the long lost cousin

Yasoo

Happy birthday to Meghan! We spoke to her today in Italy - now a 15 year old! She is having a fantastic time despite having a cold. We sang happy birthday to her most of the way home in the car today in her honour (and to keep Cassie entertained...) We miss Meg and Sarah heaps. Sarah is in Sydney and has been experiencing jewish traditions with some friends there - we look forward to hearing all about it!

We are back from Kritsa and enjoying our last few days in Crete. We are leaving Crete on Thursday to spend 2 nights in Athens and break up the journey to Australia. It feels like the end of the holiday and the end of summer (deep sigh...) as the days start to cool and the sun is weakening. The village is slowly emptying and our hotel will close in 2 weeks. At least there are some bargains in the shops! I hope everyone is in need of some hand woven linen because we have a suitcase full.....

Our weekend in Kritsa was a definite highlight. It was so nice to be in the mountains where time seems slow and everyone has a smile and a 'kali mera' (good morning) for you - some even say it first! The lunch in the village of Kroustas with Yanni, Maria and Yanni's cousin Mareka was superb. The goat was truly amazing - Manny's right, it did taste of all kinds of herbs but perhaps that's because goats here are fattened on wild herbs in the mountains. We started the meal with goats cheese, bread and dolmades (some wild vegetable stuffed with rice abnd herbs) and then mountainous plates of pasta and goat. It was more than filling, all washed down with local red wine. The villagers were pleased to see us - the old women on the streets gave Cassie freshly cracked almonds, and one lady even ran inside and returned with a bag of spanikoptia (spinach pie), cheese, bread and cashew nuts for her when she understood that we were Papadoulis from Australia. Cassie thought it was great - and ate had more than her share of nuts and other goodies. She enjoyed a three hour sleep afterwards, and somehow we managed to eat a little more at dinner.

We left Kritsa a little slowly, wishing we could stay longer (although Manny was relieved that we were away from the linen shops!) and were already making plans to return in a few years. We hadn't met any Papadoulis' although we knew they lived in the town. Not to worry, we would track them down another time. Manny bought a wooden chess set from a shop selling goods made from olive wood. When we returned to Koutoulafari I opened the bag and saw the business card in the bottom - and the name on it was Dimitri Papadoulis! Manny had been into that shop several times and had left it to the last minute to buy the chess set - from the only English woman in town who had a job there. She was probably the only person we hadn't told our name, and now we'ded discover the shop owner is a Papadoulis. The woman had told us it was her day off the following day, so perhaps Dimitri would be working in her place? We decided to return one last time this morning in the hope of to meet Dimitri.

We left early, stopping on the way at the 500 year old monastry of Saint George which sits on the mountain side with spectacular views to the ocean. We arrived in Kritsa around 10am, only to find the wood shop closed! We went for a coffee (and bought another table cloth!) and then found the shop had opened soon after. Dimitri is related - he is tall and said all the Papadoulis' were tall people (perhaps this is where Manny, Meg and Sarah get their height from?) and with blue eyes (now this must be where Bapou gets his pale blue eyes from!). He is 39 and has one brother, but other siblings died as children. His father is still alive and he is going to ask about the family so we can complete more of the family tree. He was genuinely pleased to meet us and wished we had found him earlier so he could spend more time. We have exchanged email addresses so hopefully this is the start of ongoing contact. It was so nice to have found some family - and wonderful to see Manny so excited about tracking down a long lost cousin!

So now we are winding down towards home. We have taken back the car hire so are walking everywhere, which is fine as everything in the village is nearby. Tomorrow night we are going to Yanni and Maria's place for a farewell dinner. They have been more than generous and we look forward to welcoming their children to Australia sometime in the future. Maria won't fly so Yanni and Maria won't make it to Australia, but their children are talking seriously about making the trip, which would be fantastic. We have some serious hospitality to provide!

It is such a shame to leave when we are feeling so at home. Cassie is into a wonderful Hellenic routine of sleeping until late in the afternoon (in fact we all are!), allowing us time in the evening to enjoy dinner out. She is often into bed around 9pm, so it may take some re-training when we return to get her back into the Perth way of things.

Thanks for all the comments - keep them coming!
Sue, Manny and Cassie