Recently in WWOOFing Category

Sorry that it's been a while--compared to Thessaloniki Athens seems to be lacking good, cheap internet cafes. Otherwise we're really impressed with the city and are enjoying it here. But let me catch up a bit first...

Our time on George and Jen's farm was great. We finished pruning their 70 olive trees and then spent 3 days bundling and clearing the branches (sometimes we feel like we must be the slowest Wwoofers around). We also learned the right way to cut and pick basil (and the reason why our basil plants always died on us). Jen used the basil and the walnuts we gathered to make several batches of pesto, and sent us off with a jar of it when we left on Wednesday--yum! Monday was a beautiful sunny day (after several cloudy, wet days) so that night we helped Jen make bread and pizzas in their outdoor wood oven, and finished off her delicious homemade vegan apple pie.

Tuesday we took a trip to ancient Olympia, about one and a half hours away from Amaliada. The modern town of Olympia is completely centered around tourism and seemed deserted at this time of the year. The ancient site is beautiful though. It's shaded by big olive trees and provided the perfect setting for a picnic and for just sitting back and imagining what it once must have been like there. We both thought it would have been great to see more of it reconstructed, like here in Athens. The museums there were really impressive too. One displayed and explained some of the ancient Olympic sport artifacts and the other housed the statues from the temples and buildings. It also showed a model of what the lost gold and ivory statue of Zeus (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) would have looked like--it must have been amazing.

Wednesday we took the train back around the coast past Patras to Dhiakofto. From here an old rack-and-pinion railway makes it's way through the Vouraikos gorge to the town of Kalavryta. The ride was beautiful and lots of fun--it felt like an amusement park ride. We took lots of pictures but none of them really capture the experience--the tunnels, bridges, the rock of the mountain only a few centimeters away...

We rode it all the way up to Kalavryta, which is a beautiful town with a sad history. During WWII the German occupiers massacred the entire male population--1436 men and boys--and burned the town. We both could feel the heavy sadness in the atmosphere, it even affected our sleep and dreams. But we found the people there very friendly and still enjoyed our stay up in the mountains. The next morning we took the train back down about halfway to the picturesque little village of Zakhlorou and hiked up to the nearby monastery of Mega Spileou ("Great Cave" because it's actually built into the side of the cliff).

Intercity trains in Greece have assigned seats and we got stuck in the smoking section for our ride from Dhiakofto to Athens. But we survived the thick clouds of smoke somehow, took a ride on the sparkly clean Athens metro, and were greeted at our hotel by a 80's rocker guy with a toupee. We spent yesterday taking care of errands (bank, post office, laundry, etc...) Most of our time was spent in line, or more exactly taking numbers, waiting for our number to be called, finding out we pushed the wrong button for the wrong set of numbers, taking new numbers, waiting again, going back to fill out forms we didn't know we had to fill out, etc... Basically we learned that taking care of this kind of stuff is a hassle(hoff) anywhere you are.

Today we watched and shopped at the outdoor markets in the morning. We were inspired at Jen and George's to make sure that we're eating healthy while on the road so we bought lots of fruits, veggies, and nuts. This afternoon we joined the other tourists and did the Acropolis. Again, it was amazing to be surrounded by so much history. My mind is still struggling to really comprehend how old all these ruins are. We also realized again that we don't make very good tourists. Dealing with the crowds (and this is nothing now, I can't imagine what it must be like in the summer!) and taking in all the sites left us exhausted and yearning to return to the Greek Athens down below.

Tonight is our latenight internet night (it's lots cheaper after midnight). Right now we're at our first stop--Easy Internet Cafe convienently located right above 'Everest', the Greek chain with yummy spanokopites (spinach pies). Here I can type this up without paying for internet time, then were off to the next cafe where we can (hopefully) upload some photos.

Monday afternoon is our flight to Cairo, we'll try to update again from there sometime.

Thanks again for all the comments--we love reading them and it makes us feel connected to all of you!

P.S. We may be biased, but we think our nephew Ethan makes a great lion.

We left Lamia on Monday; it was the first place in our trip that we felt happy to leave because it was just too noisy and neither of us felt in the mood to be there. The guy at the front desk of our hotel was really nice though, he helped us figure out bus times and, as we were leaving, asked us "Bush or Kerry?". He was very happy to hear us both say "Kerry!"

Our two and half hour bus ride from Lamia gave us a great tour of the Greek countryside with plenty of cliffs and mountains rising steeply from the sea, rows and rows of olive trees, watermelon patches and the smell of burning leaves as farmers cleared their fields after the summer harvest. Our bus ride took us over the beautiful new (and earthquake-proof) Rio-Antirio Bridge that connects western Greece and the Peloponnese.

