Greek Easter

I just wanted to tell you about one of the shops/tavernas here, on the harbour front. It appears to be a typical small old fashioned Greek butcher's shop, where nothing is on display, you have to ask for what you want and they disappear into their huge chiller and return with part of an animal carcass which is cut up on a huge butcher's block. That's my worst sort of shopping - I am a great browser and like to choose from goods on display, especially when food shopping. I like to pick up and closely inspect the different packs of pre-wrapped meat, fruit or veg, cheese etc and choose the exact weight I want. Large supermarkets are heaven to me.
However, as it got closer to Easter, some large strings of home made sausages appeared, hanging from the ceiling. These don't get refrigerated, they leave them to mature and ripen for a week or two. They taste nothing like proper British bangers! Also in this tiny shop there are a couple of tables and chairs, and every time we have walked past in the early evening, there are at least four local people there, drinking and chatting. Maybe the butcher runs a cafe as a sideline, or else it is for the customers to wait while he dissects a carcass for them. On Friday night, the people at the tables were sitting right under several fresh sheep carcasses, hanging ready to be purchased for the annual Easter spit-roast. Imagine if they did that in a traditional English butchers!

Easter is a very special time for the Greeks, even more so than Christmas. This is the time that everything comes alive. Not only are the hedgerows filled with wonderful spring flowers, the fields resemble English meadows and the trees are on full blossom. Some of the fruit and veg is at it's best at this time of year, especially strawberries, and salad vegetables. Easter also seems to be the start of the new year for the Greeks, it heralds the onset of summer, tourists arrive, money is to be made. The town really seemed to come alive, tavernas are smartened up, tables and chairs renewed and painted, roadside verges and gardens are weeded and fields rotovated.

Fandancer is now back in the water. Thanks to the excellent service at DimStef boatyard, the re-launch went smoothly. We had a slight hiccup when water did not appear from the outlet after the engine started, so we anchored briefly offshore to sort the problem. The newly painted anchor markings worked a treat. The minor problem was due to the new water pump needing priming, which was easily done, then we motored the very short distance to the town harbour and tucked ourselves in the corner.

The last few days have been spent by generally sprucing up Fandancer, giving the decks a good scrub and polish, cleaning the boom and mast, degreasing the windlass, bringing the dinghy on deck, removing and storing the wheelhouse cover. Fandancer is not a modern yacht and we do not have the luxury of in-mast furling, so the mammoth sails were attached, then dropped, folded and sail covers put to use. It was quite tricky remembering which way the furling line for the jib should be attached so that the sail furled correctly with the blue strip showing. Our first effort was wrong, so we had to remove all the furling line, drop the sail, wind the line round the drum correctly, re hoist the sail again. Luckily we chose a day with only a very light headwind.

The Greeks were out in force yesterday - there appears to be an influx of visitors here this week, and all of them seem to enjoy promenading in the sunshine along the quay to the end, where Fandancer is moored side-to on the wall. I wonder what they think of this strange British couple running about their boat, wearing tee shirts, shorts and sun hats, when it appears to be a firm rule in Greece that no-one must remove their heavy jackets, scarves and boots until at least the first of May!