Best Birthday!

What a fabulous day!
Bruce and Vicky started the day in what is now becoming routine.  Vicky was up to enjoy the sun rising over Turkey and listen to soothing sound of a mourning dove, punctuated by the crows of a very proud rooster.

Back to Kathy's as promised with a brief stop for some fresh fruit.  Vicky picked up a bag of kitty kibble for Limnonaki kitties.  Or so she thought.  I guess my ability to read |greek labels is rather lacking as it turns out I bought kitty litter, not kitty kibble. doh!  Dumb tourists.

The travel was much less intense as we were now comfortable with our route to Limnonaki and could take a bit more time to enjoy the countryside.

The remnants from fires in 2000 that wiped out acres of olive groves

Samos rapid transit (often referred to as 'monkeys' instead of donkey's by Kathy)

Switchback road down to sea level (the highest point of today's drive is 570 meters)

Signs are easy to miss!

Limnonaki below

'major' junction in Spatharea.  Impossible to navigate without executing a 3-point turn further down the road.  

The old and the new.

Oncoming traffic can be nerve wracking.  We're grateful the cars are small.

We had an invitation to lunch at Kathy's nephew, Dimitri and his wife Thesbina ... so gracious.  We are treated like family as always, serving lovely roasted chicken and potatoes,  and the fruit we brought with us.  The language barrier is easily overcome with pidgin versions of each other's language as well as Kathy's translations, which can't be fully relied upon as I had noticed that there is a kind of 'filtering' that goes on when Kathy translates.

The stairs prove to be a bit much for Kathy who is now sporting a pacemaker, so Dimitri's creative problem solving resulted in a means of negotiating the long stairway to the car.

Dimitri, Vicky and Kathy

Clever solution to a mobility challenge

Back to Glicorisa for a swim and then to Pythagorio for a lovely dinner.  While pondering a menu in a favorite restaurant our newfound friends and neighbors, Peter and Anna from Sweden strolled by.  We quickly change tables to accommodate and the 4 of us had a spectacular dinner full of conversation and discover of how we are the same even though we are from different parts of the world.   That didn't leave much time for shopping, but being pros, Bruce and Vicky quickly found a ring in a much loved greek key pattern.  This replaces one that was sadly lost by Vicky when removed in the process of making bread a few months back.   The shop owner shared a tale of his grandfather immigrating to Canada and then returning to Greece before WWII.  Always connecting, reconnecting, touching lives, learning, sharing.  Kathy, Dimitri, Thesbina, Anna, Peter and the shopkeeper.  What a remarkable day.