Chow Europa!

After our relaxing vacation on Crete we took an over night ferry to Athens. We had two short days there. The only thing we had planned to see while there was the Acropolis. Like Pompeii we ended up going in a back entrance, although this time we didn’t try to sneak in and were honest civilians. We paid a tour guide so we could learn about what we were seeing. Paying extra for the tour was well worth it, she was good and we learned a few things from her. The following day we had a flight back to Rome.

The Acropolis

 The farm we were at for 31/2 weeks before we went to Greece invited us to come back and stay for a few days before our international flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The location of their farm was easy and familiar to get to from the airport. I was unable to use my computer at their farm so I haven’t blogged about our stay with them yet.

 They are a family of 3 including Sanda, Guilliume and 31/2 year old Son Dario. Sanda is from Serbia and Guilliam is from France. They met in Italy and decided to buy land and build a life together there. We all found it very easy to be in each others company. Dario took an instant liking to both Lucas and I. He’s an intelligent little boy who speaks French with his Father, Hebrew with his mother, Italian with both of them, and by the end of our stay he was communicating with us in English. His favorite phrase is “do you want to play?” He says it in such a way while shaking his head yes and sometimes winking at us; we were unable to say no to him.



Our pal Dario!

 Our biggest attraction to this farm was that they are building their dream house using “green” principles. They are also doing most of the work themselves. I find this remarkable since neither one knew a thing about building before starting this massive project. It’s taken them a long time but they are finally nearing the end. The old house that was there before was built with stones found on the land. They have a massive pile of beautiful stones we would pay a fortune for in the States. With Lucas being a stone mason, He and Guilliam came up with the idea to use some of those stones to build a large retaining wall. Lucas spent most of his time there working on the wall. They also asked him to use instead of cement something called Calce. This product is similar to cement but stronger and less toxic. It’s what the ancient Romans used years ago to build all the things that are still standing today. In Italy there is a company trying to bring the use of Calce back. This stone wall turned out beautifully and it will hopefully still be there in 500 years!

 

Lucas is putting in the final stone.

While Lucas was busy building the wall I did other work. Sanda has a large beautiful garden. With all the energy she puts into being a Mom and the house the garden was a bit out of hand. I spent a lot of days weeding and clearing out beds for winter seeds to be planted. I also helped with the olive harvest, which took two full days. When finished we went with to the plant to see the extra virgin olive oil made. For the first time we got to try truly fresh olive oil. We were surprised how spicy it is. It’s amazing how much flavor oil looses after just one year.

Doing the olive harvest

 This was the perfect farm stay to end our Europe trip. After our streak of bad farms we needed a place we could feel at home. Although there is many countries we would have liked to visit that we didn’t have time for, Lucas and I are looking forward to a change. The Caribbean sounds glorious now that winter is here.