When Animalcouriers reached Greece by ferry from Italy, our first stop was Stoupa, to reunite cats Mr Pickles and Douglas, and dogs Murphy and Twiglet with Sharon. Overnight accommodation in the area is a bit sparse at this time of year but we were lucky enough to end up in a rather nice little cottage.
With the weather howling and storming outside, we took advantage of the open fire which had been laid ready for us. Along with the firewood was a plastic bag full of amazingly effective firelighters — pieces of cardboard soaked in olive oil. Sacrilege! we hear you cry, using Kalamata extra virgin oil in this way. But the smell suggested the oil had already been used for cooking. So in fact, an excellent approach to recycling and less grease down the drains.
From Stoupa we drove through the hills towards Athens via Kalamata. We stopped for coffee in a small mountain village between Kalamata and Athens to look around a tiny church that caught our eye. A local lady passed us with her flock of ewes and their lambs, bringing traffic to a halt while she chatted with a number of villagers before guiding her flock off the road.
In Athens we headed to the port to meet up with Eugenia’s cat Pouca. This dear little tortie girl was brought to us by boat by a friend of Eugenia’s. Pouca seemed quite unfazed by her journey and simply ready for cuddles and supper!
Our olive-oil firelighters. Courier M says he uses something similar at home — kitchen roll used to wipe out the frying pan. But Mrs M objects somewhat to the smell of fried bacon and onion!
We are very aware of the difficult lives led by stray cats around dustbins. As we left Stoupa we spotted a group of 12 or more round this bin. Even though we approached very slowly, most of them scuttled away over the wall, leaving just a handful on guard. Who were rewarded with some cat treats.
Driving through the hills behind Stoupa en route for Kalamata, we passed many beautiful wild flowers. We think these may be orchids.
Wonderfully bright poppies
Daisies are hard to beat for that spring-time feeling
Wish we knew what these striking flowerheads are. Any ideas?
Mimosa (we think)
Traffic jam in the mountains
We thought this little church was derelict when we first caught sight of it…
…but on pressing our noses to the glass in the door, we saw its marvellous tiny interior
Ancient-looking paintings inside
Some paintings were made directly on the stonework
Graffiti at the church’s entranceway
Eugenia’s friend arrives with Pouca
Pouca peeping out, keen to know what’s going on
Pouca is such a pretty little girl! We discovered she’s missing a leg and part of her tail. She’s cuddly, purrs loudly, and loves eating!
Great photos….that church looks truly VERY ancient……imagine how many people have visited that over the centuries. Pouca is precious – poor dear little thing has been through some tough times……hopefully that’s well behind her!
Hugs, Pam and Sam
I was thinking exactly the same about the little church – just fabulous to see it still in use and think of the people who have entered there with all kinds of emotions for all manner of events.
The history in that small space is so intriguing – couriers J&M would have loved to have found out more.
Couriers J&M were certainly surprised to see it still in use. Those walls could tell some wonderful stories. A magical place. Little Pouca sure did have a hard start but she’s a dearly loved cat – her owner can’t wait to see her again!
I nearly swooned as I read about the use of olive oil … fortunately it was a special way of recycling :o) It was great to see some parts of greece with your eyes :o) and I hope the best for the stray cats, may no bad things happen to them…
You’d have to be careful if you ate any of that cardboard Easy not to come in contact with a naked flame 😉 Every corner to take there is something new and wonderful to absorb. Sadly there are far too many of those stray cats 🙁
I’ll have to remember the cardboard soaked in used olive oil for the next time we have to burn brush and pruning debris. Makes perfect sense.
Around here, it seems to be feral colonies living under houses or barns. It is a hard life for these cats. 7 of our 9 cats were migrants onto our property from local feral colonies. All our adoptees live inside, neutered, spayed, vaccinated and off the street.
It’s a great tip, isn’t it. We use a commercial lighter made of wood wood turnings covered in wax – a guaranteed way of starting a big fire!
They are the lucky ones indeed. It’s a very hard life for feral cats and their lifespan is short.
great photos, like always. I love the name Mr. Pickles. I love the flowers, too.
We do come across some wonderful animal names. The flowers were such a delight.
Beautiful things you found on your journey.
It’s wonderful when we get the chance to nose around.
This post was very interesting. Thank you for the tour. I haven’t seen this area.
Always something new to explore.
I love your travel tales. It’s such a beautiful time of the year to be in this part of the world. The flowers tell us that things are hotting up for the year. I think the first flower photo is a bee orchid – so lucky to see these. The red flowers are Anemones and the pink flowers, Asphodels. The yellow flowers are Acacia pycnantha, or golden wattle, introduced from Australia and are now a bit of a pest where they have been introduced. As you can see, I love the plants and flowers of the Mediterranean!
Ah, great to have an expert on hand to give the flowers their proper names – thank you! It certainly is a stunning countryside.
Beautiful pics!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Courier M can certainly wax lyrical with the flowers!
I loved seeing the old church! And the pretty cat – and the flowers, even though I don’t know what most of them are except the wattle and the daisies 🙂
We luckily have a local follower who knows everything there is to know about the wild flowers!
I love the flowers. Sadly don’t know what the flowers are. Although they are very beautiful! The olive oil deal is great! We use our bacon grease for this while we camp.
Glad to hear bacon grease works for you too! Luckily we were told about the flowers – isn’t it frustrating not to know the names.
Lucky Pouca not to be one of those strays. She looks so precious.
Pouca is an absolute dear.
What a venerable church!
Does make you think about time on earth.
What a lovely blend of young and old, man made vs nature made, modern and quaint. Don’t know which I enjoyed more — the flowers, the church, or Pouca…
Greece has everything – Pouca is the gingerbread topping!
Beautiful pictures and the one of all the stray cats is one we’re unfortunately all too familiar with
Yup but for each picture like that its good to be able to tell the story of Pouca.
Well, I was going to tell you what all your flowers were but I have learned that before I act all smarty pants and such, I should read the comments to see if someone else beat me to being all smarty pants and such. Sadly, Ginnymint has me beat………LOL
Ah, sorry you missed out on being a smarty pants 😀 Great that you knew them all – we get quite frustrated when we can’t put a name to a smiling face.