but as every day goes by, it seems unlikely that she will return, and that something bad must have happened to her.

  Some mornings are quite hard, because if I see anything that is white out in the Olive tree groves, my heart skips a bit. I will rush out to investigate, only to find that it is a plastic carrier bag, or a discarded cement bag carried on the wind, and not Snowball sitting there. We will continue to live in hope.

  The steel fence was duly erected. Only time would tell, “will keep the cows out?”

  I didn’t know the answer to that question, but I did know that it would need painting and that would take a lot of time. It was added to the ‘to do’ list of jobs for the winter months. 45 metres of it!

  Photo: Close-up Of Steel Fencing.

  Soon it was time for Arne and Marit to leave and I drove them to the airport. Valerie decided to come with me as we planned to do some shopping and visit some favourite places on our return journey.

  At the airport, we waved goodbye to Arne and Marit and headed for nearby Practika to buy some dark green Hammerite paint for the steel fence. Next stop was Kalamata town centre. We felt that we needed some happy reminders, and some time to just be ‘tourists’, by way of a few hours’ respite from work at Meerkat Manor.

  Our ‘itinerary’ would include a visit to the market, the bakery and the Souvlakia bar in the Old Town; some of our favourite places to while away a few hours. We would also go and see the Byzantine Church in the ‘Ancient’ part of the town as well as the ‘Archbishops’ church.

  Some indulgence was called for, so we went via ‘Pig Corner’ It is so called because it is a busy crossroads where there are four shops selling spit-roast pig; one shop on each corner of the crossroads, and it is all they sell; spit-roasted pork, and quite delicious! The spit-roast is a regional speciality of The Mani. The shops open around 11am and stay open until all the meat is sold. You buy it by the kilo, including the crispy crackling; eat in, or take-away.

  For many families, it can often be cheaper to buy a kilo of the cooked meat than to roast it themselves.

  We stopped at the same shop where we took Bill and Jeanette in July on the evening we returned from the UK; the day before we discovered that Snowball had gone missing. We bought a kilo portion; some to eat the same night, and the remainder to turn into a curry for freezing and eating later in the month.

  Kalamata is an interesting town, and
with a clear division of businesses and housing; almost by age and tradition.

  There is an ‘Ancient’ part where the shops and houses date back to the 17th Century, or before. The businesses and shops tend to be family owned and, in consequence, they observe traditional opening hours; early in the morning until Siesta time, and then again later in the evening, and until there are no more customers walking the streets.

  There are two ‘Traditional’ business quarters where you can find a huge variety of specialist shops; electrical, mechanical, agricultural, hunting, fishing, and painting and decorating etc. There is also a shopping area where all the clothing is old-fashioned looking and appeals to the older generation.

  Finally, there is a very ‘Modern’ section where the mix is up-market clothes and household equipment stores, mobile phone stores and coffee shops; a ‘browsers and window shopping’ paradise!

  Finally, and quite bizarrely, there is the ‘Holiday’ area on the seafront; a vast array of hotels, bars and tavernas for the holidaymakers. Kalamata is a very popular and crowded seaside holiday resort for the months of June, July, August and September! To accompany each ‘division’, the apartments and their inhabitants reflect their environment; both old and young (matched to the ‘traditional’ and the modern’), and ancient and modern designs (drab, or bright colours).

  Remarkably, Kalamata almost ceased to exist at all after the earthquake on 13th September 1986. The earthquake all but demolished the town. In fact, it is one of the strongest ever experienced in Greece’s history. The town’s buildings were either demolished or severely damaged, yet only 20 people perished. The town’s population was 43,000 at that time and has now risen to almost 60,000. The reason why there were so few fatalities was because the earthquake came at the precise moment that the entire city population was standing on the dockside at the harbour celebrating.

  Remember, Maniots like to party and celebrate? This time, they were gathered on the harbour wall celebrating the inaugural sailing of the ferry to Crete. It would appear that they heard a loud ‘grumbling and rumbling’ behind them, and as they looked back, the ground shook and they saw the buildings falling! Lady Luck shone her light on The Maniots that fateful day.

  We parked the car on the street close to both the ‘Old Town’ and the Market and set off to the Market to buy some fresh meat and fish. Kalamata Market is probably not that different to any other town market, but we like to think it is unique. It is always heaving with hundreds of people hustling and bustling as they rush around pushing and shoving and trying to get to the front of the queues around the stalls.

  A really vibrant mix of noise, colour and smells; simply irresistible! There are literally dozens of stalls selling meat and fish. The choice of meat and cuts is quite remarkable, so too the species of fish. Despite the immediate proximity of the sea, meat is much cheaper than fish, but both are incredibly fresh. Meat has been either killed the day or two before, and the fish caught that same morning. The same can be said for the vegetables. It is an amazing sight to see all the farmers displaying their home grown crops and the aromas are incredible!

  Photos: Meat Stall – One Of Dozens.

  Photos: Fish Stall – One Of Dozens.

  After we had bought our meat and fish we took them back to the car and placed them in the cooler box in the boot, and then set off to the Old Town square for a snack of pork Souvlakia with an Ouzo.

