On Adventures in Greece Part III: On Top of the World

In which a group of 16 students wander down a mountain

In life there are those things that you love to do but rarely make time for¹. For me one of those things is hiking. I love getting out into nature and taking it all in, and every spring I talk about wanting to hike and camp with my friends, or by myself, and it never seems to happen. So when I realized that Thessaloniki was so close to Mt. Olympus and that there were a number of hiking trails on and around the mountain I instantly got excited. Thankfully this would be one hiking experience that
would not be just talk.

This last Sunday I had the opportunity to take 16 of our 21 students to Mt. Olympus National Park and hike for the day. It was exhilarating, breath taking, exhausting², nerve racking, uplifting, stressful, and glorious. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Most of the students that were with me were not avid, or even regular, hikers. Some of them had only hiked once before and it was most likely a midwestern style trail hike at a state park. Almost all of them had on tennis shoes and carried with them a couple of bottle of water and a lunch. When we got to the mountain our guide who had be provided for us took us to a 15th century monastery part of the way up the mountain, after briefly touring the monastery (which was under renovation as it had been destroyed during World War II³

Initially the guides plan was for us to return the way we came and take the bus down to the village in the foothills and that would be it for hiking. Some of the students wanted to go higher up the mountain (something neither I nor the guide were comfortable with) but we discussed it and settled on us following the trail down the mountain and meeting him and the bus in the village.

If you noticed that the sign says Litohoro is 4 hours away congratulations! You realized what we did not. Though in my defense our guide never thought to mention that it was a four hour hike either. I only discovered this when I talked to a hiker after we'd been going for about 2 hours or so and he said that's how lone he'd been hiking up. I decided to keep that bit of news to myself for as long as I could.

The first half our our trip was great, the trail was pretty easy, we were feeling rested, and we stopped to take a lot of pictures.

Our bus was scheduled to leave and head back to Thessaloniki at 4:00, and that the rate we were headed we weren't going to make it. So we discontinued the photography sessions and marched onward. As the time past student grew more and more tired. There was definitely complaining happening, but they were also very supportive of each other.

My favorite quote from the afternoon was when Gabi asked: "If I break my leg, with they airlift me out of here?"

"I don't think they could get a helicopter in here," I replied, "They'd probably have to take you out on a stretcher."

"Not worth it." She told me as she continued past.

Since many of the students didn't have much hiking experience there was some definite confusion as to why, if we were going down the mountain, there was so much up and down. My stress level increased when some of the students, who were absolutely exhausted by this point, slipped in a few places. Thankfully it was when they path was easier and they just weren't paying attention, but I was still concerned. At one point we crested yet another hill and saw this:

That little reddish mass way off in the distance is the village of Litohoro, our destination. And while it was still a long, long⁴ way off just being able to see our destination was rejuvenating. We pressed on with new energy, or at least adrenaline, and we completed the last leg of our journey.

When we were about 45 minutes from the base of the mountain we met our guide who had start up the mountain to meet us. He took us the rest of the way out, which was helpful, because that little town was confusing and we'd still be wandering around looking for the bus.

Before we left the park we did stop to take one more picture, thankfully, since our guide was with us I was actually able to be in one, which is rare on these trips.

The students were all extremely glad that we made it off the mountain⁵. Most of them were asleep before we even got out of the village. I know that it was a challenging day for them all but I'm glad I got to offer them this opportunity. What was even better was the next day when they could look back on the hike with fresh eye. All of them were glad they went, and more than one said that ultimately they are glad that they didn't know what they were getting into. Because if they had they wouldn't have signed up to go in the first place.

As I reflect back on the day it was certainly my highlight so far. Even despite my own exhaustion it was such a unique experience that I wouldn't change for anything.

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1) Or maybe that's just me, because I'm such a 9.
2) Both mentally and physically.
3) Those damn nazi ruin everything.
4) Seriously it felt like it was forever way.
5) Except for the fact that they first WCs we found only contained squatty potties.

On Spanish Adventures Part V: The Best Day

In which we at long last cover what ended up being the best day ever.

Our schedule only mentioned that we would be attending Paella cooking demonstration. So we assumed that we would be in a resturant in the city or at perhaps a demonstration kitchen in classroom at the culinary school. When we hopped on a subway I wasn't that surprised, most of our activities up to that point had taken part in the central part of the city so I figured this would be more on the outskirts. We travelled along and until we left the underground and immerged back into the light. That was when I realized we were headed somewhere a little different, we were leaving the city completely.
Shortly there after we arrived at our stop, we left the train and walked through a quiet little town a few minutes north of Valencia. It was strange, after being in the city for even such a short time coming to this small town felt so isolated and peaceful. I had assumed that we would be going to a small family resturant in town. I was right, and wrong.

We passed straight through town and upon reaching the edge we crossed a small street and stepped down onto a sidewalk. Well, maybe sidewalk is a little too generous. Really it was a path that was paved over an irrigation ditch between two feilds. There was a 2.5 foot drop off to the left and it inexplicably got narrower at the half way point. At the end of the path our guide, Manuel, turned up a gravel drive. We weren't going to a resturant, we were headed to a farm. Toni's farm to be exact.

Toni is a farmer and chef who believes that food should take as few steps as possible to get from the farm to the table. He also believes that dining should be a slow moving, family based experience. So he opened up his home to those that want to enjoy a traditional Spanish paella experience, and according to Manuel many in Valencia consider it to be the finest paella in the region¹.

