Crete |
The Villages |
Athens & The Peloponnese |
Panayiotis picked up Charlie, Alexander, and me at the Rex Hotel in Kalamata, and we headed up the mountain to Tourkalaika |
Tourkolaika is the village and summer home
of our Greek Tsoutsouras family, Charlie's first cousin on his father's
side, Kostas, and his wife Georgia. In the winter they live in Athens with
their daughter Vasiliki and son Panayiotis, who spend their summer vacations
in Tourkolaika. This is the most welcoming family in the world. We love them! |
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Alexander, Bette, Panayiotis & Vasiliki When we visit the Tsoutsouras's in Tourkolaika, we like to stroll up the hill to the memorial park. |
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Kostas, Charlie & Panayiotis |
Alexander, Charlie & Panayiotis. We spend hours at this table. |
Panayiotis drove us all down to Megalopoli to meet Tsoutsouras relatives visiting Greece from Salem, Massachusetts. |
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Kostas and his first cousin Theodore's widow, Maria |
Vasiliki, Bette and Maria |
Maria's daughter-in-law Tricia, daughter Eleni, granddaughter Lexi, with Georgia & Vasiliki |
Maria's and Theodore's Grandchildren |
Charlie, Darrin (Maria's son-in-law), Kostas, Peter (Maria's son),
Panayiotis & Alexander |
Georgia, Vasiliki, Panayiotis, Eleni & Lexie |
Sofia, widow of Charlie's first cousin Stavros I immediately liked this lady the first time I met her in 1983. She and Stavros were so welcoming. |
My best Greece 2014 buddies! Vasiliki, Alexander & Panayiotis |
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Sofia's plants and flowers are beautiful & her home is so peaceful. | ||
Cool, cool water! | ||
And then we went to pick up the goat Charlie ordered this morning in Megalopoli for Geogia to roast for tomorrow's dinner. | ||
Vasiliki, Amelia, Charlie |
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Demetra's lovely home. | ||
Demetra & her Mother Aimilia, who passed away two months after our visit. |
Dirachia is Charlie's mother's village. We've been here many times but never on August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption, a major holy day and holiday in Greece. And, it has been Charlie's goal to go to Church in his mother's village on that day. So while we were in Kalamata, we drove up the mountain to Dirachia, about 45 minutes from our hotel on the Port of Kalamata. | |
The Village Memorial |
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Views from Dirachia | |
Dirachi Chapel |
Church down the road, where Mass was held on the Feast of the Assumption. |
George, our second cousin, his mother Maria, his wife Effie, his goat and me. | |
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Senia's garden |
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The Kefalas family. One of the nicest families
in the world! We had dinner with them after Mass. | |
Sign listing all the events of August 15th 2014. |
It was a wonderful day! |