  We sit at the same bar and at the same table if it is free. It is right outside the entrance to the oldest bakery in Kalamata where the bread is still baked in a traditional wood-fired oven in the front of the shop. We are used to it, but the sight of a pile of wood stored on the pavement to fuel the oven does cause some strange looks from those passing by!

  Photo: Wood-fired Bakery With logs On The Pavement.

  Quite often there is a long queue outside waiting for the latest batch of hot, fresh bread to be put on sale; fresh from the wood-fired oven!

  Next door to the bakery is our favourite Souvlakia bar. We discovered it quite by chance in 2004.

  Back then, we didn’t speak any Greek and the owner and waitress didn’t speak English. It was quite a struggle to order a snack and a drink although they only serve grilled Souvlakia, beer, wine and Ouzo! Now some eight years later, we speak enough Greek to make ourselves understood, and they still do not speak English, but they recognise us!

  It is very heart-warming when they recognise us and make a fuss over us with their welcome. We invariably order the same snack. Valerie has a Souvlakia pitta, which is the charcoal-grilled pieces of pork stuffed into a pitta bread along with tomatoes, onions, chips and tomatoes, accompanied by a glass of chilled rosé wine. I order two of the Souvlakia sticks (charcoal-grilled cubes of pork on a wooden stick) and chips, and it is accompanied by an Ouzo ‘sketto’ (which means ‘no ice’). I think that theirs is home distilled as it is served in a tall glass, almost full to the brim with a glass of water on the side! I can confirm that, even for me, it is an acquired taste!

  Both dishes are served on a metal plate; very simple, with two slices of tomatoes and two slices of the fresh bread drizzled in home produced Olive oil. The bread, although fresh, has been placed on the grill and is slightly toasted. Unbelievably tasty! We devour every last scrap and the bill has never been more than 6€ for the two of us! Just think, some bars serve just the Ouzo at 5€ per glass!

  Snack devoured, our next ‘treat’ is to go for a stroll around the ‘Ancient’ part of the town. We have about 45 minutes before they close for the Siesta just long enough to see the sights we want to see.

  The ‘Ancient’ part comprises a maze of small streets crammed full of tiny shops selling absolutely anything and everything!

  There are at least five shops that we have counted that only sell church fittings; altars, icons, candlestick holders, baptism fonts and ornate gold crosses of all sizes!

  We exit the maze onto a very small square where the Byzantine church stands proud, but surprisingly small.

  It is incredibly pretty to look at; simple stone blocks decorated by very intricate patterns of smaller bricks, and topped by a tower with a single bell. The entrance doors stand at only 150cm high; duck upon entering! The church is open for worship 24 hours per day. There are doors on all sides and, whenever we visit, it seems to be a major thoroughfare across the square!

  Photo: Byzantine Church.

  The inside is simply furnished with only a dozen or so seats clustered in a few pews, yet the gold altars and colourful icons are very ornate. The whole is dominated by burning prayer candles whose flames flicker constantly as the doors are kept wide open to encourage worshippers.

  Next, we venture into one of the ‘Traditional’ business areas where the skilled furniture-makers, bedding, soft furnishings specialists, and florists ply their trade to all-comers. We go here to marvel at the extremes of one of the churches built in the area. It has a very large and imposing front, and two vast towers dominate the skyline. Yet, our primary interest is in the statues that line the drive and gardens leading to the entrance of the church.

  Photo: Large, Ornate Church.

  Photo: The ‘Avenue’ of Marble Heads

  They feature some excellent marble and bronze busts and statues of former Archbishops of the Greek Orthodox Church in Kalamata. They are set on very simple white marble plinths and in chronological order of their time in office as head of the church.

  Photo: Bronze Statue On Plinth

  All too soon it seems, we head back to the car to make our journey home to Meerkat Manor. It’s nice to visit Kalamata, with its bustling streets and market, but so much nicer to go home to the peace and the quiet of our life among the Olive trees. For me though the peace and quiet is not for long, as I am soon heading for Athens to work with my client for two days.

  Needs must as they say as we have to pay for the steel fencing and paint, and neither of the two items were in our forward expenditure budget! So, as we enjoyed our ‘tourism’ day so much, we dec
ided to do two more favourite excursions before I left for Athens. We decided to visit Ancient Messene 20km north of Kalamata and then to see the gorge at Exochori on our way home for one day. For the other, we decided that we would go and have a grilled fish lunch at the water’s edge in Limani near Areopolis.

  Just 20km west of Kalamata, Ancient Messene is literally awesome! It is one of the largest archaeological excavations in the world. The city dates back to more than 600BC, and has a fascinating history or wars and the power struggles to control Greece. The restoration was first started in the late 1800’s but not in real earnest until the late 1950’s. Nowadays, it receives a World Heritage Grant which has enabled the Archaeologists to make significant headway.

  Photo: Re-construction At Ancient Messene.

  In fact the site is so big, and the ancient ruins in such good condition, that in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s they did a lot of the digging with a JCB digger to uncover the treasures and magnificent buildings that were once Ancient Messene.

  Photo: Reconstruction Work.

  Most of the excavation is now complete, and the focus of work is the reconstruction of some of the temples and living areas using the stones unearthed.