We were dropped off in Patras and, after a short train ride, we arrived in Amaliada. Now, all we had to do was find the farm where we would be WWOOFing for the next week. We'd been trying to call the owners, Jennifer and George, all day but kept getting the frustratingly-vague "The subscriber you dialed is currently not available" message. We wandered around the town's main square for a few minutes, looking completely lost and ended up asking for directions at an "American Fitness" workout club. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the two foreigners with their huge backpacks. They ended up being very friendly though and had a long discussion in Greek about the best way to go and we were lead out the door by the main fitness instructor to the street we were looking for. We finally figured out that the address we had couldn't be the actual farm's address since we were standing in the middle of the city. We found an older gentleman washing his car in front of the house with the address we were looking for. It turned out he was George's father and he called a taxi for us. The taxi drove us up the long gravel driveway to the farmhouse where we met Jennifer, George and their nine month old baby Elli.

For the past three wonderful days we've been picking walnuts, black berries and pruning olive trees. We both love climbing the trees and discovering the unique personality of each one. Don't worry, we're not working too hard. We're done by one o'clock to enjoy one of Jennifer's tasty, healthy lunches (with plenty of homemade wine!)

We tried uploading pictures again, but no dice. We'll have to wait until Athens or for a decent internet connection.

We've been WWOOFers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) at Chateau de Monfreville for the past 6 days. Our hosts, June and David have owned the Chateau since 1990 and it's been the home of countless royalty and the Disney family.

Before arriving we had ideas of what it would be like working on a family farm. Here's an overview of our daily schedule (let's just say it's not exactly what we expected):

8:00AM: Breakfast of fresh, organic eggs, bacon, cereals, fruit and coffee/tea
9:00AM: Start working
11:00AM: Coffee & Tea Break with cookies and cake
11:30AM: Start work again
3:00PM: 4 course gourmet dinner/lunch (appetizers, main course, cheese course and dessert)
Rest of the evening: Drinking French wine, socializing, playing Scrabble, etc.
Midnight: Go to bed

Here's what we had to eat today for lunch: Fresh raw and cooked oysters, organic home-grown salad and prosciutto wraps as an appetizer; organic, free-range lamb, potatos and green beans as main course; French cheese course; chocolate truffles and chocolate charlotte cake as dessert (with a delicious, sweet white French wine). It's a tough life.

When we've not been eating and drinking I've completed a few projects around the farm. I built a jetty and a set of steps for the farm pond, wrestled 5 sheep into submission so they could receive an oral anti-worm medicine, cleaned out the sheep stall and put in new hay, and planted a new oak tree (named the "Phillips Oak" in our honor)

OK, my turn...

Michael forgot the apple sorbet with Calvados (apple brandy--specialty of the region) in between the main course and the cheese. The food has been so amazing. David is a wonderful cook and Angela (a friend of the family from Australia) has been the guest chef. She works at The Ivy, a fancy shmancy restaurant in London. Both Michael and I have been quick to give up vegetarianism--we've had all kinds of wonderful seafood (lobster, salmon, mussels, scallops), lamb, and duck, Michael even had some bacon. Of course it's all home-grown or local, and absolutely delicious.

We've been treated like part of the family from the very beginning. We're staying in the "honeymoon suite" on the third floor of the chateau, our bathroom is in the tower. June's daughter Zoe is here with her kids Jake and Molly, they're adorable and lots of fun. Claudia from Germany is another WWOOFer who's here at the moment. I've been working with her--pruning black currants and raspberries, planting lettuce, doing housework, weeding, moving piles of rocks, modeling for pool and deck photos (!?!?), and getting stung by nettles and red ants.

Sunday was our day off. We borrowed bikes and rode about 15 kilometers to the coast to the town of Grandcamp-Maisy. We also stopped at Pointe du Hoc which is where American Rangers scaled the cliffs to overtake a German stronghold during WW2. The bomb craters were still there and it was a bit strange to watch kids running around and playing in them.

Tomorrow we have to leave this place (I'm still in denial right now). We'll definitely be back at some point, and we hope to stay in touch with all the amazing people we've met. We're off to Paris next, we'll find an internet cafe to update again soon. We were very excited to see all the comments to our last post from Shawn and Charlotte and Mama and Sally and even our first unknown poster (very inspiring!). Thanks and keep them coming. And if you're ever in Normandy you have to come stay here. I'm going to get back to the party, cheers for now!

We arrived safe and sound into Paris at 7am this morning. We're currently at the Chateau de Monfreville in Normandy, France. We start our organic farming work tomorrow morning at 9am. We'll do our best to update the site this weekend.

Our first stop in France - the first of our entire trip actually - will be in Normandy at the Chateau de Monfreville. We'll be visiting the Chateau as volunteers through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). As WWOOFers we'll help with fruit and vegetable farming, housework in the Chateau and cottages, building maintenance and whatever else they need during our 6 day stay.