Getting to know Patras
As we arrive in town, we see giant statues painted like jesters on various street corners. Along with Mardi Gras-style decorations in storefronts, everyone is getting ready for the Patras carnival. More on that to come. Our renter advised us to take taxis from the bus station because the local buses take twice as long and are never on time. We will need two taxis since there are five of us. Seven euros for each taxi was a decent price and definitely worth the shorter trip. Patras is a port town with the Gulf of Patras in the west and mountains to the east. Even though the bus station was near the water, we traveled steadily uphill as the taxi drivers took us to our place. I'm glad we took taxis because I never would have found our Airbnb. There aren't numbers over every door, and most streets don't have street signs. We will be learning landmarks more than anything to get around.
The owner of our Airbnb met us when we arrived. He showed us around the place and informed us of specifics about using the electricity and the water heater, flushing the toilet, when to use the balcony doors, and how he has some family living nearby. The toilet has a raised tank, so you must pull a chain to flush. The water heater will have hot water from the solar panels on a sunny day, but you can turn it on from the breaker box if necessary—good things to know. The houses are built in a townhouse style but in a more squared-off simple design. We go in the door and walk upstairs to our place. There is a foyer you enter with three rooms coming off. To the left is the master bedroom, the dining room is straight ahead, and the family room is to the right. From the family, you can go into another bedroom and the kitchen. You enter the bathroom from the kitchen and go outside the back porch. The back porch has a spiral staircase leading up to the roof and a terrace with outdoor furniture and tables. There are wires strung up on the porch and upstairs for hanging laundry. Thankfully, there is a small washing machine and ample room outside for hanging clothes. This place is beautiful and comfortable. Everyone is excited about staying here. The owner is an incredibly nice guy, and despite the language barrier, he spoke very little English, and we spoke no Greek, we managed to understand each other. Using a translator app came in extremely helpful as well. We are going to love it in our new place.
After we toured the place, we unwound from the day's travel. It was very easy to relax in an actual home. We also enjoyed getting to know our new digs. Since it was getting late, we decided to walk to the grocery store to get dinner, breakfast, and sandwich fixings. It's an adventure every time we go to a mart of any kind. We love seeing what they have, but sometimes we are disappointed in what they don't and wonder how things will taste. The grocery store shares a building with a big toy store, so we will be back to what it's like. It's about a 12-minute walk to and from the store. We decided on a dinner of cooked sausage with grilled onions and a salad. So far, our experiments with the different drink choices have gone well. They have a delicious lemon soda. We bought some ice cream similar to Neopolitan, except the flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and caramel. All of it was delicious. Overall, we've had good experiences all around, so Patras is also starting off great.
The next day, we took it easy to establish a routine. After everyone got breakfast, the kids started their schoolwork. Tanya and I worked on unpacking since we have dressers. We talked and planned about what to do in the coming days. Before dinner, we walked down to the gulf. The small pebble beaches closest to us are rocky but still lovely. There was almost no smell of salt air, which we found surprising. It became sunset as we strolled along, creating great picture opportunities. We took a different route back, taking in the feel of this new town. It was good, so we could make mental notes on where different stores, shops, and eateries are located. We stopped at the grocery store on the way back for a few more things. It's amazing how quickly taking a couple of walks around a new place gets you acquainted with it. We are comfortable here and look forward to exploring the surrounding area further.
Sunday came, and we didn't look up if there was anything other than a Greek Orthodox church close by, so we had our own service at home. We had prayers, sang hymns, and I led a short lesson. We also fasted, which helped bring familiarity to an unfamiliar place. God is leading us through our new journey, so we didn't want to diminish our worship because this seemed like an extended vacation. Later in the afternoon we played some rounds of a card game called Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza on the roof terrace. It was sunny and perfect weather for a fun family game outside. This is the kind of family time my wife and I would like more often. Being here has taken us away from the many distractions we deal with each day. The situation we are in now makes our family look to each other since those distractions aren't out here as much. We are getting to explore and grow as a family.
Today we went to the Patras Castle. It was a gorgeous sunny day with perfect weather for such an outing. The walk was about 40 minutes long, so we got to see much more of the city. Since castles are built on strategic lookout points, we went uphill most of the way. The side of the hill we hiked up was wooded, and it was nice to be surrounded by nature. The neighborhood we are in doesn't have much. A great thing about this castle is that it was free to enter and explore. We read the placard at the gate about its origins and the many battles, sieges, and attacks it endured. It's incredible that it was built in the 6th century AD and was in continuous use until World War II. I love castles, so this was a lot of fun for me. It's great to walk all over and wonder what used to be where. There was a garden area with benches, a green space, and orange trees, which was very nice to sit and relax. I don't know what kind of oranges grow here, but they were too tangy to eat. We walked over the parts of the ruins we could and enjoyed the scenic views of the city and harbor. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the water looked gorgeous. Unfortunately, restoration work was ongoing, and we couldn't see one end of the castle. Thankfully, we were able to see most of it.
