Ionian islands October 2010

[Afloden]

Thanks for the photos of the Paeonia russoi! That's really fabulous to see and with so much seed! It is by far my favorite species for the garden, even better than corsica.

[Hans J]

Thank you Ashley ,

you are right : peonies grows mostly in northern aspects ....and we could see a lot growing under trees- I think this is more a protection for the goats ....in higher altitudes ( on more open stony places ) they grows under shrubs and between stones.

Hans

[Hans J]

Thanks for the photos of the Paeonia russoi! That's really fabulous to see and with so much seed! It is by far my favorite species for the garden, even better than corsica.

Thank you Aaron ,

We found much seeds only on the population on Zakinthos ...there was no goats !
On the population from Kephallonia it was really difficould to found some fruits.
I have never heard that anybody has offered seeds from this peonies from the greek island ....so they are pretty rare in cultivation.

Hans

[angie]

Lovely Hans

So much beautiful scenery. Feel I have been on a holiday myself. What a wonderful place.
I to love the black peony seeds I remember the first time I saw these shinny black seed on my path I was amazed at there size. They had fallen from my peony tree.
Cheered me up seeing the lovely blue skies

Angie

[Hans J]

Thank you Angie !

Here is a earlier pic from a P.russoi ex Kephallonia -I have received this plant before many years from a friend -it was grown from w.c. seeds ex Kephallonia .
Sorry to report that this plant has not survived the last winter ( which was extrem long and hard )....but luckily I have found in spring some seedlings from this plant in my border !

[angie]

Hi Hans

What a lovely large P.russoi so sad that you lost it but as you said it really was a long hard winter.
With your warm summers the seedlings will soon grow quick.
I have put a lot of my tender plants in my polytunnel this year, don't want to lose as much as I did last year, so taking no chances. You should see my polytunnel, we bought it to grow veg,
Thanks for showing your wonderful pictures.

Angie

[David Nicholson]

Lovely set of pics Hans, I enjoyed them.

[Hans J]

Thank you David !

I feel a little bit bad because I have not taken any pictures of all the nice meals we had ....on this both islands is it still possibly to eat all the old greek things like :
Stifado , Moussaka ,Kleftiko ,Kokkinisto and more ( mhhhh)
In other areas they make now only food for tourists like Gyros , Souvlaki, Bifteki ....

Hans

[Gail]

Wonderful series of photos Hans which give us so much information - everything a good travelogue should be.  Thank you so much for taking the time to post them.

[Hans J]

Many thanks Gail !

[Brian Ellis]

Just came in from the garden, put my feet up and visited Greece   Many thanks Hans, a great series of photos (even though there were no Galanthus ).  I am pleased you have seedlings from P.russoi ex Kephallonia in the garden as it is always sad to lose a much loved plant.  My mouth is watering at the thought of the Kleftiko, happy memories.  Thank you for taking the time to share your trip with us.

[Hans J]

Many thanks Brian ,

Sorry ...but I can not send you any Kleftiko  ...do you know that this meal was a meal special made for the partisans ?

Our kind of travelling is not so easy ...but we dont like to travel "all inclusive" ( with breafast ,lunch +dinner always in the same hotel ) 
We organize all self and so we had always a lot of contact to the local peoples - it is sometimes more like a little adventure ( special if you go by ship ) ....not always works all well -but last it works !
Also are our holidays mostly a little more expensiv than a 'normal' holiday .....but we have so many nice rememberings after all this year - it is worth each penny !

Hans

[TheOnionMan]

I feel a little bit bad because I have not taken any pictures of all the nice meals we had ....on this both islands is it still possibly to eat all the old greek things like :
Stifado , Moussaka ,Kleftiko ,Kokkinisto and more ( mhhhh)
In other areas they make now only food for tourists like Gyros , Souvlaki, Bifteki ....

Hans

Hans, you have me salivating by name-dropping greek dishes.  I'm a huge fan of Greek food, and one thing I regret most about my being laid off from work this past year, is my weekly lunch at an established Greek eatery, my most frequent treat was mousaka, but sometimes spanakopita, dolmathakia (dolma, dolmathes, dolmades), avgolemono, loukoumades (honey puff donuts)... eesh, I didn't eat enough breakfast... my stomach is growling.

Not familiar with Kleftiko, I looked it up, interesting how it got its name... scroll halfway down this link:
http://www.symivisitor.com/fassolada2.htm

And to tantalize the appetite:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=mousaka&gl=us&resnum=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Xw_UTJGCI8XflgfxoLDlBA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQsAQwAw&biw=1280&bih=836

Oh yeah, almost forgot, the travel pics and plants were great.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Only picked up this thread right now Hans and I'm glad I did !

Wonderful report of what looks to have been a most enjoyable and adventurous  trip !
Lovely scenery - lovely plants - excellent food... what else does a man want ?? 
(maybe ships sailing as scheduled...  )

Thanks for sharing !!

[Hans J]

Mark : great that you also like greek food ....my problem is only that I also love food from Italy ,France and some other countries ....
Yes - I know this story from Kleftiko ....
I like all greek meals which include cinnamon ( p.e. Pasticio ) .....and I have luck that my wife can cook some of this meals !