Luckily we checked in early at Luton after a 4 hour foggy journey down from
and it's museum, the Museum of Archeology, the Palace and the Olympic Games Stadium. 
All in beautiful weather, cloudless and about 17 degrees.
Koukounara
Leaving
Arrival at Koukounara was an emotional event with huge welcomes from Vasiliki and Georgos. Vasiliki has given us the top floor of her house which is a self-contained two bed roomed apartment. We are so lucky! The following day we picked up a rental car in Pylos, and thanks to Christos, our taxi driver, who would take no payment! That evening we went out with Vasiliki and Georgos to the local Taverna and had a great meal of octopus, squid salads, etc etc etc! Because it was lent there was no meat or dairy products on the menu.
Sam helped the Taverna owner's daughter with an assignment and we got home about 10.00pm
. Early by Greek standards. What an experience to renew friendships and retell stories! A time to remember forever.
From the minute we arrived in Koukounara we were treated as members of the family. We shared Vasilki's meals throughout the time we were there and spent much time with her, and her family. Vasiliki your cooking is superb! And it was Lent! More important was the fact that the time we spent with Vasiliki and her family and with Georgos, bought us close to them. We will continue to go back to Greece regularly as we all want to continue the relationships into the next generations.
Today George and Amastasia arrived with their 2 boys, Pete & Bill and Amastasia's mother, Georgia. Amastasia speaks excellent English so our communication is now not an issue. It was wonderful to meet them.
We accompanied them to church that evening.
It was a great experience with the glitter, colour and symbolism of the Greek Orthodox Church. The boys helped the Priest to take the service, which was quite long and full of sorrow. Taken in ancient Greek it seems to preserve important parts of the culture and is a community focus in this small village of 130 people. After church at about 10.00pm we had supper which reflected the principles of Lent. i.e. not meat, dairy or oil products. However we did not starve!
Before the church service, which started at about 7.00 p.m., we drove to a Tholos Tomb at the site of Nestor's palace, just north of Koukounara. Tholos tombs were used by the ancients to bury their very high ranking dead with their valued belongings. Consequently these tombs which are reasonable common have been raided and pilfered over the last 2500 years. 
The earlier tombs were constructed under ground, but gradually the tombs became built into hillsides so that they were extremely hard to find. After a burial the entrance was blocked up with heavy rubble and covered with earth. 
Thus the tomb soon blended back into the landscape. The Tholos tomb we saw had been reconstructed and as you can see it is a large affair. After the death of the next King the tomb was opened, fumigated and cleaned and the new body deposited with it's finery. Thus in neighbouring museums there are exquisite examples of jewellery made from gold and other precious metals and stones.
With the Priest dressed in the dark purple robes of yesterday the service was somber and divided into two parts. Half way through the representation of the body of Christ in a coffin was solemnly paraded through the streets of Koukounara, followed by the congregation.
Local custom has it that all these Easter activities are accompanied by the letting off of large numbers of huge fire crackers. So the church service and the parade was punctuated regularly and frequently by huge explosions. I've never heard anything like it! 
Sam was asked to be one of the 4 pall - bearers so it was nice to feel really included. Everyone was pleased to see us at church and were most welcoming. It was a great experience to see the faith and commitment of the locals. More Lenten food after the service.
We left Koukounara early for a flying visit to 
We spent about an hour at the site which was not nearly enough, but just enough to give Sam a taster so that he can return.
Much of
The ornateness of the interior of the church was immensely impressive to one used to the plain interiors of Anglican churches. 
There were subtle changes in the flowers and ribbons which were part of the decoration. 
And I'm sure that there were many other changes for this important day that I did not pick up. 
The service, although 
entirely in ancient Greek, was full of symbolism. Perhaps the most striking was the lighting of candles, from the Priest's candles, in the darkened church. Each member of the congregation carefully nursed their candle and took it home where it was placed to oversee the ending of Lent. The singing was similar to plain chant and seemed mainly to be done by two leaders, one of whom was Georgos.
Koukounara has a local tradition of youths setting off huge explosions during and after the services at this time of year. So great was the sound that at times it was impossible to hear the Priest! After the service al greeted each other and we walked home with our candles. The church seemed to be playing a big role in keeping this community together as there were people of all ages present. And the behaviour of all the children was perfect.
We awoke to the smell of charcoal spits roasting lambs throughout the village and to the lively sound of 
Greek music and more fireworks, - refreshed ready to embark upon a new scale of feasting!
He visits twice a day and again we spent
about 45 minutes with him in one of his favorite spots. This time the vine leaves had not covered the "bush house" and we sat out in the warm sun talking about Greek philosophers, modern Greek politics and, of course, Snow and Ernie. During the war there was a political divide throughout the country and it was evident in Koukounara. Georgos was part of the communist group and he helped to blow up two bridges in the region. At that time the communists were supportive of 
all had some of the fruit.
So it was a direct link to Snow as he had eaten from the same tree. Along the road stands another huge old tree, not a lemon tree.
It is a landmark and has latterly been used by the air force to plot maps. Snow loved this tree and Georgos told us that Snow insisted that workers who had come to 
clear the surrounding land should leave the tree for them for shade. It was much smaller then. Georgos thinks it is now about 75 years old.
Sam with his Greek Ya ya, (Grandmother), Vasiliki. We walked back with Georgos to his house and then back to Vasiliki's for the feast.
It was certain that Lent has finished! We piled our plates high with Lamb roasted in oregano, olive oil and lemon juice. Low temperature for about 3 hours. It fell apart. With it came salad with the oil dressing, Tzasiki, potatoes cooked with the lamb, feta and bread, and wine. The only thing to do was to do as the Greeks do and go to bed.
At 5.30 a tap on the door announced the arrival of Amastasia who had invited us out to pick wild flowers. We were not very successful but we met an old friend of George and Amastasia, Hosta, who made us coffee at his farm house. 
Soon his sister and her daughter arrived with a lovely wired haired terrier called Dick. 
We had a lovely time with them all in the old farmhouse which was much as it was during war time. Now it has running water and soon it is to have electricity. It houses the Albanian workers who come to work on the farm.
Sam and I drove into Pylos to get some antibiotics for Gina who has a really nasty cough, - probably a chest infection. But everything in Pylos was closed so we came home with nothing. Our flat tire will have to wait till tomorrow too.
We had lunch with Georgos and 
Today it looks quite different as during the war it was planted in grapes and you could see for miles. Now the olives groves are beautiful, but they limit the view. We visited the farm house, built by Georgos' father,
where Snow & Ernie lived and saw the old well,
still in use, from where they saw the British attack on an oil tanker berthed at Pylos. Only one aircraft was involved, coming in very low from Kalamata and so keeping out of the arc of the guns around Pylos which were directed towards the sea. The tanker was destroyed but the warship which was refueling got away. Never the less there was great celebration at the farm that day. We also visited another store house which Georgos built around 1947. Again we had perfect weather, 
and returned to Georgos' house where
