travelogue: lemnos, greece (part 1 or 4)

after our visit to vis, croatia, we hopped over to greece!  i was so very happy to finally hangout with our friends alexia and darrin... on lemnos!  lemnos, in the northern aegean sea, is one of greece's authentic islands.  rugged with golden beaches and crystal clear waters, it is little known and unspolit.  

alexia has had the good fortune of being acquainted with this place, the land, the people, the food.  with her pointing the way, we immersed ourselves in the lemons way.  we had fun exploring... tasting the local specialties (seafood and wine!), experiencing the people's hospitality, hanging out on those sandy beaches and getting lost in its rugged paths.

staying in the house two doors down from alexia, in the village of kaspaka, allowed us to pretend this was our home, our little village with no other tourists around.  it was something quite special. 

old ladies sit outside their door watching their neighbours walk by, the fruit vendor comes by in his truck along the 'main' road (but really it looks like any other road in this tiny village), a bakery whose shelves are empty if you don't get there early in the morning but the orange cat is always there to greet you by the bakery entrance.

just a skip and hop away, we visit the local woman famous for her floramina pasta - a traditional lemnian pasta often served as an accompaniment to slow cooked rooster - and she stocks her shelves with the best baklava (called samsada) in the village.

hanging out with these kiddos in a greek kitchen

afternoon nap

chatting with a local watching the sunset, he tells me i found the best spot on the island for viewing it... right in kaspaka :)

ai gianni tourkos is kaspaka's local beach where we hung out during our first and last days in lemnos.  with lovely shallow sandy waters, it was perfect the littlest ones.  we had such fun!  right, kara?

we then walked down the beach to the beach front restaurant to feast on greek food. and what a feast... alexia ordered food to fill the table full... octopus salad, greek salad, sardines, taramasalata, wine, tzatziki.  the latter, made from strained yogurt with cucumbers, garlic and olive oil is perfect with grilled pita bread.  it's here that kai tried sardines and LOVED them.  he could live off greek salad; cucumber, tomatoes, olives topped with a huge block of feta cheese.  my favourite of all was the grilled octupus... so simple and so good.  everything is extremely fresh and from the sea you are looking at!  every meal was memorable.

this was a lovely place to hang out and watch the sun set while the kiddos could run around safely playing on the pebbled beach.

we so loved indulging in village living with our good friends. it was pretty perfect :)

travelogue: lemnos, greece (part 2) next.