Backpacking Bill

Well, departure day is here. Would really rather be going with Tina but, this will give her some quality time with her relatives.

Jim is an Uber driver so he will Uber Bob and I for our afternoon flight from Bradley. The direct flight to Dublin is really a great way to go. Since I have luggage for this trip I seem to be packing more stuff. Rain gear is taking more space as well as an extra pair of shoes. I need to save some space for the Irish sweater that I would like to bring back to Tina.

Made it to the flight and Bob and I are on our way.

Flight to Dublin was uneventful. Arrived in Dublin about 5:00 am local time. The bus to Cork leaves from the airport. The express bus is comfortable with few passengers. Good chance to get some sleep.

Ireland is rightly called the Emerald Isle. Everything is shades of green. The trip to Cork reminds me of Skagit Valley. Lush farmlands but no Cascade Mountains.

Had lunch in Cork waiting for the bus to Glengarriff.

Bus to Glengarriff is a local, lots of stops. Good looking green farmlands. Glengarriff is a picturesque small town.

Will crash tonight and get hiking in the morning.

This is a scene from behind our B+B.

I am not a hat guy. Like my father, l am not partial to wearing them. In the back reaches of my mind I believe they lead to premature baldness. But, I need to wear one on these long pilgrimages.

I like a particular style of baseball cap known as a “Dad” Hat. I like the way that the bill can be made to curl around the eyes and protect from afternoon sun. Mostly I like the look. If you Google it, you will note that a “Dad” Hat is supposed to be über preppy. Maybe that is why I like them. I am shying away from broad brimmed hiking hats, definitely a superior choice. I think they look like something an old guy would wear. But I am an Old Guy.

I was originally drawn to this style of hat by Andrew, a client and great guy. Andrew was the lead guy at an oil refinery I did a job at in my working days. I decided to have special hats made for my crew and the client. Andrew requested this style because it kept his head warm. And, I think they look pretty nifty. I have been wearing them since then.

The hat I am planning to take to Ireland is the same one that I used on the Camino Portuguese. The Washington Capitols cap. I was going to wear a “MAGA” hat but was advised against it. I my mind’s eye I could see pilgrims with pitch forks. So I chose the Capitals hat. I got it from Ted Leonsis himself.

So I will pack the Capitals hat.

Should I clean it first? A soiled cap denotes a hard working rugged guy. But, I will be having my luggage transferred from B+B to B+B in Ireland. Nothing rugged about that. I will clean it. Besides, Tina will not let me out of the house with a scroungy hat.

All the travel plans are coming together. Tickets are purchased, layout of the items to pack has begun, extra rain gear is purchased, new trail runners are procured, Euros are received and electric adapter is located.

Although departure is less than a week away, I feel that I have a lot of time. Not the case. I completed a prep hike of about fourteen miles and felt very good after. I believe that my stamina is OK. Time or trek will tell. Planning to do some short hikes and one long one before departure.

Experiencing a bit of dissonance. A lot going on here; I will miss Jim’s departure for his senior year at Penn State and I will miss Tina. Emma has departed back to Vietnam via England and has arrived safely. The dissonance may also be due to my facing an unknown adventure.

I will make a post prior to departure.

For some reason this has been a most difficult post to write. There has been so very much happening. The trip to Ireland is getting near. Emma has been visiting from Vietnam with her friend James. Prep for Ireland is starting in earnest.

Summer has delayed my usual early prep for long treks. Activities with Emma and James have been a fun diversion. Emma and James live and teach in Vietnam.

The largest diversion was painting the house. All were involved with the project. And, it has been completed. Son Jim who is doing an internship in State College, PA was left out of the project. However, he will get his chance to paint when he returns later this month. The trim is yet to be done.

James and I did segments of the Metacomet Trail during his time here. The last one was from Heublein parking lot to reservoir #6. We also climbed Heublein Tower for the magnificent view that includes New York and Massachusetts.