Upon our arrival we were all taken aback by where we were. No one expected this. We looked around the courtyard and talked to one another about how amazing this all was. Some of the students couldn't get over the fact that there were chickens just freely roaming about². An older gentleman came over to Manuel and greeted him, Manuel introduced us to Toni and told us that Toni would be showing us around the farm and demonstrating how to make his paella.

The first thing we saw was the firehouse³ where they cooked the paella. Toni cooked all his paella over open flame in huge pans, on busier days he will cook up to three pans at once. Our students watched as his sous chef browned the rabbit and chicken that would go into the dish. Toni then called our students over to a table with a large pile of green beans and asked our students to help split them into thirds. They gladly gathered around and began to help out. The phrase 'many hands make light work' definitely came into play in that moment, they were done very quickly. After the beans were handled we went into a nearby barn that housed, among other things, antique farming equipment. Once there all of our students received straw hats, it was time to head out into the fields to get our salad for lunch.

We headed out away from the main house past some animal pens. Ducks, goats, donkeys, basically what you'd expect on the farm. Having spent some time as a part time chicken wrangler and farmers market employee it is easy to forget how fun it can be to unexpectedly come across farm animals. However, my students were very quick to remind me. It was so great to watch them laugh, take pictures with, and generally just be amazed by these beautiful animals. Getting to watch my students experience all these new opportunities has definitely been one of the greatest joys of this trip, it's something I look forward to every day we are here. Once we finally got them past the animals Toni took us out to into his fields where he harvested the greens and beets we would be having for lunch. Once he cut free a head of lettuce he would toss it to our students. At which point they noticed the bugs on the vegetables and freaked out a little. And thus did our students have their first experience with truly organic farming.

Side note: Toni is a big believer in organic farming. He doesn't want to have to use any GMO corn so he grows his own and keeps his own seeds. In fact Toni's whole operation really ran close to my heart. When I was back in Bloomington cooking for community dinner I would often think about what type of situation I could find myself in to be happy as a cook. I decided that for me to be happy I would have to have home based experience. Where I would have a set meal for a day and people would come in and sit at diningroom tables and enjoy whatever I made that day. It would include fresh purchased items to ensure freshness and would be very communal in its feel. This is similar to what Toni has going on. He welcomes people into his home for lunch but lunch happens at the scheduled time whether you are there or not. But you are welcome to stay and relax and eat as slow as you wish. Manuel told me that some people will stay from 1 until 6 (we were there until 5 or so).

Anyway, when we got back to the restaurant part of the farm the vegetables, water, and seasoning was already cooking. As we waited for the seasoning to be just right, so that we could try the broth, we were treated to a little refreshment. Toni brought out peanuts, butter beans⁴, beer, and coke for the students to enjoy. I loved walking among the students and just listening to them chat about the day while they sat in the shade of the tree. While the students were snacking my co-worker and I sat down with Manuel, our representative from the organization we were working with. It was a really neat experience to sit and talk with him for about an hour. We discussed working with college students and the struggles and joys of doing so. It was a really cool moment.

Finally the time was upon us and we headed into the resturant proper for dinner. And what a dinner! This was a multicourse affair. I didn't get pictures of EVERY course, but I got most of them.

Round 1: Bread

Of course we started with bread, what else would you expect. Spaniards freaking LOVE bread. So we had bread, with a tomato-olive oil spread. It tasted great, but it's a total trap. Don't fill up on bread people.


Round 2: Fried potatoes

No picture of this one. But I can describe it for you. Imagine fried potato cubes about two or three times the size of home fries from Denny's. Now season them with something that tastes similar to seasoning salt. Lastly put a huge blob of garlic mayonnaise on the top⁵. There you have it.

Round 3: Salad

There may have been an additional course in here but for the life of me I can't think of it at the moment. However, this salad with forever be in my brain. As will just about anytime in Spain that I was able to enjoy fresh vegetables. We went to town on these salads, it was made all the better by the fact that we helped to pick the lettuce and beets used.

Round 4: Paella

Traditional Valencian Paella includes: rabbit, chicken, green beans, butter beans, rice, and deliciousness. It was amazing. I was already feeling full but it didn't matter, I still ate every bite.

Round 5: Dessert

No pictures, sorry. It was a choice of orange slices or a wedge of roasted pumpkin. I went with the orange slices because I can roast a pumpkin myself in the states, I can't eat a fresh from the farm Valencian orange. I regret nothing.

Round 6: Port wine

We ended dinner with some port wine. It was very sweet, and very strong. Our students didn't really enjoy it all that much. I thought it was great.

So that was our day at Toni's. It's sad that it took me so long to write this. I literally had most of it done a week and a half ago. I'm going to try to keep updating with various stories from the trip over the next couple of weeks. Thanks for reading!
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1) Based on my, admittedly, limited experience I would have to agree.
2) Some of them desperately wanted to pick up the chicks that were there.
3) I don't know what it's really called, but its a little three sided structure where they had fires for cooking paella, so we'll go with firehouse.
4) A traditional component of paella, these delicious little beans were so tasty a number of students brought some back to the states with them.
5) Because if there's one thing people in spain love as much as bread it's mayonaise. It was inescapable. I once got mayonnaise with my paella (a rice dish), because Spain.

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