Day 11: Kalyani
Monday, May 31st, 1999
Met with Fonis early in
the morning to drive to Kalyani, the birthplace of my grandfather. Stopped to
view the Korinth Canal, and incredible feat of nature.
We arrive in Kalyani by
late morning and head directly for Dimitri's house, which also happens to be
the same house my grandfather lived in. Dimitri is my father's uncle and is
the last surviving brother. Although he never actually met my grandfather, he
was born after my grandfather left for America, he told some amazing stories
about the family that we had never heard before. Dimitri took us to the
village cemetery to view the family grave. Inside the cask is a picture of my grandfather
which looks exactly like my father as a young man. We stop on the way back to
see the lake of the 2-headed chicken. In Greek mythology, this was a chicken
that when his head was cut off, 2 would grow back, if these 2 were severed, 4
would grow back, etc.
We head back into the
village for lunch and are met by several of our distant relatives and friends
of the family. Included in this group is a wonderful couple named George and
Vasiliki. They arrange for an entire lamb to be prepared for our meal. And we
are served plate after plate. We quickly learn that we can't completely finish
the food on our plates or drink in our glasses because the moment this is done,
they are immediately refilled.
After Mom lets out that she was hoping to have yogurt for desert, Dimetri and
George slip out to drive to the next village to get some!!
After several hours of
eating, laughing, and plenty of drinking, we say our goodbyes and head back to
Athens. Before we leave, Dad asks George, who is now tremendously inebriated,
what they will do once we leave, his response was, "Sleep for at least
three days!"
