★ ★ ★★ Keep Shining...... always ★★ ★ ★ HATE the new...
★ ★ ★★ Keep Shining...... always ★★ ★ ★ HATE the new Ciao format... why mess with something that worked????
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if you win at Backgammon.....
When it comes to my girlie week away with my mum we are inadvertently a bad influence on each other - putting of any sight seeing or daytrips with the comment 'do you fancy it tomorrow' - if you have ever visited Greece you will now doubt have experienced 'GMT' - Greek Maybe Time - hence we are very, very lazy...this Greek GMT attitude rubs off on us, but why not! I work 48 weeks a year and one week of rest never hurts anyone....a nice healthy Greek breakfast of yogurt and honey - a few walnuts if I'm feeling adventurous, a good book and a sunlounger until lunch... a gentle stroll in search of a nice taverna serving nice mezedes and cold Mythos.. i'm made until nightfall... more Mythos, Metaxa.. etc etc..
That is until I challenged a local (god forbid) to a game of Backgammon - Tavili.... The Challenge.... If I won I promised to visit his village, Zia - teetering on the edge of Mount Dikeos - the highest mountain in Kos (by all accounts).. (I
hate hills)... I took the challenge - i'd never win.. the Greeks are fed on backgammon from birth!.... However.. I won, maybe I won by my backgammon expertise - or maybe I was just fooled into being lured into the hills...
So This Is My story of Zia......
It is Sunday Evening....I dress with respect - Black trousers, Black top hoping I will fade into the humdrum of local village life with my 'blackness', mother does the same. Dinner is to be served in the local backgammon players Yaya's(grandmother's) taverna at 8pm, so we set off with plenty of time to spare and book Yannis the local cabbie for 6.30pm.
So we leave the village of Tingaki and head for the hills - quite literally... mum counts 20 hairpin bends until I tell her to STOP - I feel sick, I don't like heights and 'edges' at the best of times... Yanni deposits us at the foot of the village 20 minutes later. All I can think of is how on earth I will make it back down that hill - maybe a few Metaxas will help?.
In the first instance it doesn't look much until we turn the corner and venture down the main street of the village... An array of traditional retail therapy, locally produced thyme honey, olive oil and spices and stories to tell by the friendly villagers… they are 'typically Greek' so friendly and a few words of the local lingo on my part go a long long way. I was on a mission to find Blue glass eyes - or the 'magic eye' predominant in the folklore of Greece - and Kos especially, these icons are believed to ward off evil and evoke good luck.. and as my wedding in Crete was imminent I wanted to purchase a few of these for our guests...
We continue down the street in a lazy bend, I purchase my lucky charms and a wine carafe for the hubby back home.. the carafe looks like those beakers you got at school in the seventies - brightly coloured and made of tin.. ideal for winter nights like these... mum purchases some honey. Then we see the beauty of Zia ahead... I'm emotional as it is ...what with my wedding coming up.. but I want to cry... all I can see is the most spectacular sunset over Bodrum in Turkey and the neighbouring Greek islands of Kalymnos and Pserimnos. I have looked at this view many times from the other side.. Turkey.. Bodrum.. as I spent several months there many years ago.. and I was touched by a bit of longing to say the least, happy memories, youth lost and joy in the fact that this is where I met the man I was about to marry!!. Mum suggests a beer in the taverna 'Sunset' to calm me down... this probably has the best view of the sunscape in the whole village and I sit and reminisce and take a few pictures (which never came out)....
8pm is approaching... so we slug our beer and head back up the lazy curve which forms the village street, no touts dragging you in.. this village life.. just a happy smile - as if to say 'thanks for visiting' and we arrive at Ya ya's 'no name' taverna...up the hill on the right - towards the village houses if you ever visit.
Just what I like, plain and simple. Mother and me are greeted with open arms (afterall I did beat the prodigal son at backgammon) and we are served a feast of spit roasted goat!, delicious when served with locally produced Raki.. Traditonal postcard bloke of Greece poses at the bar.. and I have to remind myself that this is real, and not a postcard. A few servings of mezedes (little dishes of delicious bits and bobs to eat) later, along with a few glasses of Ouzo we are up and dancing with the locals.. traditional Greek folk music...toddlers, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces and us dancing together .. what fun and a sense of togetherness.. locals and newcomers alike. And I reflect on Greek life.. the importance of family and traditions
'Local bloke' is a gentleman.. (dragging me up for the Zorba with gusto).. and at the end of the night deposits a bottle of his mothers olive oil in my arms and a promise of a rematch of the backgammon tomorrow....
Yannis collects us in his Taxi and returns us down the hill and I don't care about the hairpin bends and edges.. I have good memories.
I will definitely return to this village again… if I am lucky enough to return to Kos.
+++++++
Notes…
Head for the village on a clear, haze free day to experience the best sunset..
Avoid Monday, Wednesday & Friday if you want to steer clear of Tour Buses from all over Kos… (who charge around 10 euros per person)
Negotiate a return journey with a local taxi driver to avoid misunderstandings..
Never Beat A local to Backgammon - unless you want the time of you life!!
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Advantages: weather, bars and restaurants, bus service and Greek people. Disadvantages: Kos town is very lively after 11pm for families with young children. beaches mainly stoney
h1ggers 12.08.2001 ·
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