A Drive to Gytheio, Peloponnese, is all Curves and Romance

While I was visiting Eumelia a couple of weeks ago, we spent an evening in Gytheio with our hosts. The drive was all green and rocky and curvy with the sea weaving in and out of view- very Grace Kelly via Hitchcock. And on that note, you won't find a more confident driver than Janet- who grew up driving an endless assortment of vintage cars in various states of repair. She takes a curve with control and style, and there are plenty of them.

Also, I'm not so easy to drive with- "Oh!" then "Oh!" every time we take a new corner - it's like the landscape is posing. Summing up the coastal drive down the central peninsula of the Peloponnese- it is beautiful, but more than that, it is stylish. You feel chic just careening around in it, taking snapshots.

I imagine the thrill of taking the road during a winter storm, waves lashing the car.

As soon as we enter Gytheio I enjoy a flashback to a '70's Dachia with no seat belts (Mei Mei's godfather secured the car seat with a fat rope), en route to Kythera- from Gytheio you can go to Kythira, Antekythira, Crete. There were two boats a day- morning and evening. I remember we had a reservation, so a priest had to drive off the boat to make space for us. We didn't see anything of Gytheio- just the line of cars for the ferry. i see it now- a town of ferries and fishing boats, it has the self-sufficient charm of a place that doesn't really care if you are there or not. 

The fishing boats set out at sunset; children dance in the plateia:

These are cheerful sights, but to be honest, there is a faint melancholy in the humid air, a romantic kind of melancholy. We see an island with a beautiful lighthouse, connected by a short causeway. Out there, among the pines, the wistful mood takes deeper hold -

-only to be banished when we return to the mainland and see the blue and white checkered tablecloths at a taverna so close to the sea you could fall right in. We stroll, and soon meet our hosts. And we walk to the very same taverna of my dreams, and we do sit dangerously close to the sea, but no one falls in, and we have a great time. Actually, a perfect time, and a perfect meal- I think the calamari- fried crisp and juicy and dry on the outside-not a bit greasy- are the high point, but that turns out to be the plate of red mullet to come. Fried fresh mullet taste like crab that has decided to become a fish. Georgia, our hostess, has kindly invited us, and I want to thank her mother for the excellent cooking.

In the front of the restaurant, a gentleman watches the match- England is losing to Iceland (this just after the brexit vote) in the UEFA final sixteen. Well, it is Georgia's father, and he caught the mullet we loved that very morning. He beams with pride, and leaves the photos to his wife and daughter.

The sweet melachcholia of the island had by now faded from my heart completely- the lively conversation, the ouzo, the fish. "Did you go to Kranai?" The island has a name? I tell Frangisko we did, and that it was sweet but somehow a little forlorn (like a crush that doesn't turn out like it should.)

"Kranai is where Paris consummated his relationship with Helen, and it was from here they left for Troy." A beautiful explanation- the ultimate, epic, crush gone wrong at its romantic beginning.

The perfect meal-

If you go to Gytheio, you can have the quintessential taverna meal- tables at the waters' edge, the freshest seafood, and the warmest service - at Trata (the name means small fishing boat).

The perfect home away from home-
As for Eumelia, I miss the velvet black skies and the olive trees at dawn a little every day.

Getting here was easy, but also and adventure. KTEL buses leave several times a day from the Kifissos KTEL station in Athens (get the #51 bus on Menandrou street near Omonia square). The grungiest of bus stations makes a great contrast to the drama of the canal of Corinth and the mountains of Taygetos you will be seeing on your way.

More on our stay at fabulous Eumelia:

The most delightful wine tasting ever.

Tea time starts early in the Garden of Eden.

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Tea Time at Eumelia

Roosters are impatient. The stars are still twinkling softly, but every five beats or so they cry out, sweet and melancholic like a muezzin, so it must be tea time, whatever the sky says. 

I have no tea.

This is my first morning at Eumelia, a bio-dynamic, organic paradise that combines farming with philosophy (and fine living), one of those philosophies being that the earth is burgeoning with a wealth of beauty and of food, and it's often best to accept what it has decided to give us, and sometimes, to let ourselves be surprised.

A pre-dawn frolic

I'm greeted at the door by a bevy of dogs, and the roosters are still at it. The cicadas won't be singing for another hour or two, but there are swallows and sparrows. The sun is not up, but it seem like everyone else is. We make our way to the herb spiral under a pale cool sky to find something to make tea with. 

And we all find everything we need- some rough mint, lavender blossoms, wild fennel fronds for me, and my camera for the dog - he thinks I will chase him for it, and he's right. 

The sky is gold but the sun hasn't cleared the hill. It is around 6:30. Before making tea I want to see the roosters (they're not at all hard to find - they're still at it).

They're indoors. They must have an internal clock - there would be no ebbing of night to be seen from in here. (If you are an urban person like me, you may be surprised by their size- nothing to do with a dressed supermarket chicken, plus feathers. You could hold but one of them cradled in both arms, and if you needed to hold two, you would have to hang them from their feet. I would do neither- they look redoubtable.) I also see someone else in the barnyard- someone fabulous. I am saving him for another post.

There's a weathered table in front of the bungalow- I toss the herbs here and put the water on to boil. Then I give them a rinse (they are organic but there is still dust, and dogs) and crush them gently to free up the aroma. The scent is so fresh and so strong I'm afraid it will wake up my friend Janet. Just as I pour the water over them, the first rays of dawn hit the trees.

An olive tree behind our bungalow has seen over a millenium of sunrises. I want to see how it likes this one-

The tree, majestic at any hour, glows in the first rays of dawn.

The tea is perfect.

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More Experiences at Eumelia:

Five things I learned at the most delightful wine tasting ever.

A glamorous drive to Gytheio








A completely different tea experience:

Drinking Chai on Evripidou.

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