3rd day with crazy grandpa

Update on 22.04.23:

Although one is usually dead tired after a day like yesterday, you don't necessarily sleep well because of the exciting events of the day. That was also the case last night.

But being tired was the wrong place for that.

Dimitri didn't waste any time with his plans. Today I was supposed to fix the access road. Fill in the holes, make the surface even, remove stones, etc.

After a cup of coffee, I grabbed a rake and started working. Honest, hard, sweaty manual labor. My hands were already a bit strained from the fence action and now they looked like a real craftsman's hands.

Every now and then you could hear Dimitri calling our names from a distance. Mostly because of some little thing that we had to do or discuss briefly.

For lunch, the long-promised fish was on the menu today, at least for me as an inconsistent vegetarian, at least sometimes when it comes to fish. Such an offer made me very curious. Jessica had fried potatoes and a salad for everyone, as well as white bread. And olive oil, of course. The cooking was done in the rudimentary outdoor kitchen. But to be honest, I didn't really want to know how, where, and with what it was cooked. I'm pretty tough when it comes to hygiene and yet, while eating, I sometimes consciously tried not to think too much about the details of the preparation. There was also a daily mug of freshly squeezed orange juice served with every meal. The best orange juice ever by far. Dimitri showed us where these wonderful fruits grow early in the afternoon.

I finished the road after lunch. Then we set off to get oranges. The two different plots or smaller plantations were not far from the sea. We couldn't find out exactly who owns this land. At first, he said that one of the fields belonged to his sister. But that turned out to be a joke shortly afterwards. Somehow, it was clear that Dimitri doesn't take things so precisely and acts according to his own rules. He also found it quite amusing to always call these plots, which probably belong to someone, "his business". It was really fun to go on a raid with him. In order to get all the good fruits, Jessica even had to climb on his back for a classic robber's ladder. We laughed ourselves half to death when he came up with this idea and emphasized that he was just an "old crazy donkey".

The many orange trees were in full bloom and the wonderful scent reached you from afar. A new cycle begins here, which ensures that fresh, juicy citrus fruits will soon be harvested.

On the way back, he showed us the house where he grew up with 5 siblings. His sister still lives in this place. He finds it boring here, so he prefers to be up on his hill. From there he also has a view of the sea. He had also been on the road most of the time as a musician. The "normal" settled life has never really been his thing.

Fully loaded with oranges, grapefruits, blood oranges, and lemons, we set off again. This time all the animals were there and unharmed.

Short break until the trip to Olympia, the small but historically significant city.

To my surprise, Dimitri always attaches great importance to us cleaning our shoes before getting into his car. With a car that could lose its broken trunk lid at every turn and otherwise looks like someone is living in it, this is not necessarily understandable. But okay. My car my rules, that's fine...

Roigor, one of the 3 dogs, was also on board today and together we hit the road. Halfway there, Dimitri stopped at a bridge that he considered a suitable place for a group photo. He also wanted to quickly clean the dirty windshield at the same time.

As far as parking was concerned, with pilot Dimitri, we didn't have to worry about it.

We stopped near these special sights. At this point, there should actually be something about these special sights and the ancient city of Olympia, but to be honest, I don't even know exactly what you can actually see there. The Olympic Games have their origin here, I'm almost sure of that. When you're with Dimitri, you already have enough culture and entertainment. But for many other people, this city seems to be of importance, as it has been attracting many tourists for years.

We didn't even think it was worth paying the entrance fee for the Olympic site or whatever you could see there. Shame on us. It was already evening and Dimitri was waiting for us at the car.

We took a little walk and then went in search of a restaurant in the small town. Dimitri, whom we now called the crazy grandpa, chose a pizzeria for us. He gladly accepted his new nickname. Laughing from ear to ear, he repeated it whenever we called him that. That's how I will remember him very well.

But back to Olympia, to the pizzeria. Dimitri really wanted to treat us, but he didn't hide the fact that he was not financially well off. But he insisted, so we shared a pizza and a small bottle of wine. The pizza was really good and worthy of a Greek Olympic hero. Jessica had a dessert and when we wanted to pay, we didn't have enough money. Dimitri only had 5 euros with him. The situation was somehow awkward, but again, it was funny in a crazy way. We were missing a total of 40 cents, even after thoroughly searching all our pockets for coins. I could have also paid with a card, but that would have been too easy. Besides, we were now outlaws on Dimitri's side, boycotting the system together.

The crazy grandpa then took the money and handed it to the waiter as if it were the most natural thing to do. He said something in Greek and it seemed to be settled.

Being with Dimitri in that restaurant sometimes felt like he came from a different world. He gladly observed the well-dressed ladies and gentlemen around us, only to compare them to America and make fun of them and their "disguises" like a crazy grandpa.

The mood was still fun on the way back and Dimi cheerfully waved at people he almost ran over.

On the left side, somewhere, a woman with a pram came towards us. Crazy grandpa stopped, rolled down the window, said a few sentences in Greek, and both of them laughed heartily. We did too, although we didn't even know what he had said to her. He asked her how much the child would cost. I can still laugh my head off when I think about it. Even if some might think that this guy is a bit crazy, he always seems warm and likable to me.

That was the last evening of our spontaneous volunteering.