April in San Stef

When we opened the door on the morning after we arrived we were greeted by Stelios - very battered and beaten and very pleased to see us. We fed and watered him for 2 weeks and when I left he was a much healthier looking cat.


The land around Mia Mera is a typical building site - a mess! The plot is very steep, the soil is very sandy and in the wrong place and when it rains it's washed down the hill.

Our plan for April was to sort out the land and get some grass sown to bind the soil. We started with Yannis and his diggers.



Then Marc and I spent a few days moving stones, scraping and shaping and finally sewing seed. The next job was to keep it watered so the seed didn't blow away in the really strong winds. It would have been easier if the mains water didn't get cut off very day without fail(contracters building a new road kept cutting through the mains).

Thanassis and Marc had to make a trip to town and I was left in charge of watering on a spectacularly low water pressure day. They bought me a bottle of wine to cheer me up - one and a half litres for 2 euros, nicely presented in a plastic bottle. Actually, it tasted OK!

Our grass seed was also visited by the neighbouring

goats until we persuaded them to go back home.

Thanassis also bought me 2 olive trees which produce my favourite olives.

Then the rain came - which was a great relief as it meant we didn't have to water to seed, and we could get on with the inside of the house.

We had to clean all the floor tiles with a horrible cleaner containing sulphuric acid - it took 2 days and we still have one room left to do.

Finally we could do the nice bits - unpack the furniture and get the house ready to stay in when we return in June.

Our bedroom

Kitchen/living room

The view

And Marc has stayed for another week because we only managed to seed two thirds of the garden. He'll get to celebrate a traditional Greek Easter as a reward.