We dropped Emma and James off for their return trip to Vietnam on Saturday. They are first spending a couple days in NYC where they will be with some of Emma’s friends. Jim will also come to the City from PSU to go with James to a soccer game. Then Emma and James will travel to England for some time with James’ family.

It is just sinking in that Emma will be away for a year. We miss having her around. Jim will return from PSU later this week for a few weeks. Then he will return for his senior year. It is noticeably quieter here. This is a photo of us the evening before Emma and James left. The photo was taken before we set off fireworks left over from the fourth. One failed in a spectacular fashion nearly taking out part of the dock. It sounded like a cannon.

Starting to get ready for my next adventure. I will be hiking the Beara Penensula in Ireland with my one time neighbor, Bob Baker.

Bob is a retired attorney (I hesitate to say retired as he is very active in the community and with challenging the Northern Pass transmission line project). Bob divides his time between his mountain top place in New Hampshire and West Hartford.

Today Bob and I hiked about 11 miles along the Metacomet Trail in totally delightful weather.

I will be updating the blog site, replacing the Greek and Vietnam stuff with Irish.

I do not yet have a great many thoughts about the Beara trek. They will be added as time goes on.

One thought I had as I prepare for Ireland is advice my father’s stepfather gave me. Charlie, my father’s stepfather was a hard man, he was a sawyer and owned a small sawmill on lake Samamish in Washington. Charlie had been a teamster in the Klondike during the gold rush. Charlie was always hard on dad but he was always kind to my grandmother, Gertrude. Because of the kindness to his mother, dad was always deferential to Charlie and made his last days comfortable. This was long after Gertrude had passed. Well, Charlie’s only advise to me that I recall was, “Stay away from the Irish.” Had I heeded this admonition I would have had a very different and possibly better career. I will endeaver to understand wisdom as I trek the Beara Way.

We are nearing the end of our time in Santorini. Looking forward to getting home; however, there is a sadness about facing the end of the time here. Now I have to start thinking about my cataract surgery, arranging for wifi etc. having cut the cable when we left and getting a new clothes washer; ours failed the day before we left.On this trip we have seen some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet and we have seen some of the the most beautiful and celebrated works of art created by man. Recognizing that and having said that, I believe that the most memorable part of our time here has been the people. Seeing Jim in Rome was great as well as seeing Tina’s cousins in Kalamata. We had great tour guides. We had conversations with young professionals and students at all stops. All wait staff, hotel workers and cab drivers were talkative and fun.Got to the hotel about 1:00 am. Caught a few hours sleep and back to the airport. Through check in, security, immigration, a second security: whew! Bought passes for the lounge to relax a little before our flight.

Eight flights, two bus trips, and eight different hotels – do I get an award?

And away we go.

Well, we made it home. Back to Panera for breakfast.

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Caught the 7:00 am flight to Santorini from Athens. Short flight and packed with people.The first thing that strick me was the difference in architecture. Here the buildings are square flat roofed and painted white. The island appears to be much more densely built up than the Kalamata area. The scenery is spectacular.

It is interesting that the tap water is not drinkable here. In contrast the water in the small village of Pidima is potable and quite good. On this island I imagine that water is a premium commodity since there is a dense population and no obvious source of water. I believe that there is a desalinization plant here and that there is a supplemental supply from water being brought here by tanker ship. I understand that the desalinization plant uses reverse osmosis. I worked at a plant on St. Thomas, USVI, that used waste heat from the Power Plant in a distillation process. I believe power is supplied by some small gas turbines. Like St. Thomas, reliability is probably a big issue.

Lots of steps.Not too happy with the room we reserved. Changing to one with a private pool and deck. Good way to celebrate our 25th Anniversary.Great sunsets here.

A couple of side comments. Santorini is a magical place. The beauty is everywhere and spectacular. But, prices are high. Like NYC one needs to think of dollars as if they were quarters. We were chatting with a waiter about the relative prices between Kalamata and Santorini. His comment was that pricing here is much less than Mikonos. But, Mikonos is quite a party place. Probably like spring break in Florida. Probably not for old guys like me.

