NO TITLE

 It does not feel right to put a title to this entry. Even though, I will write about my amazing weekend, I would like to connect the title to this quote:

"The risk of love is loss, and the price of loss is grief -

But the pain of grief

Is only a shadow

When compared with the pain

Of never risking love."

It hurts to see people, who you love, grieve. There is nothing you can do and nothing you can say that will make it better. Only being there seems to be a slight support...

Ok, in memories of the past weekend and recalling the great experiences for a special someone:

Friday afternoon, after a long working week, I took off to Φενεόσ (Feneos), located south-west from Κορινθοσ (Korinthos) and over an hour to drive. The way that leads to all these little villages is very very curvy, so my car sickness kicked in quite often, but because it is surrounded by such a beautiful landscape (mountains with snow, acres and in general untouched nature) it is definitely worth it.

Our little tree house

Balcony view

We stayed...wait for it... in a...wait for it... TREE HOUSE! Yes, not kidding. Ok, to some of you it actually might look more like a gardening hood, but it was simply adorable with a tiny bathroom, just a bed and a nightstand and a great "balcony" overviewing the mountains. The thing I really missed most: Silence. Not a tone of the every daily life, not a car or highway sound, nothing! Just nature and a pure world to espace into.

Arriving in Πονοραμα (Panaroma), village of the tree house, early evening, we were certainly hungry and went straight for food in Γοθρα (Goura) the main village of this area. Giorgos, of course, knew the people and it was a nice chatty-evening. The owner gave me his Κομπολοι (Koboloi) to play with and I discovered that it is really not that easy, but you learn quickly and then it becomes like an addiction. :) It was very funny, because I could observe how addicted the owner was. He gave it to me and then took it back, but after 15min he returned giving it to me and the same happened a couple of times. The food in this Ταβερνα (Taverna) was great. We had grilled feta cheese, rooster with homemade french fries (with potatoes of the region), veil with spaghetti and a huge salad. Delicious!

It is just great when you go to a traditional Ταβερνα, because they do not give you a menu, but just tell you about five dishes they can make for you and then you decide from there. Just when we had our food the door popped open and Kristos and Isabel walk in (good friends of Giorgos from Korinthos), what a coincidence. That is how the night went even better, with more company, laughter and traditional Schnaps that comes close to Grappa, but I forgot the name now.

@ The lake

Saturday, we slept in and enjoyed a very tasty breakfast with homemade butter, bread and cake, fresh squeezed juice and other goods. Taking a ride around the lake that is located in the valley in between the mountains, we bought walnuts, crunchy bread flavored tomatoe-oregano and a huge loaf of bread from a local bazar. There is a tiny old monastery located IN the lake and until a couple of years ago people got married in there. I can really imagine why, since the scenery around is so stunning.

We started down there...

It started with 1 flower...

After this we started our hike. Basically, we had no idea where we were going. We just randomly picked a mountain (we could see from the tree house) and decided we wanted to hike up there, ignoring the fact that there was still snow up there and besides hiking shoes we didn't have any proper equipment.

Half way

On top (we originally wanted to climb the mountain in the back)

At then end it was of course not that mountain we picked, but a smaller one right next to it about 1600m high. We followed red dots and white-red barrier tapes to the top. The last stretch became very dangerous in fact, because we were not going to the other mountain's top we had to leave the track and started ourselves. Nevertheless, we made it and had great fun on our way, taking soooo many pictures. Our way down took only about half of the time, so in total we had a nice 5-hour-hike.

Binoculars

Not having enough we drove to the famous monastery, located about 300m from the lake. This monastery was taken apart from a different location in the beginning of the 18th century and built up again on this mountain. Priests still live there and give mass. On the first floor visitors can try something similar to rose jelly, that is made by one of the priests. It is very sweet, but has a incredible intensive flavor. Binoculars made it possible to spy over the region and follow other hikers from the distance... very interesting^^.

Way to the enterence

The cliffs

At night we were so exhausted that we only went for food to a different Ταβερνα and went home to sleep. Sunday morning we woke up with the rain. Of course, we forgot that time changed that night and were quite surprised when it was 11.30 am all the sudden. After breakfast we left Πανοραμα and went to a monastery that is built into cliffs.

View from above the enterance

Yeah, you read competely correctly. What a fascinating view guys, I am telling you, I have no idea where all of the sudden these cliffs appeared, but we came around the corner and there they were, just THERE. The road up to the monastery didn't remind much of a road, but some rubbish and stones thrown together to call it a "way". I was mostly surprised by the soil, which was not brown, but more reddish. So many different types of soils in this area, amazing!

On our way back to Κορινθοσ we drove through many small villages which were all stamped by lemon and orange trees. Almost every inhabitant has his own citrus trees in his garden.

A wonderful weekend and a very special thank you to the person that made it possible!

#Fun Facts of today#

Wanna sip?

Little monument

1. When somebody dies in a car accident people don´t put up crosses (like in Germany). Instead they build a small monument in form of a pilar that often has a little church on top with pictures of the victim in. 

2. Most Greek streets only have one lane (even highways). The Greek just make two out of it and have such little space that I have to close my eyes every time a car overtakes one another.
3. There is a tree offering spring water (source)!