We flew from Samos to Athens and took a taxi to our Airbnb in a part of Athens we’d never been before – Neo Psychiko. This neighbourhood has quite a different look from other neighbourhoods we’ve visited in Athens over the years. It is quite green, with many trees and planned green spaces, as well as actual sidewalks (unlike many other places in Athens). You can find many embassy residences in this area.
The apartment we booked was tiny, but we knew it was just for the night as we were driving to Domnista (D.’s father’s home village in south, central, mainland Greece) the following day. We were fortunate to have a large green space across the street with tables from nearby restaurants and an area for the kids to run around. D.’s aunt and uncle joined us that evening for a tasty meal at one of the neighbourhood fish restaurants. Interesting highlights from this Airbnb: a gecko on the ceiling of the living room where the kids slept, and no shower curtain around the shower ( just the shower tray on the bathroom floor).
The next morning, our rental car was delivered and we set out on the road to Domnista. After some somewhat scary driving getting out of Athens (Imagine helmet-less scooter/motorcycle drivers weaving in and out of the densely packed Athenian traffic as you are trying to change lanes using your signal. And you are the ONLY one signalling), we got on to the main highway north to Lamia.
After a stop for lunch and EUR 15.40 in tolls later, we undertook the most challenging part of the drive to Athens — the “strofes”, the Greek word for hairpin curves. Domnista is deep in the mountainous area of southern Evrytanias (the name of the province). It was practically unconquerable by the Turks centuries ago and its easy to see why. This part of the drive has historically required several stops along the way for motion sickness breaks and we were prepared for a similar experience. A combination of blasting cold air conditioning, ginger lozenges, distracting audiobooks (more Nancy Drew and travel writing) and A.’s excellent driving meant we conquered the strofes this time!
We arrived in Domnista to D.’s parents’ summer house and truly began the winding down/relaxing portion of our trip. The house has two small bedrooms and a pullout sofa bed, so we were all able to fit comfortably. The house was renovated in more of a Canadian style, which meant a much larger bathroom and shower than normal in Greece and an open plan kitchen/living room. We were even able to flush toilet paper! It was a relief to have little structure to our time and adapted to an even more Greek schedule than in Samos. This meant late nights down at the plateia (village square), sleeping in/afternoon naps and our evening meal at 8:30 pm or even later. We spent our time reading, doing some schoolwork, repairs around the house, creative endeavours and hanging out. It is the one place in the world we’ve been with no light pollution enabling us to star gaze and watch shooting stars across the inky, black night sky.
Domnista is a small village of 20-30 year round residents that expands to 200 to 300 in the summer, as people escape the heat of Athens and other cities at lower elevations. It is one of several mountain villages in the area which you see across the valley or drive through on your way there. Parents often send their children with the grandparents to the village for many weeks at a time and come up occasionally on the weekends for visits before coming up for a longer period around the August 15th holiday — the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a major celebration across Greece. There are two small grocery stores and a few cafes/restaurants that are primarily only open in the summer.
The village council tries to keep people living permanently in Domnista as long as possible by providing a free shuttle into Karpenisi (the provincial capital) as well as announcing regular doctor’s visits in the small village clinic. The council faces an uphill battle as there are no local jobs and no functioning infrastructure to entice young families to remain (i.e. schools).
The area is very calm, green and mountainous with vast forests and areas for livestock grazing (cows, sheep and goats), bee hives and some farming. One has to be patient driving (and prepared to stop quickly) in the event you come across a herd of cattle or goats being lead across the road. We had trouble finding some items in the grocery stores (e.g. vegetables) because, unlike the rest of the village, we did not have a kitchen garden with salad greens, kitchen herbs, and potatoes/zucchini/tomatoes. Fortunately, many relatives were generous with the fruits of their own labours.
Domnista is also an entomologist’s dream location with more bugs and creatures per square meter than we’ve ever seen. Last time we visited, the house was infested with wasps. This time, it was black flies and ants (which we thought we had left in Samos!). You can see giant, iridescent flying beetles next to scorpions hiding in the baby poison ivy just outside the back door. It was always fun walking up the hill towards home at 11 pm or midnight, watching the lightening bugs zip in and out of the bushes and trees along the road, and listening to the goats’ and sheep bells quietly in the valley below.
We adopted a fairly authentic and local menu during our time in Domnista. T. will likely miss beginning his day with his favourite brand of lemon flavoured yogurt. A. & A. are much less likely to miss the plain goat yogurt that they ate each day. It was liberating when A. realized that she could get used to the initial taste of goat milk in her coffee, and didn’t have to search out almond or soy milk. Goat milk is so much easier to find! Her excema even cleared up after several weeks of not eating cheddar cheese. The kids and D. enjoyed sampling some of the many types of ‘pita’ ( savoury pies made with with filo pastry, and, often, with feta). D’s parents made sure we had a supply of koulouria from their favourite bakery in Karpenisi, and we polished off several bottles of our favourite moschofilero wine over the weeks we were there.
Before we leave Domnista, family members all stock up on bags of locally picked wild oregano, honey, and the Greek equivalent of chamomile tea: ‘tsai tou vounou.’ This time, it was C’s cousin, Yiannis, who gave us a huge bag of it. He had hiked up near the tops of the mountains surrounding Domnista and had harvested it from the mountain meadows there. We’ll think of him and his generosity every time we enjoy a cup of his tea this winter.
Being in a small mountain village provided us with the opportunity to put some of our Greek lessons into practice, since there isn’t a lot of English, French or other foreign languages spoken there. The kids were delighted to meet and spend time with two of their second cousins A. and T., ( aged 14 and 13 years old respectively ) who were staying with their grandparents, (D’s aunt and uncle) for July.
T. usually lives in Athens with his family, while A. lives on the SW side of Greece in Agrinion with her father and big brother. Both cousins spoke quite fluent English, but they brokered further friendships with other kids in the village whose English was much more limited. Most days, we would do some school work in the morning, and then, the moment we finished lunch and ‘mesimeri ‘ (mid afternoon quiet and /or nap time) began, our kids would race out the door to go over to hang out with their cousins until after 6 pm. While there was quite an age span between our A. and her older cousin, A., all four got along really well and helped make living in a fairly remote mountain village fun over the course of several weeks. The kids also enjoyed practicing their aim with the slingshots their grandfather bought them. He remains quite the slingshot guru and enjoyed teaching the kids how to select the best rocks and how to hit the pop cans he had set up for practice.
Evenings were often spent down in the plateia where villagers gather at tables to talk and sip ‘tsipro’, a locally made alcohol made from grapes (similar to grappa). The bars serve it with small meze (meatballs, pieces of barbecued goat or lamb, French fries or feta cheese). A. got to practice her Greek talking with D.’s family and the kids enjoyed hanging out with their cousins and other kids. Unexpectedly, D. even got to share a meal with his godfather (and family) and while we weren’t able to see his whole family, we enjoyed our evening meal with him.
Next stop: Afissos!