My other side comment: I am enjoying the book I brought, the Calvin book. Slow read and I understand at most ten percent but, my friend Charles’s style is such that it brings back memories of him. It is the right read for me at this time.

Got a different room at the hotel – spectacular:

Tipping: yes I understand that tipping is not the thing to do in Europe. The only place where they are pushy about tips is here in Santorini. In other places we have visited on this trip, tips have not been mentioned. Even so, if it’s a young person I will generally leave something to their delight or their steadfast refusal. I guess I have a character flaw because I generally will not tip the pushy guys here.

Lots of Brides here. I can certainly understand why there are so many Brides having photos taken here in Santorini, it is indescribably beautiful. However, they seem to risk death and permanent injury. Just walking the narrow steep steps in high heels and full gowns risks having to spend the honeymoon in a cast. One wrong step on one of the precarious perches they ascend could make for a very short wedded life.

Sunday morning and we are experiencing high winds. I believe that the wind is magnified by the fact that we are near the crest of a very steep part of the caldera. We were thinking about renting a car and exploring today. I don’t think that would be a good thing to do today as the weather is so very ugly. Hope there are no brides taking pictures today. Also hope we do not have flight problems tomorrow as the wind is supposed to continue. Noticed that a cruise ship sailed into and out of the harbor. It certainly would not be fun to visit today; I doubt that the tenders could ferry people to the dock.

Finally got some sun and got a picture of Tina and me.

We took a bus to the little town at the end of the island, Oia. Twisting road along a high bluff, minimal guard rails. Tina hates these types of roads but seems to find them often.

Kalamata is truly a gem of a place to visit. It is a well developed destination with all the facilities for a pleasant visit but seems to be ignored by vast crowds. That will probably change now that cruise ships are visiting the city. My opinion is influenced by the tremendous hospitality of Tina’s family. But, €40 for a penthouse apartment with a huge balcony overlooking the harbor surely cannot be matched many places. We are steps away from great shops, great restaurants, great cafes, and bakeries that are good beyond description. Although, our experience with the restaurants is limited due to the tremendous hospitality of Tina’s family.Could not get an extra night in our penthouse apartment. So we checked into a hotel close by; fancier but not as cozy an no view of the sea. This room like the one at the Horizon Blu has a glassed in shower. There is a shade that can be drawn for privacy; however, I don’t see the point of the glass. Maybe it’s a European thing. I truly doubt that Tina wants to watch me shower.Had a pretty low key day. Went to the beach and had lunch at a small cafe.We will be meeting Ioannis and Kiki this evening to say our goodbyes. They have made this visit to Greece truly remarkable. It was sad to say goodbye. However, our time here has made us want to come back to Kalamata. Had dinner with Ioannes and Kiki’s family. I would add another picture but I now have too many of eating.Tomorrow we will be back on the bus to Athens for the night and then on to Santorini.Ioannis and Kiki met us with Piniaotis to take us to the bus. Ioannis gave me a komboloi (set of worry beads) as a parting gift. Kiki gave Tina one along with some food gifts and treats for the trip.Made it back to Athens without a hitch. Took the express bus, much better, only three hours. Staying at the same hotel, the Attalos. Even have the same room with the wonderful view of the Acropolis.

Ioannis and Kiki picked us up this morning to go to Kiki’s home village. There we had a traditional pre-Easter meal (feast) with Kiki’s parents and sibling’s family.

This is a totally vegetarian meal, no meat. Delicious, started with Greek coffee and koularakia and tiganithis, melamoukadina and tiganithis. Then we had the main meal: artichoke, stuffed pumpkin flowers, okra, spinach with tomato, rice, eggplant, olives bread and homemade wine. Finished with pastries and chocolate cake. We actually finished with a long nap back at our apartment. All the food was delicious the company wonderful and the day delightful in every way. I noticed that there were swallows nesting in the eaves of the house. The chicks had hatched but had not yet fledged.

Back in Kalamata I noticed that there are a lot of swallows. In the evening there appear to be bats, one of my favorite animals, they eat a lot of bugs.