Leaving the castle, we go down to a spot called the St. Nicholas stairs. It's an iconic place in Patras. We have lunch here and go down the massive stairway connecting the town's upper and lower parts. As we make our way down toward the port, we pass ruins of a Roman stadium and conservatory. We are in the "downtown" part of the city now. There are nicer shops, more businesses and a livelier atmosphere than where we are staying. The city here is cleaner than Athens, but it is smaller. We walk through a large central city square called King George I Square. These town squares are great places to sit; people watch and take in the surrounding energy. Continuing, we walked to a port where ferries would typically run. It's still considered the winter season in March, so no ferries are docked. We sat at the water's edge, admiring the deep aqua-blue color and enjoying the breeze. It's pretty relaxing, and we've done a lot of walking, so we sat here for a while. On our way home, we stopped at a grocery store. Besides this one-stop, we didn't linger to look at much else. It's been an eventful and tiring day so far, and we want to get back. We get home earlier than planned, so there is plenty of time to get schoolwork done, nap, and catch up on anything else. It's been a good day.
We've taken short outings in the past couple of days. Yesterday, after the kids did their schoolwork, we walked to a park. The younger two kids played on the playground while my oldest, my wife, and I sat on a bench talking. My oldest has fallen in love with his Kindle. He can literally take it and read it anywhere, so that's what he did. After the park, we walked to a Roman bridge. It's a historical site, so it's fenced off, but we could see it easily enough. Seeing something old like that makes you wonder about the life that was going on where you stood when it was in use. We walked to the grocery store and visited what we thought was a big toy store above it. It turns out it is a home goods type store, similar to a small Walmart, with the grocery part at another lower level. We found a handful of useful items and checked out. Tanya went into the grocery part to grab some things while the kids and I waited. It was only a few hours, but we walked everywhere and are still getting used to that.
Today, we went downtown to enjoy "Burnt Thursday" as part of the Patras Carnival. The official name is Tsiknopempti; good luck saying it. It's also called Smoky Thursday, Grill Thursday, or Smelly Thursday. Whatever you call it, the tradition today is that lots of people grill different meats to enjoy. Yes, it smelled divine. We walked down the main street for this celebration. We saw that mostly restaurants were grilling out front, and you had to dine in for the meat. We found some guys selling meats off the grill and got those. They were so good. There was pork, sausage and kebab lamb-beef. Several cafes and restaurants played loud music; the street was crowded, but it was a fun atmosphere. Some people wore costumes or costume accessories, which made it more festive. We walked down by the sea again since the day was lovely and the water looked beautiful again. My youngest two found plenty of washed-up bamboo among the rocks and had fun sword fighting and just playing. Walking in the opposite direction on the main street was fun to be in the middle of the carnival energy. We saw a different part of the neighborhood we were staying in on the way back. Walking around is getting easier. All the hikes we've done as a family are coming back as a different kind of blessing.
Earlier in the week, Tanya messaged an ex-pat group in the area. They meet monthly and will do so at the end of the week. They replied, telling us to please come along with the kids. We met them at a restaurant on the water's edge on Saturday. The group always meets here to watch the sunset. When we arrived, there were four people, and they were very welcoming. The guy who started the group was Canadian, and the others were from Germany and Wales. As we sat and talked, more and more people joined us. It was an entertaining and eclectic group. We got good information about the city and what to expect while staying in Patras. Since most of these people were retired or semi-retired, doing a little work here and there, they traveled around quite a bit. They had excellent knowledge of places we planned to visit, so Tanya and I soaked in all we could. We had a lengthy conversation with a guy born in Greece but raised in Australia. He was curious about how some things really were in the US and didn't believe everything he heard from the media or people who didn't live there. Only a couple of other people arrived with a child, and they were several years younger than our nine-year-old. So, it wasn't as much fun for our kids, unfortunately. However, Tanya and I had a great time getting to know everyone we could. The people who showed up later were from the UK, north Macedonia, America, and Australia. It was a great experience to get to know a group of people like this. So many were on different journeys in life, and it was neat to see them in one place. We hope to see them again for one of the parades during the Patras Carnival.
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