Get Lost!

Good Morning!

And a good morning it's been so far! No reason in particular, I just really like Sunday mornings. Actually I really like Sundays in general. Sunday is THE day to be lazy and not feel guilty about it. 

Whoever invented Sundays is my hero.

Last night I couldn't be bothered with laziness however. In fact, I was on a mission! I decided after dinner that I needed to go to my favourite bench, way up high in the village and get some pictures of the sunset over the harbour. The only problem with that was it was already just after 8pm when I decided to do this and I still needed to shower off the salt from my afternoon swim. I know, I know, my life is so stressful!

I was out the door by 8:30, with about a half hour of daylight left BUT I needed to get to the bench before that half hour was up so I didn't miss the giant glowing orange and pink sun sinking into the Aegean.

No problem! Except Molyvos isn't exactly the easiest place to get around if you're 7 months pregnant. Or old, or injured, or just plain tired. But if you go have an intense passion for StairMasters then you'll LOVE this place. The village is built on a steeeeeeep hill and basically anywhere you walk....it's up. My guess is that in ancient times invaders didn't stand a chance against Molyvians because by the time they got up to the top of the hill to take over the castle, they were so tired and out of breath that all our side had to do was kick them in the shins and send them packing. Oh yeah, there's a castle at the top of the hill. It still looks in pretty good shape so I think my theory is probably pretty spot on (don't quote me on that)

On top of that there's all this tiny, twisty, vine-covered, cobblestone paths that I swear can magically appear and disappear at random. I've lived here for 3 years and no matter how many times I walk through certain areas of the village I get the sense that I've just walked on a path I'd never walked on before. And this place isn't big at all! It's smaller than Cumberland. Well, smaller than Cumberland now. Probably about the same as old Cumberland when most of us were kids hanging out in April's Chest (for my Greek friends and other friends that don't know what Cumberland is, it's the village I grew up in...April's Chest is a long story that you'll have to ask me about over an ouzo one night)

To cut to the chase....I got lost.

Here's some photos I took along the way as I madly searched for my bench.

 Ok, this looks familiar so I must be on the right track...

Hmmm, actually maybe I'm not on the right track after all...did someone just paint this house blue or am I lost?

 

Oh what a cute little balcony! Give yourself a high five if you can find the kitty cat in this pic (that's not really fair because she's kind of a blurry blob. Hint: look for a blurry blob)

Wait a minute, where the hell did this staircase come from?? And more importantly...where does it go??? And this is where it became clear that this was about to be a failed mission. Funny story though. I found an  old lady sitting outside her house up here that was very excited to see a pregnant lady wandering around. She asked me to stop so she could ask the usual questions: how many months are you? when are you due? where are you from? is your husband Greek? (that one is always followed by an "ahhhhh bravo!")

Then she asked me to give her my hand. So I did. She took my hand, closed her eyes and sat there quietly for a few seconds. I swear, in those few seconds that past an eerie wind blew past us....Then she opened her eyes and told me it was going to be a girl, she will look very Greek, she will be strong and healthy at birth, and strong willed throughout her life.

Huh. 

I thanked her and carried on my way.

I had to refocus after that. There is a mission at stake here! I must find the bench before it's too late! But to make matters worse, I found Mountain Lions. So of course I had to stop and take a few photos of them.

But still no bench.... 

Focus Tara, focus!! 

Ok, I can see mountains over there to my left so that means I have to keep to the right...

Good, now we're getting somewhere. If I can see the sea I'm in the right general area...I just don't know if I need to go up higher or back down a little ways...keep looking...

Turned out I was just a bit too high, but I finally I spotted my illusive bench just below me....

 FINALLY! I'm here! 

But sadly...I'm too late to catch the sun. 

It's even to dark to get a good picture of the bench I'd spent all this time looking for. 

I guess I'll just have to do another mission another day

A view of the village at night, from the top. It's still pretty gorgeous up here even if I didn't catch the sunset. And it's so peaceful. I took some time to think about stuff...mostly the old lady. Was that even real?? That was kinda creepy..but cool.

Finally I decided to make my way back down the hill and check out what was happening at the restaurant. One last village picture though because I HAVE to tell you about this house. This our good friend's house, Dimitris (actually it's his parents house), and I swear I am not joking when I tell you this....

THEY HAVE A SOLID GOLD TOILET!

I'm serious! We went there for New Year's Eve one year, I think it was my first New Year's here actually. 

Anyway, we were all downstairs which is a fully equipped house downstairs with kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, livingroom and whatever else. But then we found stairs...where does this go Dimitri? He said there was another house upstairs. So we go upstairs. Sure enough, it's another fully equipped house upstairs with kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, livingroom and whatever else....but it is FAAAAANCY! It was like walking into the Queen's palace! I didn't stay up there long because I was afraid I'd break something but had a little look around, ducked my head into the bathroom...yeah, solid gold toilet! INSANE! 

Hopefully we get invited over again so I can sneak a pic of the toilet...

that was a really odd sentence to write...

And then I made it to the restaurant. My brother in law gave me a couple of scoops of dark chocolate ice cream, we watched a show about the dinosaur extinction and then we finished the night off with a 'drink' at Pirates (I had a virgin mojito which was of course phenomenal because Ina made it)

So I may have missed the sunset but it was still an all around pretty awesome night!

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!