Tonight we will be picked up about 9:00 pm to travel to Ioannis’ village for the Easter celebration at midnight. And, yes, another meal. This is not the main Easter feast; at this meal the internal organs are served. This should also be good but, since it is high cholesterol, I will attempt to limit myself.

Went to Ioannis’ village for midnight Easter service. Big dinner followed. Again, delicious. Great family gathering.The Easter service was beautiful. The small chapel was filled to overflowing. Although I did not understand the words spoken or the significance of the rites, the experience was, none the less, very meaningful. We all lit candles and went back to Ioannis’ mother’s house. I am proud to say that my candle only went out once. The flame is passed from person to person. The original flame is brought from Jerusalem every year in a special container. This same flame that started in Jerusalem was eventually passed to me. When we arrived we had another meal (feast). This time we had: tomato and cucumber salad, saganaki, two types of mageiritsa (a stew like dish with organ meat and spinach), chicken with mushrooms, a soft Greek goat cheese, bread, homemade wine and a wonderful tzatziki. This was topped off with a sweet cheese filled pastry. Got back to our apartment about 2:30 am. I cannot find the words to express the hospitality and welcoming I experienced. Especially considering the fact that few spoke any English. The young ones (high school to college age who did know English best) kept us engaged in conversation all evening.We will be picked up before noon the Sunday to be taken to the big Easter feast the centerpiece of which will be goat roasted in an outside wood fired oven. I am very well aware that this is a very special opportunity to experience Greece in a way that few non-Greeks are blessed to experience, a very special experience with wonderful people.

Easter dinner was another feast fitting of a king. Everything was beyond words delicious. We had roast goat, roast chicken, both cooked in an outdoor wood burning oven. The meat was cooked with lemon potatoes. We also had tomato and cucumber salad, feta cheese, soft goat cheese (homemade). Tzatziki, a sour cream based spicy sauce, roasted chicken liver, spanacopita, tiropita, bread, homemade wine. We topped it all off with a Georgian cake made by the grandmother’s helper, a sweet yeast bread filled with Nutella and covered with chocolate and gelato. Cooking in the old wood fired oven was quite a task. Starting the heat up at 9:00 am, putting the meat and potatoes in at 11:00 am and monitoring the bake until done.

My children tell people that they are half Greek and half Redneck. Well, let me tell you about Easter here in Kalamata, Greece. The fellow who runs the shop at the street level of our apartment told us that we are in a great place for “bang bang” on Saturday night.

It is a tradition in Messenia to throw purchased or home made explosives the Saturday night before Easter. They also fill cardboard tubes with gunpowder and light them like flares, called “saites”. A travel site said that the practice of celebrating in this way is most prevalent in the capital city of Kalamata. It can be deafening and it can be quite dangerous. My children can now say that they are 100 percent redneck. Looking forward to a bang up Easter. It will be like being on Samish Island, Washington on the fourth of July.

Just saw another confirmation of Kalamata redneck status. Saw a refrigerator on a front porch. A few derelict cars in the front yard on cinder blocks would clinch it.

Looking forward to Good Friday service with Tina’s family.

What a delightful day here today. Calm sea, no clouds and in the low 80’s. This was a kickback day.

There is a container ship anchored outside the harbor, it looks like it is setting on a table top, the sea is so calm.

The few Greek language lessons I did on the trip to the Carolinas did not take. Tina can get along OK so I am relying on her and the fact that most people speak English. I do reply in Spanish frequently, just to throw people off. Tina has not caught on but the locals still just answer me in English, not fooling them.

Went to the Good Friday procession. It is huge here with three church’s separate processions converting at the Port. A great celebration. I do not have any pictures because as we were leaving our apartment a lady cautioned us about the “bumps”. I thought she was warning us about pick pockets. So, I put our phones and wallets back in the apartment. She was warning us about the explosives the locals toss during the procession. So no pictures. Great explosions thought. I think some were dynamite.

Have not yet seen one of the “saite” flare things. But, I have heard that there are ten deaths every year due to their use. Further confirmation that there are rednecks here.