12.11 - Day 302 - Charia (Mani), GRE

Tuesday 12th November - Charia, Mani, Greece (Day 302)

We woke up to on off rain but that simply reduces distractions to allow school work to get done. Our place, Stenorougi Charias, is shaped like the body of two aeroplane fuselages alongside one another, but instead of lightweight metal it’s made up of hunking great pieces of rock. 

Even the dividing wall is three feet thick - and doorways are made for people under five feet. Even Sienna has to mind her head on one of them. But it’s certainly atmospheric and also in keeping with all the other stone buildings around. 

The Mani area has a history of clans and family feuds so every little hamlet has multiple turret houses to keep watch - as well as for pirates and not to mention invading Turks or Venetians. 

We pop out to Areopoli, which in warm sun would be a delightful quaint village with bars and cafes around the square. But in the rain we’re not getting out of the car. 

Suddenly around 3 pm blue skies replace rain clouds - initially Kate and I go out for a short walk towards the beach through olive tree groves (past plenty of shotgun cartridges - the only person we’ve seen so far in Charia was a man with a gun looking for birds in the sky as we entered the hamlet), before we persuade the kids to hop in the car 5 minutes to go to the beach. 

A familiar pattern of initial resistance us of course followed by them running off up the beach, exploring the rocky edges. It’s a bright sky now in contrast to the rest of the day and we stay (alone) on the beach until the sun dips behind the peninsula, coasting long and cool shadows. 

Dinner back at the apartment and resubscribing to Netflix after a few months to Sienna and Seb’s delight before turning in.