argos, day four

paris, and his daughter stella


we have gone to the beach the first three days, and this day will be no different. today we went again with paris to his camp site. the difference, however, was that he moved his caravan from drepano to astro, a completely different city in a completely different state (arcadia). to be honest, this site was not as appealing as drepano, but it had its advantages for his family. a few days earlier we had learned that paris’ wife, eleni, speaks english very well (though her words were that she doesnt like to speak english, and prefers french). we also learned that their older daughter, elpitha is learning english and french right now (as a six year old, being taught by a private tutor).

last time i was in greece, i couldnt quite grasp the practice that they have here that involves resting after lunch. it is as though the whole city (if not the whole country) closes shop from about 2 in the afternoon until 5. in fact, when we were walking around nafplio earlier in the week, this was exactly true (no stores were open for us to go in and browse after we went to the beach). being from america, where there is no such practice of taking naps after lunch, it was difficult for me (and for the adults then who were trying to get me to take a nap) because i had a little more energy. however, after about four days here in greece, i could appreciate the practice. also, this is in light of the fact that we havent really been doing anything except going to the beach! after lunch on thursday, both paola and i were very tired. we didnt quite take a nap, but we were almost to that point. paris’ caravan setup helped, because he had a tarp, or canopy extending from the caravan, to about two meters away from it, which created a nice shady environment. he told us that before taking us back to my uncle’s (we had to be back by the early evening becuase it was decided that since we were not going to santorini, we would go to another island off the coast of argolida called hydra the next day; the ferry leaves from tolo, which is close to nafplio, which is where loula lives, which is where we would sleep that night for convenience), we would walk around the town of astro, but we were too tired to do too much. in any case, he took us through the center, which was little more than one small street of little cafes and such (he told us that it got very crowded at night, and i believe him).

on the way home, paris told me some interesting stories about the history of my family. it so happens that the family that i know did not start in argos, as i had previously thought. rather, my grandfather and grandmother were apparently from the state of arcadia, close to a city called tripoli. they had their first three children there (hresula, kanella (neitsa), and george). they then moved from there to argos for work (i suppose the working economy was better in argos at that time than in tripoli). my father was the first to be born in argos (followed by herakles, john, then tasso). it was interesting that they moved to argos for work, and then later george would move to america for work (followed by my dad, then everyone else except heralkles and hresula (in fact, even my grandfather moved to america for a short time to work).

after returning to my uncle’s and resting a bit, we went to loula’s in nafplio. she would take us to tolo the next morning so we could catch a ferry to hydra. her home is very nice, although they admit that they would like to get something bigger, with three rooms instead of two. also, despite the great location in the center of old nafplio, there is a significant flaw about the apartment. becuase it is considered old nafplio, and the local government wants to maintain the integrity of the old architecture (indeed, all of the buildings are very venetian in style because, if my sources are correct, some venetians settled here and founded nafpio), they do not allow modifications in order to instal and air conditioner, so their apartment gets very warm inside, especially during the summer. there is a little consolation in that they are able to spend time out on one of the three balconies at night, where it is much cooler than the inside. nikos also told me some stuff about the big castle in nafplio that is on the top of a hill, and has 999 steep steps leading to it from the bottom of the hill: that it was built in the 1400s, and was a major fort in the fight for independence from the turks in 1820s, and that after the war, the new government imprissoned one of the key greek generals there (for a reason that was not made clear), which is a famous prison that is not quite big enough for a man to stand in.

after dinner (at about 1130pm) paola and i went for a little walk around old nafplio. like i said before, it was neat, becuase it was very crowded with people (the greeks seem like they dont start to go out until about 11, then it gets very crowded (which perhaps explains the brilliance of taking naps after lunch)). we happened upon a little book fair that they have during the month of august, and i was able to find some other greek books that i hope will help and encourage me to learn the language. i was able to find the seferis book, and the cavafy book that i couldnt find a couple days ago. they also had a complete book of elytis, but i didnt want to spend so much money for his complete works, when i was only interested in one. so i have found three books total, and am still looking for one. we soon went back to loula’s and tried the best we could to fall asleep in her warm apartment. it was easier for me than it was for paola to sleep through the night.